Dumb Question About Corn

D

dead pheasants forever

Member
Hi,

I'm new to this forum and to pheasant hunting in Colorado and am still trying to learn a thing or two. I noticed that pheasant hunters seem very concerned about the status of the corn harvest. Why is this? Does harvesting the corn concentrate the pheasants by moving them to surrounding areas? Thanks.
 
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YES, you are correct in your assumption - until the corn comes down, they will stay in there & run around all day long - you will never get them out! You are also pretty much wastin your time trying to chase them thru cut corn rows too (although it was pretty amusing on opening weekend watching guys try to do this)!

Find an area where all the crops have pretty much been leveled, seek out the thickest areas of cover immediately nearby, dive in & do some rootin around and then watch what happens! :)
 
It is all about the food.

Pheasant are no different that any other animal. Figure out their food source and they are sure to be nearby. Unfortunately for hunters, corn provides both food and habitat. The birds have no reason to leave until the corn is gone.
 
dont know about that

hen said:
YES, you are correct in your assumption - until the corn comes down, they will stay in there & run around all day long - you will never get them out! You are also pretty much wastin your time trying to chase them thru cut corn rows too (although it was pretty amusing on opening weekend watching guys try to do this)!

Find an area where all the crops have pretty much been leveled, seek out the thickest areas of cover immediately nearby, dive in & do some rootin around and then watch what happens! :)
Click to expand...
Not so fast hen hen from what i have been reading some of the vets on here say that working the cut corn against the rows works i havnt done it but a couple on the ks side say it works and it probably does.
 
Working corn with dogs and blockers and enough hunters works great..... but you will need all three factors in place to have much success.
 
A lot of people traditionally hunt every year just as Cookler mentions with HUGE parties of hunters & blockers (and things can get pretty exciting near the end of the row), but that's just not my style at all...I like hunting in smaller parties where the cover is good enough for the birds to hold a little better, allowing everyone to move thru at a little slower pace & enjoy watching the dog or dogs work - plus it has a lot more heart-stopping element of SURPRISE! :)

Only A Pointer--I'm sure that it can be done the way you say cross-row with a savy enough (and QUIET enough) seasoned veteran-and-dog & early enough in the year with young, stupid birds - heck anything is possible, it just seems to me to be the hard way! That is not at all what I saw a couple guys doing running straight down an open corn row chasing after a bird they had seen!!! I don't care who you are, that's funny right there! :10sign:
 
I concur

I concur with "hen, hen, rooster" as there is nothing better then having that cackling rooster scare the crap out of you as he flys from underneath your feet! I was just sharing another way of hunting corn for those of you that are interested.
 
I know i agree with you guys but they say it can be done and they do it by themselves man those must be some dumb freakin roosters but i could see it confusing the birds also i have an open mind ive learned lots on here
 
I'm willing to give it a try AFTER I get a few more birds under my belt - I'm pretty adventuresome, a willing learner & will try anything once! You've got my curiosity up now!!! :) The UNORTHODOX often works for a lot of things in life!...I could definitely see it sometimes working for one guy and a well-trained dog who could both work quiet-as-a-mouse into the wind. Unfortunately my dog is still on the CLOSE-IN quarter & flush learning curve, still requiring a little chatter and whistling to keep him near at hand...not sure that would work out too well at all - unless the corn had just been freshly cut, no hunters had already been pre-hammering it and/or there were some young, dumb birds involved...Come to think of it though, last year I did stumble upon a very surprised bird or two that held as I was moving quietly cross-row in an open corn field just as you mention.
 
Walking the perimeter of corn or sunflowers alone, without a dog, can also be an effective way to bag some roosters. The key is stealth. Pheasant often feed just a few rows into these fields and you can surprise them. I used this method on a couple quarter sections of sunflowers while hunting in ND just a couple weeks ago and had good results.
 
i know

i have thought about this lots you know as well as me show them something they havent seen on pressured birds and bingo!But i personally thinking about it crossing the corn rows confuses them just my thoughts.your welcome to come hunting with me when i go out west to ks if you like.
 
sorry that message was for you hen hen rooster i like your nickname not as good as cockslayer though i should start a thread whats your fav nickname lol.
 
I have hunted corn before the harvest with great success. But we had three dogs a guy on the end blocking and 5 to 6 people walking. The down side to this is its hard walking. Its hard to see the birds to shoot. And many times even if you have a good dog the birds will hit the ground running and you wont find the bird. Also if you are trying to work a new pup then good luck trying to keep them close.
 
I have found that mid afternoon hunts work really well for me and my dogs to walk the corners and edges of corn and milo fields againt the grain.... Seems the birds don't run away as much as holding or flushing.... Anyonle else try this in a small group.... Cannot compare it to large groups of execution type of hunting.... Never have liked that crap
 
Not at all interested in ever working standing corn even if it did happen to work sometimes...Sounds like a lot of hard work to me with many obstacles & dog-ruining behaviors, not to mention the WASTED, lost birds! Besides, I wouldn't want to take even the slightest chance on ruining (or even being perceived to ruin) any small portion of a farmer's livelihood and/or getting everyone kicked off the place in the future for doing so! :mad:

I do like the idea of ONE MAN & ONE DOG trying to quietly sneak the edges and corners of cut corn & milo cross-row against the grain (I think more people or dogs might kinda kill any QUIET element of surprise & turn em' into Row'd-runners--Ha-Ha)...OK, y'all got me convinced! I'm gonna try it a time or two before the year is over when the conditions are right (wind and/or wet ground)...I did walk up on several birds last year that held nice & tight in a cut corn field just as you describe. However as food for thought, it was a very windy day with the wind in my face - still not convinced that it would work to get up close enough on birds on a still, silent and/or dry "Rice-Krispy Bowl" walkin kind of day! :)
 
I guess I was confused... I have never hunted any standing crop... I thought that you where talking about stuff that had already been harvested.... I would never take money from a hard working farmer... Just wanted to clear that up
 
KCWIEM,
I understood & agree with you completely (it was you I was referring to in the 2nd more-favorable half of my post)...The post immediately prior to you though was very clearly talking specifically about hunting standing corn "before the harvest" - that was that one I was referring to in a more unfavorable light!...Maybe I should have responded to each of you individually BY NAME, but I was trying to avoid that & just keep the conversation on general content & subject matter. Guess I have to stop assuming that everyone who responds has read the full body of content on any given thread! :)
 
I pity the guy the farmer catches tromping through his corn. In Colorado that might get you shot instead of the pheasant. If the corn was hailed out or a complete loss than obviously that is a different story.
 
Was just posting my experience with hunting standing corn. When I hunted standing corn last year in SD it was with the farmer and his family. In fact that's how they hunt most birds on there place. Of course you don't just stomp around. You have to stay between the rows... Not that hard! I for one didn't like hunting corn for reasons I have already stated.
 
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