Going hunting

Hunted around Pawnee City yesterday, I've hunted this farm for 25 years and every year it gets worse and worse. Back in the day we could put up 10 covies on this quarter section, last few years maybe around 4 covies and a few pheasants. Yesterday....NOTHING ! Not one bird. On the north end of the property there used to be a great big draw that was a "Y", the farmer drain tiled it you would never to even imagine there once was a draw there. I don't think I'll ever hunt it again.....I agree with the other post if there are no birds for seed where is the "rebound birds" ever going to come from ????

This is probably one of the worst years ever !!!! Drove home the back roads since there was snow on the ground and sunny out and we didn't see one bird out feeding we were just hoping to see one bird somewhere ????? Not even in the shelter belts by the farm houses ???? I thought farmers were suppose to be "stewards" of the land ??? I'm probably on my last birddogs, one is 9 and the other is 6 so in another four years ????
 
Your situation sounds like the one I'm in. Family farm in SW Kansas, been out here since Wed and tonight seen my first hen. Wed I hunted for 3 hours and it was the saddest hunt of my life. Places were just 2-3 years ago I would see flushes by the dozen, I seen nothing, not even a track in the dirt. Drove around all over the county and again nothing. Was in the middle of a CRP field, had been walking for 45 minutes without the dog even getting birdy and I thought to myself, what the hell happened to this place. It's sad, not sure what the future holds. I know the "seed stock" is so low right now, it looks pretty bad. My father in-law has been here since the 60's and he said this is by far the worst he's ever seen the bird numbers. He said he usually sees one every couple of weeks, but that's it. I may be on my last bird dog as well. Feel sorry for the one I have right now. He's also wondering what the hell has happened.
 
Farmers are supposed to be stewards of the land. Unfortunately they are bad stewards of the land, not all, but I would say 98% of them will only think about conservation when they are paid to, or are forced to by some act of God. (Dust Bowl) :mad:
 
Didn't buy a license in 2013, debating about 2014?
 
I haven't hunted eastern Nebraska but have hunted hard in the western part of the state. As of last weekend I have shot 26 roosters but this has not come without a lot of hard work and a lot of miles driven.
I went to my cabin Thursday night before Christmas and stayed until the Sunday after. I walked over 60 miles in eight days of hunting and drove over 1000 miles. I've seen fields with excellent cover but no birds, not even a nest and then I've seen fields with poor cover that had dozens of birds.
I don't even pretend to understand but this year I leave no field unwalked no matter how poor it looks.
I have also seen lots of hens in some places and only roosters in others.
I have shot more birds in previous years but I have NEVER in 45 years of hunting worked this hard for the birds that I have got.
AM
 
I'm starting to wonder if agricultural chemicals are playing a bigger part in the demise of the pheasant then previously thought. With great habitat there should be birds, there not only is no birds there is very little wildlife to speak of. Field mice are even scarce these days.:confused:
 
The old local guys say there was widespread hail they believe decimated the pheasant crop. They swear there were lots of young until the two or three hail storms went through. I don't know what to think.
One of the best fields that I hunted in the last two years I think was sprayed with Roundup. Everything is black and dead. There is nothing there but dead weeds now and now, no pheasants.
That is sad.
AM
 
I would say that's some very wide spread hail, it hit the entire state of NE. I believe that might be true maybe for an area but definitely not the entire state. There is quite a bit of pretty good looking CRP in Southeast NE but no wildlife. I'm not exaggerating not even rabbits. This whole chemical thing is insanity the molecular structure of Roundup isn't all that much different from the Agent Orange chemical used in Viet Nam.
 
airmedic1 said:
I haven't hunted eastern Nebraska but have hunted hard in the western part of the state. As of last weekend I have shot 26 roosters but this has not come without a lot of hard work and a lot of miles driven.
I went to my cabin Thursday night before Christmas and stayed until the Sunday after. I walked over 60 miles in eight days of hunting and drove over 1000 miles. I've seen fields with excellent cover but no birds, not even a nest and then I've seen fields with poor cover that had dozens of birds.
I don't even pretend to understand but this year I leave no field unwalked no matter how poor it looks.
I have also seen lots of hens in some places and only roosters in others.
I have shot more birds in previous years but I have NEVER in 45 years of hunting worked this hard for the birds that I have got.
AM
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It sounds like you are doing better than most, at least you are getting some reward for the tremendous effort you're putting in. :thumbsup:
 
It just seems there are a whole bunch of factors going on that are detrimental to pheasants. In the areas with good cover but few or no birds I just have to think it is due to a hangover from the severe drought of 2012. I have not hunted NE this year but have hunted eastern Colorado and have found a similar situations with fields of good cover but birds are very far and few between. And these are fields that wouldn't have been sprayed....

