October 16- today.... reports?
- Thread starter Good Boy!
- Start date
reddog
Well-known member
Lots of hayed ditches and fields, but private and public. Honestly, it didn't appear to have great hay conditions to begin with as the stuff that didn't get hayed is extremely sparce and barely hunt able in a lot of spots. ( west of Mitchell, east of River) crops are coming out fast, or gone already . Lots of downed corn for one reason or another. Bird count was surprisingly decent.
PheasantSlough
New member
USDA drought emergency freed up CRP for haying and grazing statewide. Lots of Walk-in-Areas don't have a blade of grass. Even cattails were mowed and baled for cattle forage. Conditions make for tough pheasant hunting, and the WIAs with decent cover will get pounded by hunters.
I honestly feel really bad for people making a long trip out. I hunt East River and I'm going to guess that public areas have effectively been cut in half due to grazing and haying. There just isn't much habitat to hunt. The public areas with habitat are going to get absolutely pounded, way worse than usual.
I saw more groups sharing public fields than ever before. It's honestly really sad, and while there are birds around this year, I have very serious concerns for next year.
My small group shot 15 birds over 3 days, and only one was young of the year. Usually it's at least half.
I saw more groups sharing public fields than ever before. It's honestly really sad, and while there are birds around this year, I have very serious concerns for next year.
My small group shot 15 birds over 3 days, and only one was young of the year. Usually it's at least half.
Three guys over three days. Hunting 75% private. It's always fun shooting roosters, dog work is overall quite good.
Rather surprisingly, our shooting was quite good. We let very few roosters fly away.
It's a weird feeling coming back, it was a fun hunt, I just have a sinking sensation in my stomach about how bad it actually is for habitat.
Dakotazeb
Well-known member
We're you on a preserve? How else did you hunt 3 days when the season is only 2 days old.
I hunt both sides of the border, sunrise in ND, sunset in sd. Started in ND on Friday.
On one of my family's fields, we set up for ducks in ND and the birds tend to come from SD, just to give you an idea of how close to the border the family farm is.
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A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Finally got our season started. My 41st. Ace's 3rd.
Didn't hunt long or hard. About 65-70, sunny, & breezy each day.
Hunted Saturday in an area where very little corn had been harvested; Sunday in an area with more picked corn.
Weapon of choice - A5 Sweet 16, Japanese 1991. Kent Bismuth; 1 oz #5's at 1,300 fps.
Thanks to our grueling off-season training regimen, Ace hadn't forgotten what pheasants smell like or what to do when he smells one.
By grueling regimen, I mean none really at all. Yet....he didn't miss a beat.
Saturday hunted 2 WPA's for a total of at most 2 hrs. Late, late afternoon. I covered 3.0 miles.
Saw pheasants in 3 spots, about a dozen each, for a total of about 35 pheasants.
1st group of birds, 2 roosters cooperated. Got both of them. One young. One VERY young.
2nd group of birds, all hens &/or too young to tell, but no cackling whatsoever.
3rd group of birds about 10 minutes after the buzzer, Ace found them "down over there" while I was headed to the truck.
Today hunted 1 WIA/GPA combo area. They're adjacent to each other.
Hunted for 1.5 hrs. I covered 1.9 miles. Early afternoon.
Flushed 5 hens; 3 roosters, 2 of which we got. The 3rd was so young I didn't know he was a he until he was about 40 yds out. Took 1 pot shot & whiffed.
All in all I felt really encouraged by what we saw. Plenty of birds, most of which were young. Felt great to be back after them, & I think it's going to be another fantastic season.
Didn't hunt long or hard. About 65-70, sunny, & breezy each day.
Hunted Saturday in an area where very little corn had been harvested; Sunday in an area with more picked corn.
Weapon of choice - A5 Sweet 16, Japanese 1991. Kent Bismuth; 1 oz #5's at 1,300 fps.
Thanks to our grueling off-season training regimen, Ace hadn't forgotten what pheasants smell like or what to do when he smells one.
By grueling regimen, I mean none really at all. Yet....he didn't miss a beat.
Saturday hunted 2 WPA's for a total of at most 2 hrs. Late, late afternoon. I covered 3.0 miles.
Saw pheasants in 3 spots, about a dozen each, for a total of about 35 pheasants.
1st group of birds, 2 roosters cooperated. Got both of them. One young. One VERY young.
2nd group of birds, all hens &/or too young to tell, but no cackling whatsoever.
3rd group of birds about 10 minutes after the buzzer, Ace found them "down over there" while I was headed to the truck.
Today hunted 1 WIA/GPA combo area. They're adjacent to each other.
Hunted for 1.5 hrs. I covered 1.9 miles. Early afternoon.
Flushed 5 hens; 3 roosters, 2 of which we got. The 3rd was so young I didn't know he was a he until he was about 40 yds out. Took 1 pot shot & whiffed.
All in all I felt really encouraged by what we saw. Plenty of birds, most of which were young. Felt great to be back after them, & I think it's going to be another fantastic season.
Crap you been huntin phez longer than i been alive. Good looking dog that a springer? You from sd but didn't hunt the resident weekend? Man i would've but i had to move out of state. Sux.
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Thanks, Ace is a field-bred springer who recently had a haircut. You better get yourself home, spend some money & chase some pheasants.
525 featherlite
Member
Nice job a5 I always clip my springer gown but not too late years ago I had a liver and white springer called radar now in an urn I clipped down it was prob maybe second week of November one of those overcast days not real cold it started to drizzle alittle windy I got him cold after that I really watched how late I clipped them after that
Golden Hour
Well-known member
Had our traditional family hunt on Saturday. With the corn still in, it was a challenge. But we saw a good number of pheasants and I feel confident there will be more when the corn is finally out.
Went out for an hour yesterday afternoon. A WPA I really like had been mowed, but there were some patches of tall grass that we hunted. Just found one hen. It was 4pm and I wasn't too expectant. Sage did roust a honker with a busted wing on the way back to the truck, so that was fun.
I saw more people hunting this weekend than I have ever seen. There's always some traffic, but it was noticeably heavier this year. Which is fine. It was a sunny, light wind in the 60's on Saturday and 70's yesterday. Fairweather hunters are great, IMO. License dollars are needed and then they can tell everyone how they didn't see very many birds.
As I've discussed with others, it just feels really good to be back at it.
Went out for an hour yesterday afternoon. A WPA I really like had been mowed, but there were some patches of tall grass that we hunted. Just found one hen. It was 4pm and I wasn't too expectant. Sage did roust a honker with a busted wing on the way back to the truck, so that was fun.
I saw more people hunting this weekend than I have ever seen. There's always some traffic, but it was noticeably heavier this year. Which is fine. It was a sunny, light wind in the 60's on Saturday and 70's yesterday. Fairweather hunters are great, IMO. License dollars are needed and then they can tell everyone how they didn't see very many birds.
As I've discussed with others, it just feels really good to be back at it.
Golden Hour
Well-known member
More parties/groups of people. When we went up to our first spot on Saturday, there was a husband/wife pulled off to the side of the road next to one public spot, another two vehicles further up on another public spot, then the private land just north was being hunted as well. Yesterday, there were several groups in the area I went to, some hunting private, some public.
Normally, I don't see so many groups/people outside of myself out and about. I do have a suspicion that a good year in 2020, combined with the seasonably warm weather, resulted in so many pheasant hunters being present on opening weekend. One thing I will say is that I did not hear much shooting. The occasional series of shots that I would assume were meant for one bird was what I heard, rather than the end of the field explosion where everyone is squeezing the trigger. Again, just what I noticed.