Opener

DakotaZeb I had a similar day. 2 of us with 2 dogs worked really hard. Hunted 4 different pieces of public land. 3 before lunch and 1 after lunch. Flushed 3 hens and 1 rooster. I hit the rooster but it wasn't a perfect shot, the dogs were right on it when it went down and it must have ran a mile. The dogs worked as hard as I have ever seen dogs work for about 20 minutes searching for that bird. It was disappointing, but I went into today knowing it would be slow with all the crops still in. I don't like letting myself down, so my expectations for the day were to have each dog flush a bird, bagging a rooster a bonus. So my low expectations were at least met.

Agree with the cover, it was unbelievably good! I am optimistic for November-December hunting.
 
Beans are all but gone here. Hunted for an hr after work along a picked bean edge. Got up 3 hens and harvested my first rooster for the year. After shingling all day I was too tired to walk for more then that LOL. Seen lots of birds off the road, numbers look good.:thumbsup:
 
Hunted Freeborn county this afternoon. The wife and I walked for two hours with our vizsla and didn't see or hear any birds. The pup went on point once but didn't produce anything. Ran into a raccoon and fortunately it scampered off without incident.

Second year pheasant hunting and I am yet to flush my first wild rooster...I was really hoping to at least see a bird for the 4 hour round trip we made but we had fun(the dog had the most fun). Lots of season left, excited to bag our first wild bird.
 
Gonna be decent in a few weeks. Saw two roosters fly out of public and head into the sea of corn at 8 am. Six false points next to the corn. Saw three more roosters 40 yards away on the road as we were packing up. Pup hunted great. I'm guessing those that hunted the afternoon might have faired better. Saw lots of deer.
 
1st spot we hunted we were a group of 9. Harvested 9 birds out of that field. Moved 20+ roosters. We had some guys that need to work on their shooting.:mad: split up lazer and the other 4 guys I was with went ant walked another pc down the road. Saw 1 hen. It was getting hot ran up to some family land or lazers and finished with 1 more. It was a great day with some friends got to meet a few new people. Headed out this morning again. Hoping for a good day.
 
Day one 3 hens and this red bird in an hr. Great day. Soy beans:thumbsup:




Day 2 another hr hunt on a small WPA 2 roosters. 12 year old "old bag" still gets it done. Hunted soy beans again.

 
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Today was tough. Shot the only rooster we saw. Pushed 4 really easy spots for the dogs and called it at 2pm. It was a hot one. I will not be out next weekend if its that temp again. Beans are almost all harvested SW. Corn should be going out this week or next.
 
interesting opener

14 yrs. Old son and I shot our limit by 10:00 opening day. Could have been done sooner but he missed one and we lost one. We got lucky, right place right time. Wind today was really tough out west.
Sam 12 birds all hens or unable to tell. Gave up by 12:00. Dogs worked great, with an awesome retrieve on a wingtipped bird that traveled a long ways.
 
Went out to a new (to me) WMA after watching a horrible game by the Vikings today. Flushed up 6 hens and 1 rooster. Of course I missed the rooster. Close shot, flying right to left, shot 3 shells at him.

Just like yesterday, I think the cover is amazing and I'm excited to see what we can do once the corn is out.
 
had a great opener on Saturday, got out ealry in the morning to shoot some quackers (which had eluded me so far this year --thats a whole nother story) but the ducks finally came out of hiding and was able to drop a few in the morning hunt. After a quick breakfast, went out to the fields (group of 5) and we shot our limit in just under an hour. It was almost 2 easy..I wasn't ready to be done. I have never had that much success in MN. I have shot limits but always putting in some good sweat equity for them. We saw plenty more birds that da. It didd give us more time to hunt some ducks in the evening which was nice. Sunday went out again and decided to check out some public land I had never ventured to. Did not fair so well, I was pretty gassed only hunted for about 2 hours and called it a day. I feel good about the numbers of birds I saw. I have been hearing them and seeing them all year. Looking forward to getting out again next weekend. I would post a photo but I can never get it to work on this forum.
 
My dad and I headed out Saturday and Sunday. Should've had our limit both days but I shot badly both days and ended up crippling one that managed to make it into the cattails Saturday that we didn't recover. Had to hunt all day both days to bag 7 birds for the weekend.

I was very proud of my Springer this weekend. Having a 21 month daughter at home has taken a lot of time away from him and he didn't get much if any conditioning this summer. Still, he hunted hard and ran down two other cripples which resulted from my poor shooting. There's nothing fancy about Springers, they just get it done day after day.
 
MN Spaniels

Am I right in thinking you have a female litter mate to my English Cocker from Prairie Marsh kennels. The litter was born in Jan. 2011 and I believe you ended up with a black & white female? How is she doing?

After a slow start my male has actually come along very nicely. Doesn't hold up to long multiple day hunts like my old lab but may be a better bird finder.
 
Downtown Bang! said:
MN Spaniels

Am I right in thinking you have a female litter mate to my English Cocker from Prairie Marsh kennels. The litter was born in Jan. 2011 and I believe you ended up with a black & white female? How is she doing?

