Snow and pheasants?

Call me crazy but you guys can have hunting pheasants in the snow, it's not for me. I'd rather watch my dogs work running birds and follow along behind them. I don't enjoy trying to get around in the snow, makes things a mess. Now, I'm not turning down hunting in the snow, I just prefer to hunt with no snow. I'll take overcast skies, 40 degrees with a slight North breeze. My ideal conditions.
 
I prefer hunting in the snow. As long as its not really deep snow. Walking in anything deeper than about 6 inches sucks. I've done it many times and it really saps a guy's energy quickly. Then you get to a drifted up area and its knee or waist deep. Ugh. An inch or two, here or there, is perfectly fine by me. All this October snow sucks but it looks like it'll melt in a week. I'll tell you what really sucks: when you get some snow, and then it starts to melt, and then it re-freezes. Its super loud every time you take a step and they can hear you coming a mile away.
 
I'm thinking the dumb birds in the snow is a rural legend cooked up by the DNR/GFPs to get you to come back after opener and hunt another week in Dec. After hunting all morning in SD with 5 inches of the first snow of the year coming down, they were all locked up so tight in the cattails we nearly had to break out the barb wire between the truck hitches to push them out. More like hunters are out in dumb numbers walking down the roads looking for gimme birds.
 
Walking in 16 inches all day, and we were WORKED!! The honey hole, was to hard to get to. We got some great sharptail action.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
Snow forecasts don't affect pheasant hunting. Snow does. Some people claim tracking birds in snow is effective. I haven't noticed that in 40 years of hunting (not that I've never done it). My recommendation would be to not be concerned with it. Typically, this time of year, snow doesn't change much because the snow's usually not deep, doesn't last long, doesn't knock down other types of cover, & doesn't make feeding difficult. When it affects things is when it completely covers everything except the thickest cover. Birds won't stay out on the barren tundra any longer than it takes to scratch around for food to fill their crops, because when they're out there, they're completely exposed to predators, particularly birds of prey & humans. When the lighter cover just has a blanket of snow over it, they'll still use it. But when it's completely socked in w/ snow, they'll head for the thick stuff, typically cattails. And during the day they'll hang out in trees more, particularly if it's windy out. After there's a good 6-10" of long-lasting snow on the ground, they'll relate to roosting cover, food, loafing cover, & safety cover, & they'll just hop back & forth between them. I believe roosters feel safest during the day in trees. (Nighttime is different because....owls) If things are pretty tough (cover-wise), the roosters will often kick the hens out of the best cover. I've found this to be mostly true during the day. At night, they both sleep in cattails or buried under some nice, soft, snow-covered grass or cedar trees.
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In Montana, the snow is really deep right now.And drifted deep. Hard to hunt.
 
KansasGsp said:
Call me crazy but you guys can have hunting pheasants in the snow, it's not for me. I'd rather watch my dogs work running birds and follow along behind them. I don't enjoy trying to get around in the snow, makes things a mess. Now, I'm not turning down hunting in the snow, I just prefer to hunt with no snow. I'll take overcast skies, 40 degrees with a slight North breeze. My ideal conditions.
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40 degrees,? Where? California?
 
carptom1 said:
I prefer about 3 or 4 inches of snow and about 15 degrees and no wind.
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The last couple times I have been hunting here in MN, there has been 1-2 inches of fresh snow and its been about 20 degrees. Ideal conditions if you ask me.

When the snow starts to get deeper, which will probably happen sometime here in the next couple weeks, then it becomes very tough walking. High stepping through shin or knee deep snow really saps my energy quickly. Sure enough, there appears to be a sizable storm coming next week. Might be North Dakota blizzard, part 2. 1 or 2 inches at a time is fine, but when we start to get 6 or 8 or 10 inches at once, then its tough.
 
I’ve hunted first snow many times, the birds are bamboozled by it…generally hold tight…got 5” where I am now overnight…light fluffy snow, no wind…should be fun! Yesterday was a great day, upper 30’s, mild wind…shot very well…first field took 10 minutes to get the first flush…cattails and heavy grass adjacent to picked corn…3 roosters in about 10 seconds, reloaded after the first 2, then the 3rd flushed…all fell about 15 yards away. Shooting my Uggie 12 gauge sidelock…lucky I didn’t break it open to reload after first bird was shot…3 seconds later the 2nd rooster flushed…#5 shot did the trick.
 
At what point, in terms of snowfall over a couple of days, would you consider it not worth the 8 hour drive to hunt? I planned to hunt around the Huron/Mitchell area next Thursday-Sunday (of course the day after this projected winter storm or blizzard).. I've never been out there with ANY snow, so not sure what makes the roads impassible, or overly difficult to jump from one spot to the next.. Or how quickly could I expect those roads to be cleared by a plow? If that evens happens. Any info would be sweet. Thanks!
 
