How far North do you hunt pheasants?

D

Daisybuck

New member
I have family who live outside Duluth and often find myself staring at the cover north of Forest Lake thinking ``Man, there ought to be birds all over in there.'' Last year I hunted outside Hinckley and counted more than 100 roosters flying into and out of a farmer's feedlot. We had permission to hunt there but decided against jump-shooting among the cattle. :rolleyes: Anybody else been looking north instead of Southwest? From the DNR roadside counts it looks like that area might have been less impacted by last winter's general nastiness.
 
I'd rather not throw away a honey hole but....... Their are a lot of birds in the little fallsish area.
 
There's birds in north central Mn for sure. Don't count out areas like Milaca, Mora, Little Falls, Morris, Etc. That whole belt across the state produces birds. You might even have a shot at both pheasants and Ruff Grouse on the same hunt in some locations.
 
Hard to believe

I know an old-timer who said there were once pheasants in northern Aitkin County, near Jacobsen. This would have been in the 30s and 40s. I would have to guess the bird population up there depended on grain and bean crops we just don't see around much anymore in those areas.

I actually intend to rope one of my co-workers into a Ruff/Rooster expedition as near to that feedlot as we dare this Fall. Heh. :D

Now where did I put that WMA atlas...
 
If you look at the DNR's recent roadside survey, you will notice that the east central portion of the state had the highest count per 100 miles traveled in the entire state. This area in the past has not been thought of as Pheasant central as the SW or West central areas have garnered that title, but this year may prove otherwise as hunting non traditional areas not hit so bad by the last winters deep snow might be the way to go.
 
I hunt the east central area quite a bit myself and there are birds to be found though. It is a little tougher to get permission and the hunting is different. It is just not the same and being in a huge open field. They are mostly smaller broken up parcels that you can't really "open up" you dog on.
 
During the 60's and early 70's it was common to get roosters, Ruff's and ducks all during the same hike. This is Southern Hubbard County, few pheasants and ducks these days. Tons of turkey's, deer and geese, yotes too.:rolleyes:

I have friends that hunt pheasants a lot and have good hunting. Private property down by New York Mills.
 
last saturday morning i drove from cambridge to britton sd and along the way thru mn i saw more birds, young and old along hwy 95, between cambridge and st. cloud than i did west of sauk centre to the sd border. the only bird i saw on hwy 28 was a dead hen west of starbuck. i bet i saw 30 plus birds around the princeton area. i've never hunted in that area but on a slow day it might be worth checking out.
 
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