PHEASANT OPENER REPORTS

[firebug]

EARLY REPORTS ARE MIXED. I VISITED WITH 3 PARTIES AND ALL HAD THEIR LIMITS BY NOON. TALKED TO ONE OTHER PARTY AND NOTHING. THIS HAS BEEN A BOTH PRIVATE AND STATE LAND . WHAT'S ANYONE ELSE HEARING FOR LUCK.

[123fish]

All I can say is "WOW!". Six guys done by 10:20 a.m. Timing couldn't have been better as two big cornfields bordering the waterways we hunted came out on Friday. About as good as it will ever get. Didn't have an inrange bird get away and out of the twelve shot only two were longspurs and the other ten were this year's birds which ranged in size from a jumbo to two that you better know what you are doing to be pulling the trigger on them young. Good times for sure and with the rain forecast for tomorrow glad to get at least one good day this weekend.

[MinnesotaMongo]

Great report. This was my first time back pheasant hunting in about 10 years. I went to my father's farm, but the corn wasn't out yet.

I Wikipedia'd "pheasant" to make sure I remembered what they looked like after today. LOL

Things will get better, though. I'm sure of that....

[smnduck]

I did not make it out but the pals group of six only bagged 2. Lots of corn near the private land they were hunting. The dog ran up many birds in the corn and it should get better as the crops come out.

[koonie]

2 shots 2 birds 2 easy.

[PerchPounder]

12 guys 24 birds by 11:30. Gotta love private CRP! Topped it off with 12 ducks and 4 geese this evening.

[ivegottabite]

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12 guys 24 birds by 11:30. Gotta love private CRP! Topped it off with 12 ducks and 4 geese this evening.

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PP~

Were you hunting in MN or ND? I believe in SD you can only Hunt Public right now. Nice job on the birds!

[MN Shutterbug]

Four hunters, 1 dog and 4 birds, after 3 hours. In my book, I call it a succesful hunt. Of course, we should have had a couple more. Lots of corn out and tons of hunters, over by Canby.

[lawdog]

We saw a few birds and heard a lot of shooting in surrounding areas. It will be really good when the corn goes and the weather cools...

[Jaspernuts]

2 guys 1 dog and 15 other cars at the WMA. Lots of crowds. We hunted 2 spots from 9-1. Put up 12 birds, only 3 of which were roosters - which we got. If are ratio was better, we would have got our 4. The pressure in Blue Earth county yesterday was unbelievable.

[idratherbefishing]

Hunted from 9am-6:30pm solid and ended up with 6 birds for 6 guys and 2 dogs. Overall a good hunt, but I can't hardly walk today i am so sore!!!! Fishing is so much easier!

[fishinfey8]

Went down to my grandparents in SW Minn. and had a BLAST on opener! All public land was packed, like usual, but we acctually ended up hunting some private corn fields and saw tons of birds. Can't wait to get down there again! Probably one of the best openers i've seen (as far as numbers). Bagged our limit with four guys and no dog.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I ended up working all day.

The local dudes told me they did quite well.

[xedge2002]

5 guys 3 dogs and 7 birds. We should have had 10 birds but my shooting was a little off yesterday.

[The Donk]

5 guys 4 dogs 8 birds, we had to leave at 1 for a wedding, could have gotten our 2 more pretty easy. Private land by Glenwood, awesome numbers.

[protiller]

Walked one waterway an hour before dark Saturday. Two guys, 1 dog, saw five roosters and three hens. Shot the three roosters who were in range.

[rattlereel]

South east ND 3 roosters for 2 guys and one puppy

way too much corn standing

[PerchPounder]

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12 guys 24 birds by 11:30. Gotta love private CRP! Topped it off with 12 ducks and 4 geese this evening.

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PP~

Were you hunting in MN or ND? I believe in SD you can only Hunt Public right now. Nice job on the birds!

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We were in Minnesota we got the pheasants west of Reading. The ducks and geese were all jumped on ponds and sloughs throughout the Iona area.

[Wanderer]

Benson: Plenty of hunters from Sat 7am sitting on spots till 5pm tonight (Sun). Must've had as hard a time limiting as we did.

Public and private produced, but not the numbers we've seen in the past. Lotsa hens though. 8 hunters 6 dogs 18 birds recovered. 3 unexplainable lost runners. The dogs normally do better than that but they were hyper - maybe overran the scent.

Lotsa geese and some ducks in the area. Saturday evening bow sit showed me 3 young 8 pointers, two of which sparred for a few minutes for a nice show. Hopefully they live till next year!

