MN report
- Thread starter Bob Peters
- Start date
Springer22
Well-known member
I tried for an hour this morning, flushed a few birds. And then decided it was a bit too windy 
holy smokes Batman was it blowing.
holy smokes Batman was it blowing.You aren't kidding. Will post my report later, but it was darn windy. Over 40 mph gusts. 34 mph average when I checked a couple times. 13 below zero windchill when I got back to the vehicle at sunset. 16 below with the gusts. There were times when I had to lean into the wind to stay standing.I tried for an hour this morning, flushed a few birds. And then decided it was a bit too windy
Man, can those hens ride that wind when they get up.
Springer22
Well-known member
Yup. Had a few hens that looked like diver ducks cruising by.
carptom1
Well-known member
You mean dropping birds that you can’t recover? Sounds like quality to me
Report for December 4th, 2024, SW MN, public land hunt.
Drove through wintery mix coming down, in the metro, which slowed traffic. Didn't start the hunting until about 10:20 AM. It was supposed to be 25 mph average wind speed. They lied! And then they adjusted the "forecast" to be 34 mph. I had planned on it getting below 0 windchill by about 3 pm, but we got it closer to 2 pm. The wind was gusting into the 40s. There were a couple times where it really gusted up and I had to lean into it to stay standing. We also had some sleet at one point, had sandstorm like ice crystals blowing in our face on a big open slough, and snow by the time we got back to the vehicle. A bit chilly on the face and ears.
The whole reason I picked that day for hunting was because today was going to be colder. Then I looked at the wind and realized it was going to be pretty windy on the 4th. But I figured it might still be warmer feeling than the single digit temps of today. It probably would have felt warmer going today. Luckily, tomorrow will be *much* warmer, and anyone going out Saturday and Sunday will be toasty (40s for temps).
This was when we got back to the vehicle, at 2:20 pm. No idea where they got that 34 degrees from. I certainly didn't experience it.
As for the birds... I had hunted this WPA on October 25th and had seen some roosters, but didn't get any. I figured it was worth a shot. It is surrounded by tilled corn on 3 sides. We started getting into some hens, hiding in cattails or near/in thickets. One was in some really dense snake grass. Honey had gone on point and then decided it wasn't still there. I started walking through it, and saw some movement in the stalks for a few seconds before the hen flushed.
We finally made our way around to the slough that I thought might be our best bet. It was on a back corner that should, theoretically get less hunting pressure. The creek that feeds the slough had 3 or 4 beaver dams/lodges on it, with open water. Otherwise, the water was hard enough to walk on, in the creek and the slough. The cattails were mostly sparse/laid down/humped, so walking wasn't difficult. Just not a lot of areas for them to be hiding.
Part way across the slough, I found some tracks that looked fairly fresh. They had gotten a dusting of snow in the area since we hunted it the Saturday prior. Maybe a quarter of an inch or less on the ice. I called Honey over to point out the tracks, and it turned out they still held scent. She tracked quickly a few yards away and slammed on point next to a mound of laid over cattails. It was about 10 feet in diameter and a little over waist high. I positioned myself on the downwind side and coaxed Honey to dive in by kicking the edges. No go. She did bound a yard or so to the opposite end, and back, a couple times -- a sure sign that there was a bird in there that was moving around and she expected a flush. I finally waded in and the bird, which I assumed would be a hen, erupted. On the contrary, it turned out to be my old nemesis -- the short-tailed rooster, flying low and straight away. In this case, it was flying to my 3:00 position. I wasn't able to quickly get my body turned, and it was going like a bat out of hell. By the time I did get turned for a shot, he had given himself some distance between us. He was also going up and down as he tried to navigate the (literally) gale force wind. That didn't help any. I nipped him in the butt with my first shot. Didn't touch him with the next 2 shots. He flew back to the creek, which was lined with thickets. Over the top of the thicket and then I saw him drop quickly on the other side. I hoped he had succumbed to his butt injuries.
We made our way back to the creek and looked for him. No go. He must have just dipped down on the other side to stay lower and out of the wind, but must have kept on trucking. All told, we saw 7 hens and the 1 rooster. By the time we got within eyesight of the vehicle, I had to plan our approach to switch which ear was facing the wind periodically, even with my hoody hood tied on my head, because it was going through the material and freezing my ears.
After taking some time to thaw out, I started thinking about where to go next. Then it hit me. There is a WMA that has a big, shallow slough on it. It is normally difficult to hunt, because of all the water and a long way to walk around. But now that we have some ice, I thought I might be able to get into the cattails and it might not have been hunted much since it was solid enough to navigate. We drove the 20 minutes to the spot and planned our attack.
