Upland4Ever
New member
Opening Pheasant day, or Opening Waterfowl?
What do you prefer
- Thread starter Upland4Ever
- Start date
Opening day of waterfowl is a disapointment. It's to warm these days, no ducks down, maybe teal, wood ducks, gadwalls, a few pintails. Pheasant season open is always an event, on of the few times you are smarter than the young birds, next event is a light early snow, opening day times two! The rest of the time the accuity of the bird is far superior to the hunter, but memorable all the same. Honestly, I can't get worked up for waterfowl like that...... now bobwhite quail, anywhere, anytime, I'll plead the 5th!
spoonbill82
Active member
The pheasant opener.
mustistuff
Banned
ducks
in as much as duck season starts about 6 wks. earlier, i'll go with the ducks, my dogs don't seem to care as long as they are hunting something and besides, why waste 6 wks.
cheers
in as much as duck season starts about 6 wks. earlier, i'll go with the ducks, my dogs don't seem to care as long as they are hunting something and besides, why waste 6 wks.
cheers
mnmthunting
Banned
The waterfowl season opens 2 weeks earlier then the opening of pheasants in MT. I'm never there for the opening of waterfowl, always there for the opening of pheasant season.
Pheasant for sure. My duck hunting just gets better and better throughout the year, right up until I'm dropping them onto slushy ice in January, but my pheasant hunting is never better than the first day, except perhaps the first few frosts or snowfalls. Don't get me wrong, I love it ALL, but the pheasant opener is the most important day of the year for me (except for my anniversary, of COURSE ) - everything else revolves around it.
) - everything else revolves around it.small munsterlander owner
Banned
opening day spring turkey by far not even close spring turkey is wear its at!!!
if i had to choose duck or pheasant? its still not even close OPENING PHEASANT HANDS DOWN!!! no stinky water dry ground & my dog can get in on the action much more on pheasant opener...
got to get up way to early for duck & pheasant taste so much better then duck
choose should of been opening day of pheasant or opening day of grouse season? thats a tuff 1 to choose from!!! grouse season open in SEPT. pheasant in OCT. grouse are fun but pheasant is best... i will be up sharptail grouse hunting this SEPT. so i can see 1st hand what id rather hunt on opening day pheasant or prairie grouse...??? ruffed grouse woods is just to damn thick to have any fun in you need eye protection in them ruffed grouse woods early season...
if i had to choose duck or pheasant? its still not even close OPENING PHEASANT HANDS DOWN!!! no stinky water dry ground & my dog can get in on the action much more on pheasant opener...
got to get up way to early for duck & pheasant taste so much better then duck
choose should of been opening day of pheasant or opening day of grouse season? thats a tuff 1 to choose from!!! grouse season open in SEPT. pheasant in OCT. grouse are fun but pheasant is best... i will be up sharptail grouse hunting this SEPT. so i can see 1st hand what id rather hunt on opening day pheasant or prairie grouse...??? ruffed grouse woods is just to damn thick to have any fun in you need eye protection in them ruffed grouse woods early season...
small munsterlander owner
Banned
opening day pheasant hunting is really for everybody novice or experienced hunters alike after opening day its a real hunt like all the young dumb birds are dead & you really have to hunt if you want to get on some birds... late season is another world only the hardcore guys go out...
i like to hunt pheasant just after the crops are all harvested if its a average year you get 2 opening days the real 1st opening day when anybody can get a limit & then the 1st few days after the crops are harvested then you kinda get another opening day as all the birds safe corn/soy bean hide outs are gone now they them 1st few days after they harvest the birds dont have the advantage any longer until they find there next hide out most the time on private lands after the crops are harvested...
i like to hunt pheasant just after the crops are all harvested if its a average year you get 2 opening days the real 1st opening day when anybody can get a limit & then the 1st few days after the crops are harvested then you kinda get another opening day as all the birds safe corn/soy bean hide outs are gone now they them 1st few days after they harvest the birds dont have the advantage any longer until they find there next hide out most the time on private lands after the crops are harvested...
