Anyone get any birds today?

[JustSayOV]

I would love to do that just once in my life.

Ok now you guys got me all hot and bothered thinking about past pheasant hunting stories...so as good as that group hunt I referenced above was, the best hunt I have ever been on was with my Father-in-Law, my best buddy and myself.

Little dusting of snow on the ground and we are going to go hunt a friend of mines' tree draw and fence lines, nothing too big and we had never been there before BUT we knew it was right next to a big CRP field owned by some old hag that didn't let anyone hunt it and was loaded with birds, so we thought we'd get lucky.

Anyways, we pull into the field entrance right next to this CRP we can't hunt (we are hunting the tree draw and fence rows in the picked cornfield right next to it) and there are like 10 roosters and 5 hens hanging out in the picked field and as soon as we pull in they scoot back over into the forbidden CRP. So we are like "welp....there goes that, but we are already here so lets give it a shot." So us three have about a 5 minute walk back to the start of this draw (which looking on google earth now, the draw is 375 yards long) and so we send my FIL over the hill to take the fencerow to the West to meet my buddy and I at the end, and we each take one side of the draw and start heading West.

My buddy and his Griffon, myself and my Vizsla proceed to point, shoot and retrieve 9 birds in the 30 minutes it took us to walk the draw. I was 4-4 shooting and my buddy was 5-5 and we had great dog work. The FIL says when he meets up with us (he didnt see one bird in the fenceline over the hill) "I heard some shooting?!?!?" and we said "yep time to go home, we are limited out."

Was the damndest thing I ever saw. Just happened to catch lightning in a bottle as they must have been out feeding in the picked corn and upon hearing us went into the draw as opposed to busting back over to the CRP.

True story, I swear it. 9 wild birds in 30 minutes on 100% shooting.

(have since been back a few times and never saw a bird)

 

[JustSayOV]

Saturday was disappointing....100+ acres of good CRP, all picked fields surrounding it, 4 good dogs hunting in front of us......and we only saw 3 hens all morning.

Sunday was rained out.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Ive gone 3 times on public for short stints and having kicked up a single rooster.


I brisket shot a 10 point last Thursday I'm still sick over. Trailed him for 235 yards and he just disappeared. 1 inch higher and I would have had a wall hanger.


Big Nebraska Trip starts Wednesday.

 

[DeangeloVickers]

Ive gone 3 times on public for short stints and having kicked up a single rooster.


I brisket shot a 10 point last Thursday I'm still sick over. Trailed him for 235 yards and he just disappeared. 1 inch higher and I would have had a wall hanger.


Big Nebraska Trip starts Wednesday.

Good luck. In a stand now, we had a day and a half of straight rain that finally let up so hoping some big boys start moving. Our big 9 pt was on camera at 3am 80 yards from my stand.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Good luck. In a stand now, we had a day and a half of straight rain that finally let up so hoping some big boys start moving. Our big 9 pt was on camera at 3am 80 yards from my stand.

NW winds tmrw are perfect for a sit but I'm not sure I want to shoot a deer and process it the night before I have to leave for Nebraska.

Good luck, shoot straight.

 

[DooBi]

Buddy of mine got an absolute tank Saturday before the rain. Northwest Iowa.

 

[Herkster5]

Took the doggo out for a walk in the drizzle yesterday afternoon. She held point 5 different times, all on hens. We probably moved 15-20 birds, some flightly, some runners that jumped before a point could happen. It was worth the walk, too bad there wasn't a few roosters to point the gun at though!

 

[tigerguy_]

Saturday was disappointing....100+ acres of good CRP, all picked fields surrounding it, 4 good dogs hunting in front of us......and we only saw 3 hens all morning.

Sunday was rained out.

Holy hell, I had the same day yesterday. We didn't go to our usual place, and a friend asked me to hunt his places. 128 acres of CRP, 5 dogs and 9 hens and one rooster about 80 yards out.

It was misting all morning on us and I was certain the birds would be piled up in there. It's called hunting and not getting for a reason some days.

 

[ICWestfan]

Ok now you guys got me all hot and bothered thinking about past pheasant hunting stories...so as good as that group hunt I referenced above was, the best hunt I have ever been on was with my Father-in-Law, my best buddy and myself.

Little dusting of snow on the ground and we are going to go hunt a friend of mines' tree draw and fence lines, nothing too big and we had never been there before BUT we knew it was right next to a big CRP field owned by some old hag that didn't let anyone hunt it and was loaded with birds, so we thought we'd get lucky.

