Snow hunting

J

JSMITH

Member
To you seasoned veterans- what kind of cover have you had the most success in when the snow is falling?
 
Fresh snow can be a blast to hunt in.
Several years ago (30) , a friend of mine was tracking a rooster and the track went into a clump of weeds . He handed me his gun, and jumped on the bird, caught him before he could get away.
On the other hand, crunchy snow sucks. They can hear you a mile away.
 
If snow is falling your visibility with be limited and getting home might be tricky. If you do hunt in snow remember to oil gun and do not store in gun case wet. Gun can rust is less than a hour. I'd vote for heavy cover also.
 
matto said:
Some of my best hunts have been in fresh snow. It's much easier to get close to them.
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Hunting in fresh snow are my favorite conditions. About an inch or two is ideal. Any tracks are fresh and you know there are birds around.

Its when the snow starts to pile up and get deep is when it sucks. Or it thaws and re-freezes, then they hear you coming a mile away.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Managed one bird today. Only hunted about 2.5 hours. Got soaked from the snow or I would have hunted longer. I will be back at it in the morning.
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Wish I could be out there with you. MN is closed and I miss it so much already. Despite the bond formed with a dog, and the feeling sometimes that they can read your mind and predict your actions, I've never found a way to convey to her(in my case), "hey pretty girl, the season is closed for nine months."
 
I hunted northeast for quail and north central for pheasants yesterday. Didn't put up any quail, all private, headed west at noon and put up 35-40 birds on public. I don't usually hunt public, but I thought the snow would bunch them up and hold them tight, but they were running and flushing wild. I fell into the dreaded hen hole and didn't have a shot on a rooster all afternoon. My hunting partner shot 1, crippled one but couldn't recover it, and missed one. I got in my feelings and left tired, pouty, and butthurt just before golden hour.
 
Best hunting I've ever had has been after a good snowstorm. A few years back it snowed about 8" overnight. Went out to a WIHA that had had the snot beat out of it. Walk for hours and maybe see one hen. No bird tracks (or human) anywhere in a 1/2 section field. Thought, what the heck, I'm here, might as well walk it with my year old lab. She disappeared into deeper snow in a depression (small gully) almost immediately. Came out behind a rooster that had been buried in the snow. Ended up with a limit in a couple of hours and the young dog got more experience in those couple of hours than I could ever ask for. Six years later she's still a bird hunting machine and goes crazy when we go outside if there is snow on the ground!
 
gsh lover said:
Fresh snow can be a blast to hunt in.
Several years ago (30) , a friend of mine was tracking a rooster and the track went into a clump of weeds . He handed me his gun, and jumped on the bird, caught him before he could get away.
On the other hand, crunchy snow sucks. They can hear you a mile away.
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Thumbs down.
 
gsh lover said:
Fresh snow can be a blast to hunt in.
Several years ago (30) , a friend of mine was tracking a rooster and the track went into a clump of weeds . He handed me his gun, and jumped on the bird, caught him before he could get away.
On the other hand, crunchy snow sucks. They can hear you a mile away.
Click to expand...
What happened to the bird? Ring his neck, toss him up for target practice, turn him loose?
 
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