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Pheasants this winter, how are they doing ?


CRAZYEYES

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Just came back fron a trip from the cities to Decorah & Waterloo Iowa and back. As we are rooster hunters, we were looking for any lone phesant. Did not see a single one. Lots of turkeys and hawks. That was it. Very bleak. Lots of drain tiling still going on. At least in Iowa, they do not plow under the fields, so there is crop access. Much less snow. Iowa used to a banner state for hunting...no more. With corn fetching $7.00 per bushall all crp is bye-bye. With our winter and spring flooding, this is going to be a dismall season I fear.

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Just made a weekend trip to Huron, SD and saw several birds all over. Saturday took a country drive and saw several birds. There is tons and tons of snow in Huron, much more than what we have in the SE part of the state, but the birds seem to be surving ok, despite all the snow.

I am sure there were some birds lost as always, but for the most part pheasants are tough birds I am more concerned about a potential wet spring than the tough winter we are having.

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I saw my first rooster since the season closed...I've seen a few hens this winter. Overall pretty bleak.

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Got back from out west in the semi yesterday and ran across So Dakota on 212 on Saturday. From 30 miles west of the river to Watertown when it got dark I saw over 1000 birds along the highway eating everywhere in the fields and loafing under every thicket, temps 5-10 degrees. There is lots of snow still on the ground, big drifts. Except for the two roosters that refused to get out of my way and half a dozen previous roadkills they appear to be doing just fine, habitat is where its at for living outside in winter.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the early part of winter, I had an area where i watched a few roosters and about a dozen hens. Pretty soon it was a couple roos and 8 hens. then 1 roo and a few hens. then 1 roo. then nothing. for a long time. many people would jump to the conclusion that the winter got them.

the weather warmed up and I saw 1 roo and 6 hens recently. so some are making it and just because they dissappeared, doesnt mean they croaked.

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nope, now the main thing is to get this water gone. flooded nesting cover is no good

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Havin a T-Storm right now in SW MN. Positive, all the snow should be gone over the next couple days. Negative, even more water that will make flooding(which is already bad here) even worse and take up more cover. I just hope the temp doesn't drop too fast and freeze to the birds beaks. Next year might be a deer and waterfowl season only sadly from the look of things

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actually, we dont want the water gone too soon (for pheasant nesting success). we want those nests on high ground, not on temporarily dry low ground. Also, we are a LONG way from nesting season yet, so nothing to worry about yet.

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just because you dont see birds doesn't mean anything. they are smart and tought. youll be surprised at how many are running around soon.

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  • 10 months later...

Since one of the topics covered in this thread is winter feeding, I figured I'd bring it back up and see how people view it under different conditions (e.g. this winter's conditions).

Frankly, I'm disappointed that the local sportsman's club has wasted thousand of dollars handing out corn. With little or no snow cover and generally warm temperatures, the birds left are foraging just fine. Why not spend the money on something better? I believe my opinion is shared by wildlife managers.

Others thoughts?

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I share the same sentiments Scott. However the only pheasants I've seen are in close proximity to Caribou and Traxlers (scratch birds).

The deer are also foraging very well. During a normal winter with 6"+ on the ground I normally see 15+ deer passing through the yard to forage in the corn stubble. This year they're staying in the valley feeding off the abundant acorn crop from last fall.

The deer that remained after last shotgun season are the healthiest I've seen in the 10 years I've lived here.

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I'm no wildlife manager but in years past I've fed the pheasants when the snows got deep, through ice storms, etc. This "winter" I had plenty of ear corn stashed away for them just in case. I've fed nothing save for a few ears for the blue jays & squirrels. Even they haven't eaten a lot of it, maybe a couple ears a week. The fields remain open and the amount of corn and beans on the ground after harvest in this area was tremendous. There are some roosters around yet that can be heard in the mornings and we see them occasionally. They aren't in the yard however so that's an indication to me that they've got plenty to eat where the cover is better and danger level is lower. I can understand organizations wanting to spend some money on corn but I can also see when experiencing a winter like this one, hanging onto it then selling it in the spring with the money to be put towards habitat.

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You may want to put a few of those ears of gold out after this weather system rolls by. Had somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 turkeys really feeding heavily this afternoon before the weather. 1 tom was puffed up big time, hope this has little to no effect on the pheasants. Got a bad vibe though in the heavy wind areas and if it's wet snow or not.

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I drove to lovely Avoca Mn yesterday took mostly back roads on the way down from Zimmerman and south of Hutchinson the snow began and it didn't let up for 2 1/2. Hours. Didn't seen one bird on they way down but I suspected the snow storm had something to do with it well on my way home I took a different route and I got to see one big plump Rudy he sure was pretty setting in thevnew fresh snow.

One bird in 424 miles of travel not that great but like I said it was a snow storm half the way down.

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We really couldn't have gotten a bigger weather break than we have SO FAR this year. We don't need any late season freezing rain episodes and prime nesting weather will be important, but this has been a much needed break for the wildlife (what's left of it anyway after the last couple years...).

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I drove up to Minnewaska yesterday morning from Montevideo, left around 8:15 a.m. I saw multiple birds, good gender mix, next to every piece of CRP/grass, cattail slough, and shelterbelt. On the way home from 4-5 I saw the same, except even more birds. I saw more birds yesterday than I have in the last two years, maybe combined. The snow may have concentrated the birds, but I think this has been a GREAT winter for the birds that remain, and we can make a big jump this spring with favorable nesting conditions.

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This morning was crazy saw a lot of pheasants, with the forecast coming they'll be loving the sunshine and warmth, it was awesome to see and also 50-70 turkeys also with Toms all fluffed up. Lots of roosters and hens.

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I put on about a hundred miles aday doing my job in south central Minnesota and seen my first rooster in months today. he was alone but it was nice to finally see one.

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I was looking for woodcock the south of Lonsdale Saturday morning and my older setter locked up in some tall grass adjacent to the willows and alders. When I walked in to flush four pheasants flushed 20 yards down wind of us. I am sure they ran on my dogs. One was a rooster for sure. Not sure about the others but they were pretty close to each other. I hunted that spot a few times last fall and never saw a bird there so this was a welcomed surprise.

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It will take a few good years to get the population as good as it was a few years back. But anything would be better than last year. As long as we don't get any huge rains after the hatch there should be some young roosters this fall.

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What we need now is a warm, dry spring with a perfect hatch. We need this for the next 2-3 years in a row.

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I have been seeing about a handful every day this week, but only 2 hens all week.

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Saw 3-4 roosters this past week...pickin gravel. Will see what happens with spring weather but looks good so far, insects and blooms are gonna be early.

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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~~
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    • jim curlee
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