Hunting Season!! - What do you got?

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Ogee Ogilthorpe

Ogee Ogilthorpe

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Way too late for this thread, hunting starts in August for some things in some areas but it's never too late to talk about hunting.

For me, no big game this year, no tags; just the annual 8-10 days in S. Dakota to chase the pheasants. Taking a couple of inexperienced labs this year so I'm curious to see if I have a couple of trained machines or a couple of lap dogs. Fingers crossed. Hardest decision is going to be deciding which guns to take.

At the end of the day, like most people, the hunting is going to be about spending time with my old, old friend and hunting buddy and a good bonding experience with my dogs and watching them do what they love. The number of birds in the bag each day is pretty much irrelevant and has no bearing on "success".
 


Been out for Grouse up in Aitkin Co a couple times. Seeing more birds than usual, getting a few. I have a weird habit of making tough shots and missing easy ones. First weekend I made a nice long shot through thick trees and got one. Then later I missed one sitting in a tree.

Rough out there this past Sunday with the cold and snow. My dad is pushing 80 so he doesn't go on all the walks with me and tries to keep on the trails. We did get into an area we know well that had been logged off so the paths were gone and it looked very different. Between that, the lack of sun to help with directions and the fallen logs left behind it was a lot of time spent checking the compass and making sure he didn't fall.

Hoping to get out in SW Minnesota for some pheasant in early December, if not sooner. Done a couple game farm trips already.
 
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Great day out today with my cousin and his kid. Got six grouse in under 4 hours hunting. Good reminder, if there's lead in the air, there's hope. Got two of them when they were barley visible we just hammered away at them.

Not bad walking in the woods. Then as soon as we stepped back out onto an open field the wind was like getting slapped.
 

Yes, yes, yes, it's hunting season already. What are you hunting this year and what's your weapon of choice?

After going with a 16-ga the last couple years for pheasants (and other upland game), I'm opting for a radical departure this year. Unless it proves to be a horrible choice, I'm going to be chasing the birds with a 28-ga, 3-in shells with 5-shot, Benelli Super Black Eagle III.

Conventional wisdom is that 28-ga is too small for pheasant but at the end of the day, it's just a slightly fewer number of BB's, a good shot will bring down the birds. You just have to hit 'em right in the bonnet. The lighter gun (at least so far on clay shooting) means I'm on the target quicker, easier to take that extra half-second to make sure your aim is true. So far, deadly lethal.

Fall is in the air!!
 


Just got back from a few days pheasant hunting down around Marshall with my dad and my cousin. Down side, the wind was absolutely punishing on Monday and still tough on Tuesday. Also, did not shoot well at all.

Upside, we saw lots of birds, including one absolute jailbreak this morning and we did end up bringing home 4. More important it was a great time with family. My dad is 81 and his dog is 10 so for them to be able to get out like this makes me feel incredibly lucky.

Last but not least, we had a fun moment with a sort of stray dog. There's a little WMA called Ringneck Ravine. Somebody abandoned a big fat yellow lab there a couple years ago. The people who live across the road look after it now. If he is outside when you show up he will all but insist on joining you. Since the people were not at home this time we ended up bring him along and by God that big sausage on legs kicked up a hen right in front of me. Felt good to let him do what he was born to do.
 

Frink said:
Just got back from a few days pheasant hunting down around Marshall with my dad and my cousin. Down side, the wind was absolutely punishing on Monday and still tough on Tuesday. Also, did not shoot well at all.

Upside, we saw lots of birds, including one absolute jailbreak this morning and we did end up bringing home 4. More important it was a great time with family. My dad is 81 and his dog is 10 so for them to be able to get out like this makes me feel incredibly lucky.

Last but not least, we had a fun moment with a sort of stray dog. There's a little WMA called Ringneck Ravine. Somebody abandoned a big fat yellow lab there a couple years ago. The people who live across the road look after it now. If he is outside when you show up he will all but insist on joining you. Since the people were not at home this time we ended up bring him along and by God that big sausage on legs kicked up a hen right in front of me. Felt good to let him do what he was born to do.
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Awesome story! At the end of the day, it's hardly about the bag limit or body count, it's time in the field with your family/hunting partners and if you're lucky, with your dog. Watching a dog do what it absolutely LIVES and LOVES to do is worth the trip and the effort for me. I can't wait to see my two boys (my labs) tag-teaming in the field, bumping up some birds and bringing in some nice retrieves.

