MNhunter4ever
Member
Fantastic info and insights - thank you very much, that was extremely helpful!
MN report
- Thread starter Bob Peters
- Start date
Springer22
Well-known member
Well Wednesday is my day to get out.. and the weather is not looking ideal. See what happens
They should be trying to stay in the edges of the cattails with those conditions.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
Where's the short bus?
He is suggesting/hinting/joking that you were at a game farm/preserve, where they drive you to the fields in busses, to shoot pen raised birds.
But hey, those pen raised birds are tasty too. Legs are just a bit underdeveloped.
gimruis
Well-known member
I see. Well, there's no need to respond to a chinese bot. These are wild birds. The only time I visit a farm with flare nares is when I'm trying to train a young dog, and that hasn't happened in 13 years now.
gimruis
Well-known member
I went yesterday afternoon for about 3 hours. It was -1 when I started and a balmy 3 degrees when I finished. But there was no wind and it was bright sun.
My hot streak is over. I missed two roosters and one was a real layup too. I was able to harvest one though, so I didn't come home empty handed. The majority of birds I found were near a food source - either picked or standing corn.
Any rooster in the bag now is a real prize.
My hot streak is over. I missed two roosters and one was a real layup too. I was able to harvest one though, so I didn't come home empty handed. The majority of birds I found were near a food source - either picked or standing corn.
Any rooster in the bag now is a real prize.
I'll give a full report of today's hunt another time. Have to get up early to do it again tomorrow.
Curious, however, if anyone else hunting in SC MN had birds being extra jumpy today? They were almost all flushing 30-40 yards ahead of us, with the wind. There are always some wild flushes, but this was an epidemic.
Curious, however, if anyone else hunting in SC MN had birds being extra jumpy today? They were almost all flushing 30-40 yards ahead of us, with the wind. There are always some wild flushes, but this was an epidemic.
Bob Peters
Well-known member
We went all day. My buddy downed one with 2 minutes to go. Southern MN waterfowl area. I let out a loud hoot when the dogs found him. Another fun day pheasant hunting. The birds are pretty smart now.
Springer22
Well-known member
Not sure why I torture myself going to spots close to home. It is absolute garbage compared to other parts of our state. But it’s convenient. Rant over! Ha
Bob Peters
Well-known member
Hunted with a buddy Sunday. Saw lots of roosters in the morning out feeding. Drove by a private field that looked money and seen a group of 16 or more roosters on the grass edge. That spot looked better than south dakota! Saw a flock of hens there too, 9 at least, harder to count them. Went to a public spot off the radar and flushed over 30 birds, more roosters than hens, but as the roosters were grouped they were out of range. 2nd spot was a dud. There are birds around, but I've never seen a lot there. I try it once or twice a year. Last went to private land. My buddy hit one good over blue stem but couldn't find him, must have had legs. Looked multiple times. We saw roost sights in a different corner but no birds. I flushed one in thick cattails but missed, I was wrapped up pretty good when he flushed. Finally we headed back to where we had seen the pheasant beds an hour ago. The birds had returned for the night and I got a bird with a good shot/clean kill.
We hunted SC MN Friday and Saturday, on public lands -- WMAs entirely.
Friday, it was single digits to start the day. Tried the heated vest under waterproof fleece and strap on cover for Honey, for the first time, on low setting. Battery was only down to half charge by the time we were done, and it seemed like it provided some warmth.
We went back to the slough where we got a couple the week prior. I figured it probably hadn't been hunted that much, since you have to cross the slough to get to the field edges and the slough hadn't been crossable until recently. On the way down the north edge, along some cut corn, I heard a cackle about 60 yards up. As Honey investigated, I tried to get into a position where I could shoot. The rooster flushed, but was in the trees and I didn't fire. He flew over in the direction we would be hunting soon, and I hoped we'd meet up with him again.
We crossed the frozen creek, across the same beaver dam we used last time, and proceeded to the sheltered area bordered by a U of thickets. When we were just rounding the thicket to enter the area, I heard a cackle around the bend. I crouched, thinking it might fly right over, but it never appeared. We went around the bend, but never found him. And I know he wasn't flying away, because he was still making some noises a few seconds after the initial cackle, and they were all the same distance. But hearing a rooster is much better than not hearing one, so we had that knowledge to buoy us onward.
