MN opener

In the mid to late 50's, Minnesota opened pheasant hunting at noon on Saturday. There were so many birds and hunters that the shooting around the countryside (western MN) was nearly continuous for the first hour. On Sunday morning shooting hours changed to 10 am, closing time was sunset. The Boy Scout troop served breakfast to hunters in the city hall on Sunday morning of opening weekend and many families put up hunters in their homes. Sometime in the 70's or 80's (I think it was) there was a year or two where they allowed hunting one-half hour before sunrise. It was very hard to tell hens from roosters at a half hour before sunrise, especially on cloudy days. I remember getting into a flock of about 25 just 5 minutes into the season. We knew there were roosters in the flock because they were cackling, but we couldn't see any color on any of them. In the late 50's and early sixties, despite high bird numbers, the season was only about 30 days long, sure glad they changed that.
 
each yeah there is a published walk in hunting map free if u call mndnr or pick 1 up at sportuing good store.

mndnr recreation atlas is best... i use delorme or mn state hunting maps for different regions

also a mndnr prime maps
 
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never mind t bears sportsmans connection all outdoors atlas ive been using for years

look at the mndnr recreation compass to find any new wmas wpas etc.
 
As for finding public land to hunt, I use Google Earth for Minnesota. The DNR offers a couple of files that you can load into Google Earth (which is free) and it'll give you the boundaries of all the WMA and WIA land in the state. It doesn't have WPA land in the app, but typically if you're in an area with abundant WMA land you'll stumble across some nice WPA land while driving around.
 
For the "opener" I won't go anywhere near public land that Saturday morning at 9am. It's just not worth all of the hassle nor is it worth risking your safety. By Sunday afternoon the big groups of one-time-a-season hunters are gone and back on the couches (with their overweight labs) watching the Vikings (although I suppose this year the Vikes have a bye). This year I'm going to wait until Columbus Day and head SW from the Cities. I'll probably head a little past New Ulm to hunt some of those WMA's. I'll save my 3-4 really long day trip drives of ~3 hours until a little later in the season when the corn comes out.
 
your correct 9:00 am on opener is a zoo but you gotta be to ur spot by 7:00 am anyways to hold it down on opener... gotta have a plan. . find a wma with 1 parking spot not bordered by a road so guys can just leap frog u etc.
 
My observation is the leap frogging and cutting off hunters is truly a Minnesota thing. Never witnessed that in the Dakotas or Kansas. There the other group keeps on going.

I kill enough pheasants in Minnesota that opening day is not even a consideration now that my private land connection is gone away..
 
BRITTMAN said:
My observation is the leap frogging and cutting off hunters is truly a Minnesota thing. Never witnessed that in the Dakotas or Kansas. There the other group keeps on going.

I kill enough pheasants in Minnesota that opening day is not even a consideration now that my private land connection is gone away..
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I just cant miss opener I have waited to long to get out. I think your right on the leap frogging is a MN thing. I hate it! If you see someone parked go find another spot. Hey if its a really big spot I would say 150+ acres may be then go hunt the other side. Even better go talk to the guys that are already there see how many are in there group make some new friends. Figure out what they are planning on doing ask them if they would mind. If they would just move on they were there first its the respectful thing to do. Minnesota nice until it hunting season and then I think people just loose all proper etiquette.
 
I'm not making opener this year for the first time in a very long time as I'll be celebrating 20 years with my favorite dog co-owner. I do however get to go SD the following weekend for their opener and again three weeks later.

