Good Ju-Ju!!!

henhenROOSTER!!!

henhenROOSTER!!!

New member
NEWS FLASH: Sweet Smoke Signals Beginning To Arise From The Grapevine In Eastern CO...& Wherever There Is Smoke, There Is Sure To Be Lots Of (GUN)FIRE Later This Year!!! :D

I am hearing straight from several horse's mouths that there are good numbers of birds in places from N to S all across eastern CO this year!!! A couple farmer friends said they are currently seeing 3 gens of pheasants running around right now (adults, mid-size & young broods) - a Good Omen indeed!!!...You may have to do your own homework to pinpoint 'em 4 yourself, but there will be birds aplenty for those willing to ferret them out (regardless of hail pockets & all)!!! :thumbsup: :cheers:

And if this is true here, you can bet your bottom dollar there will be just as good or better numbers of birds just across the borders in KS & NE!!! :10sign:
 
That's good news !!

This will be my first season going for Pheasant; done my share of Dove & Quail and am looking to try something new.

Going to try my hand in Eastern Colorado, probably Walk-In Access Property.
 
Shhhh!!!

SSHHHH!!!!

I have been hearing that there is absolutely no birds this year, and that anyone considering hunting pheasant would be better to spend their time fishing!

Seriously, that is good to hear!
 
Amen brother. Let's keep it quite. In fact, maybe we should delete this post. :D

Obsession said:
SSHHHH!!!!

I have been hearing that there is absolutely no birds this year, and that anyone considering hunting pheasant would be better to spend their time fishing!

Seriously, that is good to hear!
Click to expand...
 
@Eneranch - Good luck to ya this year! PM me later in the season if you're not having any. Newcomers are always welcome (I was one myself only a couple years ago)!!! Read thru all the UPH threads - this site has a LOT of very helpful information to shorten-the-learning-curve for very studious rookies!!! :thumbsup:

@Obsession & Chaddsbrit - "Get thee behind me" (Heh-Heh-Heh)!!! Believe me, I am sorely tempted to keep it all on the down-low to ourselves, but it's not like I'm gonna go tellin anybody "Hey, go down to farmer Johnson's place on county road ___, here just give him a call at BR-549"!!! :D ANYBODY willing to do their own homework & bust their butt like the rest of us deserves to know that there are good times to be had out there this year!!!

@cowdog - not to worry, the masses of slackers looking for easy-pickins will leave in droves just like they came - the roosters will still be giggling (I mean cackling) just like they always do!!! :p
 
Another Good Year

I have to agree with Hen Hen (this may be the only time). My contacts in Eastern Colorado indicate as good a year or better than last year. I will be checking with my Kansas contacts over Labor Day and report back the news. Take care all.

sdtEvergreen
 
@sdtEvgn - LOL, why should anybody listen to you or me anyway, you been spendin all your spare time sailing & I been wastin mine wrapping up 3 summer softball leagues + tournaments...it's gettin bout time to shake the lead out of Copper & Chance! :p
 
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Good News, Bad News

1.) Good news: WOW, did I find the mother lode of dove yesterday (the only freshly-cut cornfield for several counties around). Bad News: Got a polite, but solid NO on permission to hunt it (the owner were non-hunters - but we both had a pleasant conversation & I respectfully left it at that).

2.) Good News: Saw loads of pheasants while out scouting for dove!!! BAD NEWS: A LOT of former WIHA & CRP that I frequented last year has already been plowed under or cut down to the nubbins!!! :eek:

I had a gut-feeling about this that there might be a subtle underlying reason for the CDOW totally axing the fee for WIHA access this year - nobody is usually that generous, especially not when it comes to a state dept voluntarily letting go of a major source of revenue that it already had on lock under current economic conditions! Personally, I think they smelled the massive loss of CRP coming & knew that hunters would pitch a hissy fit at having to pay extra $$ to hunt some of the C-R-A-P that will be available for WIHA this year!

I noticed a distinctive loss of some prime pheasant habitat/cover last year over the previous. The clean-ground wall-to-wall farming loss of prime pheasant cover/habitat acres in some areas of CO this year is an absolute eyesore to any pheasant hunter that pales last year's loss in comparison!!! Heck, at this point I don't even care if I get to hunt roosters anymore someday - I just hope there's at least a few farmers left out there with a heart for wildlife who will always save the corners/fencerows or continue to at least set aside a spot or two of their their marginal land for the animals! :) :(
 
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Hopefully your lackluster report get's viewed by tons of forum guest lurkers!! Just to re-iterate, COLORADO HAS NO BIRDS OR COVER!!!
 
