Pheasant opener 2017

Big Iron

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ALOT of dead deer from EHD[/QUOTE]

sad to hear that.
 


cooter00

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I had a great day out me and my bro my 2 griffons and his gsp downed 6 roosters 6 greenheads 6 Partridge and 5 grouse also bonus shotgun kill yote which my griffon pup tried to retrieve it was a little funny we put on lotta miles but we'll worth it dogs are all brushed up and sleeping sound lol I had a great Partridge shoot one flock 3 shots 3 birds go down all 3 dogs went to a bird and all 3 great retrieves it was beautiful my bro had a little tougher time getting his 3 but after a little razzing he did alright lol

- - - Updated - - -

PS lots of birds around just have to put the boots to the ground to find them
 

5575

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As expected birds were down at least 80-85% in our area so we spent most of the time shooting trap this year.
G&F sure dropped the ball on this one, shouldn't have even had a season. Or at least just have a couple week one or something.

trap.jpg

trap2.jpg
 

SLE

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Looks like it's going to be pretty spotty. Opening day myself and friend shot 1 bird between the two of us in 3-4 hours of solid walking. I had one 50+ yard shot at a rooster that blew off the top of a hill, seen two others way out in the distance and only kicked up a hand full of hens. Buddy got one and lost one, those were the only two shooters he had a chance at. He seen a couple dozen overall. So opening day we headed home with a single bird between two guys and three dogs, I don't know if that has ever happened to us before. Sunday I took my son (age 8) and the 6 month old pup and went to a different area, walked 4 different spots including some tree rows in crop land, crp and praire with mixed in buck brush, and some swail/tobacco grass with some mixed in cat tails and didn't flush a single bird the entire morning. By far and away the worst opening weekend I've ever had. I know the wind didn't help but damn, I didn't expect to get skunked!
 

Walleye_Chaser

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Was the worst opening morning ever for us. 7 guys walked about 3 hours and got 1 rooster and saw about 8 hens. Pretty shitty
 


savage270

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So after reading all of the comments here, talking to many friends and my first hand experience this weekend I believe either:

A - the G&F lied about the pheasant numbers, so as not to scare away the out of state money or
B - biologists are really shitty at math
 

eyexer

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worst day ever here too. what's bizarre is saw a pile of birds in one area on friday night. then they were either gone or couldn't kick em up due to the wind.
 

Duckslayer100

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I'm going to try and fill a bow tag. Ducks are stale and pheasants are in the standing corn. Good time to kill a whitetail until the bird season really cranks into high gear.
 

guywhofishes

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I'm going to try and fill a bow tag. Ducks are stale and pheasants are in the standing corn. Good time to kill a whitetail until the bird season really cranks into high gear.

you know the fowl situation is bad when duckslayer throws in the towel!!!!
 

LBrandt

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Think me and the pup are going to go have a look see for birds this morning.
 


Duckslayer100

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you know the fowl situation is bad when duckslayer throws in the towel!!!!

I'm just playing the odds...either sit and hope for local ducks that have been shot at for a few weeks to possibly come within range, or walk for pheasants in whatever cover is left, knowing they're probably in the standing crop. OR say to heck with it, fill my bow tag, and save bird kitchen passes for later in the year when crops are down and fresh ducks are in the area. Win-win-win.
 

guywhofishes

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I'm just playing the odds...either sit and hope for local ducks that have been shot at for a few weeks to possibly come within range, or walk for pheasants in whatever cover is left, knowing they're probably in the standing crop. OR say to heck with it, fill my bow tag, and save bird kitchen passes for later in the year when crops are down and fresh ducks are in the area. Win-win-win.

"your win-win-win playbook sucks"

21960.jpg
 


Mort

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So after reading all of the comments here, talking to many friends and my first hand experience this weekend I believe either:

A - the G&F lied about the pheasant numbers, so as not to scare away the out of state money or
B - biologists are really shitty at math

Damn Savage---you forgot to add: C - All of the above, because both are wrong and C is the right answer.

So, I have to admit after reading all the opening day comments, doing my home improvements was the right move:;:smokin
 

Lungdeflator

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We didn't fair too well either. Hunted geese Saturday morning and shot 6 for the 2 of us. Then walked for pheasants for 3 hours in the afternoon wind. Tried 4 different spots, saw 2 roosters and 4 hens, no shots.
Sunday we couldn't get any geese to come in, then jumped some ducks on some ponds and ended up with 4 gads. Walked some different spots for pheasants in the afternoon, with just my wife hunting while I toted the little boy around in the backpack. She shot 2 roosters, and missed 2 others. Overall saw 5 roosters and 8 hens in 3 different spots.
All pheasant hunting was done around the Parshall/Makoti area. Numbers are way down, last year in these spots we would've limited out easily and would have seen 30+ birds.
 

Apres

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Only went out for about an hour, took the boat for a cast and blast got as far from public access as I could. Busted probably 50 birds mostly hens maybe 10 roosters shot at 2 and got 1. Probably would need 3-4 guys and two Good dogs that stay close to effectively hunt the area. but I bet it would be an awesome shoot done right. Third year in a row I've done this never a shortage of birds but getting them to flush closer then 40-50 yards is the hard part.
 

Migrator Man

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So after reading all of the comments here, talking to many friends and my first hand experience this weekend I believe either:

A - the G&F lied about the pheasant numbers, so as not to scare away the out of state money or
B - biologists are really shitty at math
We should all know by now it's all about the $$$$$$$. The game and fish does what the legislators want or their funding is cut. There is no good reason to move up the season a week for other than the guides and leased land down SW. Karma is a son of a when you sell out wildlife like the legislature has done the last decade. Do you guys realize the sheet storm that would happen if the game and fish shortened the season, lowered the limit or even closed the season??? Heads would roll if the big money from out of state hunters was lost. They rather hunters pay for crappy hunts than cancel hunts all together.
 

DirtyMike

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I'm not going to defend game and fish in this argument since I believe they needed to make a change with the limits and length of season this year. Unfortunately, they needed to open the season on a saturday before the 12th of october. The way the calendar fell, the first weekend in october needed to be opening day. No way around that and it doesn't happen too often. The number of birds that their own survey found should have told them to lower the daily limit. Maybe an emergency session needed to be called. I do know that guides are calling clients and offering full refunds.
 


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