MN Hunting Reports

Thanks Tbear, looking forward to doing it again. I did have one long shot that I connected on and Elle made a long blind retrieve in tall heavy grass. The other two were over a couple nice points and were quite easy shots. The Labs and Brittanys did very well together. Didn't think of some photos until I was on my way home. Next time!
 
Hey all!

Thought I would finally join up instead of being lazy and just browsing. :thumbsup:

I live in Prior Lake, so I hit some of the local WMA's and WPA's south of the cities on a moments notice quite a bit. Absolutely no birds down there at all. None. :D Ok, so pleasantly surprised this year. As always, might have to work for them a bit more, but it has been a good year so far.

Hit a Scott County WMA yesterday afternoon. Dog was super birdy, most certainly lots of running birds, flushed up 4 hens and one super small rooster too far out. Great to see the number of hens out there. Hit a WPA off the MN River for the first time. Looked really promising (down by Blakely) but the dog never got birdy.

I have been hunting both the Springfield/Worthington area as well as Fergus Falls area this year when I can. Have had great success in both locations.

Hunted Fergus Falls last Monday during the freeze up. Roosters were definitely starting to group up. One guy limit after about an hour, flushed up about 15 hens and 8 Roosters on the fringes of cattails. Better than expected.

Yep - no birds out there!

Heading out Thursday in the cold. Looking forward to getting into the WPA's more now. More opportunities to get the stink eye from the dog. lol

I will post what I see.

Good luck to everyone the rest of the year!

Prost!
 
Nice post fellow rookie. I can relate to the stink eye from the dog. More then I care to admit!

Good luck this weekend.
 
Picks from Small Munsterlander Owner

MN Success.

 
Another from Small Munsterlander

 
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thanks for posting these pics for me wayne i appreciate it like i said B4...

all birds are western MN public land birds was out with birbybritt on the hunts his dog sinner saved my A** once or twice on that trip... great dog he has...
 
Wednesday

Hunted the Benson, Litchfield area WIA's. My dog flushed a rooster, a hen and a runner that would not flush. Took the rooster. I found that my pheasant hunting skill are lacking. I'm grouse hunter for the most part. I hunt the pheasant opener with some friends and catch the easy first day birds. I take a trip to western Minnesota while I?m waiting for the deer hunters to clear out of District 100.

I live in the north metro and the Carlton/Cloquet area makes for an easy day trips. My dog has really figured out the game and raised her craft to a new level. I don't want this season to end. I figure hunting South and Western Minnesota will allow me to hunt well into December. Besides, the trappers scare me a little. They have little regard for upland hunters in the north. They set there traps and bait along the trails. They are supposed to mark their traps, but they don?t. You put a lot of time, money and effort to lose a dog like that. When you get snow cover up north traps are nearly impossible to see. The south will have milder weather.

I?m looking for the best general areas to hunt? What type of habitat I should be looking for? Are they in the cattails now? Do they move with ground cover snow? What do they like to eat corn, soybeans or something else? Are they always near water? Not your secret locations, just enough information to make informed decisions.

Thanks in advance for the advice.
 
ggburke said:
Hunted the Benson, Litchfield area WIA's. My dog flushed a rooster, a hen and a runner that would not flush. Took the rooster. I found that my pheasant hunting skill are lacking. I'm grouse hunter for the most part. I hunt the pheasant opener with some friends and catch the easy first day birds. I take a trip to western Minnesota while I?m waiting for the deer hunters to clear out of District 100.

I live in the north metro and the Carlton/Cloquet area makes for an easy day trips. My dog has really figured out the game and raised her craft to a new level. I don't want this season to end. I figure hunting South and Western Minnesota will allow me to hunt well into December. Besides, the trappers scare me a little. They have little regard for upland hunters in the north. They set there traps and bait along the trails. They are supposed to mark their traps, but they don?t. You put a lot of time, money and effort to lose a dog like that. When you get snow cover up north traps are nearly impossible to see. The south will have milder weather.

I?m looking for the best general areas to hunt? What type of habitat I should be looking for? Are they in the cattails now? Do they move with ground cover snow? What do they like to eat corn, soybeans or something else? Are they always near water? Not your secret locations, just enough information to make informed decisions.

