2020 Pheasant Reports

Opener is Saturday, Oct 10 @ 9am. Post your reports for this upcoming season right here on this thread.

I spent a few hours driving around asking for permission on Saturday and saw quite a few just standing along the side of the road. Beans are about half out and corn harvest is minimal. It is super dry out there. Opener looks very warm so I think I’ll be waiting until temps cool off and some more crops are harvested. With a state wide population up 42%, I do expect good hunting as the season progresses.

The FW and I will be out for a few hours Saturday morning. Summer’s been a major cluster, so I haven’t gotten much dog work in, but he’s got a couple seasons under his belt, so he should be fine. With the cooler weather, we’ve logged some bike runs to build endurance and toughen up those pads. Squeezing in a round of sporting clays on Wednesday, too.

Last year, we had snow and wind on opener. This year, it looks like a t-shirt hunt!

I feel for you guys. I have had two cool weekends for Grouse hunting and the dogs really excel in those temps. It is always our biggest concern come Iowa opener the end of the month. Good luck!

PS- Gim, saw you on the Ultimate Pheasant forum.

suzuki wrote:

PS- Gim, saw you on the Ultimate Pheasant forum.

That forum is DEAD for months and then it comes back to life in October every year!

suzuki wrote:

I feel for you guys. I have had two cool weekends for Grouse hunting and the dogs really excel in those temps

Yeah, this’ll be warm for dogs. We won’t push it.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
PS- Gim, saw you on the Ultimate Pheasant forum.

That forum is DEAD for months and then it comes back to life in October every year!

I haven’t been active there for years. What was the other forum, there used to be 2 of them but I think they were managed by the same person so he killed one off.

Wasn’t it Pheasant Country?

onestout wrote:

I haven’t been active there for years. What was the other forum, there used to be 2 of them but I think they were managed by the same person so he killed one off.

Wasn’t it Pheasant Country?

Not sure about that one Onestout

Depending where you are going but temps south and west look warm enough to be dangerous to dogs. Be sure to bring plenty of water and better yet, hunt near water if you can. I’ll be up north looking for ducks and grouse and will be after pheasants the next weekend.

lindyrig79 wrote:

I’ll be up north looking for ducks and grouse and will be after pheasants the next weekend.

Don’t forget that there is 4 day statewide youth firearms deer season that starts a week from tomorrow. Full blaze orange is required during these 4 days even if you are only hunting upland birds. Your standard vest or hat isn’t good enough during this time frame.

gimruis wrote:

Your standard vest or hat isn’t good enough during this time frame.

Vest and hat is the requirement in MN. Copied this from the handbook.
“All hunters and trappers in the field during the open firearms/muzzleloader deer seasons must display blaze orange or pink on the visible portion of the person’s cap and outer clothing above the waist, excluding sleeves and gloves.“

Joe Jarl wrote:

Vest and hat is the requirement in MN. Copied this from the handbook.
“All hunters and trappers in the field during the open firearms/muzzleloader deer seasons must display blaze orange or pink on the visible portion of the person’s cap and outer clothing above the waist, excluding sleeves and gloves.“

Correct. So a simple blaze orange hat OR an upland hunting vest is not good enough. I normally wear an upland vest when I bird hunt that has an orange patch on each shoulder. When I was pheasant hunting in early December two seasons ago, I got warned by a CO that it was not adequate because muzzle loader deer season was also open. Whatever you wear when you are deer hunting is what you will need to wear next week during an open youth deer firearms season, even if you are upland hunting.

There are exceptions, like if your hunting waterfowl from a stationary location.

gimruis wrote:

Correct. So a simple blaze orange hat OR an upland hunting vest is not good enough.

It is if your hunting vest is 100% blaze orange. Which is why I bought the one I did.

CaptainMusky wrote:

It is if your hunting vest is 100% blaze orange. Which is why I bought the one I did.

I’m just trying to warn guys about this issue, as I was warned myself by a CO on the issue about 2 years ago…

gimruis wrote:

I’m just trying to warn guys about this issue, as I was warned myself by a CO on the issue about 2 years ago…

100%! since the new early youth firearms season was just introduced last year, not many may be aware.
FWIW I need to replace my vest, but its nearly impossible to find what I want. I have had this thing for close to 20 years.