Good to hear there were some birds around Marshall. I did some hunting there for a few years quite a while back and remember seeing 2 hens in a day was a big deal. Ouch. Hopefully they are on the rebound and coming back strong.
 

After several down years, I wasn't expecting much again for pheasant hunting this season in SD due to the drought. But this might be the best hunting season we've had so far in about 10 years. The drought is likely helping due to very little crops left in the field. We've seen a lot of large groups of roosters.
 

My dad is on his way back from elk hunting in Colorado and they hardly saw anything. Reports are no one is as the herds are way up high due to the drought.

It's been about 10 years since I've gone out with my dad and his group, really hoping to go again in the next few years before it's too late. His group is getting older and it's harder for them to make the trip.
 





Lower case. Wild Turkey and I have not been on speaking terms since college.

That was 30 years ago. Still too soon.
 





Rooster season is coming, I can feel it in my BONES! SD opens this coming weekend for non-residents. But I'm not going to go back there until well into November; cooler temps, fewer hunters, better for the dogs.

The best time of year!
 


Slim Tubby said:
Nice bird but a red shirt, Frink? We need to have a chat. 😉
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Ha ha. And I just realized that's the only t-shirt I brought. Going to be a tight contest between me and the dog as to who smells worse by Wednesday.

For the record this is down by Marshall. My cousin and I hunted from about noon to 4:30. Probably ended up seeing 12 to 15 roosters.
 

I have not turned on my TV today. Having a nice little rest on the porch of my familys Shack here in Aitkin county. The day was well spent chasing grouse. Got one, got decent looks at a couple others and flushed another eight, most of which I didn't see.
 


Frink said:
I have not turned on my TV today. Having a nice little rest on the porch of my familys Shack here in Aitkin county. The day was well spent chasing grouse. Got one, got decent looks at a couple others and flushed another eight, most of which I didn't see.
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How are the grouse numbers? They seem to have been down for decades but I thought I heard rumblings sometime this year that they are actually up and doing well? Can't remember the last time I shot a Ruffed Grouse through the trees in MN.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
How are the grouse numbers? They seem to have been down for decades but I thought I heard rumblings sometime this year that they are actually up and doing well? Can't remember the last time I shot a Ruffed Grouse through the trees in MN.
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Where I live in North Central MN, pheasants have gone the way of the dinosaurs but the grouse population has exploded.

Spruce chicken hunting is brutal on the dogs compared to flushing fields for rednecks, but they never complain.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
How are the grouse numbers? They seem to have been down for decades but I thought I heard rumblings sometime this year that they are actually up and doing well? Can't remember the last time I shot a Ruffed Grouse through the trees in MN.
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From what I know it's been good in Aitkin and at least parts of Itasca. I think the general idea was that it was supposed to be a truly great year but the wet spring wiped out a good chunk of the hatch
 
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Slim Tubby said:
Where I live in North Central MN, pheasants have gone the way of the dinosaurs but the grouse population has exploded.

Spruce chicken hunting is brutal on the dogs compared to flushing fields for rednecks, but they never complain.
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Dude, pull your head out. You're not north central MN, you need to stop thinking like a cidiot. That IS Central MN. North Central MN is like Bermidji, man (yes, I said Bermidji)

Going to have to take a few roosters in SD this weekend while I'm there for other activities, before my "real" hunting trip there a week later. Bird numbers are great this year, but where my house is it's been incredibly dry, like dryer than the damn desert. I guess they finally got some rain last week but still pretty damn dry.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
Dude, pull your head out. You're not north central MN, you need to stop thinking like a cidiot. That IS Central MN. North Central MN is like Bermidji, man (yes, I said Bermidji)

Going to have to take a few roosters in SD this weekend while I'm there for other activities, before my "real" hunting trip there a week later. Bird numbers are great this year, but where my house is it's been incredibly dry, like dryer than the damn desert. I guess they finally got some rain last week but still pretty damn dry.
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After growing up in the northern suburbs, everything above St. Cloud on a map is considered "north" to me.

Bermidji, Walker, Roseau, Ely...all southern extensions of Ontario.
 

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