Miforester
Well-known member
Just returned from my first trip of 2016 traveling 16 hours from Michigan to South Dakota. I was hunting solo with my pack of 3 young dogs, a lab, Brittany and English setter puppy. I hunted from 11/6 to 11/10 and the weather conditions were mid 60's to hi of 73. This made the hunting a little for challenging as the birds were found in every type of habitat from brome grass to cattails, but mostly grasses. I hunted all public primarily CREP and WPA's and a few ditches to give the dogs a break. I think I started out shooting a gun with a bent barrel as my shooting was horrible and I have to gopro video to prove it.....Over the course of my 5 day hunting I hunted 8 different public areas and roughly 4 ditches. Most productive was WPA lands as one area a group of roughly 20-30 bird flushed wild out of the grass well before we got near them, but made for a challenging hunt to find the roosters in a sea of 300 acres. I was really surprised at the rooster to hen ratio I experienced of 3-1 which I doubt I see again. Most days I could have limited within the first hour and half of hunting but the bent barrel didn't allow that, switched to my 20 O/U and all was right in the world, again video to prove it.
All my dogs were able to put up a roosters and have it shot over them. The weather and inexperienced pups proved to be tough on them pinning birds down as points were not what I expected, my lab did a nice job flushing her birds. Shot my first one legged bird, it had no leg below the knee/spur, it appeared to be a birth defect as it was scaled over, my brit did have a nice point on that bird. Dogs made some nice long distance retrieves and finds on winged birds. I did unfortunately lose two winged birds.
I am always amazed at how our hunting partners can be dropped into a field of grass of endless acres and they are able to produce birds, it is in many cases finding a needle in the haystack. The downside is we start to expect that in every field.....Most success was found along the crop grass interface when present. Other days it was just a field march in search of roosters or in some cases just hens. Most of the corn had been harvested in the areas I was hunting.
Another highlight of the trip was meeting Dakotazeb and Elle. Although we were not able to hunt with each other it was great meeting them even if briefly. I look forward to next year when I hope our schedules allow us to hunt together. I'm already planning my return trip in December with my son, I'm pretty sure it is a safe bet that I wont be experiencing temps in the 60's and 70s. If you are from a state with no birds or few like I am don't let state reports or forum post keep you from going to your pheasant state of your choice. Get out there and pursue those cagey roosters with your favorite hunting partners and make some memories.
All my dogs were able to put up a roosters and have it shot over them. The weather and inexperienced pups proved to be tough on them pinning birds down as points were not what I expected, my lab did a nice job flushing her birds. Shot my first one legged bird, it had no leg below the knee/spur, it appeared to be a birth defect as it was scaled over, my brit did have a nice point on that bird. Dogs made some nice long distance retrieves and finds on winged birds. I did unfortunately lose two winged birds.
I am always amazed at how our hunting partners can be dropped into a field of grass of endless acres and they are able to produce birds, it is in many cases finding a needle in the haystack. The downside is we start to expect that in every field.....Most success was found along the crop grass interface when present. Other days it was just a field march in search of roosters or in some cases just hens. Most of the corn had been harvested in the areas I was hunting.
Another highlight of the trip was meeting Dakotazeb and Elle. Although we were not able to hunt with each other it was great meeting them even if briefly. I look forward to next year when I hope our schedules allow us to hunt together. I'm already planning my return trip in December with my son, I'm pretty sure it is a safe bet that I wont be experiencing temps in the 60's and 70s. If you are from a state with no birds or few like I am don't let state reports or forum post keep you from going to your pheasant state of your choice. Get out there and pursue those cagey roosters with your favorite hunting partners and make some memories.