We didn't find anything in the U shaped area. However, just when we were working the edge to loop around to the big slough side, Honey found a little alcove of cattails teepee mounds surrounded by thickets on 3 sides. The area wasn't more than 20x40 yards in size, probably even smaller. She was rooting around in the thicket on the side to my left, and then came out to the cattails and her noise stopped. She was on point at one of the teepees on the edge. I went over there and tried to get her to flush, without much success. I think I kicked around a bit and the bird finally launched -- a 3rd rooster. Unfortunately, he was flying through the thicket branches. Still, I got a bead on him -- too much of him. For whatever reason, I just broadsided him instead of aiming high and leading him. He hunched for a split second and kept on trucking. I'm guessing I hit him low in the butt region with a pellet or two. However, it looked like he swooped down after the thicket on the way to the slough, and I was hoping he made an emergency landing.
We went around to the slough and searched around in the pre-vegetation and out into the slough edges. We then worked west, along the edge of the mostly east/west slough for about 30 yards. I turned around and saw the darn thing get up 50+ yards back, and fly back into some private, non-slough land. We had searched the wrong direction.
He would be the only "good" opportunity of the spot for the day. All the other birds, mostly on the far sides of the slough, bordering tilled corn and beans, whether near the field edges or in the edges of the cattails, were on a wild flush protest. And the wind, which was only supposed to be 10 mph, max, was in the mid to upper teens, with the birds using it to great advantage. A bird getting up wild, even at 30-40 yards, from a field edges, can get up to max speed, and then some, darn fast. I did try a few shots on some of the roosters I could identify (the distance and overcast conditions made that difficult too), but couldn't quite dial in the lead required.
All told, we saw 28 hens/unidentified birds, and 8 identified roosters, with all but the one being very wild flushes from 30-60 yards away.
We warmed up in the vehicle and raced to another spot I haven't hunted this year yet, with about 1.5 hours left before sunset. 10 hens and 1 rooster later, we were done. The 1 rooster was gettable, distance-wise, except that he flushed just to the left of the setting sun, and then seemed like he was in the sun forever, before he came out and I could attempt a shot on him. Honey had come cross wind to him and he had launched without any warning, about 30 yards from me.
Friday the 13th won, and we recorded our 3rd MN skunk day of the season. 38 hens/unidentifieds and 9 roosters was much better than seeing nothing, but the back of my vest remained cold.
Not to worry, however, since we were hunting Saturday too... Turn the page for that report.
A blurry small town private Christmas display:
Friday, it was single digits to start the day. Tried the heated vest under waterproof fleece and strap on cover for Honey, for the first time, on low setting. Battery was only down to half charge by the time we were done, and it seemed like it provided some warmth.
We went back to the slough where we got a couple the week prior. I figured it probably hadn't been hunted that much, since you have to cross the slough to get to the field edges and the slough hadn't been crossable until recently. On the way down the north edge, along some cut corn, I heard a cackle about 60 yards up. As Honey investigated, I tried to get into a position where I could shoot. The rooster flushed, but was in the trees and I didn't fire. He flew over in the direction we would be hunting soon, and I hoped we'd meet up with him again.
We crossed the frozen creek, across the same beaver dam we used last time, and proceeded to the sheltered area bordered by a U of thickets. When we were just rounding the thicket to enter the area, I heard a cackle around the bend. I crouched, thinking it might fly right over, but it never appeared. We went around the bend, but never found him. And I know he wasn't flying away, because he was still making some noises a few seconds after the initial cackle, and they were all the same distance. But hearing a rooster is much better than not hearing one, so we had that knowledge to buoy us onward.
We didn't find anything in the U shaped area. However, just when we were working the edge to loop around to the big slough side, Honey found a little alcove of cattails teepee mounds surrounded by thickets on 3 sides. The area wasn't more than 20x40 yards in size, probably even smaller. She was rooting around in the thicket on the side to my left, and then came out to the cattails and her noise stopped. She was on point at one of the teepees on the edge. I went over there and tried to get her to flush, without much success. I think I kicked around a bit and the bird finally launched -- a 3rd rooster. Unfortunately, he was flying through the thicket branches. Still, I got a bead on him -- too much of him. For whatever reason, I just broadsided him instead of aiming high and leading him. He hunched for a split second and kept on trucking. I'm guessing I hit him low in the butt region with a pellet or two. However, it looked like he swooped down after the thicket on the way to the slough, and I was hoping he made an emergency landing.
