2015-16 Hunting Reports & Pictures

Snow Point



Couple of Snow Birds ...


Pose for a picture :confused: She is saying let's keep moving :thumbsup: ...


Old girl doing her thing too ... actually producing more birds right now than my younger free spirit.



You can walk right by them right now ... :o
 
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Snow is deep in places, but mostly walkable. Dogs seem to enjoy the cold temps and fluffy snow. It looks like it will not get above freezing before the end of the season ...

worst is when the snow crusts over ... pheasants will run over it easy ... maybe dogs can run over most of it ... but I usually break through :(

... loud and slow usually makes for a slow hunt.
 
Went out yesterday for the last time this season. Was in the Brown County area and the snow is about 14" or so inches deep. The cattails we walked thru were frozen, but their were some soft spots that we went thru didn't get too wet tho. First spot we hunted my dad had the only shot at a rooster and he missed. Busted about 8 birds from that spot with 6 being hens. Saw a good amount of other hunters and ended up with no birds in the bag, but saw about 20 birds with the majority being hens. Last spot we hunted we had a covey of Hungarian Partridge bust out of some thicket when we were walking up to the spot on the road. Talked to the farmer that was driving by after they flushed and he said he has two coveys that live around his farm.

Hunted out in the Pipestone area a month ago and saw a ton of birds with the majority of them being hens, but managed to get a handful of roosters. Has me excited and optimistic for next year.

My take way from this season was hunt during the mid week if you can because the amount of other hunters you will see will be much less. Hunted close to the cities a couple weekends this season and it was a zoo each time out with other hunters. Driving a little farther out is probably worth it on the weekends!
 
Hunted west of Granite Falls yesterday. Hit five spots in about five hours. Just me and the mutt. Saw one other poor SOB on public land (like myself) and one big group pushing private land.

First slough I knew had birds in it. Birds were either flushing way out wild, or holding right under your feet. Lots of heart pounding flushes. The only shootable rooster of the day came a couple feet in front of me. I had my bead on him, but actively waited on the shot so I wouldn't blow him apart. Well, I succeeded a little bit too well...he suffered no damage :mad:

The sloughs aren't quite trustworthy yet. I broke through to my ankles several times. At one point the dog started going through...I just turned around and went back the way I came! The snow was a PITA. Dog seemed to like it though.

I saw 50+ birds feeding in several cut corn fields throughout midday. Maybe that's why I wasn't seeing as many birds as I thought I might.

All in all had about two dozen hens flush in shooting range. Only one rooster. Another dozen or so flushed way ahead. Probably walked by a lot as tight as some were holding.

One more hunt in SD on Sunday. The ole rooster round up usually produces good numbers.

 
Went to cottonwood county this morning. Flushed tons of birds in the cattails. They were holding very tight. In fact both dogs caught a bird. So we got three total but only shot one. Only problem was the ice. We all busted through badly and had to head back home after only three hours hunting. The snow must've had an effect on the ice conditions.
 
Winston and I went down to Fillmore County yesterday - I wanted to see a different part of the state. Ended up finding great deer hunting WMAs but not great pheasant habitat. Snow was deep and very tough to walk. No birds, but it was nice to get outside for a few hours. Going back SW tomorrow morning for one last shot ?
 
lovenstein said:
Winston and I went down to Fillmore County yesterday - I wanted to see a different part of the state. Ended up finding great deer hunting WMAs but not great pheasant habitat. Snow was deep and very tough to walk. No birds, but it was nice to get outside for a few hours. Going back SW tomorrow morning for one last shot ?
Click to expand...

Should have brought a flyrod instead. Catch and release season opened the 1st. I think if you can get access to some private ground you could shoot a few down that way. As much as I fish I have yet to kick up a rooster by accident down their.
 
Surprising number of people out and about around Brown and Cottonwood today. Friend and I were left wondering "where did all these diehards come from?". Probably crossed path with some of you.

Saw over 100 pheasants today on the drive in and while hunting. Between the 3 of us...we left with 1 bird to show for it. Knocked down two more but they must have run and then buried themselves in the snow.