[Snag]

Got a 2 person limit on public land Saturday. Hunted for an hour on the way home and kicked up 4 hens this morning near Wilmar. We had a chance to be done by 10:00 on Saturday, but we missed a few shots. My Golden seems to have the birds figured out. It was fun to watch. Got up 25 birds in two hours on Saturday, but only eight were roosters. Saw lots of birds along the roads while scouting friday evening. Should be really good when all the corn gets out. Seemed like less hunters driving around this year.

[dogs]

2 guys, 1 kid and 2 dogs 10 roosters shot. Got into a ball of birds early Sat., but out in the Lac Que Parle County was not impressed with number of birds. I never jumped a rooster Sun. Lot of hunters and the thing this year is they never leave WMAs the just seem to want to pound the same one all day.

[lawdog]

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2 guys, 1 kid and 2 dogs 10 roosters shot.

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Even if the kid is hunting, that's four over your limit (six over if he's not)... Care to Explain?

[MOBY RICHARD*]

His dogs must have Pheasant Stamps too...

[123fish]

Cripple city?

[orangestew]

9 birds for 3 guys over 2 days.

[R. Miller]

7 guys...8 birds on Saturday. Not too bad, but I agree with the person above. Lac Qui Parle County does not have the birds it did say in '03 to '05, '06.

Lots of hunters though!

[grab the net]

Five guys, 1 dog, 5 birds on saturday, 2 birds on Sunday. Saw aobut the number of birds I expected, could have shot a little better. I would agree it did not seem as though there were many guys driving around. The people that sat on the WMA's and WPA's all day, well can't really blame them for that, its not like there was anywhere else to go. Varied sucess on guys I talked to here in central MN. If hunting private, some groups limited in a couple hours, on public some limits but more of often, a couple short. Lots of opportunities. Lots of corn left, and very wet compared to last few years. I am guessing the guys who are posting especially the ones who are posting on sunday are giving totals for two days, that is why it may appear they overlimited for one day. Just my theory, I tend to look at the date posted.

[R. Miller]

Net,

Speaking of wet weather...I took a few days off at the end of this week to hunt pheasants in western MN...not they're talking more rain and T showers! That's been the story of most every weekend out there is fall for me...I can't remember that last fall that was this wet?

[BobT]

Last year for the pheasant opener I went out and walked through the grassy draws on my own property. I flushed a few birds and missed one. Hunting alone without a dog, I felt it was a successful day afield. As I was finishing my trip around my property I noticed a white suburban drive up and slowly move along the road bordering my property line. I figured it was other hunters watching to see if I was having any luck flushing pheasants so I didn’t give it too much thought. Eventually they decided to drive in and ask for permission to hunt my land as they had recently flushed a few birds from the WPA that bordered my property, which landed on my property. I agreed and then I asked them if they minded that I tag along and so the three of us and their yellow lab took a walk through my property. By the time the trip ended we had flushed a fair number of birds, picked up a few, and I met some very pleasant fellows. It was now truly a successful day of hunting.

This year, about a week before season, Len stopped in to see if I would be interested in joining them for the pheasant opener. I wasn’t home at the time but my wife mentioned that they had a nice half-hour visit. I called Len back and accepted his invite. That same evening I talked with my brother-in-law from Cloquet and invited him and his son to join us for what I predicted would be one of the best opportunities for good pheasant hunting this area could offer due to the number of birds I had been seeing in the area so they too joined us on Saturday.

We started the day working on a large WMA located about 1/2 mile from my home and things started out rather quiet compared to what I had expected. We flushed a few birds but no takers. Then we proceeded onto my land. In the next hour or so we flushed well over 30 birds and brought 5 roosters to the dinner table. After this we took a break, shared some sandwiches Len and Paul brought and chili that my wife had prepared the night before when she got home from work at 2:00am.

After lunch we decided to give the other half of my 87 acres a try. We flushed another dozen or so birds and brought 2 more home. By this time, Len was beginning to feel plenty wore out so we decided to call it a day. At 78 I hope I have half the stamina and physical conditioning he has. We spent another hour or so in good conversation and enjoyed some fresh warm apple strudel my wife made from some of the apples Len had brought us that morning.

Yup, it was a very successful pheasant opener. Thanks, Len and Paul. You’re welcome to come back any time.

Bob

[SDbowhunter]

Sat - 10 guys, 3 dogs, 19 Roosters. We lost 5 that the dogs could not pick up a trail on. It was the first season for one dog, my dog's second season, and the other dogs 4th or 5th Season. The dogs couldnt find any of the running birds and we spent a fair amount of time looking for them. It must have had something to do with being so dry and the fact the entire Walk in Areas must have reaked like pheasent. Sun - 4 guys 3 dogs 2 Roosters and a Sharptail.