After a slow start my male has actually come along very nicely. Doesn't hold up to long multiple day hunts like my old lab but may be a better bird finder.
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Yeah, that's me. She's an awesome little dog, just too small. Her body can't take it. Sad, since she has so much drive. Her eyes, nose and underside get so raw I can't imagine how hard it would be to have grass continue to rub against them. Once the cold and wet comes, she can't stay warm and goes into severe shivering. I take her a few times a year when the weather is good. She hits the heavy cover with guts and puts birds up. I wish I could bottle her spirit and put it in a bigger dog.

My 50lb Springer does the heavy lifting. But at 6, I think a 3rd dog is in my future about 2 years down the road.

Glad to hear your Cocker came around. I remember him and he's a good looking dog. That is a very soft litter. Even now, if I look cross eyed at Molly, it crushes her.
 
Hunted Pine, Kanabec, and Mille Lacs county on Saturday. Saw a fair amount of birds, yet didnt get any. Pup worked well, but all the corn being up really hurts chances of getting any. It sounds like a lot of the corn should be coming out of the next week or too, so hopefully that will help.
 
MNSpaniels said:
Yeah, that's me. She's an awesome little dog, just too small. Her body can't take it. Sad, since she has so much drive. Her eyes, nose and underside get so raw I can't imagine how hard it would be to have grass continue to rub against them. Once the cold and wet comes, she can't stay warm and goes into severe shivering. I take her a few times a year when the weather is good. She hits the heavy cover with guts and puts birds up. I wish I could bottle her spirit and put it in a bigger dog.

My 50lb Springer does the heavy lifting. But at 6, I think a 3rd dog is in my future about 2 years down the road.

Glad to hear your Cocker came around. I remember him and he's a good looking dog. That is a very soft litter. Even now, if I look cross eyed at Molly, it crushes her.
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Hunting roosters in this part of the country is a lot to ask of any dog let alone one that barely makes 20 LBS. I'd bet Molly (?) is a pretty popular character around the house though.

Ever try early season grouse hunting with Molly? My male (Ndi) loves it and the fall woods is easier on him from a wear & tear standpoint.

Ndi turned the corner big time after I took him to West Country kennels. His drive for birds went off the charts and they loved working with him there.

He ended up weighing in north of 30 LBS and I think that has helped his durability. By managing the hours closely I got a 4-day SD hunt in last year.

Have a great season.
 
One more weekend with the young dogs and grandma:thumbsup:. Then a weekend off with the trial dogs. After that Odie and River will get their share of the wilds of MN. With the numbers up it seems, I cant wait to get a couple of young dogs I have been training out. Waiting for a few weeks to keep it a bit easier for them. Wish I could be out all week, but this work thing gets in the way.:D Sounds like great weather again next weekend.:cheers:
 
Downtown Bang! said:
Hunting roosters in this part of the country is a lot to ask of any dog let alone one that barely makes 20 LBS. I'd bet Molly (?) is a pretty popular character around the house though.

Ever try early season grouse hunting with Molly? My male (Ndi) loves it and the fall woods is easier on him from a wear & tear standpoint.

Ndi turned the corner big time after I took him to West Country kennels. His drive for birds went off the charts and they loved working with him there.

He ended up weighing in north of 30 LBS and I think that has helped his durability. By managing the hours closely I got a 4-day SD hunt in last year.

Have a great season.
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I agree, hunting roosters in MN will take its toll on any dog. Another 5-7lbs would have made a world of difference for Molly though. She's 21lbs with short legs. If I remember Ndi correctly, he was more leggy than Molly.

I took her and my springer up Sharptail hunting in NW MN opening weekend and she did pretty well, flushing a couple I was able to shoot. The weather turned on us though and it got cold and wet and it was all she could do to keep up walking behind me, shivering all the way. She is a great dog at home and I don't regret for a minute getting her, but on a hunt she really just slows us down.

Glad Ndi is working out for you. My family farm is just right down the road from West Country Kennels. Brian worked a bit with my springer. He's a good guy that knows dogs.
 
MNSpaniels said:
I agree, hunting roosters in MN will take its toll on any dog. Another 5-7lbs would have made a world of difference for Molly though. She's 21lbs with short legs. If I remember Ndi correctly, he was more leggy than Molly.

I took her and my springer up Sharptail hunting in NW MN opening weekend and she did pretty well, flushing a couple I was able to shoot. The weather turned on us though and it got cold and wet and it was all she could do to keep up walking behind me, shivering all the way. She is a great dog at home and I don't regret for a minute getting her, but on a hunt she really just slows us down.

Glad Ndi is working out for you. My family farm is just right down the road from West Country Kennels. Brian worked a bit with my springer. He's a good guy that knows dogs.
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Gentlemen...I, too, have a cocker from Prairie Marsh Kennels. She's a female born 5/5/2013, so almost 18 months old. She is currently right around 34 pounds, so is pretty durable. She still can't hunt all day for more than 2 days in a row, but holds up a lot better than some of the smaller cockers I've seen. She's a great dog in a the house....a vast difference from my Jack Russell!

Glad to hear about West Country Kennels. I will have to look into that. Maybe we'll run into each other in the field sometime and have a cocker party. Wait, that sounded bad :eek:
 
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