@winchester - I can't lie to anyone & try keepin 'em all to myself, there will be plenty of birds this year!!! :D

But the "COVER" issue (and the subsequent dwindling pheasant population) is going to be a real problem in years to come if something is not done to stem the CRP bleeding or if more of the farmers do not step up to the plate & take on an increasing heart in leaving a place or two here-and-there for the sake of wildlife period, damn-it to hell with squeezing every last $$$ out of every square inch of ground!!! :( :( :(
 
That's why we need to all make sure we're doing our part and contributing as much as possible. Everyone that hunts should step up to the plate and make a donation to their favorite conservation organization.

One positive worth mentioning; I know there was another general CRP signup this past August. Hopefully farmers took advantage of it and enrolled new ground. I guess we'll see in the years to come.
 
It is nice to hear about the numbers hopefully being really good. I am recently retired active duty Air force. I have spent about half my time in Colorado Springs. However, up until last year, I had never, ever hunted pheasants in Colorado. Started going to SW Kanasa in 1996 and have been ever since. Always get my limit and have a great time.

So last season a buddy and i drove up by Yuma area with the walk in map and figured we would just drive around and see and maybe ask some folks. Well, we stroll into Yuma, stop by a cafe, ask and two fellas told us about some walk in areas (I think it was south) so we drove that way, AND FOUND NOTHING, SO A WILD GOOSE CHASE, NOT COOL!! Then we met a farmers on the road and asked him, he was very nice and he lets us hunt his fields, NOTHING!!!

Brother, we didn't even see a hen!!! NOTHING, DOGS DIDN'T EVEN GET BIRDY...had a GSP and well seasoned lab hunting with us.....

So I figure this much. I know guys don't want every Tom, Dick and Harry hunting their honey holes.

Like I always say, YOU DON'T GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING....

I am talking about wild pheasants not bird planted places or anything.

YOu know I am not blessed or fortuante like some guys with families living in Colorado in pheasant country. I born and raised in Texas, joined the Air Force, served my country and now I live here in Colorado Springs.

I can't help if the Air Force sent me here and now my kids are in high school and after I retired I am not going to uproot them. I have done the driving out, scouting and asking (and not on opening day), I have done it earlier in the year and in like dove season.

So while I would rather spend my money here in Colorado rather than Kansas, I hate wasting gas, time, and money chasing ghosts.

I will try again this year...yea, yea, I am sure that me and others not going some will be like "good" dont' go, less hunters and more birds for me. I guess so...however here is the deal.

My son is 11yrs old and he is signed up for hunters education in October over at Sportsman's in the Springs. I took him last year with me when we went to Kansas, he didn't hunt, I let him shoot his BB gun. Now, he is ready this year. We went out and shot some clay birds with a youth 20gauge. He was fine with it, didn't hit any clay birds though. So he is excited. It would be nice to find a place herei in Colorado that is closer than the near 6 hour drive that I drive when I go to Kansas. I would love to spend my money in the small towns here in Colorado.

Greg

Greg
 
Has anyone hunted in Baca Co. around Walsh and Two Buttes. Years ago I hunted geese off the old Turks Pond. When the geese weren't flying we would hunt roosters. We always had pretty good luck.That country still looks really good but I haven't hunted it in years.
 
@dogman - not me yet, I'm a fairly new CO resident...Have done my outdoors homework & thought about exploring that little corner of the state sometime, but it has been really DRY (years of pretty severe drought) down there until just the last two years & the bulk of very limited CO pheasant country is way north of there...Don't know how long it takes for some areas to bounce back after a l-o-n-g drought (maybe never if bad enough) - the Bennett/Strasburg area closer in to Denver is a prime example, plenty of rooster-laden memories for all the old-timers but nary a non-preserve pheasant in the county nowadays (the farmers can't even seem to get enough moisture to survive - no irrigation & a LOT of dry, abandoned farmsteads unlike further out east)!...I have always wanted to try my hand at Baca County for a rare CO quail/pheasant mix but it's a long way from Denver, I don't have much hunting or scouting time to spare in the first place these days & I don't like wasting any of it taking a chance on a total "dry run"...
 
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Lots of irrigated country down there around and East of Two Buttes and towards Walsh. Don't write it off. I think you may be surprised and because of its remoteness may not have tremendous hunting pressure. I've driven the backroads and there's some really good looking country.
 
May try it out sometime just for something different -hopefully it's far enough away & remote enough that none of your comments will change the "tremendous hunting pressure" part of the equation! Probably going to "The BANK" much farther northward for the phez opener though!!! ;)
 
To everyones relief there are plenty of birds to shoot. Please come opening weekend and shoot them all. Please leave some for seed. LOL LOl
 
Off the smart ass quotes. There is not going to be much corn standing by the time season opens. I have never seen a harvest start this early. The stalks are still green and the grain is running 14-16 moisture. Just Crazy for this area. We usually always have to have a freeze to make the corn finish drying. The birds are phenomenol better than a year ago for sure. SO please dont complain there isnt birds in Colorado cuz they are here.
 
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