I also took the opportunity to dig out a type of fleece neck gaiter that has bumps that go up toward your ears, and a pocket on each side for a disposable hand warmer. I didn't want the front of it in front of my mouth, because it gets wet from condensation in my breath, but I did want those ear pieces up by my ears. I had to settle for a compromise position that wasn't great in either regard. I still had my hoody over the top of it and tied too. It definitely helped and I was very glad I had the extra neck gaiter.
The slough had a farm on the opposite side from the parking area. Within the public land, there is a dense shelter belt that lines that far side. Cut corn was behind us, across the road. Up and to the right of the wma, there was tilled corn. So maybe 1/3 of that edge had corn next to it. I decided we'd make our way around the right side of the slough and see what the shelter belt held. It is too tangled to walk through, but we've seen birds pile out of there in the past. The first thing I found was that there were soft spots on the edge of the slough and I went in a few inches -- enough to find out that I had a leak in my right muck boot. I didn't gather a gallon of water or anything, but enough to wet the bottom of my foot. (Which reminds me, I need to patch that after posting this, so I'll be ready for tomorrow's hunt!)
We did find birds, but they all looked to be hens, and most were flushing wild. We followed the bush line across the far side, right to left. When it got closer to the slough, we started hunting that a bit more. We cut across laid down areas of cattails, working the edges between them and the still standing stuff. The sun, which had decided to hide behind the clouds when we got to this spot, finally came out to greet us. Unfortunately, we were walking right into it, which made identifying some of the birds impossible. We finally got close to the edge of the wma, about the last 1/3rd of the far left side of the property. We were just exiting the cattails, when a bird got up in front of us, moving right to left, with the wind. I couldn't tell what it was, because of the sun, but I thought it might be a rooster. A few seconds later, another 2 birds got up a little to the right of there. At least one of them was a rooster. He was quartering away from me, left to right. I shot 2 or 3 times. No go. Then 2 other rooster got up passing by my right side, using the wind to their advantage. I picked out the first and ended up shooting 2 or 3 times. Nothing. That one was definitely gettable.
We worked the edge of the cattails in the direction of the parking area, which was still 600 to 800 yards away. Honey investigated some dense humps of cattails in front of a thicket and went on point. I wasn't sure if she was in the thicket or in the cattails. I finally found her 5 yards or so outside of the thicket, on point, with her head turned to the right at the clump next to her. As I approached, the rooster flushed up, mostly cross wind. I think I shot 2 times before he became a rocket. Another gettable bird gone. Great point by Honey, however.
We started back towards the main edge of the slough, when I saw a rooster, 60+ yards, flying right to left, directly into the wind, on the edge of the cattails, and he had 2 friends 10 yards behind him, right next to each other, doing the same thing. The lead bird got up and up and up and up, which meant he was catching more and more wind, and getting a little closer to us, but also more distance due to height. I took one long lead shot. Nope. The other two had disappeared by then. If they were just a little closer, I would have tried for them, as they were moving in slow motion, due to the wind they were bucking.
We made our way in and out of the edges of the cattails and laid down stuff just outside the tails for another couple hundred yards. A rooster got up wild. A better opportunity than the previously pointed bird. 2 or 3 shots, and nothing. I'm pretty sure I wasn't shooting blanks, but I might as well have been. He was the last rooster we saw.
All in all, we saw 21 hens/unknowns and 8 verified roosters. I was encouraged that there were still roosters there. For whatever reason, they were all clustered in a few hundred yards along the corner of the property to the left of the parking area. We'll probably try to visit them for the last few hours of the hunt, tomorrow, to see if my shooting is any better. The hope is they'll have settled back into that corner.
Second Minnesota skunk of the season, and they were back to back. However, unlike the first one, we did see more roosters. That is good or bad, depending on how you look at it.
By the time we got back to the vehicle, the temp had dropped to 10 degrees and the wind was still reported at 34 mph, gusting into the 40s. So about -13 to -16 below windchill. Looking forward to a little less drastic weather for tomorrow's hunt.
Drove through wintery mix coming down, in the metro, which slowed traffic. Didn't start the hunting until about 10:20 AM. It was supposed to be 25 mph average wind speed. They lied! And then they adjusted the "forecast" to be 34 mph. I had planned on it getting below 0 windchill by about 3 pm, but we got it closer to 2 pm. The wind was gusting into the 40s. There were a couple times where it really gusted up and I had to lean into it to stay standing. We also had some sleet at one point, had sandstorm like ice crystals blowing in our face on a big open slough, and snow by the time we got back to the vehicle. A bit chilly on the face and ears.