Thanks in advance for the advice.
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Its really dependent on the weather right now. Sunny day with little wind they will be in the grass trying to get some sun. Windy, Rainy days they are going to be in the heavy cover. I hate cattails!!!! I will not walk them until we have 6+inches of snow on the ground and they are 100% frozen. If you think they are in them walk the edge and send the dog in to check them out. You will always find birds in them but you can find just as many hunting in other places as well. Willow thickets with grass growing in them. Creek draws tree strips in the morning. Are you hunting solo or with another person? Hunting solo is a whole different game that 2+ people. As far as were to go look at the mn dnr forcast map and were there is a decent amount of public land to hunt and give it a try. Good luck let us know how it goes:thumbsup:
 
Anybody else get out in the wind today? Wow it had to be a steady 30mph. Managed to get 4 between 3 of us.
 
put the rooster hunt on hold and was out on the river shooting waterfowl all weekend. Man it was cold and the water was frozen..big old ice chunks were ripping down the mississippi. This wknd hunting ducks on the river was probably one of my most memorable hunts I have had to date. The conditions were brutal, the environment of the river just seems so powerful and serene. The dog work was outstanding and the birds were everywhere. It was one of the most challenging hunts I have been on and it made it that much more exciting. It also seemed quite dangerous which added a bit to the adrenaline. When your dog is dodging ice boulders in a fast flowing river trying to chase down birds it can scare you a bit. Thankfully everything went just fine. What a great time. Now that waterfowl season is closed (minus the south zone) my attention will be fully spent on rudys. Looking forward to not having to de-thaw my dog and get her in the field.
 
Hit it hard Tuesday, West of the cities. Wind was brutal pushing 35mph. Birds a plenty. But very skittish in the wind. Ended up with 2 roosters for 2 guys. Not great, but seeing a lot of birds was encouraging.

Hunted the Sleepy Eye area this morning. Again, windy and got shut out. Flushed 2 hens. Disappointed. At least got to run the dog.
 
Got out today. Took my 82year old grandfather! Managed two birds. A few other birds probably could have been in the bag but it was a good time. Headed out solo tomorrow.
 
That had to be a special day with Grandad Tbear. You never know how many more days like that will be possible, so each one is very special I'll bet. :thumbsup:
 
Went out today in the fresh snow. Went out in SW, long drive but worth every minute! Got my 3 by 2pm, should have been done sooner but I lost one and missed one. Did see a good amount of birds, still very skittish even with a fresh. 6 inches of snow. Glad I got to go out! Dog and I both enjoyed the day.



 
I was out on sat in central mn and got my limit. Hunted private land for a few hours. I also found a beautiful set of deer sheds. Found a monster 12 point with a drop tine. I am also still muzzle loading and hoping to shoot a monster.
 
Headed out SW of Watertown, SD to check out some public area. Too many cattails for this ol' guy. So, since I was only a few miles from MN I jumped the border and hit a couple of small private land patches and got my 3 birds. Didn't see many though, nor did I see a lot of tracks. One rooster flushed as I pushed toward a gravel road. I dropped in the stubble across the road and it took off running for a tree grove behind a farm some 300 yards away. Dogs didn't see it go down and by the time I got them in the area where he went down he was in the trees. I loaded up the dogs and drove over to the farm yard to ask about looking for the bird. No one home. So I drove back to the road where he went down and walked across the field unarmed with the dogs. We no more got to the trees and my older dog had it pointed. The rooster had burrowed into a hollow log. Mattie could get a grip on him to pull him out. she just ended up with a mouth full of feathers. So I reached in, grabbed his tail to pull him out, got him half way and pulled all the tail feathers out. Finally was able to reach in and grab a leg. Bird recovered. Always glad to find those runners.
 
Nice to here that you found some birds Zeb! Im hopping to get out soon. Its been almost 2 weeks for me:eek:
 
Had a great time hunting SW MN this weekend and managed to keep the dogs happy too with plenty of birds to put up. Flushed over 50 birds in two hours of hunting on Saturday and got these 3 in a little over an hour of hunting on Sunday. So far this has been my best season since I took up pheasant hunting 4 years ago.


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I saw some nice birds yesterday, 4 roosters and 6 hens together. And a couple singles. Not seeing much else around here right now. So letting them be. Think I am done. Maybe go one or two more times . Not going to waste my time around home.
 
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Running past Madelia (Pheasant capital of MN, according to the signs) saw a flock on open ground. I counted 9 roosters in the group. They were right next to a swamp with lots of trespass signs around it. And I was a long way from my dog and gun.
 
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