BleuBijou
Active member
I do not like either. But ,if both were the same day and I had to choose, I would go with the upland. Here there is a early Goose in Sept. and opener is the bomb!!! I just watch them go feed and opener I am right there !!! No decoys and 20 feet high as they pass over. Do not like the warm weather and waders combo! So, upland would win , if I had to choose!!! Just do not care for the crowds!!!
mustistuff
Banned
early birds
the older i get the more i dislike the crowds, therefore as far as opening day for pheasants and going to the dentist, the dentist would be the pick, i don't need to see a gang of guy's in the field i had planned on hunting and i don't care if the birds are so called young and dumb or hunter wise. come to think of it the dogs don't seem to care either, my records show that i don't do any better earlier in the season than later probably cause most roosters most places don't get shot out anyway. kinda good thing for the hens at least. never had an opening day on quail, but on ruffs it's a bummer cause ya can't see em' flush so ya shoot at the leaves moving and hope that's the way they went. the dogs can usually hear them hit the ground. ducks opening day is a little more peaceful and the dogs just love going someplace
cheers
the older i get the more i dislike the crowds, therefore as far as opening day for pheasants and going to the dentist, the dentist would be the pick, i don't need to see a gang of guy's in the field i had planned on hunting and i don't care if the birds are so called young and dumb or hunter wise. come to think of it the dogs don't seem to care either, my records show that i don't do any better earlier in the season than later probably cause most roosters most places don't get shot out anyway. kinda good thing for the hens at least. never had an opening day on quail, but on ruffs it's a bummer cause ya can't see em' flush so ya shoot at the leaves moving and hope that's the way they went. the dogs can usually hear them hit the ground. ducks opening day is a little more peaceful and the dogs just love going someplace
cheers
kick them up
Active member
Tough choice...Roosters or Thunderchickens????? I choose both
I will pond jump ducks but no decoying for me.
I will pond jump ducks but no decoying for me.
small munsterlander owner
Banned
if you dont do any better or notice you do any better early season over late season you have some outstanding places to hunt mustistuff!!! thats the 1st time i have ever herd that comment that they cant notice the difference from early season from later season???
come hunt early season MN pheasants you damn near dont even need a dog & lots of young short spured roosters are shot...
come to MN late season like december & tell me there is not a difference in the way the birds act & the number of birds you even see late season VS early season by late season on most public lands in america the pheasants have PHD in avoiding hunters & there dogs...
my dog likes to see smell & retrieve birds while out hunting late season my dog has much less fun as there is much less shooting much less to smell & very few birds to retrieve... my dog loves to hunt but would have much more fun early season rather then late...
the many other hunters dose suck to hunt around on opener if you have a few hunters in your party you can sometimes hold down a good peace of public land we will do that this season the more the better then we can take our time & really work the land rather then just rush threw it that happens when you get groups competing on the same small area thats also no fun & dangerous!!!
come hunt early season MN pheasants you damn near dont even need a dog & lots of young short spured roosters are shot...
come to MN late season like december & tell me there is not a difference in the way the birds act & the number of birds you even see late season VS early season by late season on most public lands in america the pheasants have PHD in avoiding hunters & there dogs...
my dog likes to see smell & retrieve birds while out hunting late season my dog has much less fun as there is much less shooting much less to smell & very few birds to retrieve... my dog loves to hunt but would have much more fun early season rather then late...
the many other hunters dose suck to hunt around on opener if you have a few hunters in your party you can sometimes hold down a good peace of public land we will do that this season the more the better then we can take our time & really work the land rather then just rush threw it that happens when you get groups competing on the same small area thats also no fun & dangerous!!!
