Pheasant huntin

[icefishin]

Who all went on opener and how did ya all do? We got 51...ill try to get a pic up after todays hunt.

[michfish]

icefishin- I'm new to this forum. I hope that I don't break any "unwritten rules" but please excuse me if I do. I'm from Michigan and I just bought a little, inexpensive, house in Clear Lake which I'll use for hunting and fishing and I might occasionally rent it out. It's not much but it is better than camping. I met a guy in Michigan who grew up in Timber Lake, southwest of Mobridge. He volunteered to take me pheasant hunting in the West River area. There were not a lot of hunters and probably not as many birds as in many East River areas but we had a great time. We got our limits most days and added a few sharptails. Our pheasants in Michigan are almost gone now. When I was young we had pretty good pheasant hunting but I fear that those days are gone here. We have quite a few turkeys now and that helps fill the void but they still don't replace a quality pheasant hunt. I'll probably come back for another five day hunt before the season ends and maybe try to combine it with a little ice fishing. Any suggestions for hunting the later part of the season and any advice on ice fishing would be greatly appreciated. I have hunted and fished all of my life so I'm not completely ignorant in this area, but I realize that local methods may vary from what I am used to. Well, this is my first post. I was a little hesitant to do this. I was worried that an "out-of-stater" might not be as welcome on the forum as locals but then I thought that it might be interesting for some of you guys to get a different point of view on some of the current issues. Also, someone might be interested in information about Michigan and I might be able to help with that.

[TLA]

Lol, I run the forum and I don't know what the unwwritten rules are. We do have some vehement disagreements now and then but if they get to out of hand I do give a warning, most of the time. Every one is allowed their opinion even if I don't agree with it. I try to keep it family friendly as tons of kids read this forum too. I hate spammers, as you know with the difficulties you had signing up.

Nice first post and I hope you have good hunting and fishing. The people on here are friendly and helpful for the most part and you should get some good information.

[icefishin]

Michfish-For later season I would look into eastern south dakota somewhere for a good pheasant hunt. Im not sure where the best areas would be as all of the area is pretty much full of birds. We usually hunt in spink county late in the year. Birds can be very jumpy and spooky but if you go slow with a good dog you can easily get birds to flush close and within gun range. I would suggest finding cattails and thick slough bottoms as those hold tons of birds once the snow starts flying. A lot of public lands can be really good late in the year as well as usually they dont see much pressure, if any, once it gets cold. As for icefishing, thats hard to tell right now as the bite will very throughout the winter. Hope this helps a little...feel free to pm me or let me know if i can help with anything else. Ill try my best.

[Smarty]

Right now, we need the farmers to get the crops out.  Weather has been too wet and the birds don't spend alot of hunting hours where you can get at them.  Late season when the snow flies is an excellent time to hunt.  The crowds are gone and you can find the areas they frequent by looking for tracks and sign.  As was mentioned, later season, the birds are jumpy and you need to be as quiet as you can when going into the field and while you are hunting the field.  You slam a door, talk too loud , etc ... and they are gone.  Hunt the thick stuff at that time of the year and you'll have a better chance of the birds holding and getting up on them for an opportunity.  Have fun and good luck.

[michfish]

TLA, Smarty and Icefishin- Thanks for the kind responses. This type of information really does help me. I feel I just came into a comfy house with a crackling fire going after a frigid day of hunting.
    Thanks again, michfish

[TLA]

TLA, Smarty and Icefishin- Thanks for the kind responses. This type of information really does help me. I feel I just came into a comfy house with a crackling fire going after a frigid day of hunting.
    Thanks again, michfish

Cool, thats how Bait Babe and Bo want everyone to feel. I'm glad this forum is making a good impression and I hope we continue to do so. There really are a bunch of good people on here and most are very helpful. Perhaps this will convince some of the people who come to the forum every day,  but are afraid to signup, to signup and make their presence and opinions known. Thanks for the kind words.

[husker]

been out pheasant hunting quite a bit but the birds have been tough. just wondering how everybody else is doing

[icefishin]

Same story here...been really tough. Its starting to pick up now with a lot of corn coming out.

[Smarty]

The GFP  is to determine today or tomorrow if they are going to raise the daily limit to 5 birds and the posession limit to 25.  Their reason being is that the crops have hindered the amount of pheasants being harvested.  I agree that the number of birds shot to date has probably been down quite a bit state wide.  If we're having trouble shooting 3 birds a day how will we shoot 5?  Would make more sense to open pheasant hunting at sunrise and give us more time to shoot a limit.