Birds holding VERY tight.

Will be back at it tomorrow.

Mutthunt--love that photo!
 
Limit yesterday and today, saw about 70-80 birds Saturday, flushed about 40 of those. Today was unreal. Saw who flippin knows how many, I lost count after around 200. It was crazy. Dogs flushed about 60 birds mostly singles and hens. WAY cool. One had a TAIL!. All are big birds but the one has some length. Till next season.:beer:

 
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It was a fun upland season in Minnesota. Maybe a little too warm early on.

One thing nice about ruffies for me is I can hunt 8AM 'til around noon and be at work by 1PM. Thus avoid the heat ... With early season pheasants - I prefer afternoons ... hot weather deterred a few trips to later in the year.

Pheasant populations seemed good and with a gentle winter and hopefully a reasonable June - next year will be a strong year too.
 
Made the last trip out hunting for the season in sw mn Friday. It was a bit windy but there was not very many people out and about. The first spot we walked had a lot of birds coming out of the tree lines and flying in to the cattails. We tried are best to get in after them but kept falling through. Endeed up with zero from that spot. Next spot only got up hens. Third spot aslo got lots of hens and one lonely rooster that flew in the only direction I couldn't shoot. Was thinking about going home after that one but my buddy wanted to try one more spot. So I told him I had one last spot we could try that I haven't hunted yet this year due to the ice conditons. Got there at 3:30 and walked the last hour of the day and ended up with 5 birds. Had a chance at the 6th but my buddie choked and it laught at him as it flew away. But we had a great season and cant wait until next year to do it again.
 
Final Day 2015-16 season

Hunted a piece yesterday that I can't get into until after archery season closes. The hunters reported seeing tons of birds this last week while sitting on deer stands. Walked into this piece with high expectations, sign everywhere, walked out with one bird in the bag. Saw approx. 30-40 birds. hens and early flyers, kind of disappointed. Moved to another piece and ended day with 2 more birds between the two of us, tails are getting longer !!! two 24" and one monster at 25" inches. Overall I felt that the season was a huge success in Minnesota. With a good winter and good spring we are setting up for an awesome 2016-17 season, only 9 months away, but who's counting!!!!!:cheers::cheers:
 
Last hunt of the season proved itself well. 11 birds in 2 days between the 3 of us. Nice way to cap off the year, glad we made the trip. Snow was a little more than I had expected but walks had to slow anyway to allow dogs to work their magic. Lots of flushes at the tips of theirs noses, mostly hens but was happy with the ratio of roosters/hens at this point in the year. In 2 days easily seen 400+ birds (that's also counting birds feeding in fields). This is about 70% public and 30% private. Had 2 private landowners tell me back in October if I come back within the last week of the season it's a go. Well they stayed true to their word when I showed on their doorstep in January :D Like most, I enjoy the challenge and satisfaction of a public bird over private any day of the week but was a nice way to mix it up a little bit. This is Jackson County.

Overall a pretty good season, cant complain as I had more than enough opportunities at birds. I'm optimistic for pheasant numbers in MN next year. Happy offseason :cheers:
 
I tell ya, I am very excited about next year. With the numbers I saw at the end of season, with this again mild winter. If we have a great nesting season, it will be very cool. Strange here by my place though, it is as if they vanished. I believe I know why, but it is a touchy subject. Only one thing has changed, and it goes Moo :).
 
It generally sounds like some good news coming out of Mn. Thanks for all the updates.

Nick
 
Was out on my trucking route yesterday and decided to bring the dog with and take her for a run over the lunch time. We were out by redwood falls area and stopped by a state hunting area. Everything in the hunting ground is crp except for 1 slough that is about 250 yards long and 150 yards wide. There is cattails around it about 60 yards wide and a shelterbelt of trees at the end. We walked for 1 hour and ended up getting up 30 hens and 9 roosters. I was really surprised to see that many birds but am glad they are making it though the winter. All I could think while walking was why cant it just be hunting season.
 
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