mustistuff
Banned
bird stuff
big difference between your part of the world and mine, for a few things, i likely have a longer season, few to no weather problems, like winter, much more land to roam around on and i am sure the hunter density other than a couple of the big weekends is much much less that what you have to put up with. i have no special deal in kansas, other words i hunt the same type of land that you would, mostly walkin and knock on a few doors. i have some pretty strong feelings that for example: most pheasants in kansas rarely see a hunter and many never see one, sure a few popular field that seem to be magnets get pounded but most field never seriously even get hunted, while mostly i hunt during the week i do know what opening days are like and likewise weekends, if you subtract the 3 big weekends of the season, usually i can do a 4 day hunt and never see a hunter in the field, sure i see the trucks go by or the cafes filled up but not in the field, never understood what they do or where they go but it would seem to me that in a 4 day hunt i am in the field something like 30 plus hours, i should bump into someone, but rarely do. it is well known that hunting has almost nothing to do with reducing the pheasant population, for example many years colorado stats would say that the average hunter took 1.7 birds, in kansas i think it is only 7 or 8 and s. dak. it is only 9 or 10. sure, some people pound them but most are lucky to shoot anything, true after the opening few days some birds are shot but also true that later in the season there is absolutely less pressure on the birds and also less cover for them to be in so it equals out i think. if i could only hunt one week, i would skip the first one and hunt the last and my dogs would have something to smell
cheers
big difference between your part of the world and mine, for a few things, i likely have a longer season, few to no weather problems, like winter, much more land to roam around on and i am sure the hunter density other than a couple of the big weekends is much much less that what you have to put up with. i have no special deal in kansas, other words i hunt the same type of land that you would, mostly walkin and knock on a few doors. i have some pretty strong feelings that for example: most pheasants in kansas rarely see a hunter and many never see one, sure a few popular field that seem to be magnets get pounded but most field never seriously even get hunted, while mostly i hunt during the week i do know what opening days are like and likewise weekends, if you subtract the 3 big weekends of the season, usually i can do a 4 day hunt and never see a hunter in the field, sure i see the trucks go by or the cafes filled up but not in the field, never understood what they do or where they go but it would seem to me that in a 4 day hunt i am in the field something like 30 plus hours, i should bump into someone, but rarely do. it is well known that hunting has almost nothing to do with reducing the pheasant population, for example many years colorado stats would say that the average hunter took 1.7 birds, in kansas i think it is only 7 or 8 and s. dak. it is only 9 or 10. sure, some people pound them but most are lucky to shoot anything, true after the opening few days some birds are shot but also true that later in the season there is absolutely less pressure on the birds and also less cover for them to be in so it equals out i think. if i could only hunt one week, i would skip the first one and hunt the last and my dogs would have something to smell
cheers
small munsterlander owner
Banned
our MN pheasant range is quit big mustistuff figure from fargo ND to the northwest & all the way down the SD/ND border to IA & we have 1 of the most extensive public land systems in the country with all the WMAs WIAs WPAs & national & state game/wildlife rufges doted all over MN pheasant range we dont have a shortage of public lands to hunt...
the only time we ever have any run ins with other hunters is the opening WK-END & maybe the 1st WK-END the crops are harvested after any other time of the pheasant season except maybe 2nd WK-END you can have your pick of fields to hunt if you get there 1st then you will see other hunters drive n around but rarely if ever run into another hunter while in the field hunting... at least wear we hunt on the SD border there is no need to hunt by another hunting party you can just drive down the road & hunt some place else...
yes KS has a much longer & more liberal season then MN i wish i could hunt pheasants at sunrise like they can in KS & ND id have them surounded in the early a.m. we have to wait till 9:00 a.m. in MN
the hunters never kill all the pheasants on the public lands never said that but they do kill a fair number of birds talked to a group last season that had 17 birds on opening day all on public land after that WK-END there was 17 less dummys on the public land wear i hunt id rather have them 17 birds in the field to hunt i guess??? also the public land hunters dont kill all the birds thats for sure but they do sure as hell move many of them birds off the public land over onto private lands after the 1st few WK-ENDs of pheasant hunting season... im sure that even happens in KS also??? so say 17 roosters out the population & the rest on edge & living on private lands in most cases after a WK or 2 of pheasant season in most hard hunted areas not very fun come WK 3-4 for me & my dogs... late season dose get better i will agree once things settle back down again...
