This past weekend, a friend and I spent a couple days Pheasant hunting in SW Minnesota. There wasn’t any snow on the ground, but it was cold and windy both days. We scouted a few spots before we decided to start the day on a large WMA that has a mix of cedar trees, cattails, switchgrass, and a corn food plot. We worked the cattails first and immediately found the birds. The 6th flush of the day was a rooster that my friend dropped on his first shot. Not bad for a guy who hasn’t shot a shotgun in a couple years. A hundred yards later it was my turn and I dropped a bird in some thick cover. We searched the bird for a long time, but we couldn’t find it and the dogs were getting overheated. 
We pulled back out and watered the dogs and took a quick break. For the rest of the day, we made short loops hitting the thick cover and then stopping to let the dogs get water. We picked up one more bird and then went to scout for the next day. Saturday was a little warmer, but still windy.
The first stop was a 40 acre WIA that looked really good. We never saw a bird, but we did push out a half dozen deer towards some muzzleloader hunters nearby. The second spot was the same area we hunted the day before. I suggested we just leash the dogs and walk to the back corner and hunt from there. Here we are making a ton of noise at the truck, have dogs on leashes, guns on our shoulders, and a rooster flushes 20 feet from the truck. We both scrambled and shot at the same time dropping the bird right on the trail. I wish it was always that easy. We lost a bird and missed a couple before leaving to find a new area. We headed North towards Montevideo and found a spot that looked very similar to the area we had hunted previously. This area had a nice parking lot right next to the best cover. I can only imagine how many people park there and watch every bird flush before they even get their guns loaded. We parked a few hundred yards down the road and walked up to the spot. I took 20 steps off the road, Jazzi got birdie, and a rooster flushed behind me. I swung around and dropped him. He was a beautiful year and a half old bird with long tail feathers. The next bird wasn’t so easy. The dogs were spent but when Jazzi took off in to the cattails I knew there had to be a reason. Sure enough a rooster flushes and takes off towards my friend preventing me from getting a clear shot. The bird veered left and I was able to get a couple shots off. The second shot dropped the bird, but not very often. Jazzi and I run to the area and I can hear her wrestling with it. All of a sudden the bird flushes again. I’m stunned but manage to get a couple long shots. We watched it fly away, but when it landed hard and I knew it wouldn’t be able to run. We walked to the area and let the dogs circle downwind. Again Jazzi found it and the bird flushed leaving her with a mouth full of feathers. This time I didn’t miss and dropped the bird. 
We ended the day with 3 birds in hand and one that we were unable to recover. Overall, it was a very fun trip. The bird numbers are much lower than they were 6 years ago when I used to hunt these same areas. I used to be able to shoot birds without a dog and with my young pup and now I couldn’t imagine trying to hunt without a good dog. I’m planning to get out again next week and try a piece of private land that I have been saving for late season. 
Please forgive the picture as my friend could be the worst photographer of all time. This was the best one.
