Our pheasant opener is today, I think other states might be today also, SD opened last weekend I believe. With the delayed harvest, finding birds may prove more difficult than normal, but I am not missing an opener! Let's hear how your opening day goes this year. Good luck everyone and be safe.
Iowa pheasant opener is today, how was your success?
- Thread starter remy3424
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We had a group of 6 that included 2 blockers, We started in a wide bottom, surrounded with bean stubble, it provided no birds. Very little corn has been combined, so no birds there wasn't a shock. Went to a quarter section of established CRP...deep cover. Knocked-down 7, recover only 4. 2 of the lost birds were on doubles the other looked to be a likely runner. Lots of birds but always a struggle recovering them in that cover. Just keeping the location of the dogs was a struggle, the switch grass was 6 feet tall and thick. Saw a bunch of young immature birds.
I was reading a thread here about shot size. I normally use 5s, today I put a 6 in the chamber for my first shot. The 3 birds I cleaned, I recovered 7 pellets (all 6s). Someone had mentioned the 5s pass through, they are right, I normally recover slightly more pellets than that over most of a season. 6s killed them well with a dense pattern using modified choke today.
I was reading a thread here about shot size. I normally use 5s, today I put a 6 in the chamber for my first shot. The 3 birds I cleaned, I recovered 7 pellets (all 6s). Someone had mentioned the 5s pass through, they are right, I normally recover slightly more pellets than that over most of a season. 6s killed them well with a dense pattern using modified choke today.
antelopedundee
Well-Known Member
There's always an argument over who shot it until you go to clean it then you find out everybody did.
Tried again this morning and we brought home 5, no lost birds but we did have a couple swing-n-misses that kept the 2 of us from our limit. Hunted different CRP that wasn't as thick or as tall, much easier to keep track of the dogs and find the downed birds. Learned my lesson yesterday to recover each bird before shooting the next in super thick cover....I am sometimes a slow learner.
My buddy and I shot six this morning, no lost birds, took an hour and 45 minutes, but we spent around 20 minutes looking for the first 2 but the dogs finally found them. My buddy and his dog are both getting better! Might need a new recipe for them soon.
Anyone else pheasant hunting??
Anyone else pheasant hunting??
Been shooting a few here, just got started after a few elk hunts. My drahthaar is entering his 3rd season. Last year on wild birds we dropped and recovered all 44, plus about 20 quail.
This year, thanks to a few easy misses on my part, we only have 5 in 2 days so far. Will be hunting most weekends through January now. Seems to be a good year again this year. Good luck to you.
This year, thanks to a few easy misses on my part, we only have 5 in 2 days so far. Will be hunting most weekends through January now. Seems to be a good year again this year. Good luck to you.