maybe spring turkey hunting is more popular in KS than pheasant hunting is??? but if there is any wear near the amount of pheasant hunters in KS on the pheasants opener as there is on the spring turkey season opener then i would not want to hunt KS on pheasant opener either... i see guys from all over the mid-west/country in KS while turkey hunting i can only imagine pheasant season... that being said if the public land dose not get hit very hard in KS pheasant country i would of been dead wrong i thought the other way that the public lands got hit pretty hard come pheasant season??? deer season also...
i would like to try KS pheasant someday but i seen & herd very few this spring so ill have to put that on hold they were all over my 1st season turkey hunting in KS say about 4-5 yrs ago quail also but that drought must of been bad on them upland game birds they were very few & far between this past turkey season wear i hunt at least... drove threw the hole state of KS south to north threw what should be pheasant country seen 3 prairie chickens no pheasants on the hole drive & 6 day trip in KS maybe seen 1 dead bird & 1 hen alive in KS very sad to see... i maybe herd 6 crowing 1 morning while turkey hunting thats about best i herd in KS 2013 used to hear 20-30 & see plenty while driving around from town to hunting spots & ETC... sad sad sad
the only time we ever have any run ins with other hunters is the opening WK-END & maybe the 1st WK-END the crops are harvested after any other time of the pheasant season except maybe 2nd WK-END you can have your pick of fields to hunt if you get there 1st then you will see other hunters drive n around but rarely if ever run into another hunter while in the field hunting... at least wear we hunt on the SD border there is no need to hunt by another hunting party you can just drive down the road & hunt some place else...
yes KS has a much longer & more liberal season then MN i wish i could hunt pheasants at sunrise like they can in KS & ND id have them surounded in the early a.m. we have to wait till 9:00 a.m. in MN
the hunters never kill all the pheasants on the public lands never said that but they do kill a fair number of birds talked to a group last season that had 17 birds on opening day all on public land after that WK-END there was 17 less dummys on the public land wear i hunt id rather have them 17 birds in the field to hunt i guess??? also the public land hunters dont kill all the birds thats for sure but they do sure as hell move many of them birds off the public land over onto private lands after the 1st few WK-ENDs of pheasant hunting season... im sure that even happens in KS also??? so say 17 roosters out the population & the rest on edge & living on private lands in most cases after a WK or 2 of pheasant season in most hard hunted areas not very fun come WK 3-4 for me & my dogs... late season dose get better i will agree once things settle back down again...
maybe spring turkey hunting is more popular in KS than pheasant hunting is??? but if there is any wear near the amount of pheasant hunters in KS on the pheasants opener as there is on the spring turkey season opener then i would not want to hunt KS on pheasant opener either... i see guys from all over the mid-west/country in KS while turkey hunting i can only imagine pheasant season... that being said if the public land dose not get hit very hard in KS pheasant country i would of been dead wrong i thought the other way that the public lands got hit pretty hard come pheasant season??? deer season also...