The whole reason I picked that day for hunting was because today was going to be colder. Then I looked at the wind and realized it was going to be pretty windy on the 4th. But I figured it might still be warmer feeling than the single digit temps of today. It probably would have felt warmer going today. Luckily, tomorrow will be *much* warmer, and anyone going out Saturday and Sunday will be toasty (40s for temps).
This was when we got back to the vehicle, at 2:20 pm. No idea where they got that 34 degrees from. I certainly didn't experience it.
As for the birds... I had hunted this WPA on October 25th and had seen some roosters, but didn't get any. I figured it was worth a shot. It is surrounded by tilled corn on 3 sides. We started getting into some hens, hiding in cattails or near/in thickets. One was in some really dense snake grass. Honey had gone on point and then decided it wasn't still there. I started walking through it, and saw some movement in the stalks for a few seconds before the hen flushed.
We finally made our way around to the slough that I thought might be our best bet. It was on a back corner that should, theoretically get less hunting pressure. The creek that feeds the slough had 3 or 4 beaver dams/lodges on it, with open water. Otherwise, the water was hard enough to walk on, in the creek and the slough. The cattails were mostly sparse/laid down/humped, so walking wasn't difficult. Just not a lot of areas for them to be hiding.
Part way across the slough, I found some tracks that looked fairly fresh. They had gotten a dusting of snow in the area since we hunted it the Saturday prior. Maybe a quarter of an inch or less on the ice. I called Honey over to point out the tracks, and it turned out they still held scent. She tracked quickly a few yards away and slammed on point next to a mound of laid over cattails. It was about 10 feet in diameter and a little over waist high. I positioned myself on the downwind side and coaxed Honey to dive in by kicking the edges. No go. She did bound a yard or so to the opposite end, and back, a couple times -- a sure sign that there was a bird in there that was moving around and she expected a flush. I finally waded in and the bird, which I assumed would be a hen, erupted. On the contrary, it turned out to be my old nemesis -- the short-tailed rooster, flying low and straight away. In this case, it was flying to my 3:00 position. I wasn't able to quickly get my body turned, and it was going like a bat out of hell. By the time I did get turned for a shot, he had given himself some distance between us. He was also going up and down as he tried to navigate the (literally) gale force wind. That didn't help any. I nipped him in the butt with my first shot. Didn't touch him with the next 2 shots. He flew back to the creek, which was lined with thickets. Over the top of the thicket and then I saw him drop quickly on the other side. I hoped he had succumbed to his butt injuries.
We made our way back to the creek and looked for him. No go. He must have just dipped down on the other side to stay lower and out of the wind, but must have kept on trucking. All told, we saw 7 hens and the 1 rooster. By the time we got within eyesight of the vehicle, I had to plan our approach to switch which ear was facing the wind periodically, even with my hoody hood tied on my head, because it was going through the material and freezing my ears.
After taking some time to thaw out, I started thinking about where to go next. Then it hit me. There is a WMA that has a big, shallow slough on it. It is normally difficult to hunt, because of all the water and a long way to walk around. But now that we have some ice, I thought I might be able to get into the cattails and it might not have been hunted much since it was solid enough to navigate. We drove the 20 minutes to the spot and planned our attack.
I also took the opportunity to dig out a type of fleece neck gaiter that has bumps that go up toward your ears, and a pocket on each side for a disposable hand warmer. I didn't want the front of it in front of my mouth, because it gets wet from condensation in my breath, but I did want those ear pieces up by my ears. I had to settle for a compromise position that wasn't great in either regard. I still had my hoody over the top of it and tied too. It definitely helped and I was very glad I had the extra neck gaiter.
The slough had a farm on the opposite side from the parking area. Within the public land, there is a dense shelter belt that lines that far side. Cut corn was behind us, across the road. Up and to the right of the wma, there was tilled corn. So maybe 1/3 of that edge had corn next to it. I decided we'd make our way around the right side of the slough and see what the shelter belt held. It is too tangled to walk through, but we've seen birds pile out of there in the past. The first thing I found was that there were soft spots on the edge of the slough and I went in a few inches -- enough to find out that I had a leak in my right muck boot. I didn't gather a gallon of water or anything, but enough to wet the bottom of my foot. (Which reminds me, I need to patch that after posting this, so I'll be ready for tomorrow's hunt!)