Anyways, we pull into the field entrance right next to this CRP we can't hunt (we are hunting the tree draw and fence rows in the picked cornfield right next to it) and there are like 10 roosters and 5 hens hanging out in the picked field and as soon as we pull in they scoot back over into the forbidden CRP. So we are like "welp....there goes that, but we are already here so lets give it a shot." So us three have about a 5 minute walk back to the start of this draw (which looking on google earth now, the draw is 375 yards long) and so we send my FIL over the hill to take the fencerow to the West to meet my buddy and I at the end, and we each take one side of the draw and start heading West.

My buddy and his Griffon, myself and my Vizsla proceed to point, shoot and retrieve 9 birds in the 30 minutes it took us to walk the draw. I was 4-4 shooting and my buddy was 5-5 and we had great dog work. The FIL says when he meets up with us (he didnt see one bird in the fenceline over the hill) "I heard some shooting?!?!?" and we said "yep time to go home, we are limited out."

Was the damndest thing I ever saw. Just happened to catch lightning in a bottle as they must have been out feeding in the picked corn and upon hearing us went into the draw as opposed to busting back over to the CRP.

True story, I swear it. 9 wild birds in 30 minutes on 100% shooting.

(have since been back a few times and never saw a bird)

Moral worthy there. I have a ton of pheasant hunting stories from back in the day.
Best is we were out with my golden and a couple of buddies. Dog had his nose to the ground and ran into a skunk. So the golden takes off and we go the opposite way. After about 5 minutes kicking around in the CRP, 4 roosters popped up and one friend got a triple while the other got the 4th. That was the day as my friends Dad was in his cattle pen inoculating his cattle when they started banging away. He got knocked around pretty good, and was pretty pissed we were hunting so close (we were about 100 yds away). So we hopped in the SUV and started driving around looking for the dog which we found about a mile way. He was ripe from the skunk spray so we threw him in back and opened all the windows. On the way home the SUV threw a rod which junked the vehicle.

Good times!

 

[DeangeloVickers]

Buddy of mine got an absolute tank Saturday before the rain. Northwest Iowa.

Wow, that's a hammer, good for him!

 

[JustSayOV]

Moral worthy there. I have a ton of pheasant hunting stories from back in the day.
Best is we were out with my golden and a couple of buddies. Dog had his nose to the ground and ran into a skunk. So the golden takes off and we go the opposite way. After about 5 minutes kicking around in the CRP, 4 roosters popped up and one friend got a triple while the other got the 4th. That was the day as my friends Dad was in his cattle pen inoculating his cattle when they started banging away. He got knocked around pretty good, and was pretty pissed we were hunting so close (we were about 100 yds away). So we hopped in the SUV and started driving around looking for the dog which we found about a mile way. He was ripe from the skunk spray so we threw him in back and opened all the windows. On the way home the SUV threw a rod which junked the vehicle.

Good times!

Ha!!!!!!!! Now that is a story!

I would say about your friend's Dad: "F*ck 'em, if he can't take a joke"

(only kidding.....but kind of not.....can't pass up an opportunity for a triple!)

 

[Mayland]

Buddy of mine got an absolute tank Saturday before the rain. Northwest Iowa.

You guys have mule deer in IA? I would have never guessed.

 

[HawkinK.C.1]

Ive gone 3 times on public for short stints and having kicked up a single rooster.


I brisket shot a 10 point last Thursday I'm still sick over. Trailed him for 235 yards and he just disappeared. 1 inch higher and I would have had a wall hanger.


Big Nebraska Trip starts Wednesday.

Switch to two blade broadheads and heavier arrows, especially up front, and you'll have a better chance of harvesting less than perfect shots. Charles Grayson did extensive testing on the subject but modern archery seems to favor light light arrows and mechanical or multi blade broadheads. It makes no sense. Read up on it sometime if you want some interesting reading.

 

[DeangeloVickers]

Despite being in the 60s with south winds, and getting in the stand after 8 bc of the rain, I've seen 5 bucks so far, the last a really solid 8 following a doe through the thick stuff. He has a super deep raspy grunt, almost sounds like a growl, pretty cool.
The youngest just relocated to a stand 100 yrds south of me and pulled a camera chip, our shooter was under the tree Saturday afternoon. See if he shows up tonight before the rain.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Tell ya what gents, this year was a Grinder.

