Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Minnesota pheasant opener

I had about 2 hours to hunt yesterday before I had to get ready to preside at a wedding. Lucy and I only needed 30 minutes. I hit what I hoped to be a honey-hole because of a little bit of water left in the dug-out in the middle of some CRP/cattail ground next to picked cornfields. Once she pointed the first hen and we flushed it, it was a lot like shooting pigeons out of a barn, they kept flushing about every 4 seconds. It was a matter of just picking shots and watching where the birds set down. I shot the first one, Lucy retrieved it, then we went to flush a group that landed about 60 yds away. Picture perfect point, flush, retrieve for the second bird. She also tried to run down a 5x5 whitetail that we pushed out of the cattails.

Beautiful dog and a nice pair of roosters as well.

I had my german shorthair out this afternoon looking for grouse and we ran into a flock of turkeys. Found out they don't hold well for the pointer, but it made for some good laughs.

Jeff

Nice, still that warm in Minnesota? Sorry the SKINS beat the Vikings...oh well.

Doc

I started in a long sleeve T-shirt over that shirt plus the upland vest. Quickly shed the long sleeve, just about right with short-sleeve and vest. Then again, I'm the guy in January that's shoveling snow in jeans and a sweatshirt with no hat or gloves - good metabolism and circulation! It was about 50 degrees. Supposed to be 74 for a high tomorrow, I'll be in the field guiding our local conservation officer to get him over a few birds quickly so he can go back to work after a couple of hours. We're blessed with a good one, same age as me, with a huge dose of common sense in his coffee mug.

She's a good looking girl.

My late dad called the breed "spooks". It was in jest, and we had a very good one when I was a young boy. Yep...dad named him Spook.

She can be a a little "spooky" and skittish and honestly isn't a huge fan of a gun firing or of party hunting, but she loves that she gets to retrieve birds after the shot and works great in groups of no more than 6 guys and 3 dogs. Fortunately her perceived fun factor exceeds her gun shyness. And when she's working she doesn't worry about the gun, just the game. Good enough for me. She made her first retrieve last fall opening weekend and the halogen bulb came on - I haven't lost a bird that has hit the ground yet, and that includes some quarter-mile runners and some late trails that friends have asked me to bring her out on.

And she's a GREAT family dog!

But then again, aren't all of our dogs perfect? We forget when they counter-surf loaves of fresh bread, chew on a chair cushion, and try to get away with sleeping on the "good" furniture when their couches are in the basement. We forget when they randomly harf up breakfast in front of company and don't behave when they're supposed to. But we love them dearly and post pictures of them on forums like this when they die after many long years as a faithful companion and often grow more emotionally connected to our pets than to any human. I haven't had to endure the pain of one of my dogs dying yet, our beage, Charlie, is 8 and Lucy is 3, but those will be rough days and we can never replace them. We can always get another dog, but they won't quite be that first hunting dog - and Lucy is my first.

They all have their unique charm. As tough as it is when you loose one the next one is just as special but in a different way. Trust me on this. I don't have a hunter right now but towards sunset Lilli the ratter and I will hit a walk-in area I hunted with a departed friend, and we'll have a ball.

We have a couple weeks to wait but I am looking forward to the season here as well. Nice job and beautiful dog.


ddj

And day three - 45 minutes of field work. The other guy in the photo is our local conservation officer and friend of mine. I wish there more COs like this guy out there.

Nice going. Are the ringnecks plentyfull this year?

Well, if you can find some water nearby they are. Cover, food, and water. Usually if you have the first two you have birds. This year you need all three.

Great Photos

She sure is more interested in birds than posing.

Good Girl!

Yeah, interested in birds and the farmer's mutt that followed along with us. Just a pup, some mix with husky and lab, looks like a 3/4 sized coyote. We would have taken pictures on the ground with the dogs and guns, but we set up the photo and that darn dog darted in, grabbed a rooster and took off like a bat out of hell! Fortunately I know where he stashes the stuff he brings to the house. I chased him down and recovered our bird! My hunting buddy was laughing hysterically by the time I got back...

Great pictures! Our dogs make our families complete and its an added bonus when they are bird dogs.

I love to hear that there are still wild pheasants out there. It's also nice to know you have understanding neighbors and are comfortable taking pictures with shotgun and game in your front yard.

Hey Selmer- im headed down near Marshall. I know some of the state guys as well. PM me and we can chat about who we may know in common. Maybe set up a hunt down there. I have a piece that usually does pretty well. With as dry as it is not sure what to expect thou.

Very nice.

I must admit, I envy you having wild Pheasant. Gun them with an eye for the future. Once we had many, now they are few.

Yep - we log how many birds we take from each area and limit how much we hunt it. Which doesn't mean that others aren't taking birds there, but we do what we can.

missed opener but have been really seeing a lot of birds in West Central Minn. We will shoot a lot the next month and a half. we manage 2 farms for wildlife and will shoot 25-30 birds per year off of them. All wild birds.