We did find birds, but they all looked to be hens, and most were flushing wild. We followed the bush line across the far side, right to left. When it got closer to the slough, we started hunting that a bit more. We cut across laid down areas of cattails, working the edges between them and the still standing stuff. The sun, which had decided to hide behind the clouds when we got to this spot, finally came out to greet us. Unfortunately, we were walking right into it, which made identifying some of the birds impossible. We finally got close to the edge of the wma, about the last 1/3rd of the far left side of the property. We were just exiting the cattails, when a bird got up in front of us, moving right to left, with the wind. I couldn't tell what it was, because of the sun, but I thought it might be a rooster. A few seconds later, another 2 birds got up a little to the right of there. At least one of them was a rooster. He was quartering away from me, left to right. I shot 2 or 3 times. No go. Then 2 other rooster got up passing by my right side, using the wind to their advantage. I picked out the first and ended up shooting 2 or 3 times. Nothing. That one was definitely gettable.
We worked the edge of the cattails in the direction of the parking area, which was still 600 to 800 yards away. Honey investigated some dense humps of cattails in front of a thicket and went on point. I wasn't sure if she was in the thicket or in the cattails. I finally found her 5 yards or so outside of the thicket, on point, with her head turned to the right at the clump next to her. As I approached, the rooster flushed up, mostly cross wind. I think I shot 2 times before he became a rocket. Another gettable bird gone. Great point by Honey, however.
We started back towards the main edge of the slough, when I saw a rooster, 60+ yards, flying right to left, directly into the wind, on the edge of the cattails, and he had 2 friends 10 yards behind him, right next to each other, doing the same thing. The lead bird got up and up and up and up, which meant he was catching more and more wind, and getting a little closer to us, but also more distance due to height. I took one long lead shot. Nope. The other two had disappeared by then. If they were just a little closer, I would have tried for them, as they were moving in slow motion, due to the wind they were bucking.
We made our way in and out of the edges of the cattails and laid down stuff just outside the tails for another couple hundred yards. A rooster got up wild. A better opportunity than the previously pointed bird. 2 or 3 shots, and nothing. I'm pretty sure I wasn't shooting blanks, but I might as well have been. He was the last rooster we saw.
All in all, we saw 21 hens/unknowns and 8 verified roosters. I was encouraged that there were still roosters there. For whatever reason, they were all clustered in a few hundred yards along the corner of the property to the left of the parking area. We'll probably try to visit them for the last few hours of the hunt, tomorrow, to see if my shooting is any better. The hope is they'll have settled back into that corner.
Second Minnesota skunk of the season, and they were back to back. However, unlike the first one, we did see more roosters. That is good or bad, depending on how you look at it.
By the time we got back to the vehicle, the temp had dropped to 10 degrees and the wind was still reported at 34 mph, gusting into the 40s. So about -13 to -16 below windchill. Looking forward to a little less drastic weather for tomorrow's hunt.
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Goosemaster
Well-known member
Went out today on a frozen crick.Got a rooster in thick cover,fell on ice and busted my ass.Yellow made good retrieve.Heard bird cackling near tree.Had sun in my eyes and missed with the Ithaca when he flushed off hill.Made a straight away shot,but lost bird.
Report for December 6th, 2024, SC MN, public land hunt.
We arrived at our first spot at around 9:30. It is a WMA, with a wide creek running through it, separating the two halves. A harvested corn field ran along the north edge, with us parked at the NW corner. Wind was out of the west, but single digits. 20 deg temp to start, but quickly went up into the 30s and even hit 41 when we got to the 2nd location close to 3.
I picked this spot, that I have hunted before sunset in some past years, because it has a larger slough on it that isn't accessible until the water freezes. And more importantly, the corn field edge along the south side, in the SE corner has no access, other than private land, unless you can cross that slough.
We made our way down the north side, a mix of trees and brush, without a lot of activity. I did see 2 doves that were enjoying their season being over. There is a lot of beaver activity, and down from one of their dams, it was open, running water for quite a ways, out the east side of the property. So we backtracked and crossed the creek on another dam that looked more stable, upstream.
Aside from a wild flush from a hen, I don't think we saw anything else on the way over to the slough. The slough has, in many parts, cattails that are chest height or lower, and there are areas with blow downs and is mostly navigable. We made our way along the east edge of the property line, that crosses the slough. We could have ventured further east, due to water laws, but we didn't on this trip. I was a little cautious with the ice, and wanted to get over to the other side in a more direct route.