Good luck, all. 15 minutes to wait, the sun is out, we’ve got a gentle breeze, and it’s 40 degrees. IDEAL! Ripley is sitting in back whining.

I have never seen so many hunters. Arrived at first area at 815, at least 1 vehicle in each of 7 approaches/parking areas and one just indiscriminately pulled off the road. Second area, usual popular spots full, turn around to hunt poor habitat just to let dog run and get the legs going and now there are 2 trucks parked there. Ended up walking a section of very poor ground that needs to be burned to regenerate and saw nothing. I did get permission to hunt some private land but the area I wanted to hunt was owned by the neighbor and they were busy doing chores so I didn’t want to bother them and we called it a day. Glad to see hunters out again but I might just hold off for poor weather.

We had a similar experience. Oh well, we didn’t hunt long, and I didn’t expect much. Things will get better.

Carole and I took a drive on Saturday and never saw a pheasant hunter in the field. I90 from just southeast of Rochester to Winona, across the bridge and up along the river to Nelson, then back to Minnesota on Highway61 to Weaver, then thru to Elba and Whitewater State Park and finally back home on county 9. We saw lots of beans coming down and some corn but not one person that appeared to be hunting pheasants.

Our group shot seven here in the Worthington area. Should not complain but was a little disappointed in the number of birds we saw considering the amount of corn that is out of the fields and the number of birds that we had been seeing. Hunter numbers were not too bad but people were definitely out.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I have never seen so many hunters.

I think this trend will continue not just for pheasants and ducks but also a lot more hunters will be chasing deer this season too and ice fishing whenever that gets going. If it follows the same trend that fishing, camping, etc has all season. Prepare to be dealing with more pressure especially on public land. Your best bet might be to go during the middle of the week if you are able to.

This morning was eventful but no shots fired. First point and flush, thought it was a hen, then as it turned you could see young rooster. So windy they scoot along in a hurry. Next point hen flushes, then seconds later big ole rooster but he got up on opposite side of brush and when we could have shot he was already 45 yards out and hauling the mail with the wind. As we were walking I saw 5 birds run across the gravel road. On way back to truck a beautiful point and a big rooster but once again foiled because of heavy brush so no good shot. Fun to be back out. Again lots of hunters be we got out earlier and had our pick of spots

Five of us shot nine this morning. Should of easily had our tenth. You knew you were hunting on the prairie today. Forty mile an hour wind gust. Didn’t see any other hunters this morning.

steelslinger71 wrote:

Five of us shot nine this morning. Should of easily had our tenth. You knew you were hunting on the prairie today. Forty mile an hour wind gust. Didn’t see any other hunters this morning.

That’s a good day of hunting for sure! Are you hunting public or private land?

Western MN public land held birds. Scouting waterfowl Saturday morning and I saw many pheasants (roosters specifically) fly into corn before 9 AM. Flushed 10 hens to every rooster. If we found heavy brush (buckthorn) with corn nearby we found roosters.

We were hunting both private and public land. We did have our best luck on the private land but there are definitely birds on the public land too.

The downside of going both Saturday and Sunday is that now the dog things EVERY day is hunting day and goes nuts when I am going outside because he thinks its time to go!

The dry weather in the western part of the state sure made it hard for the dogs to pick up all the scent. Flushed a couple of birds but we fear we walked by many others. Felt great to get out

AnotherFisherman wrote:

The dry weather in the western part of the state sure made it hard for the dogs to pick up all the scent. Flushed a couple of birds but we fear we walked by many others.

I noticed how parched it was out there a week ago when I was driving around the countryside, scouting, and asking for permission. The gravel country roads were a dust storm when I was driving on them and almost every ditch and small pond that held a significant amount of water last year was completely dry. Very thankful for that rain on Sunday night.

Has anyone been pheasant hunting lately? I assume that all the heavy wet snow flattened a lot of grassland out there.

Yes, most grassland is a bit flattened by the snow and I think birds have started to move to heavier cover. Made it out on Saturday in Wright County on public land. About 40 acres of swamp grass, cattails, and trees surrounded by standing corn. Found one rooster in the thickest, narliest stuff I could find. Not a lot of sign yet, but I’m thinking birds are holding in the corn.