Watched my best friends son kill his first duck and my dog perform amazingly, literally everything else was a kick in the teeth. Weather, sleep, birds, hole in my waders, whiny kid, especially shitty guest at the Rez hotel......Nebraska 2024.

 

[Herkster5]

Hunted for the majority of Saturday in the rain, made the grass better on the dogs, but the birds were far and few between. We scratched two, saw 20-25, most of which jumped in one flurry. They all landed back in the CRP we were in, but as we walked it, they certainly outsmarted us. Back out again Friday and Saturday, hopefully find a few more.

Dog has been doing great, solid points, holds point well. Still retrieves like the little bitch she is, but what else should I expect with a Wirehair and no formal training. Still worth it!

 

[IowaMeatMan]

Fellow outdoors peeps, if you like Big Bucks, Big Bulls and just the outdoors. Give my son a follow on instagram, he has some amazing pics and vid’s of 100% wild animals He lives and breaths the outdoors. @usa_whitetail. You can find him on YouTube also USA Whitetail. Thanks.

 

[JustSayOV]

Had a decent weekend....group of 3 guys and 2.5 dogs (one dog is like 14 years old) got 2 Saturday and 5 Sunday.

Saw probably 35+ birds total though between both days when figuring all the hens and ones busting up wild ahead. It was encouraging to see that many birds when the weather is still so nice (by bird hunting standards).

(found one shed too)

 

[Herkster5]

Scratched another 10 this weekend, 4 Saturday, 6 Sunday. 4-7 guys, depending on the time of day we were hunting. Great dog work by my GWP, the only dog we had. Had to stop running her by Sunday afternoon, too dry, legs and paws were tore up. She did well, held multiple points, found a couple down birds. Too bad most of the points were on hens, which were holding much tighter than the roosters were for us.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

You guys slamming these birds are making me jealous
Congrats.


I've been focused on deer hunting now that I'm back. Had a good wind yesterday morning, best buck was a 7 point I've named "dink". He has been around 3 years now and I've watched him grow from a 1 by 2, if the neighbor doesn't shoot him during gun season I'd like to take him next year as an 8+. His left side rack has always been deformed and is thin but his body is a nice, typical, 3+ year old.


I've relived my "miss" probably 10000 times. Haven't seen the big10 on camera or in the stands since.

 

[FranklinHawk]

We went out for about 3 hours yesterday morning and managed 11, still shaking the rust off so should have probably been 15. Saw a boatload of birds.

 

[DooBi]

I had 2 gimmies yesterday 10 yards out. ****ing missed them both. Lol I need to practice shooting.

 

[JustSayOV]

I had 2 gimmies yesterday 10 yards out. ****ing missed them both. Lol I need to practice shooting.

A wise man once told me:

"Don't aim, just shoot"

By the time you over-think it and try to "aim" you've already lost. (obviously you still have to aim, but I think you know what I mean)

***What choke are you shooting? If you are generally always shooting close birds, shoot skeet or something with a more open pattern. If you are shooting some old 870 with a full choke, yeah that becomes a little tougher at close range.

 

[Herkster5]

A wise man once told me:

"Don't aim, just shoot"

By the time you over-think it and try to "aim" you've already lost. (obviously you still have to aim, but I think you know what I mean)

***What choke are you shooting? If you are generally always shooting close birds, shoot skeet or something with a more open pattern. If you are shooting some old 870 with a full choke, yeah that becomes a little tougher at close range.

I sometimes wonder about my choke, now that I'm shooting over a pointer. I feel like I do a better job once the bird gets out a ways, instead of popping up at my feet. Maybe I should look into that too...

Franchi Affinity is what I shoot, and I haven't done a dang thing in regards to the choke, just shooting what came in it.

 

[JustSayOV]

I sometimes wonder about my choke, now that I'm shooting over a pointer. I feel like I do a better job once the bird gets out a ways, instead of popping up at my feet. Maybe I should look into that too...

Franchi Affinity is what I shoot, and I haven't done a dang thing in regards to the choke, just shooting what came in it.

Never looked into what choke you are shooting? (but I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it!)

Guessing that gun has a flush choke tube in there now and assuming you bought it new, you should have got a couple other choke tubes and a wrench I would guess.