As we approached the SE corner of the property a bird got up wild. It may have been a rooster, but I couldn't tell for sure. We hit the other side and started working along the solid ground between the corn field and the slough, moving west. As we approached a tree, ahead and to my left, with wide, low branches, a rooster got up between it and the edge of the field, heading west. The tree was between me and the bird, with the bird at about 20 yards. I took one shot through the branches before the bird passed behind the trunk. I thought I saw him dip down a bit at the shot, but he kept going. By the time he cleared the branches on the other side of the tree, and I could see him again, he was a ways out there. One more shot, but he kept moving. I followed his progress as he sailed along the edge of the slough, and finally lost sight of him up by a patch of reed grass, about 600 yards ahead of us.
We continued on, hiking west, into the light breeze, and Honey went on point 100 to 200 yards ahead on the edge of the slough, looking to her right (north), at a higher cluster of cattails, surrounded by blow down on the slough side and some brush on the land side. When I got within about 15-20 yards of the patch, the bird must have started flushing, as honey launched into the cluster. The bird had a hard time getting out the NW side of the patch, and I hit him hard in the back before he could pick up speed. Honey was on him, but disappointed that he remained motionless. A nice sized 2nd or 3rd year bird. A good harvest to break the skunk streak of my previous 2 outings.
We kept working the south edge, until we got to where the slough bulges to the south, so we were then walking on hard water instead of the edge. About 150 yards from the reed grass patch I had marked as a possibility for the first rooster's landing area, a rooster cackled loudly up by that patch, and 2 other roosters called back from the north side of the long, wide thicket that runs along the north side of the slough.
Just shy of the reed grass, Honey went on point. It took me a minute to find her ahead of me, as the criss crossing belly height cattails obscured my view of the ice. I got directly behind her and saw she was looking to the right. The rooster got up and provided me a very gettable shot, as it veered to the right. I tickled him 2 times out of *4* shots (I can't remember taking 4 shots on a bird), but he went on his merry way, up and over the thicket ridge on the other side of the slough, some 600+ yards away.
We pressed on through the edge of the reed grass and Honey went on point at the edge of some blow down, where it meets up with the standing tails. As I approached her from behind, she moved forward, and I heard what I thought was a couple flaps, but no flush. I went up there expecting her to have a hen, but when I looked down, I saw a rooster tail to one side of her head, conforming she had a boy pinned against the ice. I reached down and pulled him up by the butt. A drop of blood came out of his beak, and he gave up the ghost several seconds later. That's unusual, because I haven't known Honey to chomp on birds. I still need to clean him today, but I am giving him a greater than 50% chance of being the first bird I shot at behind the tree.
On the NW side of the slough is another tilled corn field. Staying on the hard water, we made our way past the public land boundary, and then started working that edge back to the north. I should mention we would come across hens here and there, with a mix of holding relatively tight and wild flushes.
At one point, I got out my phone so I would know when we could venture back on solid ground if needed. Just then, Honey came from the upwind side of a rooster in the cattails near the edge, and he flushed. He banked to my right, but was over the solid ground, so I couldn't take a shot. It would have been awkward anyway, with my phone in my left hand. I watched him sail back over the thicket, near where the previous, 4 shot bird, had gone.
We got back to public land and worked the thicket and edge of the cattails down the north side of the slough 400 yards or so until we could get around to the other side of the thicket. On the other side is an open area maybe 300 yards across, and 400 yards long, in a U shape, with thickets forming the boundary and the creek on the other side of the thickets to our right. There is some frozen water here and there in this area, but mostly wetland grasses. I did spy a smaller chunk of cattails up ahead, to the left, next to the thicket, and thought it could be promising.
I think a hen or two got up as we worked forward and back and forth across the area. We finally got up to the small patch of cattails. Honey was to the south of them, with not much of a westerly breeze in this sheltered area. Still, she was getting some ground scent as she worked toward the cattails. I positioned myself east of the clump. As she got into the edges, she was sniffing the air a bit, and then launched -- a sure sign birds were starting to flush or run. As the birds rose, I heard at least 2 of the 3 roosters cackle. I drew down on the closest one of the 3 easily gettable birds, knowing my Minnesota December limit would be filled. But... No bang! No click! Frantically, I got my finger back on the safety to push it the rest of the way off. But when I focused back on the cacklers, they were out of range. Two flew over the thicket, back to the slough, presumably, and one flew ahead along the thicket. All I could do was laugh.
We did meet up with one more rooster ahead, where a thicket meets with an oxbow offshoot of the main creek. He, of course, flushed behind some of the thicket branches and into the sun, and my 2 shots didn't connect.
By the time we got back to the vehicle, our numbers stood at 16 hens/unknowns, and 9 roosters, including the 2 in the bag. We would have to hunt another spot if we wanted a chance at that 3rd bird, but felt good at having 2 locked in.
