A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Well, it's over. 2024-25 was an amazing season!!
Weather was good but weird. Didn't get to hunt in measurable snow 1 single time. That sucked, although nice weather has its perks too (like these last few days). Had our share of really cold stuff though. So without snow & being in a drought, conditions were quite dry & dusty all season long.
I hunted more than usual. 34 times, compared to 29 last year. I don't have a formal goal, but if I did, it'd be 30 hunts a season. I'm blessed to have great hunting "nearby", but it's not right out the back door. My hunts typically involve 40-70 minutes driving out & 40-70 back, & honestly, hunting 34 times didn't feel effortless every time. It felt a little (like really little) like work a couple/few times, which I didn't love. But still, it was better than not hunting.
I set a new personal world record for pheasants harvested in a season, although my birds per hunt average was 0.2 less than last year. Still really good though. And we (Ace & I) didn't have to work terribly hard for birds this year. I hunt what could be described as 3 very small parts of the state. It's a little hard to tell without snow bunching birds up, but I'd say numbers were slightly up in 1 of those 3 areas & the same or possibly down a bit in the other 2 areas (compared to last year, which was a fantastic year). If we ever get snow, I'm going to get out & see what I see to try to better assess that numbers situation. All in all, I think last year was just a tad better in terms of numbers & ease of shooting pheasants. Not very significant though. I'm guessing after harvest surveys & things are complete, the GF&P's harvest estimate will be in the 1.25M-1.5M range.
My shooting was ok. I had great days. A bunch of average days. And to my chagrin, a couple days that were frustrating.
Ace, as always, was the star of our little show. He'll be 6 in April & this was his 6th season. He REALLY got good this year. He continues to show me more & more that he knows we're a team. He frequently lets me know he's on a pheasant & wants to know that I'm staying with him. I usually am. It's been fun that MY location when the game is on is of interest to him. There were plenty of roosters that ended up in my vest that had no business being there, due simply to bad shots. Not that they were low percentage shots, just poorly performed. His ability to quickly get to a downed rooster in insanely thick cover, without my assistance, boggles my mind. There are enough times that there's no possible way he saw them drop, that I'm convinced that in addition to maybe knowing the general direction, there has to be a fairly solid cloud of scent a bird leaves while flying, being shot, & falling to the ground. I can come up with no other explanation, unless he's doing complex physics/math/dynamics problems in his head & has x-ray vision to boot. His retrieving was pretty damn solid this season. He figured out he COULD carry a dead rooster through very thick cattails, & there was less playing/chomping/field dressing with birds before deciding to bring them to me. A few times he even just got to the bird, picked it up, & brought it back immediately. If any of you have watched my videos, you know I don't require that (& don't train to a high level in general), but it was kind of fun that he did away with the grabass a few times. At the end of the day, Ace amazes the shit out of me, & I can't get enough hunting with him. I've said it before, but he's my 3rd (of 3) once-in-a-lifetime dog.
I think that pretty well sums it up. Great season. Can't wait to lay waste to them again in the 2025-26 season. But I really do want to get out in some snow soon & flush some big bunches & get a better feel for numbers with the light cover knocked down. Our winter has been incredibly mild so far, puting pheasants in great shape, so some snow now won't harm them. And I really want "NICE" rains this spring to replenish our moisture in a meaningful way. But please, not like last spring's deluge. I really don't think, in large part, it affected overall numbers much, but it sure made for some late nesting. I won't pass up baby roosters, but I enjoy shooting mature ones more. Mature birds better represent the image I hold of a rooster pheasant. And whereas I respect the hell out of them all, I've never put one in my vest that in some way didn't have it coming.
Weather was good but weird. Didn't get to hunt in measurable snow 1 single time. That sucked, although nice weather has its perks too (like these last few days). Had our share of really cold stuff though. So without snow & being in a drought, conditions were quite dry & dusty all season long.
I hunted more than usual. 34 times, compared to 29 last year. I don't have a formal goal, but if I did, it'd be 30 hunts a season. I'm blessed to have great hunting "nearby", but it's not right out the back door. My hunts typically involve 40-70 minutes driving out & 40-70 back, & honestly, hunting 34 times didn't feel effortless every time. It felt a little (like really little) like work a couple/few times, which I didn't love. But still, it was better than not hunting.
I set a new personal world record for pheasants harvested in a season, although my birds per hunt average was 0.2 less than last year. Still really good though. And we (Ace & I) didn't have to work terribly hard for birds this year. I hunt what could be described as 3 very small parts of the state. It's a little hard to tell without snow bunching birds up, but I'd say numbers were slightly up in 1 of those 3 areas & the same or possibly down a bit in the other 2 areas (compared to last year, which was a fantastic year). If we ever get snow, I'm going to get out & see what I see to try to better assess that numbers situation. All in all, I think last year was just a tad better in terms of numbers & ease of shooting pheasants. Not very significant though. I'm guessing after harvest surveys & things are complete, the GF&P's harvest estimate will be in the 1.25M-1.5M range.
My shooting was ok. I had great days. A bunch of average days. And to my chagrin, a couple days that were frustrating.
Ace, as always, was the star of our little show. He'll be 6 in April & this was his 6th season. He REALLY got good this year. He continues to show me more & more that he knows we're a team. He frequently lets me know he's on a pheasant & wants to know that I'm staying with him. I usually am. It's been fun that MY location when the game is on is of interest to him. There were plenty of roosters that ended up in my vest that had no business being there, due simply to bad shots. Not that they were low percentage shots, just poorly performed. His ability to quickly get to a downed rooster in insanely thick cover, without my assistance, boggles my mind. There are enough times that there's no possible way he saw them drop, that I'm convinced that in addition to maybe knowing the general direction, there has to be a fairly solid cloud of scent a bird leaves while flying, being shot, & falling to the ground. I can come up with no other explanation, unless he's doing complex physics/math/dynamics problems in his head & has x-ray vision to boot. His retrieving was pretty damn solid this season. He figured out he COULD carry a dead rooster through very thick cattails, & there was less playing/chomping/field dressing with birds before deciding to bring them to me. A few times he even just got to the bird, picked it up, & brought it back immediately. If any of you have watched my videos, you know I don't require that (& don't train to a high level in general), but it was kind of fun that he did away with the grabass a few times. At the end of the day, Ace amazes the shit out of me, & I can't get enough hunting with him. I've said it before, but he's my 3rd (of 3) once-in-a-lifetime dog.
I think that pretty well sums it up. Great season. Can't wait to lay waste to them again in the 2025-26 season. But I really do want to get out in some snow soon & flush some big bunches & get a better feel for numbers with the light cover knocked down. Our winter has been incredibly mild so far, puting pheasants in great shape, so some snow now won't harm them. And I really want "NICE" rains this spring to replenish our moisture in a meaningful way. But please, not like last spring's deluge. I really don't think, in large part, it affected overall numbers much, but it sure made for some late nesting. I won't pass up baby roosters, but I enjoy shooting mature ones more. Mature birds better represent the image I hold of a rooster pheasant. And whereas I respect the hell out of them all, I've never put one in my vest that in some way didn't have it coming.