i would like to try KS pheasant someday but i seen & herd very few this spring so ill have to put that on hold they were all over my 1st season turkey hunting in KS say about 4-5 yrs ago quail also but that drought must of been bad on them upland game birds they were very few & far between this past turkey season wear i hunt at least... drove threw the hole state of KS south to north threw what should be pheasant country seen 3 prairie chickens no pheasants on the hole drive & 6 day trip in KS maybe seen 1 dead bird & 1 hen alive in KS very sad to see... i maybe herd 6 crowing 1 morning while turkey hunting thats about best i herd in KS 2013 used to hear 20-30 & see plenty while driving around from town to hunting spots & ETC... sad sad sad
mustistuff
Banned
age
i'm getting old, can still hear a pheasant flush but my eyes are wonderful. while i see very very few people hunting pheasants i see almost nobody hunting turkey, again once in awhile someone will drive by once in awhile a car parked side the road, but pressure, surely not. i'm impressed with how much you seem to get around. in the fall, turkey hunters just don't seem to exist. would like to try for them further east but from your reports i wouldn't be able to find a spot for my blind, damn if i'll share it with someone. my pheasant crow count this spring was really really low as were the road sighting and by about 75%, hope that was an aberration but western kansas is off on moisture through the first week of june by about 25% but hunting i will go
i'm getting old, can still hear a pheasant flush but my eyes are wonderful. while i see very very few people hunting pheasants i see almost nobody hunting turkey, again once in awhile someone will drive by once in awhile a car parked side the road, but pressure, surely not. i'm impressed with how much you seem to get around. in the fall, turkey hunters just don't seem to exist. would like to try for them further east but from your reports i wouldn't be able to find a spot for my blind, damn if i'll share it with someone. my pheasant crow count this spring was really really low as were the road sighting and by about 75%, hope that was an aberration but western kansas is off on moisture through the first week of june by about 25% but hunting i will go
small munsterlander owner
Banned
i agree 100% im not a fall turkey hunter at all & you never see a fall turkey hunter out in the woods hunting... thats ok with me its all about the spring turkey season any way... most them guys are out deer hunting in the fall in KS
yes we get around in the spring turkey season we drove to KS from western OK drove through the citys of liberal, dodge, city hays ETC. never seen a pheasant seen turkeys plenty of them...
if you never see spring turkey hunters wear you hunt mustistuff then just keep on hunting there as you are damn lucky!!! my 1st yr turkey hunting KS we got to a WHIA i wanted to hunt 1.5 days prior to the season opening & the nite B4 the season opener on a tuesday i seen 3 CO plates 1 MO plate 1 WI plate 1 IL plate & 1 KS plate all with at least 2 hunters in each vehicle that was a shocker!!! see at least 2-4 CO plates each season while hunting they are most common then MO then IL had guys follow us around from WHIA to WHIA & just hunt the other side of the WHIA from us twice last season & 2 KS guys that stayed at the same hotel as us from K.C. seen our van at a WHIA & came in ontop to hunt as they new we had got turkeys prior just game hogs man!!!
we will be traveling a hour or so west of wear i hunt in KS next season & try & get away from the other non resident hunters just to many people to EZ to get a hotel room & hunt also to EZ to get a cheap bite to eat in that area many hotel hunters flock to that area & its to close to MO them MO boys are hard on the turkeys LOL well the educate a lot of turkey running & gunning the FAV MO method of turkey hunting...
yes we get around in the spring turkey season we drove to KS from western OK drove through the citys of liberal, dodge, city hays ETC. never seen a pheasant seen turkeys plenty of them...
if you never see spring turkey hunters wear you hunt mustistuff then just keep on hunting there as you are damn lucky!!! my 1st yr turkey hunting KS we got to a WHIA i wanted to hunt 1.5 days prior to the season opening & the nite B4 the season opener on a tuesday i seen 3 CO plates 1 MO plate 1 WI plate 1 IL plate & 1 KS plate all with at least 2 hunters in each vehicle that was a shocker!!! see at least 2-4 CO plates each season while hunting they are most common then MO then IL had guys follow us around from WHIA to WHIA & just hunt the other side of the WHIA from us twice last season & 2 KS guys that stayed at the same hotel as us from K.C. seen our van at a WHIA & came in ontop to hunt as they new we had got turkeys prior just game hogs man!!!
we will be traveling a hour or so west of wear i hunt in KS next season & try & get away from the other non resident hunters just to many people to EZ to get a hotel room & hunt also to EZ to get a cheap bite to eat in that area many hotel hunters flock to that area & its to close to MO them MO boys are hard on the turkeys LOL well the educate a lot of turkey running & gunning the FAV MO method of turkey hunting...
koja48
New member
Pheasant season, from opening day to the end. My pup wouldn't have it any other way and I gave-up on arising at 0'Dark Thirty just to get a good duck blind, then get crowded-out by late-comers & sky-blasters years ago. I do this stuff for fun & relaxation, not to get PO'd & frustrated.
BleuBijou
Active member
Excellent decompression technique!!!!!!:cheers: