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Current Rooster Reports


Arago

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I hunted 2 places on the 10th (right before the big snow) and then went back to these same two locations this past weekend, 8 days later. It was like bird numbers had been cut in half. I'm hoping they just found a different food source that I didnt.

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Birds getting bombed again- saw an abandoned grove 2 days ago and as I slowed down with the truck- over 100 birds got up- one bald eagle sitting in a tree watching over them all- probably getting ready for dinner.

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I'm in extreme SW and the snow depths in the cover is brutal! Birds seem to be hanging close to groves mostly. We'll find out this afternoon as i'm skipping out of work to give it one last try...

I wouldn't say it was successful Friday. We saw about 40 birds, all in one group that all bugged out when we were 75 yards away as they saw us coming. LOTS of snow in the grass we walked, not much good cover, the birds were all in the willows along the creek and there was very little grass available for cover.

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Thanks Jeff, it's getting tough with everything filled up. Our lovely wind keeps coming from every direction too. So there is no, bare spots, it's blown in at every angle.

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I hunted SW MN on Monday. In the snowstorm. My favorite set of circumstances for a late season hunt. About 25 degrees, a wind to help with noise, and a heavy snow falling. Snow where I was hunting averaged knee deep, with drifts in the belt buckle area. Walking on the plowing was the easiest part, ankle deep in the wind blown spots. Found my three after 2.5 miles of walking. One flush in the cattails and two points. Saw quite a few birds on Monday, with the majority of the roosters still jumping just out of range, the hens holding tight. Went out this morning from 10 am to 12:30 pm. Put up just 3 hens. Think they may have all been out scratching for something to eat. The dog and I are both stiff tonight, will take a few days off to recuperate then try and get out around home a few more times before the end of the season.

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It was brutal this weekend. Even with snowshoes you would sink in the fresh powder. Gonna give it one last try in one spot that held birds, all my other late season spots were snowed in...nary a track. Fall of 2008 was good and that year pheasant counts were high, but with two going on three bad winters, huge chunks of CRP going back into row crops, things are looking pretty tough for pheasants.

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I noticed on the snow depth map that south of Windom to the border has the least amount of snow. Has anyone hunted this area lately?, was thinking of going to that area on Thursday. My son really wants to go out but with no dog I don't think it's worth the time.

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I noticed the same thing. Problem is the drifting. Making access to cover very tough. Without a dog, you'll need to step on them for a chance. However, there is more to hunting than bagging a bird! The experience for your son may just be worth it. Good luck!

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wdgold, I'm thinking of grouse hunting Thursday, fairly close to the metro. I have a dog and if you like I could use some company. Give me a call 612-281-3602

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Got out last Friday and we got one and the second was dead but I didnt pull the trigger cuz I didnt know exactly where my partner was (he would have been out of the line of fire...oh well). Only hunted a couple hours so pretty successful. I will get out tomorrow methinks.

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Got out of work early today so went to a local swamp,the walking was brutal to say the least. I did manage to pull the trigger on three roosters and if I thought walking was tough before that, imagine walking with three fat roosters in the game vest smile

Their was 4-6" of slush just about everywhere and the snow was above my knees,or it was chest high.The birds all had full crops and lots of fat so if they can avoid preditors they should be good for awhile yet,but they really need some better weather.

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I noticed the same thing. Problem is the drifting. Making access to cover very tough. Without a dog, you'll need to step on them for a chance. However, there is more to hunting than bagging a bird! The experience for your son may just be worth it. Good luck!

Oh! Absolutely, it would not be a waste of time being with my son and because of that it would be good. We got out for some grouse hunting last week and although we didn't get any we had fun and enjoyed our time together.

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wdgold, I'm thinking of grouse hunting Thursday, fairly close to the metro. I have a dog and if you like I could use some company. Give me a call 612-281-3602

Thanks for the offer, didn't see your reply in time. Let me know if you go and how you did. Where do you go?

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Today's forecast has me wondering if anyone will be able to hunt anymore without being a fitness freak. Another 3 to 6 today on top of already full cover will make it very very tough. As dachise said, even with snow shoes, it is and has been very tough walking in many spots as many places have drifted full of knee to waist deep snow.

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You are 100% correct muc. We walked my buddy's 10 row cedar strip yesterday that is five years old and just about died. The dogs could barely make it through it. Very, very tough walking. The cattails are just as bad with all the snow just laying in them. The vast majority of the birds we are seeing are in the farmer's groves and pretty inacessable. We did see several birds at mid day that were srounging for food. The fields that were blown clean after last Saturday's blizzard are now lying 8" deep with snow. They are already talking about a storm for next weekend and it possibly could be a biggie. It's going to be a tough winter for the birds unless something positive happens weatherwise. muc does Pheasants Forever have corn in Worthington yet?

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I will be making the 500 mile round trip journey tomorrow morning to give it one more try this year. Me and the dogs did a 3 hour long grouse hunt yesterday in knee to waist deep snow. I could hardly walk when I got the snowshoes off. I said that was it for the year, but 24 hours later I am ready to do it again. Hopefully I will have some rooster pics when I get back.