We went back to the place we had hunted in the mini-hurricane/blizzard last outing. We had found a cluster of roosters in the SW corner edge of the large slough there. But when we arrived, we saw a white pickup at the parking area. A brief discussion revealed he was just leaving and had walked the perimeter counter clockwise. I wasn't sure if that meant the cattails or outside the thicket that runs along the south edge of the round slough. We decided it was a big enough place that we'd still try our luck. 41 degrees at the start and about 33 degrees when we got back to the suv.
We ended up circling the slough in a clockwise fashion, and only met up with 9 hens. The warm weather probably had the roosters in private land, without cattails, but without hunters too.
A safety flub away from a 3 bird limit, we ended the day, thankful for the opportunity to be out in nature and adding to our shared experiences bank of memories.
We arrived at our first spot at around 9:30. It is a WMA, with a wide creek running through it, separating the two halves. A harvested corn field ran along the north edge, with us parked at the NW corner. Wind was out of the west, but single digits. 20 deg temp to start, but quickly went up into the 30s and even hit 41 when we got to the 2nd location close to 3.
I picked this spot, that I have hunted before sunset in some past years, because it has a larger slough on it that isn't accessible until the water freezes. And more importantly, the corn field edge along the south side, in the SE corner has no access, other than private land, unless you can cross that slough.
We made our way down the north side, a mix of trees and brush, without a lot of activity. I did see 2 doves that were enjoying their season being over. There is a lot of beaver activity, and down from one of their dams, it was open, running water for quite a ways, out the east side of the property. So we backtracked and crossed the creek on another dam that looked more stable, upstream.
Aside from a wild flush from a hen, I don't think we saw anything else on the way over to the slough. The slough has, in many parts, cattails that are chest height or lower, and there are areas with blow downs and is mostly navigable. We made our way along the east edge of the property line, that crosses the slough. We could have ventured further east, due to water laws, but we didn't on this trip. I was a little cautious with the ice, and wanted to get over to the other side in a more direct route.
As we approached the SE corner of the property a bird got up wild. It may have been a rooster, but I couldn't tell for sure. We hit the other side and started working along the solid ground between the corn field and the slough, moving west. As we approached a tree, ahead and to my left, with wide, low branches, a rooster got up between it and the edge of the field, heading west. The tree was between me and the bird, with the bird at about 20 yards. I took one shot through the branches before the bird passed behind the trunk. I thought I saw him dip down a bit at the shot, but he kept going. By the time he cleared the branches on the other side of the tree, and I could see him again, he was a ways out there. One more shot, but he kept moving. I followed his progress as he sailed along the edge of the slough, and finally lost sight of him up by a patch of reed grass, about 600 yards ahead of us.
We continued on, hiking west, into the light breeze, and Honey went on point 100 to 200 yards ahead on the edge of the slough, looking to her right (north), at a higher cluster of cattails, surrounded by blow down on the slough side and some brush on the land side. When I got within about 15-20 yards of the patch, the bird must have started flushing, as honey launched into the cluster. The bird had a hard time getting out the NW side of the patch, and I hit him hard in the back before he could pick up speed. Honey was on him, but disappointed that he remained motionless. A nice sized 2nd or 3rd year bird. A good harvest to break the skunk streak of my previous 2 outings.
We kept working the south edge, until we got to where the slough bulges to the south, so we were then walking on hard water instead of the edge. About 150 yards from the reed grass patch I had marked as a possibility for the first rooster's landing area, a rooster cackled loudly up by that patch, and 2 other roosters called back from the north side of the long, wide thicket that runs along the north side of the slough.
Just shy of the reed grass, Honey went on point. It took me a minute to find her ahead of me, as the criss crossing belly height cattails obscured my view of the ice. I got directly behind her and saw she was looking to the right. The rooster got up and provided me a very gettable shot, as it veered to the right. I tickled him 2 times out of *4* shots (I can't remember taking 4 shots on a bird), but he went on his merry way, up and over the thicket ridge on the other side of the slough, some 600+ yards away.
We pressed on through the edge of the reed grass and Honey went on point at the edge of some blow down, where it meets up with the standing tails. As I approached her from behind, she moved forward, and I heard what I thought was a couple flaps, but no flush. I went up there expecting her to have a hen, but when I looked down, I saw a rooster tail to one side of her head, conforming she had a boy pinned against the ice. I reached down and pulled him up by the butt. A drop of blood came out of his beak, and he gave up the ghost several seconds later. That's unusual, because I haven't known Honey to chomp on birds. I still need to clean him today, but I am giving him a greater than 50% chance of being the first bird I shot at behind the tree.