The first year I hunted Ivanhoe we had a group of roughly 10. We parked 7 vehicles spaced out 2 hours early to hold a field for opener. At 8:50 a husband and wife pulled in between two of our trucks jumped out and went directly to the best part of the field. Still before 9am we heard several shots. Before we caught up with them they had hooked around to their SUV and left.
 
had to stop hunting that area way to many rude hunters opener & mea are just insane how rude & or dumb people are...

had guys do the same thing to me in SD & NE there are a holes every wear & not just on opener in mn i sure SD same way on opener... its like they only have 1 wma/gpa/wpa in mind too hunt they gonna hunt it if somebody else is there or not...??? they need to teach the if somebody is there 1st just go hunt another spot thing in gun/hunter safety asap!!!

had a guy in hugo 1 time pull up with a kid under 12 & ask u guys just get n done or just going out & what direction u going to hunt etc. as we told em just going out & pointed wear we were going he says ok pulls his suv just off the road barely & bails out with kid in toe going to hunt the same stuff we just said we were gonna hunt??? i had to say thats real nice to teach the kid... he looked at me like i was not speaking the english & stoped walking i then asked why he even bothered asking wear we were gonna hunt all he said was well its public land 1st come 1st serve??? we just left... in shock i was 18 didnt know public land was that cut throat yet lol
 
Byrdoglvr said:
I'm not making opener this year for the first time in a very long time as I'll be celebrating 20 years with my favorite dog co-owner. I do however get to go SD the following weekend for their opener and again three weeks later.

The first year I hunted Ivanhoe we had a group of roughly 10. We parked 7 vehicles spaced out 2 hours early to hold a field for opener. At 8:50 a husband and wife pulled in between two of our trucks jumped out and went directly to the best part of the field. Still before 9am we heard several shots. Before we caught up with them they had hooked around to their SUV and left.
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lotta guys duck hunt till pheasant opens so lets hope the early shots herd were waterfowlers...???

much worse on opener to see a army half drunk from nite b4 pull up at 8:58 at the same wma parking spot you been at since 7:00 am & be like this place is plenty big for both groups etc. lol gotta love opener the hunting is not the best but more dummys out that wk end then any other...
 
My favorite is to watch the Vikings and go hunting after they play. Had worked for me for 40 years. It eliminates all of the a$$aches of trying to go at 9am.
 
good tactic bummer if the vikes play at 3:00 like today but i like ur style reddog... id rather drive around my area at 9:00 see wear guys are then hunt them areas after my 1st walk of day etc. if i need it id rather limit by 12:00 & then watch the vikes but that rarely happens...

oh & the drive around @ 9:00 start time thing dont help on opener every wma has a few guys i just hope my dog is better then the other guys then i guess...
 
The more I read these opener stories the more it makes me want to stay far, far away.

Two pheasants just isn't worth all the trouble with dealing with all the goofballs.

I'm still planning on just waiting until the Monday after the opener to head out. I'm guessing all the couch potato labs will miss plenty of birds over the weekend... ;)
 
Seve said:
The more I read these opener stories the more it makes me want to stay far, far away.

Two pheasants just isn't worth all the trouble with dealing with all the goofballs.

I'm still planning on just waiting until the Monday after the opener to head out. I'm guessing all the couch potato labs will miss plenty of birds over the weekend... ;)
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Yeah. I never hunt openers. The week after is usually much better.
 
like almost 80% of pheasants harvested are shot with in first 2 wks of opener ive never liked hunting pheasants till nov so im not worried... i cant miss a opertunity to pheasant hunt so instead of chooseing not to go i choose to hunt smarter if u have enuff guys/cars u can hold down the wmas not surrounded by parking or acess areas & hunt all day & not have issues...
after opener u can hunt multi wmas in 1 day with not much issues on opener u get maybe 1 virgin walk a day once...

monday would be the last day of the wk to have a good hunt id assume??? birds will be spooky from opener id say??? wed would be my choice if i did not hunt opener let the birds srttle down or back into there routine again... that said i hunt sat-mon of opener... i hunt the same wmas for most part at least i know wear i stunk it up is my theory
 
It's not looking like I will make it out on the opening day, I have a family member that is the lead in her HS Play Saturday afternoon and I have decided to go support her after her family has shown up to tons of my sporting events in my younger days.

Sunday I would love to go, have no plans the entire day, plus NO VIKINGS GAME! However, with the temps pushing 80 degrees, I might just stay home. Or maybe the thought that I could be out hunting will make me go out for a bit! My black lab does not handle heat well, and by heat I mean anything above 50 degrees, with preferable temps being below freezing.
 
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