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Well point setter, you may be a tougher guy than me! Not sure if I'll brave the deep snow (or my dog). I'd love to try because it's a loonng time till next season. Good luck! Where you heading?

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8582 miles put on pheasant hunting this year and yesterday was the first trip I came home empty handed. I was hunting within a 30 mile radius of Willmar on private land and the amount of snow down there is incredible. The woods and cattails are knee to waist deeper everywhere with some spots even worse. My cousin and I hunted hard for 5 hours on snowshoes and I never saw a rooster. We tried everything from standing corn to the thickest woods you can imagine with no luck. The roosters most have found better cover near by and left the land I have permission to hunt. We only put up around dozen hens, which is about a 1/3 of normal. I still had a blast on the snowshoes and the dog work was great, especially with the amount of snow they were working with. Probably the last trip of the year. If I would have seen some roosters I would have went the last weekend of the season. Only 10.5 months until it starts again.

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Well I'm gonna go give it one last try tomorrow before the rain comes later this week and the season is over. I want to get my GSP pup out one last time. She had an excellent season, shot many birds over her. Tomorrow will be interesting with the deep snow, hopefully we see some birds. It's a long time till 10/15/11.

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I hung the gun up for good. Shot my last bird for 2010. Hit one spot, missed once, hit the other, and flushed a fair number of birds. Had to practically step on them a few times. My brother in law went 0 for 4 or 5, so we could have done okay, but it was good to get out and get some exercise.

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Good luck to anyone else heading out in this final week. Like cap. morg. said, it's a long wait until October 2011.

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Great Picture! I may travel west Wend. before the weather [PoorWordUsage] comes again. Hope the birds make it this winter!

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I had a great hunt last Thursday. I had 2 roosters in the bag and then a big ol' rooster blew up in my face. As I was lining him up, ANOTHER rooster busted up! A perfect double opportunity...the first one dropped and I lined up on the second and ........ said "BANG! You are dead!", but left the trigger unpulled as my limit was filled with the first bird. Oh, man, there are not many opportunities for doubles on late season MN roosters and it is not often you can shoot 3 birds in a day, let alone 4! It was an easy double too. Oh well, pretty bad luck on one hand, but pretty darn good luck on the other and what fun! The first bird? A 25" tail with 5/8" spurs!

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Made it out today for my last hunt of '10 and shot the only Rooster in range. Flushed him out of the the cattails along w/4 hens, saw 12-15 more birds along a tree line with standing corn on 1 side, but they manage to flush outta range. It was the perfect final hunt, nice day sun shinning watching the dog run and hunt in the 2-4ft deep snow, seeing birds and even bagging one. Until next year

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The sloughs I was in yesterday were so full of snow, I didnt flush a bird from the cattails. Most of the birds I saw were in treelines which is tough when you are by yourself. A quick word of caution....ice that held me a couple of weeks ago didnt hold me yesterday. There are some very thin spots so be careful, especially if alone. When the birds didnt work out we switched to predator control.

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Great photo, nice job on the yote. I made my final trip yesterday also. Did not bump a bird. Saw a doe, a rabbit and an owl. Same deal in the cattails. areas that were fine a week ago are now treacherous. Dog fell in at least 4 times with one or two feet at a time. I was out on the ice and did not have any problems but saw open water at the edges of the cattails on several occasions. Saw some open spots with minnows in them. Was starting to wonder about getting back to shore. Found a narrow spot and headed in after seeing some open water about 40 yards out on the open ice, could see where a mink had been making several trips back and forth to hunt. Was wearing the snowshoes, and did not want to take a dip with those on. I made it out dry, but the dog fell completely in about 15 feet away from me. He scrambled out but it was enough for both of us after about a 1.5 mile nature walk. A friend on the other hand was out with his son and grandson on a private property. He estimated seeing over 150 birds in a willow lined drainage ditch area. 45 mintues and they had six in the bag. This rain is making the snow settle. Much better than an ice storm.

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A buddy and I went out Tuesday. It was definately the most eventful day of Rooster hunting I've ever had. On the list of lowlights were falling through the ice in a creek (up to my waist, didnt even know it was there with all the snow), and both dogs getting skunked! Luckily I had some extra socks and sweats, so we pushed on. We saw a TON of pheasants after that, should have filled our bags, but between the young dogs and some bad shooting we only got two. Glad I got out one last time!

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Nice pic John, your dog looks like a stud. Glad your day ended up somewhat successful. Lucky Pete and the dogs got skunked instead of you! Let me know how the skunk potion works out for that...

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Cleaned the shotguns today. Bittersweet because that means 10 months untill hitting the fields again. Layed off for Winter, so lots of time to hunt but the last 3 to 4 weeks weather has made it tough. It's funny how quick the season goes! Don't have the patience to stare at a ice hole so I'll just have to read about hunting stories and wait till next year. Good job to the guys who made a last push in this snow!!

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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