pics from SD hunt nov.10-16

jfreeman

New member
Here are a few pics from our hunt in Nov., 7 days of very cold and windy weather. Saw tons of pheasants, but they were mostly bundled up in thick cattails, and shelter belts. and hard for us old men to get at. Had some good dog work. I was worried how he would do in the cold and snow for a Tex. raised dog, but it didn't seem to bother him at all and held up great. All and all a unique experience for us and the dog. As far as bird numbers, what we saw they were way up from last year.











 
Put some snow cover on everything and those roosters really stand out. Beautiful. Thank you:thumbsup:
 
Awesome Pics!!!!

Questions for a SD rookie......

1. Do the birds tend to sit tighter when the weather is as cold and snow as deep as you experienced?

2. Do the birds roost in the trees at night? are those pictures taken first thing in the morning before they come down off roost?

Thanks for the education!!
 
I love that big rooster in the third picture at the end of the shelterbelt...

Great pictures! :10sign:
 
SD pics

Thanks all
Some held real tight, in fact the dog caught, as far as we could tell when dressing him a perfectly healthy rooster in a snowed over cattail clump, but other times hunting cattails and shelter belts as soon as you came into them they would flush well ahead of us. Quite a few, after looking a the gopro movie were under the snow when they flushed. I have never heard or seen them roost in trees. I have been told they get up in trees, mainly early in the morning to get out of the wet, or snow covered grass, maybe a local can shed more light on that.
 
Very nice

Great photo's, I know it's cold and miserable but the hunting is still a lot of fun. Hunting in cold snowy weather is still better than having to work out in those conditions!! sdviking:coolpics:
 
Have seen them in trees before...perhaps 2-3 times. This season we saw 8-10 roosters on a telephone/power wire about 5PM. Thats a first for me.

Regarding birds bunched in groves and cattails: if that's the only decent cover around, they'll all head for this feature, hence finding flocks when you hunt these areas. They seem to like any area that has cover over their heads - protection from the hawks and out of the wind.
 
Have seen them in trees before...perhaps 2-3 times. This season we saw 8-10 roosters on a telephone/power wire about 5PM. Thats a first for me.

I've seen them in trees like that a number of times but never on power lines. Thanks for sharing that info:)
 
Here in California you'll see them up in the trees like that only when it floods and then it looks just like that along the levees. Here they'll be further in the willow tree's foliage so that raptors can't just swoop down on them but risk broken bones to get at them. If a hawk tries to land and get one they just hop to the other side and fly to a new tree.
I've seen rows of rooster heads sticking out of the snow like asparagus when it's snowed in the northern part of their range here. They will get under the snow I guess for the same reason eskimos and trappers do. It's cold but not as cold as the temp above the snow.
 
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