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2018 Pheasant Opener Looking To Be Wet.


mechanictim

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Bird numbers look to me to be about average here in Jackson county maybe down slightly from last year. But... the corn harvest is way behind and the bean harvest is even farther behind. A lot of farmers started taking out corn before beans due to concerns of stalk rot from very wet fields and very few good days of drying. A few fields do have corn that has fallen over and is going to take extra time to harvest. With rain expected today(Monday) and tomorrow and cool cloudy conditions for most of the week not much more corn is getting combined. From what I have seen in Jackson and Cottonwood counties I would guess less than 20% of crops have been harvested.

 If your planning on hunting this area it would be a good idea to bring at least knee high water proof boots and even hip boots in places just to get to the drier areas. There is a lot of standing water in fields and grasslands that are usually dry. If you hunted places last year that had ankle deep water be prepared for almost knee deep water in some of those places this year. Some of the management areas have some high ground that a canoe or small boat could save a lot of walking to get to some better habitat. The weather report is saying Saturday morning will start in the high 30's and get up to 51 for a high. if you stay dry those temps are great, but if your wet it can make for a miserable hunt. 

Since the duck season reopens Saturday you could be in for a mixed bag hunt if your legal for ducks.. A lot of wood ducks and mallards are sitting in the flooded  grass and fields. Should be an interesting opener.

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Update on weather forecast.. Mostly cloudy and breezy for Thursday and Friday and should be mostly sunny on Saturday. Sunday the clouds return with a chance of light rain/showers later in the day.

Just a reminder to try and let the farmers do their work. Please don't park on field approaches(That's the driveway from the road to the field.) or on the side of the township roads. The ground under the narrower gravel roads is saturated and the weight of a combine or tractor trying to get around a parked vehicle could collapse the shoulder. 

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Star Tribune has reported that only 15% of the corn harvest is completed and only 37% of the bean harvest is done.  With the wet weather this week, they aint making any progress either.

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Yesterday, Saturday, started out overcast and breezy. the sun came out right around 9:00 am.  The high temperature hit 57. The weather forecast for today was a slight chance of rain and cooler. It's just after 4:00 am right now and I have over an inch of snow on my deck and it is still snowing. Never have I seen this on pheasant opener weekend, little to no harvest and snow on the ground. Weather is supposed to warm up Monday through Friday, but... 

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a lot of corn going out fast around here. we sitting at a parking lot for some state land yesterday waiting for 9:00 and watching a combine with several rosters flying. Not a signal bird came to visit us. We didn't get any rosters up just hens. Came across 3 pheasants that were so young that they could hardly fly. they got up about 3 feet just over the top of the bush they were hiding in and only to fly about ten feet. I had a hard time keeping the dogs off them.

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

Hunted last night on a WIA central mn shot one mature rooster and saw a couple late brooded hens. As stated they could barely fly. Quite a few crops up a fair amount of water standing in beans my predicition the late season will be  the ticket this year. .

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We saw some late birds today also in west central MN.  The beans looked horrible and most corn was still in.  In 2 hours of driving I only saw three corn fields being combined each way.

 

We saw birds and got some roosters.  About 30% mature to 70% juveniles, not counting those late birds that didn’t fly well.  Birds seemed really jumpy today - odd for opener.  Flushing wild like late season.

 

Man, my pheasant legs ain’t what they used ta be! ?

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Yesterday and today the combines got back to work. Hunted a management area next to a fresh picked corn field. Got a couple nice roosters which both flushed at about 15-20 yards. Saw several others that flushed way out in front of me. Not many other hunters out there yet.

 Drove past several fields that were just combined today and there were a few places that had some really deep ruts from either combines or the tractors pulling wagons. Didn't see any of the big combines unloading directly into semi's so the ground must still be pretty soft if their not driving the trucks into the fields. About half the combines were in corn and the others getting after beans.

 Weather this weekend should a little breezy and cool for Saturday with a high in the low 40's. There's a 30% chance of precipitation for Saturday. Should warm up a bit on Sunday.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Anyone finding any?

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

 Crunched my 2   again this morning. Saw a total of 7 roosters and 15 hens all on public land by 11.00 am great scenting conditions my lab worked to perfection. A little quiet and still birds were jumpy. Cant stress how important it is to not slam doors make a lot of racket and having good dog control without yelling is the key ?

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Always a good day out of the house.  Hey moose, what kind of gun do you have a few grouse pictures back?  
    • monstermoose78
      Flushed 3 pheasants today with Hazel but they were flushing 50 yards a head of her. Then we went by some little berries that looked black and hazels tail started going a brown bird gets up I thought hen then the bird banked and it was a grouse. It was good to get her out in the woods. I seen a few pheasants in picked corn fields. 
    • Kettle
      Walked today and yesterday, flushed 9, shot at two and got two. Hopefully next year I'll have a dog to hunt with. Still warm up here, skim of ice on ponds. Weather has been nice. Hopefully walk a bit more the next few weeks. Been pretty cautious walking for birds to not interfere with deer hunters. There sure are not the deer hunters there used to be 
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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    • gimruis
      I hunt in the rifle zone so I don't have a need to use a shotgun to hunt deer, but I would be looking at this if there was ever a need to.   There could be state legislation introduced next summer that eliminates the shotgun zone completely.  It has bipartisan support.  Wisconsin removed theirs years ago and MN is usually later to follow.  They've tried to pass it more than once and it came up just short both times.  Probably just a matter of time.
    • Wanderer
      Oh, h e l l no! 
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      Screw that, here's whatch need!  😆   Power-Shok Rifled Slug 10 Gauge 766 Grain Grain Weight: 766 Shotshell Length: 3-1/2in / 89mm Muzzle Velocity: 1280
    • Wanderer
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      My son always bugs me about getting a nice light over-under 20ga for grouse hunting.  I say Heck no, I'm getting a 3 1/2" 10ga so I can put as much lead in the air that I can!!     So, I'm keeping my 12ga.  
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      That’s almost exactly what I was thinking.  Have slug barrels for both   One for turkey and one for deer.      I have a 20ga mosseberg as well. (Combo came with the scope but never used.   I always liked the 12 better
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