MB1724 said:
At what point, in terms of snowfall over a couple of days, would you consider it not worth the 8 hour drive to hunt? I planned to hunt around the Huron/Mitchell area next Thursday-Sunday (of course the day after this projected winter storm or blizzard).. I've never been out there with ANY snow, so not sure what makes the roads impassible, or overly difficult to jump from one spot to the next.. Or how quickly could I expect those roads to be cleared by a plow? If that evens happens. Any info would be sweet. Thanks!
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Hard to say…look at SD 511 the day you’re leaving
 
MB1724 said:
At what point, in terms of snowfall over a couple of days, would you consider it not worth the 8 hour drive to hunt? I planned to hunt around the Huron/Mitchell area next Thursday-Sunday (of course the day after this projected winter storm or blizzard).. I've never been out there with ANY snow, so not sure what makes the roads impassible, or overly difficult to jump from one spot to the next.. Or how quickly could I expect those roads to be cleared by a plow? If that evens happens. Any info would be sweet. Thanks!
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I would consider waiting a few days until its passed. The flat terrain of the Dakotas tends to cause a lot of trouble on the roads even when there's only an inch of snow blowing around. Its possible they may close the interstate/state highways completely too. As of right now the bullseye for accumulating snow is right through the Dakotas too and then into northern MN, but its also 5 days away too.
 
MB1724 said:
At what point, in terms of snowfall over a couple of days, would you consider it not worth the 8 hour drive to hunt? I planned to hunt around the Huron/Mitchell area next Thursday-Sunday (of course the day after this projected winter storm or blizzard).. I've never been out there with ANY snow, so not sure what makes the roads impassible, or overly difficult to jump from one spot to the next.. Or how quickly could I expect those roads to be cleared by a plow? If that evens happens. Any info would be sweet. Thanks!
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I’m cancelling my trip next week, mainly due to the forecast of 12”+ where I live, then driving through snow to get to SD, then big wind once I’m there. I’m out in SD now, I’ll come back later when conditions are better.
 
gimruis said:
I would consider waiting a few days until its passed. The flat terrain of the Dakotas tends to cause a lot of trouble on the roads even when there's only an inch of snow blowing around. Its possible they may close the interstate/state highways completely too. As of right now the bullseye for accumulating snow is right through the Dakotas too and then into northern MN, but its also 5 days away too.
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I'm also coming from Wisconsin, so the later I leave the further east this system will be, so I might be screwed either way.. Let's hope the weathermen continue their streak of being unreliable more than a day or so in advance..
 
MB1724 said:
I'm also coming from Wisconsin, so the later I leave the further east this system will be, so I might be screwed either way.. Let's hope the weathermen continue their streak of being unreliable more than a day or so in advance..
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Apparently its supposed to be some rain mixed in on the eastern half of the storm, and then change over to snow. I'm in the Twin Cities and right now it says "mixed precipitation" on Tuesday and then turning to all snow Tuesday night into Wednesday. Does not look good for travel until its outta here. As you already stated, the track of this thing could change quite a bit before it arrives, but there is certainly going to be a sizable storm coming across the northern plains next week.

The timing sucks for someone like you that has a hunting trip planned, but we're all in dire need of moisture too. Every drop of rain or snow helps in the long run with a drought.
 
My experience comes from being on hunting trips when a snow comes in. Used to love it. Not so much now. And this goes for quail also.
Immediately before and while it's snowing depending on how hard- Birds are moving hunting is good
1st day- Most all birds are hunkered in (maybe freaked out) most will be in in the heaviest cover they can find and will hold tight. Quail might be very hard to find.
2nd-3rd day- My favorite, birds are moving again, hunting is good, lots of tracks. This is when I first started to figure them out. Tracks don't lie. All those times your dog was birdy and never found them, really was birds and not rabbits or turkeys. They squirted out at 90 degrees and ran like rabbits or got up before you got there.
I would still love to hunt in 2 or 3 inches of powder but I'm afraid my days of pounding through 8 or more inches and two-foot drifts are over. makes my legs hurt thinking about it.
 
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birddude said:
I would still love to hunt in 2 or 3 inches of powder but I'm afraid my days of pounding through 8 or more inches and two-foot drifts are over. makes my legs hurt thinking about it.
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Its remarkable how quick even an inch or two of snow can pile up into knee deep drifts when there is wind too.

I rarely actually hunt when the snow is falling. I usually target the first calm day after it.
 
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