opening weekend

Went out to Brown County this past Saturday morning for a few hours.

My daughter woke up as the dog and I were getting ready to take off so I was delayed a bit after having to get her set up for the morning.

By the time I got to the area of public land in Brown County I found a TON of pheasant hunters around, in addition to the numerous deer hunters. Managed to find an open WIA parcel that looked ok and took off. Dog was birdie a few times but generally I think they were running into an adjacent non-WIA piece of land. Did manage to kick up one nice rooster (one of only two birds I saw all day) but of course I missed as I had to wait until he few out of range of a deer stand/hunters about 200 yards behind my initial shot. Oh well. Heard a lot of shooting from nearby public lands so maybe the hunting is good down there this year, but I didn't see much.

Even with all the land available down there, I still managed to have a run in with two other goofballs who parked a quarter mile down the road from my car in the same WIA parcel. I came out of some tall cover and was essentially walking toward their truck as they were unloading their things. I thought "great" and started moving to my right out of their way. They started walking into the land and its clear their dogs flushed about 5 birds out of range before I think the guys saw how close I was and decided to move on. A strange encounter so late in the season, and especially on the deer opener.

Overall surprised how much pressure Brown County is getting this year?

Have a buddy coming in this weekend from Chicago to hunt. Might give the Jackson/Worthington area a try on Friday. The pheasant map didn't shot a huge roadside population down there but a buddy who hunted on the Iowa side of the border last weekend he thought the bird #'s were really good. So might give it a shot. Then Saturday we might try a favorite spot close to the cities before spending Sunday morning at Wild Wings cashing in a hunt that I won at a charity event this past winter (and making sure my buddy sees at least one bird!). Should be fun.

Also, seems like most of the corn/beans are out by now? A few spots are still standing going W on 212...but I would imagine it'll all be out by mid-week before the snow.
 
Was out hunting for the first time last weekend in Central MN and saw more birds than expected. If I remember correctly we flushed around 23 birds in about 5 hours. Some birds held some didn't. Missed a couple easy shots, got a little too excited for that first bird of the year (I usually get out more in the early season but I recently got married and that took up a lot of my time) .

I'll be heading to the Alex/Morris area this weekend, heard all the small ponds are locked up, could make for some tough pheasant hunting but I'm still gonna give it a go. Fresh snow could help find the birds. Anyone else gonna head out this weekend? If so, what's your strategy for pheasant hunting when small ponds are locked up but cannot be walked on by humans or dogs?
 
anyone been out and about lately? Walked yesterday for about 2 hours in the snow in southern MN. Didn't flush any birds, lots of deer sign and tracks, dog seemed more interested in following that scent.
 
ynneb9 said:
Missed a couple easy shots, got a little too excited for that first bird of the year (I usually get out more in the early season but I recently got married and that took up a lot of my time) .
Click to expand...

That was your first mistake.... now each fall you also have to plan your trips around an anniversary too. It's never gonna leave you...
 
little late on posting. Results are from two weekends ago 11/10-11/11. Lots of wind and cold, but made for some tight holding birds. Hunted private CRP SW MN. LOTS of young roosters. This area was hit pretty bad with the April snowstorms, rains, flooding etc. and it's apparent based of all the young roosters, by this time of year most yearlings are somewhat developed. This must have resulted in a pretty late second hatch. Anyone else seeing a lot of immature roosters? between the 4 guys we shot our limit both Saturday and Sunday. First pheasant trip and bird for one of our guys which is always great to get someone their first rooster.
 
Walked for awhile yesterday and dog kept seeming to get birdy but the edge of the sloughs. I think it’s that time of year where the birds are in the sloughs but it’s not frozen enough to go plowing throwing them yet.
 
Hoster, where were you hunting? We walked one field yesterday near Willmar and all the sloughs were rock solid, we were walking through all the cattails on this parcel. We eneded up bagging two roosters and saw quite a few birds, the wind made hunting tough but overall a fun day ain the field.
 
ynneb9 - I am down in the mankato area. I broke through a few slough edges over the weekend and didn't want to chance going out any farther.
 
finally got out again since opener yesterday; hunted the last half of the day SE of elbow lake; saw probably 12 birds, 5 or so were roosters, most were wild flushes but also had some nice close ones with the 2 I shot; wind helped I think and they were in the thick cover. the sloughs I hunted were iced up enough although some of the ditches were not. a few hunters out and about too
 
Went out on Black Friday and it was as crazy as the stores. I saw more hunters than birds. People were everywhere. I saw 12 birds one of which was a rooster. None in the bag. At least the weather was warm until it started raining in the afternoon. Went out yesterday and saw maybe 20 birds. Again I only saw one rooster and it was out of range. The hens were holding really tight with the wind and cold. The sloughs seem to be pretty frozen. I didn't venture out too far but the edges were solid. Hopefully better luck next time out. The dogs worked hard but nothing to show for it. I definitely saw some size differences in the hens. I kicked up a couple of pretty small ones. Must have been late hatch birds. Overall it was good exercise and I had two tired dogs.
 
I generally don't start hunting until after deer season is over and most of the crops are out...so I went out twice in the past 10 days and it was excellent both times. I hunt east-central MN on private land and although I haven't found the mother load yet, I have harvested a limit both times in less than an hour and have seen at least two dozen birds each time. I have also seen about a dozen deer, which I did not see when I was deer hunting! The ditches and small water areas had some ice until last Friday when it got up to about 45 degrees and rained. I am hoping for a long, extended hard freeze and some fresh snow now.
 
Due to wet conditions the corn just finally got out in the past week on the farm we hunted for the opener. Opening day we walked 8 miles of nice cover that was very wet. For all the walking we got 1 hen flush and poured water out of our boots afterwards. Went back to the same central MN farm this past Sunday and with the corn out and ground frozen, we didn't have to battle wet boots. Saw 25 birds of which half were roosters. 2 guys with 2 labs we managed to take 5 of the roosters but certainly had easy chances at 2 others. Good to see some birds out there and with the nice weather this past weekend it seemed like a late Oct or early Nov day. Not much season left, but hopeful to get another chance at some of those birds.
 
Some areas I hunt STILL have corn. I have still been hunting with great success though. They can hear me coming now because the snow is crunchy and loud, which isn't helping.
 
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