What have you been seeing?

J

jmnhunter

Active member
hey guys, heading out with dad to a family farm near woonsocket next weekend. Its been about 3 years or so since we've been back there since the numbers of birds and habitat have been down around there. We do have private land to hunt, but, it might as well be public as my dad's cousin lets a few different groups hunt it throughout the year. To make a long story longer, he has enough land for us to burn about a days worth and after hearing how the others have been doing out there, my confidence is not all that high for out there.

Now, I'm a public land hunter by trade, so the public land hunting in MN for me this year has been pretty good, I would almost put it against the public stuff in SD from my prior experience with the public land out there.

*Almost is the key word, as I've only hunted a couple of public land pieces in in that woonsocket area, and I dont think I've kicked up a rooster on one yet. Now, my tentative plan is to hit some public stuff early friday before my old man meets me at the farm friday afternoon. I was curious on other's reports have been between the Mitchell to White lake, Armour to Wolsey on public land. I do not mind driving up to 45 miles or so. I dont need specific spots, just curious on the numbers you have been seeing. I"m doing some prescouting with some aerials, I'm a sucker for WPA's :D
 
jmnhunter said:
hey guys, heading out with dad to a family farm near woonsocket next weekend. Its been about 3 years or so since we've been back there since the numbers of birds and habitat have been down around there. We do have private land to hunt, but, it might as well be public as my dad's cousin lets a few different groups hunt it throughout the year. To make a long story longer, he has enough land for us to burn about a days worth and after hearing how the others have been doing out there, my confidence is not all that high for out there.

Now, I'm a public land hunter by trade, so the public land hunting in MN for me this year has been pretty good, I would almost put it against the public stuff in SD from my prior experience with the public land out there.

*Almost is the key word, as I've only hunted a couple of public land pieces in in that woonsocket area, and I dont think I've kicked up a rooster on one yet. Now, my tentative plan is to hit some public stuff early friday before my old man meets me at the farm friday afternoon. I was curious on other's reports have been between the Mitchell to White lake, Armour to Wolsey on public land. I do not mind driving up to 45 miles or so. I dont need specific spots, just curious on the numbers you have been seeing. I"m doing some prescouting with some aerials, I'm a sucker for WPA's :D
Click to expand...

stay close to corn fields, it's going to be damned cold and the birds will gorge on corn to sustain their body heat....feedlots will hold them too, but you can't hunt there, obviously.
 
jmnhunter said:
hey guys, heading out with dad to a family farm near woonsocket next weekend. Its been about 3 years or so since we've been back there since the numbers of birds and habitat have been down around there. We do have private land to hunt, but, it might as well be public as my dad's cousin lets a few different groups hunt it throughout the year. To make a long story longer, he has enough land for us to burn about a days worth and after hearing how the others have been doing out there, my confidence is not all that high for out there.

Now, I'm a public land hunter by trade, so the public land hunting in MN for me this year has been pretty good, I would almost put it against the public stuff in SD from my prior experience with the public land out there.

*Almost is the key word, as I've only hunted a couple of public land pieces in in that woonsocket area, and I dont think I've kicked up a rooster on one yet. Now, my tentative plan is to hit some public stuff early friday before my old man meets me at the farm friday afternoon. I was curious on other's reports have been between the Mitchell to White lake, Armour to Wolsey on public land. I do not mind driving up to 45 miles or so. I dont need specific spots, just curious on the numbers you have been seeing. I"m doing some prescouting with some aerials, I'm a sucker for WPA's :D
Click to expand...


This year for me SD public land & MN public land not too much difference... Spotty pockets of birds is the word in talking with locals & my driving around and hunting mid Nov in SD ... I was NW of Woonsocket... I hunt 100% public was nothing like my previous 7 trips very few birds seen driving around I hunted 5 days did not shoot my gun 3 days...

If on private land & only a few groups hunted it u should be golden... I need steel shot to hunt the stuff I hunt in SD aka not a fan of wia or creep

Corn+cattails=roosters. This type of weather especially...

I avoid the SE SD area lots of hotels & towns that 1 reason I think a lot of good reports from that area tons of guys base outta Mitchell bookings Huron so u hear about them more ??? Maybe not.. I know by Mitchell there a lot of crep they want birds for them hunters who stay & live in them areas...

Stay warm & I wish u the best of luck man
 
thanks for the tips guys, thats what worries me about huron being fairly close, i'll have to stay atleast 30 miles from there to avoid any heavy traffic; i'll report back :cheers:
 
he is a british lab, he just turned 6:( but i can tell how mature he has been getting over the years; its such a blast hunting under him. hes my first dog, we used to hunt MN/SD pheasants without a dog and still had success, granted that was 2001-2008, but never again without:thumbsup:
 
Hunted public south of I-90, north of 46, east of 281, west of 81, on Thursday of last week. Only shot one rooster, had some gun problems (click safety off, but the trigger wouldn't pull, acted like the safety was still on) and wasn't able to fire on 6 other roosters that got up in range. By the time I switched to my backup gun, of course all I saw were hens the rest of the day. Dog flushed probably 40-50 hens in range, and then the 7 roosters. Lots of birds flushed wild ahead, so being quiet and smart in how you are hunting them is key. Lots of birds in ditches and side of roads, so walking ditches could be an option if that is for you.

Hunted private in the Golden Triangle on Friday and Saturday. Didn't see too many birds, ended with about 1-2 birds per person. Birds were holding very very tight, dog caught 3 roosters in the 2 days. I know we walked by a lot of birds too, walk slow, let the birds get spooked. Saw a lot of hens, had to almost step on them to get them to flush.
 
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