The irony in all of this is that practices that are good for the overall health of the land - reducing soil erosion and flooding, improving water quality, etc. - are also good for wildlife and pheasants specifically. The knowledge is there and history has shown that the overall health of the land depends on following sound conservation practices, but this is conveniently forgotten or ignored when there are big bucks to be made :cool:
 
I wasn't talking about the entire state being hit by hail, just a swathe that runs through the pan-handle and I was just sharing what the old guys in the local watering hole have told me.
I feel extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to find as many pheasants as I have.
I have also probably seen more hunters this year than in the past which sort of surprises me. After the first six weeks or so I usually have the fields pretty much to myself but it seems there are more hunters out this year. Some of them are less than considerate as well as being unsafe.
I don't go into a field if I see another hunter working the field, I will go find somewhere else. The weekend after Christmas I was clear up north hunting a 80 acre patch of grass right along side of the road. I was about 100 yards into the field working into the wind with my dogs when a couple of guys pulled up at the other end and proceeded to hunt towards me.:confused: I waved and they waved back and just kept coming so I turned around and went back to my truck. WTF?
I'm not a snob but I do like to know who I am hunting with and I'm kind of selective in who I hunt with. I don't want to have one of my dogs shot or me for that matter.
AM
 
The fields and the animals don't have to be directly sprayed with Roundup or insecticides to negatively effect the viability of there existence. While I know that many factors go into a healthy environment, some we can control some we cant. This chemical witches brew should fall in the control category.
 
Bullshirt said:
The fields and the animals don't have to be directly sprayed with Roundup or insecticides to negatively effect the viability of there existence. While I know that many factors go into a healthy environment, some we can control some we cant. This chemical witches brew should fall in the control category.
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Agree, the chemicals dumped on the land is completely under human control. Not that they are all bad but are clearly being overused :mad:
 
airmedic1 said:
I wasn't talking about the entire state being hit by hail, just a swathe that runs through the pan-handle and I was just sharing what the old guys in the local watering hole have told me.
I feel extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to find as many pheasants as I have.
I have also probably seen more hunters this year than in the past which sort of surprises me. After the first six weeks or so I usually have the fields pretty much to myself but it seems there are more hunters out this year. Some of them are less than considerate as well as being unsafe.
I don't go into a field if I see another hunter working the field, I will go find somewhere else. The weekend after Christmas I was clear up north hunting a 80 acre patch of grass right along side of the road. I was about 100 yards into the field working into the wind with my dogs when a couple of guys pulled up at the other end and proceeded to hunt towards me.:confused: I waved and they waved back and just kept coming so I turned around and went back to my truck. WTF?
I'm not a snob but I do like to know who I am hunting with and I'm kind of selective in who I hunt with. I don't want to have one of my dogs shot or me for that matter.
AM
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I have experienced this behavior myself - I'm already in a field and another rig pulls up and other hunter(s) pile into the same field. This is just plain rude, inconsiderate behavior. I would not do that to others and I expect the same courtesy - but often don't get it :confused:
 
double trigger said:
I have experienced this behavior myself - I'm already in a field and another rig pulls up and other hunter(s) pile into the same field. This is just plain rude, inconsiderate behavior. I would not do that to others and I expect the same courtesy - but often don't get it :confused:
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Classic MN public land hunting behavior (and apparently socially acceptable).

Not all, but plenty do not move on - they try move right past you. :eek:

This behavior is mostly limited to opening weekend pheasant in Minnesota and all season long by public land duck hunters and ATV hunters on the grouse wood trails.
 
One thing I noticed that sometimes with CRP on both sides of the road, you have a hard time determining where hunters are! I agree I would not jump in on somebody, but I have waited for a while, then gone hunting, if I saw someone I retracted back to the car. Sometimes it's not5 deliberate, but I have seen guys jump out next to your car and file in behind, or go to where your going and jump in front. Bad form, but there is not decorum anymore. I use these fools as blockers in a big property, like WPA, and the like, the run through like a track team, usually don't know the habits of pheasants, dogs got out of the kennel for the first time all year, yesterday. They have more times than not run all the pheasants to a spot in the field, that two hunters and a couple of dogs can handle easily! I let them get to the truck, and go directly where they either bypassed or did not hunt to break, or to the road. Shot roosters in a ditch, where they came out, and in ironweeds they bypassed because it was difficult cover. When you go in, I like to exchange greeting, where they'll tell you there aren't any birds in there, hopefully 5minutes before a get a double, while they are getting the convoy ready for the road.
 
'Socially acceptable' behavior hits the nail on the head here. People who behave like this do not limit it to the hunting fields, they likely behave in a similar manner in all parts of their lives. There is too much it's about 'me' or what do 'I' want with little consideration given to others they share the planet with (let alone a public hunting field). Sad :(
 
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