We went around to the slough and searched around in the pre-vegetation and out into the slough edges. We then worked west, along the edge of the mostly east/west slough for about 30 yards. I turned around and saw the darn thing get up 50+ yards back, and fly back into some private, non-slough land. We had searched the wrong direction.
He would be the only "good" opportunity of the spot for the day. All the other birds, mostly on the far sides of the slough, bordering tilled corn and beans, whether near the field edges or in the edges of the cattails, were on a wild flush protest. And the wind, which was only supposed to be 10 mph, max, was in the mid to upper teens, with the birds using it to great advantage. A bird getting up wild, even at 30-40 yards, from a field edges, can get up to max speed, and then some, darn fast. I did try a few shots on some of the roosters I could identify (the distance and overcast conditions made that difficult too), but couldn't quite dial in the lead required.
All told, we saw 28 hens/unidentified birds, and 8 identified roosters, with all but the one being very wild flushes from 30-60 yards away.
We warmed up in the vehicle and raced to another spot I haven't hunted this year yet, with about 1.5 hours left before sunset. 10 hens and 1 rooster later, we were done. The 1 rooster was gettable, distance-wise, except that he flushed just to the left of the setting sun, and then seemed like he was in the sun forever, before he came out and I could attempt a shot on him. Honey had come cross wind to him and he had launched without any warning, about 30 yards from me.
Friday the 13th won, and we recorded our 3rd MN skunk day of the season. 38 hens/unidentifieds and 9 roosters was much better than seeing nothing, but the back of my vest remained cold.
Not to worry, however, since we were hunting Saturday too... Turn the page for that report.
A blurry small town private Christmas display:
Saturday hunt. Public lands.
The forecast showed 20% chance of precipitation in the afternoon. But given the temps, 20s, that should be snow flurries, if anything, so I wasn't too concerned. As we drove down through the cities and into pheasant land, the freezing rain/mist kept coming and coming. I knew it had to end before we got to our destination, since that wasn't in the forecast. Right? 20 minutes or so from our destination, we got into a little bit of snow and there was a bit of fresh snow on the ground. "This is going to be ideal," I thought to myself. But 10 minutes later, we were back to misting.
And that is what we had for the first hour or 2 of the hunt. My gun, my glasses, my camera, all covered in frozen mist. Every blade of cattail coated in ice. Damp, wet, cold.
I was tempted to hunt the same exact spot as the first spot the prior day, to see if the birds would still be jumpy or had settled down, but decided against it. Right when I got out of the vehicle, I heard a rooster cackle across the big, round slough, that I've never hunted. It had a cattail free middle, and was fringed with cattails all around, with some being 40 to 50 yards deep and others being 100+ yards deep. It had cut corn on the upwind side and around the back side part way and then, as it turns out, beans. As we walked the edge, to get back to where we heard the rooster, along the bend and bordering part of the corn, another rooster flew parallel to us out of the cattails, too far for a shot, toward where we were headed. A bunch of hens got up too as we moved along. Everything was flushing wild....again.
We did make our way out to the middle and worked back along the edges a bit, with Honey finding a hen here and there that would run and flush wild. We then broke through the cattails down by where the corn and bean fields meet, a little bit toward the bean side of the connection. I was intending to walk back, counter clockwise, to hunt the corn edge, but she was getting scent the other direction, so we went that way. The field is lined with trees and some bushes here and there, with a slight slope down to the slough. I was walking next to the slough. Before we got too far, she got birdy and was just starting to investigate up the slope a bit, when we had a dozen or more birds flush in all directions from up by the field. At least 3 were roosters. One came along the edge in my general direction, right to left, through the tree branches. I was just getting a bead on him when he made a sharp left turn for the slough, and I had to readjust to try to get on him again. I think I shot a couple times, but no go by that point.
We kept going around clockwise for a bit, until the tree line petered out and then turned around and headed back counter clockwise. In this stretch, Honey did get birdy and was tracking into the cattails for a bit, before going on point. I went out to find her and tripped, hitting my left knee on the ice. She came over to reassure me. I got up and she had gone back to the area where she had been on point. I went over and there was a hen on the ice. It had a damaged wing and a lot of down missing from its legs. It was still warm, but dead. I'm guessing it was near death when she found it, since she doesn't generally chomp birds. We left it as an offering to the coyotes, saving the life of other prey.