On the NW side of the slough is another tilled corn field. Staying on the hard water, we made our way past the public land boundary, and then started working that edge back to the north. I should mention we would come across hens here and there, with a mix of holding relatively tight and wild flushes.
At one point, I got out my phone so I would know when we could venture back on solid ground if needed. Just then, Honey came from the upwind side of a rooster in the cattails near the edge, and he flushed. He banked to my right, but was over the solid ground, so I couldn't take a shot. It would have been awkward anyway, with my phone in my left hand. I watched him sail back over the thicket, near where the previous, 4 shot bird, had gone.
We got back to public land and worked the thicket and edge of the cattails down the north side of the slough 400 yards or so until we could get around to the other side of the thicket. On the other side is an open area maybe 300 yards across, and 400 yards long, in a U shape, with thickets forming the boundary and the creek on the other side of the thickets to our right. There is some frozen water here and there in this area, but mostly wetland grasses. I did spy a smaller chunk of cattails up ahead, to the left, next to the thicket, and thought it could be promising.
I think a hen or two got up as we worked forward and back and forth across the area. We finally got up to the small patch of cattails. Honey was to the south of them, with not much of a westerly breeze in this sheltered area. Still, she was getting some ground scent as she worked toward the cattails. I positioned myself east of the clump. As she got into the edges, she was sniffing the air a bit, and then launched -- a sure sign birds were starting to flush or run. As the birds rose, I heard at least 2 of the 3 roosters cackle. I drew down on the closest one of the 3 easily gettable birds, knowing my Minnesota December limit would be filled. But... No bang! No click! Frantically, I got my finger back on the safety to push it the rest of the way off. But when I focused back on the cacklers, they were out of range. Two flew over the thicket, back to the slough, presumably, and one flew ahead along the thicket. All I could do was laugh.
We did meet up with one more rooster ahead, where a thicket meets with an oxbow offshoot of the main creek. He, of course, flushed behind some of the thicket branches and into the sun, and my 2 shots didn't connect.
By the time we got back to the vehicle, our numbers stood at 16 hens/unknowns, and 9 roosters, including the 2 in the bag. We would have to hunt another spot if we wanted a chance at that 3rd bird, but felt good at having 2 locked in.
We went back to the place we had hunted in the mini-hurricane/blizzard last outing. We had found a cluster of roosters in the SW corner edge of the large slough there. But when we arrived, we saw a white pickup at the parking area. A brief discussion revealed he was just leaving and had walked the perimeter counter clockwise. I wasn't sure if that meant the cattails or outside the thicket that runs along the south edge of the round slough. We decided it was a big enough place that we'd still try our luck. 41 degrees at the start and about 33 degrees when we got back to the suv.
We ended up circling the slough in a clockwise fashion, and only met up with 9 hens. The warm weather probably had the roosters in private land, without cattails, but without hunters too.
A safety flub away from a 3 bird limit, we ended the day, thankful for the opportunity to be out in nature and adding to our shared experiences bank of memories.
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MNhunter4ever
Member
Great story from today - one of my favorites in my years of hunting. Went out with my 14-yr old son this morning for a few hours in SW MN. It was his first time out, mostly because of some chronic health stuff, but it was great to finally get him out.
Beautiful day - 40 degrees and little wind. First spot, the dog kicked up 7 hens, all in the grass. Would have had good shots had they been roosters.
Next spot, dog kicks up two roosters, I get a shot at one and miss, and I am kicking myself because it was the biggest, oldest bird I have ever seen in hunting. Just a dark, big, mature bird with LONG tail feathers. No excuse, I flat out missed. Anyway, I am beyond upset at myself. My son just chuckles, “It’s OK, it happens.”
Last spot, we are almost to the end, when the dog goes on point in some grass next to some cattails in front of my son. He walks up to the dog, and the bird flushes, and it’s a rooster. He drops it in one shot, but it went down in the cattails. We look for 5-10 minutes, and finally my young dog finds it! I was thrilled for my son, and so happy that my young dog found it. My son was ecstatic. What a memory.
And what good life lessons to be learned. Don’t get down on yourself, because the success of others can bring happiness. That moment of my son and dog together outweighed my horrific shooting from earlier, and that’s what I will remember! How lucky I was to experience that with my son!
Beautiful day - 40 degrees and little wind. First spot, the dog kicked up 7 hens, all in the grass. Would have had good shots had they been roosters.
