How was opening weekend?

chadsbritt

chadsbritt

New member
Well, how was everyones's experience opening weekend? Was the hunting tough since much of the corn was still standing? What kind of cover was most productive? I hope someone had some luck. I was unable to get out there this weekend, but am going to go tomorrow or this coming weekend.
 
I hunted yesterday (Sunday) and managed to limit out after a full day of hunting north of Brush on Walk in only. We had a great day in the 60 degree weather. It was what I usually expect...3-4 miles of walking per bird but a little dissapointing because fields that I thought would have been a sure bet didn't produce. The cover wasn't as thick as last year but there were a few really nice knee high stubble fields that held some roosters. I'm sure as the season wears on the hunting will get better as the limited populations of birds begin to concentrate.
 
I'm glad to hear someone limited out! :thumbsup:

I hunted north of Brush last year and was able to bag one rooster. What do you think of the Walk in south of Brush? I've never hunted it, and am trying to decide if I want to go out by Brush tomorrow, or head all the way out to Holyoke. I know the Holyoke area better, but sure like the idea of only going as far as Brush if there are birds in the area.
 
I didn't venture down there yesterday but considered it. I went down there once last year in late December after a fresh snow. For what its worth I found a few of the Walk Ins to have birds but without snow it would have been tough. What about going over west of Plateville by that Milton Reservoir?
 
There aren't any walk ins and the hunting is definitely not like Eastern Colorado but there are some birds here and there. I usually go out there when I don't feel like driving too far. You'll have to knock on doors to get access to most of the private but if you can recognize property owned by the oil and gas companies and there aren't "no tresspassing" signs, you can usually walk around hassle free. I'm not saying that the bird hunting is awesome by any means, but they're there.
 
south of Brush

We went out south of Brush to the walk-ins and didn't have much success...well actually none! We saw one rooster and that was it. We don't hunt with a dog, just me and my 11 & 14 year old boys. We hunted about 5 areas and only saw that one rooster and did not talk to anyone that had any success.

I really don't want to drive much further than that, but I sure would like some advice on other places to try. Anyone?:D Milton Reservoir?
 
Scooter,

Thanks for the information. I think I'm going to give the Brush area a try tomorrow. It will be me, my dad and my Brittany, Gauge. Hopefully we find a few birds. I usually hunt the Holyoke area, but don't know if I want to make the trip since the corn isn't out. Who knows, maybe we'll end up out there.

Don't be afraid to venture out past Brush. If you go that far, what's another 30 mins to an hour? There is a ton of walk in on the way into Holyoke. You could start out around Flemming or Haxton, and work your way east. The birds get smart fast, but they are out there. You could also try the yuma area. I haven't hunted it much, but I always hear about guys having good success.

If it's just you and your boys, I would concentrate on smaller pieces of ground. Thoe big fields are difficult to hunt without a larger group of guys (and dogs).

Best of luck!
 
Opening Weekend

I used the WIA. We started On highway 59 ( south of Sedgwick). We got to the field 45 minutes prior to sun up. The field was a mix of cut wheat, un-cut wheat and standing corn. Me, my friend and his dog started walking the field. We walked the edge of the uncut wheat with the dog going through the middle of the uncut wheat. This was a pretty good large field. About halfway through the field I looked up and heard a truck engine coming. I thought it was a tractor or something. Then it came around the edge of the corn. It was not a tractor. It was actually a hummer. A group of hunters was driving the field! We finished walking the field, and turned around and headed back towards the truck. We were walking the cut wheat, and about half way up a rooster popped up and to my left. I shot, hit him but didn't drop him.

We hit alot of different areas between sedgwick and holyoke, saw a few birds the rest of the day, not in shooting range though.

The last field we hit, was North of Fleming. It was a mix of grass and corn. Couple of hens popped up, and saw a mule deer and a doe hanging out in the corn.

That was the whole trip. I would hit it up again, but not untill the corn is cut and snow is on the ground ( apparently this happened this week already so who knows maybe i will get out there again soon).
 
chadsbritt said:
Scooter,

Thanks for the information. I think I'm going to give the Brush area a try tomorrow. It will be me, my dad and my Brittany, Gauge. Hopefully we find a few birds. I usually hunt the Holyoke area, but don't know if I want to make the trip since the corn isn't out. Who knows, maybe we'll end up out there.

Don't be afraid to venture out past Brush. If you go that far, what's another 30 mins to an hour? There is a ton of walk in on the way into Holyoke. You could start out around Flemming or Haxton, and work your way east. The birds get smart fast, but they are out there. You could also try the yuma area. I haven't hunted it much, but I always hear about guys having good success.

If it's just you and your boys, I would concentrate on smaller pieces of ground. Thoe big fields are difficult to hunt without a larger group of guys (and dogs).

Best of luck!
Click to expand...

Chadsbritt, did you get out there yet? I am not sure if Brush got snow, but that would have helped. Maybe we'll try out by Holyoke and see what we find.

Hunting with just the boys is tough, but we simply don't have time to train a bird dog. We are looking for a young one that is ready, but not sure where to look. Would love one that we can use for ducks also, if anyone knows of a loving young dog...
 
I ended up going out to Holyoke. A friend of mine from out there called and said he was itchin' to hunt. He said they had 3 inches of snow, and be a farmer, he would be unable to cut corn until it dried back out. So we mad e the decision to head out there and were there by 9:30. If I had known we were going way out there, we would have left earlier.

The hunting was good. We headed way south of Holyoke, and ran into eight inches of snow. No B/S...it was eight inches of heavy wet, snow. Well we ended up hunting come private CRP and did well. The birds were holding great, and we had roosters explode out of the snow on three different occasions. We never would have found the birds if it wasn't for my brittany, Gauge. They were buried under the snow and we would have walked right past him. It's amazing how their noses can pick up a scent.

We ended up with seven roosters between the three of us. You can't complain about that. It was a lot of fun.

I did hunt some walk in that has produced in the past. I didn't have any luck, but fresh human footprints proved that we were the second ones through that day. I bet we would have kicked something out if we were first to hit it.

Over all the cover out east looks good. Of course some fields are better than others, but I left the area feeling optimistic. A lot of the corn is still standing, but they're working on it. This snow will definitely delay things. They probably won't get everything out until after Thanksgiving.

Scooter, I don't know of any started dogs, but they are out there. Search the web; I think there may even be a place on this website for dogs. A started dog sure will put a dent in your wallet.
 
Hunting was tough in Kit Carson County where we were. Almost all of the corn was still standing although we did see a few farmers starting to harvest on Sunday. A farmer we spoke with said the moisture was finally getting to the point where they could begin harvesting. The CRP lands held few birds although we did see a fair amount around the edges of the fields with standing crops.
 
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