As we were about 1/3 into the part that borders the corn field, a lone rooster sailed out of the field edge for the safety of the slough. He was maybe 30-40 yards up. I got on him and took a shot. Nope. Rushed the 2nd shot. Nope. Took my time on the 3rd shot, giving him plenty of lead, and didn't see a reaction. And then down he went. Way the heck out there. I marked the spot by noting a small bushy tree, one of 3, in the distance, and started hiking toward him. The cattails weren't super duper thick. They were tall in places, but navigable. Since there wasn't any difference in them, there wasn't a good way to know how far to go. As it turns out, we went out about 100+ yards and then came back on a parallel path. I then reviewed camera footage and we searched more, but didn't find anything. If he was down for good, we didn't find him. Good chance he was winged and ran.
By the time we got back to the vehicle, the tally was at 31 hens/unknowns and 7 verified roosters. I only got shots on 2 of the roosters, and neither was very close.
We went to another place we've never been before. This was a large parcel, and had a path we could drive to explore around a large slough. We drove as far as we could on that and then back to the entrance. Near the entrance was 2 strips of standing corn, and 2 birds of prey on the hunt. We went down through the corn without much scent being located. Before we hit the cattails, however, a hen got up wild. It took us a while, but we located a bunch of other hens around the side of the slough to the left of where we had parked. I didn't identify any as roosters. I think Honey might have gotten in one good hen point at this spot, but alas, no roosters. 26 hens in total. Should be a good spot next season.
We picked out a 3rd spot we've never hunted before and headed out. We were only going to have a little over an hour to hunt it. On the way there we passed the opposite side of the place we just hunted. It had standing corn too. I was tempted to stop, but considering how things went on the first side, I passed.
On the 3rd spot, we had cut corn across the road and along one edge of the public land. It sloped down to a some cattails. Most were shorter and relatively easy to navigate. Honey ended up finding 12 hens, with some points in there, and some long tracks, but mostly wild flushes.
69 hens/unidentified birds, and 7 verified roosters. That's quite a few birds for an (almost) winter day. Unfortunately, the vest was still as cold as the prior day. 4th full day MN skunk of the season, and first full week skunk of the season (hunted 2 of the days last week).
Hoping to get out 2 or 3 days this week. Very much hoping the birds have gotten all that wild flushing out of their systems. Also hoping we'll get a little bit of snow. I doubt we'll get enough to give them some cover, and keep them from running, but fresh snow will be nice for seeing tracks. We had some sleety stuff on Saturday's hunt, on the ground, but it wasn't the best for tracks.
That's it for our eventful, but not fruitful, report for last week.
Hardees hours:
Church clock tower (should have been in the field 2 minutes later if we were on the ball!):
The forecast showed 20% chance of precipitation in the afternoon. But given the temps, 20s, that should be snow flurries, if anything, so I wasn't too concerned. As we drove down through the cities and into pheasant land, the freezing rain/mist kept coming and coming. I knew it had to end before we got to our destination, since that wasn't in the forecast. Right? 20 minutes or so from our destination, we got into a little bit of snow and there was a bit of fresh snow on the ground. "This is going to be ideal," I thought to myself. But 10 minutes later, we were back to misting.
And that is what we had for the first hour or 2 of the hunt. My gun, my glasses, my camera, all covered in frozen mist. Every blade of cattail coated in ice. Damp, wet, cold.
I was tempted to hunt the same exact spot as the first spot the prior day, to see if the birds would still be jumpy or had settled down, but decided against it. Right when I got out of the vehicle, I heard a rooster cackle across the big, round slough, that I've never hunted. It had a cattail free middle, and was fringed with cattails all around, with some being 40 to 50 yards deep and others being 100+ yards deep. It had cut corn on the upwind side and around the back side part way and then, as it turns out, beans. As we walked the edge, to get back to where we heard the rooster, along the bend and bordering part of the corn, another rooster flew parallel to us out of the cattails, too far for a shot, toward where we were headed. A bunch of hens got up too as we moved along. Everything was flushing wild....again.