Next spot, dog kicks up two roosters, I get a shot at one and miss, and I am kicking myself because it was the biggest, oldest bird I have ever seen in hunting. Just a dark, big, mature bird with LONG tail feathers. No excuse, I flat out missed. Anyway, I am beyond upset at myself. My son just chuckles, “It’s OK, it happens.”
Last spot, we are almost to the end, when the dog goes on point in some grass next to some cattails in front of my son. He walks up to the dog, and the bird flushes, and it’s a rooster. He drops it in one shot, but it went down in the cattails. We look for 5-10 minutes, and finally my young dog finds it! I was thrilled for my son, and so happy that my young dog found it. My son was ecstatic. What a memory.
And what good life lessons to be learned. Don’t get down on yourself, because the success of others can bring happiness. That moment of my son and dog together outweighed my horrific shooting from earlier, and that’s what I will remember! How lucky I was to experience that with my son!
Great story and outing!
Goosemaster
Well-known member
That's wonderful! I try to get other people birds that are with me.
gimruis
Well-known member
I went on Saturday for about 2 hours. Nothing but hens at the first spot. I got a double at the second spot. And a single shortly into the third. Stunning day out there. They're still getting up pretty dumb. I haven't missed yet this season, I'm 9 for 9. My previous record is 13 in a row without a miss way back in 2007.
Attachments
Nice hunt and shooting!
gimruis
Well-known member
A couple shots have been downright lucky. The rooster has gotten up on the other side of the brush and I could see its outline, but I had to shoot through it. That rarely works when you shoot through brush/branches. The only saving grace was that they were both pretty close.
The ground freezing good and hard has also aided me. I'm able to access better spots that were previously nothing but mud, muck, or even open water. I can get into better position when there aren't limits to where I can walk.
I call those "grouse shots."
Bob Peters
Well-known member
I've only tried it once, but the pheasant got away.
More than 50% of the time, half my brain says I can't shoot. It isn't until the opportunity has passed that the other side of my brain calls the other side a nincompoop, and reminds him that nearly 100% of our ruffed grouse shots are through brush. The first half sometimes comes back with pheasants being much tougher to bring down (when *hit*) than ruffed grouse, but he generally loses the debate.
MNhunter4ever
Member
If you don’t mind answering, what is your shotgun of choice, the choke you prefer, and the shells you are using?
I have a new shotgun that I am using this year, and I am still trying to get the right combo down of choke and shells with it.
gimruis
Well-known member
I have a Benelli Montrefelto 12 gauge with a 26 inch barrel. I use 2 3/4 inch Wing Shok or Prairie Storm in #6 shot (lead) and an IC choke. I've been using this combination of shotgun, choke, and ammo since 2007. I bought the shotgun in 2006.
Wing Shok is similar to Prairie Storm. They are both made by Federal. The only difference is that PS has the flightstopper and saturn-style BBs. I don't really notice a differnece between the two and they both are 1500 fps. The velocity masks a lot of my faults when I shoot because we often miss behind the bird. This gets there faster than traditional ammo. They are both generally widely available too.
You may need to experiment with various chokes, shot size, and brands of ammo before you find a combination that you like. I only put 3 shells in my shotgun because the two extra shells at the front of the magazine adds too much forward weight and throws off the balance of the shotgun. I also take closer shots than most, which is where the IC choke comes in more advantageous.
The one thing you can do right now, regardless of shotgun/ammo is try to carry your shotgun in the "ready" position as often as you can. When I made a committment to do that 95% of the time, my kill rate went up by a good margin. Simply being ready with two hands on the shotgun will go a long ways. If you walk around with it on your shoulder or in one hand, you lose valuable time when a rooster initially flushes within range and then your shot has a lower chance of success.
Wing Shok is similar to Prairie Storm. They are both made by Federal. The only difference is that PS has the flightstopper and saturn-style BBs. I don't really notice a differnece between the two and they both are 1500 fps. The velocity masks a lot of my faults when I shoot because we often miss behind the bird. This gets there faster than traditional ammo. They are both generally widely available too.
You may need to experiment with various chokes, shot size, and brands of ammo before you find a combination that you like. I only put 3 shells in my shotgun because the two extra shells at the front of the magazine adds too much forward weight and throws off the balance of the shotgun. I also take closer shots than most, which is where the IC choke comes in more advantageous.
The one thing you can do right now, regardless of shotgun/ammo is try to carry your shotgun in the "ready" position as often as you can. When I made a committment to do that 95% of the time, my kill rate went up by a good margin. Simply being ready with two hands on the shotgun will go a long ways. If you walk around with it on your shoulder or in one hand, you lose valuable time when a rooster initially flushes within range and then your shot has a lower chance of success.
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