Wild Birds

shorthairs4life

shorthairs4life

New member
Anyone having any luck finding wilds birds on public non-release land? Only tried once so far this year but did not see a bird. Wanting to find more of a challenge if it's out there. Not looking for your hotspot just looking for reason to be encouraged.

Thanks for any feedback in advance
 
I was out on public non stocked land for 4 hours today and got it handed to me. Didnt see a bird. Its just S of you. I talked to the DNR game bioligist this morning. He said to call him back if I actually got any birds. I think he would have been shocked. Really nice guy though, returned my call right away too. I'll stay after it. May go to one of the put n takes' to keep the dogs going.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the response. The put and take have been great on Saturday. I can usually walk out with 2 birds in a couple hours. It's nice to have that as an option here to keep you from going crazy trying to find those few birds that are out there (somewhere). I will keep you posted if I find one out there tomorrow.
 
Hunted Wed. heard a few birds cackling and went towards the closest one. He flys out from under a point wrong side of some willows. Went back and killed what I believe to be the same bird Yesterday. Went to the same area today heard several birds cackling and pushed 1 nice roost out. Didn't get to the area with the most cackling until they were starting to fly into corn. Will go back there in the morning. Snow will help a lot. Birds aren't stocked in this spot.
 
In 8 tries on proven private land I have permission to hunt, have seen one rooster flush about 150 yards away.

DNR release land, got two in two days, and none on the following four trips out.

Seems like somebody might be following the truck. Some years ago, there was a convoy alert, pulling in just as the release truck left.

No quite my idea of hunting, but...they didn't ask me.

Seriously looking at the budget for weekly game farm trips. Kind of pulls away from the idea of pretending I could be a subsistence hunter. :)

FCSpringer suggested I have Mick pop about 30 birds before working him on some range commands. I won't SEE 30 birds this year. :(

Pulled my aching butt onto the trunk lid the other day, sipping a thermos of coffee, and watch some young guy out in the park, striding along like some bionic walking machine as he was coming back in from the field. There's no way I could suggest that he try and capture that feeling where you running out of time to hunt, before you run out of legs.


:D
 
We will do better once we get deep snow. Wild pheasants around here bury into thick willows, cattails, and marsh grass by this part of the season. Snow will help knock it down and narrow down where they can hide. Once they group up the action can be pretty good.
 
Kismet said:
In 8 tries on proven private land I have permission to hunt, have seen one rooster flush about 150 yards away.

DNR release land, got two in two days, and none on the following four trips out.

Seems like somebody might be following the truck. Some years ago, there was a convoy alert, pulling in just as the release truck left.

No quite my idea of hunting, but...they didn't ask me.

Seriously looking at the budget for weekly game farm trips. Kind of pulls away from the idea of pretending I could be a subsistence hunter. :)

FCSpringer suggested I have Mick pop about 30 birds before working him on some range commands. I won't SEE 30 birds this year. :(

Pulled my aching butt onto the trunk lid the other day, sipping a thermos of coffee, and watch some young guy out in the park, striding along like some bionic walking machine as he was coming back in from the field. There's no way I could suggest that he try and capture that feeling where you running out of time to hunt, before you run out of legs.


:D
Click to expand...

You'll see more when the corns out.
 
The corn is pretty much gone now and we are finding pretty good number (for wi) of roosters in tall thick prairie grasses close to picked corn and thick cane or cattails. Mid morning-mid afternoon. Early and late they are in the cattails and cane. Plenty of birds on public land that doesn't see any stocking to keep the dogs interesting and our guns at the ready.
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
The corn is pretty much gone now and we are finding pretty good number (for wi) of roosters in tall thick prairie grasses close to picked corn and thick cane or cattails. Mid morning-mid afternoon. Early and late they are in the cattails and cane. Plenty of birds on public land that doesn't see any stocking to keep the dogs interesting and our guns at the ready.
Click to expand...

you must be finding public land without any worries about deer hunters? I wanted to head out yesterday in the worst way but didnt want to take any chances. I, instead hit a PutnTake area and got 2.

Thanks for the report
 
Wear orange, drive around the area and see where people are parked, and avoid them as much as you can. Hunted prairie grass we can see around us pretty good.
 
1st wild bird sighting

Coming home from a put and take Sunday I spotted my first wild rooster since living in WI. This was a great sight. I immediately turned around and tried to knock on the door to gain access for this upcoming weekend but unfortunately the house was abandoned and the owners no longer live on the property. Still gives me something to hold onto for the remainder of the season.
 
What I wouldnt give for 4 inches of snow. Doesnt seem to be in the cards.. Best of luck chasing that rooster.
 
Was in Lafayette Co over Thnxgvg and saw one cock.

I've had great success on these farms for years and the farmers told me that during harvest they saw maybe one or two birds when they usually sees dozens if not tens of dozens.

Great cover, great feed, everything is there but the birds. They all believe is was because of the terrible winter last year.

I'm shocked. One cock and three hens. I felt so bad I didn't even shoot.
 
Put up 4 roosters today and some hens too. Birds were in heavy noisy cover so approaching them was tough and they were spooky but me and the dogs were able to kill one. Hard shot maybe the best wing shot I've ever seen. Public non-stocked land.

boys.jpg

Cover shots.
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p-grass.jpg
 
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Went for a short walk today. Got this guy and he was a good one with needle spurs. Lack of hens is a bit worrisome but still a lot of cover since we are snowless.
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This picture does the spur no justice. His leg and foot were also much larger than any other bird I've killed this year.
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Has anybody hunted Honey Creek in Burlington off Academy Road or Heritage? I saw on the DNRs website that they stock Pheasants at this location and would love to get my young dog out on as many birds as possible.
 
Go hunt it. If the DNR says they stock birds there than they do. Most stocked places have good enough habitat that they have some wild birds too.
 
Honey creek is a tough area to hunt. Marginal cover and most of it is wet. They do stock birds there...all roosters. Tichigan is better but gets the krap hunted out of it. In the past I've done OK out near whitewater hunting some of the marginal looking areas near where birds were stocked earlier in the year.

Seems to be more hawks this year than usual...i've been finding puffed birds on nearly every trip out.
 
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