We did make our way out to the middle and worked back along the edges a bit, with Honey finding a hen here and there that would run and flush wild. We then broke through the cattails down by where the corn and bean fields meet, a little bit toward the bean side of the connection. I was intending to walk back, counter clockwise, to hunt the corn edge, but she was getting scent the other direction, so we went that way. The field is lined with trees and some bushes here and there, with a slight slope down to the slough. I was walking next to the slough. Before we got too far, she got birdy and was just starting to investigate up the slope a bit, when we had a dozen or more birds flush in all directions from up by the field. At least 3 were roosters. One came along the edge in my general direction, right to left, through the tree branches. I was just getting a bead on him when he made a sharp left turn for the slough, and I had to readjust to try to get on him again. I think I shot a couple times, but no go by that point.
We kept going around clockwise for a bit, until the tree line petered out and then turned around and headed back counter clockwise. In this stretch, Honey did get birdy and was tracking into the cattails for a bit, before going on point. I went out to find her and tripped, hitting my left knee on the ice. She came over to reassure me. I got up and she had gone back to the area where she had been on point. I went over and there was a hen on the ice. It had a damaged wing and a lot of down missing from its legs. It was still warm, but dead. I'm guessing it was near death when she found it, since she doesn't generally chomp birds. We left it as an offering to the coyotes, saving the life of other prey.
As we were about 1/3 into the part that borders the corn field, a lone rooster sailed out of the field edge for the safety of the slough. He was maybe 30-40 yards up. I got on him and took a shot. Nope. Rushed the 2nd shot. Nope. Took my time on the 3rd shot, giving him plenty of lead, and didn't see a reaction. And then down he went. Way the heck out there. I marked the spot by noting a small bushy tree, one of 3, in the distance, and started hiking toward him. The cattails weren't super duper thick. They were tall in places, but navigable. Since there wasn't any difference in them, there wasn't a good way to know how far to go. As it turns out, we went out about 100+ yards and then came back on a parallel path. I then reviewed camera footage and we searched more, but didn't find anything. If he was down for good, we didn't find him. Good chance he was winged and ran.
By the time we got back to the vehicle, the tally was at 31 hens/unknowns and 7 verified roosters. I only got shots on 2 of the roosters, and neither was very close.
We went to another place we've never been before. This was a large parcel, and had a path we could drive to explore around a large slough. We drove as far as we could on that and then back to the entrance. Near the entrance was 2 strips of standing corn, and 2 birds of prey on the hunt. We went down through the corn without much scent being located. Before we hit the cattails, however, a hen got up wild. It took us a while, but we located a bunch of other hens around the side of the slough to the left of where we had parked. I didn't identify any as roosters. I think Honey might have gotten in one good hen point at this spot, but alas, no roosters. 26 hens in total. Should be a good spot next season.
We picked out a 3rd spot we've never hunted before and headed out. We were only going to have a little over an hour to hunt it. On the way there we passed the opposite side of the place we just hunted. It had standing corn too. I was tempted to stop, but considering how things went on the first side, I passed.
On the 3rd spot, we had cut corn across the road and along one edge of the public land. It sloped down to a some cattails. Most were shorter and relatively easy to navigate. Honey ended up finding 12 hens, with some points in there, and some long tracks, but mostly wild flushes.
69 hens/unidentified birds, and 7 verified roosters. That's quite a few birds for an (almost) winter day. Unfortunately, the vest was still as cold as the prior day. 4th full day MN skunk of the season, and first full week skunk of the season (hunted 2 of the days last week).
Hoping to get out 2 or 3 days this week. Very much hoping the birds have gotten all that wild flushing out of their systems. Also hoping we'll get a little bit of snow. I doubt we'll get enough to give them some cover, and keep them from running, but fresh snow will be nice for seeing tracks. We had some sleety stuff on Saturday's hunt, on the ground, but it wasn't the best for tracks.
That's it for our eventful, but not fruitful, report for last week.
Hardees hours:
Church clock tower (should have been in the field 2 minutes later if we were on the ball!):
Last edited:
Thumbs down on warm winters.
They wait for those moments.
AtTheMurph
Well-known member
The 2nd hand reports I'm getting from MN are that bird numbers are very good.
Certainly a ton of hens in some of these areas. If we have a dry/warm spring, we could have a bumper crop next year.