MN Hunting Reports

to be honest you should of seen the buildings long B4 the shot in most cases???

& honestly if you didnt even look at the birds breast meat & or try to salvage any of the meat you need to maybe find a new hobby??? im just being honest its all fun to shoot things but we have to try & use the birds we to bring to the bag??? whom ever didnt find the birds was lazy & or didnt have a dog or if you were on private could not go get them with out his gun ETC. if you find the birds dead we have to try to at least see if the birds can be table fair??? its been cold lately so i assume the birds could of been eaten??? its a bummer you didnt even check & just left the birds to rot!!!???

im not trying to detour you from the forum or hunting pheasant or be a dick & to prove this i will give you a few tips on if the birds are salvageable or not...


1) are they stiff??? if so there cooled down & over say 3-5 hours old???

2) did something eat on it 1st??? i have lost birds to predators less then 12-16 hours after they were shot in any case if you found that bird B4 the predators did you could probably still eat the bird if it was cool over nite... many people gut the bird & age the meat by hanging them for days has to be cool enough though...

3) look at the birds eyes are they still yellow/orange? or are they black & sunken in??? if they are yellow & still look alive the bird is most likely less then 48 hours dead... you could probably still breast the bird if it was not all blown up & gut shot as well...

4) pull some feather away from around say the A-HOLE & maybe gut the bird when u get to the truck or near water check around the bottom of the breast meat near A-HOLE & see what color the meat is??? if its gray/green/black ETC. dont eat it leave it for the predators... if its still white/pink in color the bird is still eatable & you should eat the bird in most cases???

5) gut the bird near water or at truck & or just open up the bird & give a quick smell test if its rotten & or very bad bad bad death smell dont eat it...

just trying to help you out man because you said you new to hunting so i wont break your balls but there is a thing called want & waste & your dog did its part to prevent that from happening u got to as well... all of us we ow that much to the birds/game we hunt/kill...

how may i ask do you know that your dog did not catch & kill the birds B4 they flushed??? like i said if the birds were all rubbery & not stiff at all im sure your dog caught the bird & or found a wounded bird from another hunter & just killed it on the retrieve back to you???

sounds like you have a good dog maybe??? & a decent area to hunt hope some of them tips help you if you ever come across anything like that again???


p.s. in pheasant/farm county MN it would hard sometimes to shoot a pheasant wear you can not see a house off in the distance??? you have to know what you gun can & cant shoot & always be aware of whats around you when hunting a house/building should not just pop up or sneak up on you look over the land B4 you hunt & dont hunt wear you cant shoot its that simple...

again go shoot your shotgun with birdshot at targets at different distances & get a feel for what you gun can do... not know the power of a gun is the most dangerous thing i herd so far cant be afraid of shooting your gun or the gun it-self shooting it alot gets you familiar with you gun thats a good if not great thing...

happy safe hunting to u this season...
 
Smo get off your podium. He did not shoot the birds. I don't take dead birds I find in the field. That's not wanton waste. He did the right thing on not shooting. Welcome to the site and thanks for the report pointemstright. So you fly fish???
 
Tbear said:
I don't take dead birds I find in the field. That's not wanton waste. He did the right thing on not shooting.
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First, welcome to the board Pointemstraight!!


I agree he did the right thing on not shooting.

My dog found a cripple just yesterday morning. It was on a PHG and no one else was around. Granted, the bird was still alive (barely) but I was glad to add it to my bag even though it finished my limit (Wisconsin limit is 2 birds and I had one already) and I was done hunting for the day.

I think all SMO was trying to say was that an experienced and ethical hunter tries to make every effort to find wounded game, and utilize what game they can. I remember as a kid finding a small dead whitetail that somebody had shot and not found. It was still reasonably warm and I tagged it and was glad I did. It was unlikely it would have ever been found. Sounds similar to the two dead birds in pointemstraights story.
 
I'm good with criple birds. If they are still alive I take them weather I shot them or not. But dead birds that I did not shoot to many variables to take home and feed to my family. I get what smo was trying to say but there is a right way to say it and that was not it.
 
Those little buggers can be hard to hit even after years in the field pointemstraight! Shoot at the next one as if you have never missed is all I can tell you. I too will pass on a shot if there are houses near. Nothing will piss off a landowner quicker than having pellets rain on his house. I have taken many a cripple into my bag that was still warm. I probably wouldn't take a cold one. As said too many variables to chance. IMO, you don't have an ethical responsibility to either.
 
i really think your dead wrong TBEAR your on the podium now???

i was trying to tell a guy that is not experienced what to look for in a dead bird & a bird his dog may have killed???

i told pointmestraight i was not trying to be a dick if he had any prob with how i worded anything he should be the guy to say??? maybe thats just how i think???

really pointmestraight read my comment im not trying to bash you im trying to help ya out with what info you gave...

519 me & you are on the same page there are lots of guys out there that just shoot deer to shoot them & give them away because they dont eat it or there family dose not eat it... then i always want to ask the guy why do you even want to shoot the animal if you just going to let it get freezer burnt??? them guys also can barely field dress a deer...

i have been hunting long enough to be able to tell if a game bird or animal is eatable or not was just trying to pass along some simple tips...

there is no law that states u must take game that u have not harvested ur self home with you if you come across it that does not make it write or wrong... pointmestraight was fine doing what he did i just think its abummer the birds went to waste by whom ever...

many guys count birds they shoot but do not find to there daily bag limit i dont many will bash me for that but then again i eat all my harvested game... & or cripple or dead birds i come across that may be eatable if not to me my farm cats get a treat...
 
carptom hit the nail on the head all the way around...

i agree guys no bird is worth shooting a person house vehicle farm animal ETC. no need to piss of the people who live wear you hunt...

im saying just cuz i see a house does not mean im not shooting he said it flew directly at the house that sucks if its them low strait away shots thats a dead bird if its a high flyer let em go for another day no need to rain pellets on a farm house like said above...

i dont want to jump on a podium or any thing but try a improved choke 4-6 shot & shot at the front of the bird or just focus on his head & take ur time... i suck as a shot & i did them simple things this season & have done better then ever please do try it if you have not already... you mite even want to try a skeet choke & 4-6 shot??? open chokes help us poor shots out alot man!!!
 
