A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Buzz & I got a few this past 4-day weekend, but in my view, we earned more than we got. Here's the whining of a single hunter & dog on public land & walk-ins in a triangle with corners at Sioux Falls, Arlington, & Alexandria.
So far this season I haven't experienced anything like a 47% increase in population. This doesn't surprise me in the least, since regardless of what the brood count survey reports, I never feel like there's a rise or fall in numbers exceeding 15-20% (where I hunt). The habitat is pretty much prime (and spectacular this year) & the variations from year to year tend to be less severe than the "statewide average". What I'm actually SEEING, though, seems like a slight decrease. But I think the birds are there......somewhere. Hunting conditions so far have been uncommonly difficult because of the weather & late harvest.
Right now, conditions are about as tough as they get. The birds have played the game now hundreds of times & they know the drill. Most of the corn has been picked, but with no snow cover, the birds can poke around in the middle of a picked corn field & still feel pretty safe. The weather really hasn't sent them into cattails much yet, & most cattails aren't very cozy anyway. The floor is ice. And it's ice that most guys can't walk on without breaking through in some places. Hunting the edges of cattails has produced primarily hens (& not very many of them) that have great ears & run very well on ice through cattails. It's been so windy that I'm pretty sure most roosters are finding trees on private land. The public land in my triangle hardly has any trees (or food plots for that matter), & a single guy/dog couldn't do much about birds in trees anyway.
Summary: If you hunt public land anywhere near standing corn, you're pretty well screwed, except for the rare really dumb rooster. There are still just a ton of options for them & most roosters aren't coming to roosting cover until after sunset. It's been so windy that they're finding trees where they're safe & warm during the day & have easy access to corn. We need several more days of cold weather so things freeze up to a point they're walkable. Then 8" of snow that sticks around & is refreshed by a little new snow here & there until the end of the season, which hopefully consists of a steady 8-10 mph breeze that's always in my face. I've bucked enough gale force winds. It can start now & in that order please.
So far this season I haven't experienced anything like a 47% increase in population. This doesn't surprise me in the least, since regardless of what the brood count survey reports, I never feel like there's a rise or fall in numbers exceeding 15-20% (where I hunt). The habitat is pretty much prime (and spectacular this year) & the variations from year to year tend to be less severe than the "statewide average". What I'm actually SEEING, though, seems like a slight decrease. But I think the birds are there......somewhere. Hunting conditions so far have been uncommonly difficult because of the weather & late harvest.
Right now, conditions are about as tough as they get. The birds have played the game now hundreds of times & they know the drill. Most of the corn has been picked, but with no snow cover, the birds can poke around in the middle of a picked corn field & still feel pretty safe. The weather really hasn't sent them into cattails much yet, & most cattails aren't very cozy anyway. The floor is ice. And it's ice that most guys can't walk on without breaking through in some places. Hunting the edges of cattails has produced primarily hens (& not very many of them) that have great ears & run very well on ice through cattails. It's been so windy that I'm pretty sure most roosters are finding trees on private land. The public land in my triangle hardly has any trees (or food plots for that matter), & a single guy/dog couldn't do much about birds in trees anyway.
Summary: If you hunt public land anywhere near standing corn, you're pretty well screwed, except for the rare really dumb rooster. There are still just a ton of options for them & most roosters aren't coming to roosting cover until after sunset. It's been so windy that they're finding trees where they're safe & warm during the day & have easy access to corn. We need several more days of cold weather so things freeze up to a point they're walkable. Then 8" of snow that sticks around & is refreshed by a little new snow here & there until the end of the season, which hopefully consists of a steady 8-10 mph breeze that's always in my face. I've bucked enough gale force winds. It can start now & in that order please.