Young Birds

4shot

4shot

Well-known member
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This year I’ve shot a fair amount of bird and noticed there has been a lot of young birds taken. Hunted opening weekend in SD and noticed almost all the birds were young some barely showing color. Understanding that a majority of the population is first year birds. Has anyone else noticed this young bird uptick. Shot these two birds last weekend (w/PS). One on the left is 2-3 yr old and looks like a monster beside his buddy. Had a 3/4 spur, one of the largest I’ve collected. Fun to think about getting one of the sly ones. I will admit were I got the old one has very little pressure, good cover, and lots of food and water.
 
All of the roosters I have harvested this season have been first year birds, except one. I make a point of glancing at the spurs on each of them. This seems pretty normal to me. The area I hunt was projected to be up 70% (central MN) from last year so the majority are naturally going to be rookie roosters.
 
4shot said:
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This year I’ve shot a fair amount of bird and noticed there has been a lot of young birds taken. Hunted opening weekend in SD and noticed almost all the birds were young some barely showing color. Understanding that a majority of the population is first year birds. Has anyone else noticed this young bird uptick.
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What part of the state? Minnesota and Eastern SD have fewer 1st year birds (than usual) due to the rains in the spring (at least that has been my experience).

4shot said:
Shot these two birds last weekend (w/PS). One on the left is 2-3 yr old and looks like a monster beside his buddy. Had a 3/4 spur, one of the largest I’ve collected. Fun to think about getting one of the sly ones. I will admit were I got the old one has very little pressure, good cover, and lots of food and water.
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Bringing home one of the old boys is definitely a feather in the cap (pun possibly intended). Even without human pressure, I wonder how many predator encounters a bird like that avoids in 1.5-2.5 years.
 
Shooting a lot more young birds this year also, a sign of good chick survival. We had some rains this year (until August) and guessing many more insects for the chicks to eat, was the big difference.
 
MNMEAD said:
SW MN I think I've shot 4 roosters that were definitely second year birds. The other 20 have been first year birds.
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That's great! Must be a pocket of the state where they didn't get wiped out by the cold, wet spring.

The other variable is public vs private. If an area has a smaller number of young boys, they'll get taken out faster than on a normal year. If an area doesn't get a lot of pressure, then the lower number of youngsters might not be as apparent.
 
To be honest, with the number of birds I have seen this year compared to last, I think they survived very well. I hunt 97% public. I have had to hunt past lunch zero times when I've gone out solo. There's just birds all over. Now recently they've gotten a bit more wild making it tougher, but overall I'd say I am seeing significantly more birds than last year. I've been all over SC and SW this fall, same story everywhere I've been, as long as I am on good habitat.
 
MNMEAD said:
To be honest, with the number of birds I have seen this year compared to last, I think they survived very well. I hunt 97% public. I have had to hunt past lunch zero times when I've gone out solo. There's just birds all over. Now recently they've gotten a bit more wild making it tougher, but overall I'd say I am seeing significantly more birds than last year. I've been all over SC and SW this fall, same story everywhere I've been, as long as I am on good habitat.
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I guess it is possible I'm just subconsciously targeting the mature birds, to increase the "quality" (TM Goosemaster) of my hunts. 😛
 
Limitless said:
I guess it is possible I'm just subconsciously targeting the mature birds, to increase the "quality" (TM Goosemaster) of my hunts. 😛
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Yeah, I'm more about quantity than quality. I blast them close and not in slow motion. Can't walk very long anyways since I wear 32 layers of camo fatigues.
 
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