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Thanks for the welcome, guys.

SMO, no need for the diatribe. I may be new to gun sports, but I've been an outdoorsman for my entire life, most of that with a flyrod in hand. I've been pushing pheasants for five years, so I consider myself inexperienced compared to the guys my age who've been driving a shotgun for 25 years.

Regardless of the circumstances, two birds that are are stiff enough to use as a hammer aren't going in my bag. This is far from wanton waste, this is protecting myself and my family from unknown variables.

In any event, I learned something about fingering a dead bird in the ass.

The shooting will hopefully improve with time. I'll aim at the heads and see what I can do about a different choke. I was considering having my barrel modified to accept choke tubes - it's a full choke as-is.

I was hoping to get out again this week, but the weather looks like it's not going to cooperate, for a few days at least. We'll see what mother nature brings...
 
I've been hunting pheasants for ummm 50 years.
I miss a lot of pheasants, some days bad some days good.
Buildings have to be a long ways off before I'll shoot towards them. I am also a rifle deer hunter so the instinct is there to always have a plan where to shoot.

As far as a dead and stiff pheasant, I come across them, hens to. It's a personal call, I don't know what they die from, I have to leave them lay.
 
Pointemstraight said:
In any event, I learned something about fingering a dead bird in the ass.
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you will have some fun pheasant hunting from now on after you find a dead bird i see from ur comment??? use protection is all i can say u dont know wear that birds been...

sorry to say 25yrs is not in-experienced... & far to long to use a full choke if your not a dead eye??? again was just trying to help a guy that called him-self in-experienced on the thread...

happy safe hunting pointmestraight...
 
I know plenty of people who hunt with full chokes, alot of people shoot better with tighter patterns, me included. When I open up on my choke my shooting drops dramatically. I stop aiming and just shoot which usually results in a miss. When i tighten up I pay more attention to my mechanics and drop birds at much better rate. Plus when the wind is kicking 30 MPH I need the tightest pattern possible. Every hunter is different, what works for one might not for another..there is no one size or one way for everyone.
 
there was a great thread on the ammo thread about how todays modern ammo & chokes are so good & push such tight patterns that there is no need for any other choke then a IMP i tend to agree i used a mod for years hit some birds missed alot more i dont shoot past 40-45 yards 98% of the time so my pattern was way to tight i either blew up birds or missed clean... switched to IMP never knocked down so many birds in my life!!! if you have a fixed full choke witch i used in my ithaca for years you have no choice but to get another barrel many will not do that to much $$$

any way for a guy who admits he is having trouble hit n birds he may need a more open choke id say 60%-80% are using a IMP or SKEET really open type choke in early season then maybe switch to MOD for late season not many just use FULL maybe for ducks???

again try to help the guy hit stuff & dont just try to argue with me guys??? he say in 1 post hes in-experienced then he say he has 25 yrs experience??? was saying if a FULL choke didnt work in 25 yrs maybe try a IMPROVED???
 
He said he has 5 years. He does not have 25 years. Lets just drop it at this point and get back to what this thread is about. Hunting reports. Im headed to SD this weekend with a few guys from the site so im out this weekend. Whats the plan for everyone else?
 
SMO, clean the molt off your screen :) I've been pheasant hunting for about 5 years. Never shot a shotgun before that in my life, and pheasant season is short when you stack in other life responsibilities. Figure four outings a season for 5 years, that's probably less than 20 days in the field - hence, I consider myself inexperienced.

Appreciate the insight on the chokes though. Definitely something to consider. I need to go pattern the shotgun and see if the barrel labeling is consistent with the pattern it produces.
 
SD?!? You bastard.

Hope you guys have a solid trip. I should have ducked out of work this am and headed out - I thought it was supposed to be rain all day but that certainly didn't come to pass!


Tbear said:
He said he has 5 years. He does not have 25 years. Lets just drop it at this point and get back to what this thread is about. Hunting reports. Im headed to SD this weekend with a few guys from the site so im out this weekend. Whats the plan for everyone else?
Click to expand...
 
I was out duck hunting on the Mississippi this morning north of Anoka. Probably saw between 250-350 ducks..it looks like divers are starting to move in the area. Unfortunately once the birds came over the trees they hit the river like a highway. I imagine once some more ponds start to freeze they will be more interested in landing in the river but it was cool to see the large flocks ripping around.
 
sorry for that pointmestraight thought you said u were a sportsman ur entire life & pushed a shotgun for 25 years 20 trips out total in life yes u are in-experienced i wont try to bash you or help u out any longer i think you got the idea now... there is alot of guys im sure you would rather here from on the forum then me that will sugar coat things much better then i do for you...

heading out to SD tomorrow morning be there till sunday got the gear packed & just needs to be thrown in the van!!! cant wait 1st trip to SD for pheasants & prairie grouse...

will try to make it up north mon/tue-? for some deer hunting but i have 2 dogs & there not welcome in deer camp so i bet the shaft from deer season!!! last yr same thing 1st tme in like 15-17 yrs i didnt go MN deer hunting feels strange not to be in the deer woods for MN deer opener...
 
1st time out to SD? Where are you headed SMO?
 
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