Season Reports

Talking with a buddy that shoots birds every-time he goes out consistently and they did not fair very well either. I think you are right on! Headed out this Thursday hopefully I find a few.

Tbear, let me know if you are going to be any where's close. GSPnutMN and I are talking about meeting up on Friday so he can hunt behind my Brittany. Not sure where we are going.
 
Talking with a buddy that shoots birds every-time he goes out consistently and they did not fair very well either. I think you are right on! Headed out this Thursday hopefully I find a few.

I was down near where you and Zeb hunted as well, went to some very nice areas. Headed back this weekend with some friends that have a ton of private land. The temps fell hard up here and the fog is gone instantly. But getting some freezing drizzle today. Should be back to decent hunting.:thumbsup:
 
I made it out with my brother Sunday. I ran into similar conditions and the birds did not play well! We ended the day with one bird two tired hunters and a dog that may need a few days of rest to recover to say the least... luckily the one shootble bird was a nice long tale that Hawk worked for over 500yrds and finally got him pinned down and pointed one nice shot from my brother made that bird worth the miles put on our feet and paws!
 
I was down near where you and Zeb hunted as well, went to some very nice areas. Headed back this weekend with some friends that have a ton of private land. The temps fell hard up here and the fog is gone instantly. But getting some freezing drizzle today. Should be back to decent hunting.:thumbsup:

FC, if you're going to be in the area this weekend and need another hunter let me know.
 
Did you push back going to AZ because of the weather? Ill be the first to admit I'm glad the snow is gone.

No, still going with the original plan to leave for AZ the day after Christmas. I'd like to get out a couple more time before we leave.
 
Well yesterday I hunted an area that was really good mid-season for me. I mean really good. The area was hit dead center in the mid-November snow storm and I thought largely unhuntable the remainder of the year.

The warm weather did melt all the snow in the fields and much of the snow in the grassy areas. A few trail roads remained unpassable.

A light dusting of snow this week enabled us to determine what tracks were relatively fresh.

What I learned was the cattails were largely unaccessible. The cattails themselves were bent over into a tangle impenetrable mess. The sloughs still had about a foot of snow and worst of all ... the sloughs had not frozen through. Gore Tex boots keep the feet dry, but you often stepped into a foot of slushy water.

We picked up a pair late and saw quite a few birds ... many flushing wild.

Birds here are largely safe the rest of the season.

Fields are pretty black and many areas ... the pheasants will struggle to fine food if winter returns.
 
FC, if you're going to be in the area this weekend and need another hunter let me know.

Change of plans, just headed out in a bit to hunt by home for a quick one and going ice fishing. Not much has changed yet with snow cover so not driving to far. If we get 5-6" I will get more excited. But birds are out there, they just have way to many places to go. They keep getting a good winter and next year we should have a nice bounce back.:thumbsup:
 
Had a Christmas party tonight so I snuck out this morning and hunted close to home on some public land that gets hit pretty good. Had a 1/2 off powder on the ground from Friday. No bird sign anywhere. Lots of turkey and coyote tracks though
 
They do when they are all wild. Have video to prove that too.

Earlier this morning was watching a video from where you're hunting. The quality of the video was poor but you could get the gist of how many birds were coming out of a shelterbelt. It was almost a solid stream of birds for 3 to 4 minutes:eek:. Game management in action.

I hope you guys are planing on posting some photos:D.
 
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Got out yesterday. Missed 1 rooster and only saw 2 more. Birds were jumpy! Ended my year with a big fat goose egg! I have a feeling that the birds have been getting a lot of pressure with the nice weather and they are stacked up on private ground.
 
Got out Sunday for probably the last time in MN this season. Heading to SD 12-25 through 12-29.

Hunted near Redwood Falls/Seaforth, MN. Saw 19 hens and 3 roosters. Only had a good shot at one of the roosters, and harvested it.

Hens were holding really tight and it was great for my GSP to work those birds. Multiple times she went on point and 4 hens would flush from the same spot. It was great to see that many birds in one day and gave me hope that this winter may be easier on the birds and may give us a better season next year.

I did the math and this season I averaged driving 240 miles per day trip I hunted. I put on close to 4,000 miles, this season, on the 1996 Jeep Cherokee I spent all summer fixing up for hunting season, bringing its mileage total to 264,000 miles!
 
Hunted for 3 hours this morning, 2 different places. Flushed 5 hens and 2 rooster at the first area. Was able to harvest one of the roosters. Second area we flushed 2 roosters and 2 hens birds were a little more jumpy there. Not close enough for a shot. Both areas were public land in Wright county
 
Hunted yesterday in the fresh snow. Shot one nice old rooster and should have had a second. I love being able to see those tracks and now you are by birds. Also, had 3 hens flush as well. I was hunting in Kandiyohi county.
 
Got out yesterday with wife's cousin, we got 3 should have been a limit by 2pm but the shooting was lacking a little. All in all a great ending to the season with some great dog work by my lab in the cattails and corn, easily saw 75-100 birds! Can't wait till next season!
 
Can't wait till next season!

Me too. This season went by too fast, plus for some reason I don't feel as if I've had my fill:confused:. Hunted plenty, flushed plenty, shot plenty, the freezer is good and full, but for some reason I'm not satisfied with this season.

Here's to a quick return to the pheasant season:cheers:.

Nick
 
Got out yesterday with wife's cousin, we got 3 should have been a limit by 2pm but the shooting was lacking a little. All in all a great ending to the season with some great dog work by my lab in the cattails and corn, easily saw 75-100 birds! Can't wait till next season!
Waterdog- sounds like a good ending to the season! Wish i could of gotten out once more. Which county did you hunt in? Public/Private?

Cheers to next year!
 
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