I shoot a Benelli Montefeltro 12 gauge (so would be a similar semi-auto to what you are shooting) and I went and got some Carlson extended choke tubes to be able to take them in and out by hand and not mess with the wrench.

We hunt with pointing dogs as well and I'll be honest, I just shoot a Skeet tube in mine most of the year....my goal is to kill what I should kill....meaning the easy pointed birds. In my younger days I would be more prone to have a tighter pattern in there so I could throw some hail mary's at the high crossers and such, but I am not hunting birds to fill my freezer or nothing so I don't.

(plus sometimes with a quicker draw on a pointed bird, if you hit it a little too good with a tighter choke you can really blow the bird up....)

So I no longer can hit (or try to) the wild ones that are way out there, but rarely miss the closer ones I "should" hit anymore.

***below is a photo of a bird my buddy blasted from close range that literally blew a wing and leg off mid-air

 

[Herkster5]

Yeah, it's a flush choke, doesn't stick out the end of the barrel. I won the gun a few years back, and honestly, just started shooting it. We run into some pretty shot up birds with the guys we hunt with on occasion, that are much better shots than I (not that we want destroyed birds like that).

 

[FranklinHawk]

The Franchi is a damn nice gun. I generally use a modified choke for pheasants, but if they're holding tight improved cylinder gives you a bit wider pattern and higher success rate on the close ones.

 

[DeangeloVickers]

I sometimes wonder about my choke, now that I'm shooting over a pointer. I feel like I do a better job once the bird gets out a ways, instead of popping up at my feet. Maybe I should look into that too...

Franchi Affinity is what I shoot, and I haven't done a dang thing in regards to the choke, just shooting what came in it.

If hunting over a pointer, switch to an improved cylinder choke and use a high pellet count load like 6s or even potentially 7.5s. Your miss rate will go down considerably.

 

[FranklinHawk]

If hunting over a pointer, switch to an improved cylinder choke and use a high pellet count load like 6s or even potentially 7.5s. Your miss rate will go down considerably.

Agree on the choke. Personally, I'd never go smaller than 6 shot for pheasants though.

 

[JustSayOV]

This is a pretty good video that helps illustrate all this choke talk. But to piggy back on the above, skeet or improved cylinder if you are shooting pointed or close birds.

 

[Herkster5]

If hunting over a pointer, switch to an improved cylinder choke and use a high pellet count load like 6s or even potentially 7.5s. Your miss rate will go down considerably.

This is logical, and appreciated. I'll have to do some changing to my set up! Or, I'll shoot my O/U trap gun instead of my semi-auto, but when we have larger groups, I like the semi-auto.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

These winds are no good for deer hunting but we are starting to finally see a southern migration for waterfowl:

Couple of birds off the public today on an afternoon dog run:

 

[SalAunese]

Me and my buddies used to bird hunt when younger, but family and careers seem to have taken over. My cousin with zero kids hunts 3-4 days a week though.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Me and my buddies used to bird hunt when younger, but family and careers seem to have taken over. My cousin with zero kids hunts 3-4 days a week though.

If you have an Auto 5 ( Bel), decent O/U, 1911, bolt .22 or any mil surplus I'm always interested in turning those safe queens into cash.

 

[DeangeloVickers]

These winds are no good for deer hunting but we are starting to finally see a southern migration for waterfowl:

Couple of birds off the public today on an afternoon dog run:

Me and the boys hammered the Mallards Tues and Weds. Got to show em what pulling flocks of 20-30 migrators at a time looks like. Headed out here soon, gonna freeze my nuts off but should be good.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Me and the boys hammered the Mallards Tues and Weds. Got to show em what pulling flocks of 20-30 migrators at a time looks like. Headed out here soon, gonna freeze my nuts off but should be good.

I'm trying to sneak an afternoon hunt 😄 shoot straight. Where are you at (N/S) roughly, as far as starting to see migration? Central Iowa still seems dry but my buddy is up by the MN/IA border and has said the last 3 days have been a really nice push.

 

[Herkster5]

I'll have to make at trip by Union Slough in the next few days, as it's usually a good indicator of birds coming south in our area. I have seen quite a few more birds in the air on my way to work the last few days, but I haven't been by any bodies of water that hold birds for a couple weeks.

 

[Finance85]

Still no birds. Apparently I haven't triggered any road rage with my driving.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Me and the boys hammered the Mallards Tues and Weds. Got to show em what pulling flocks of 20-30 migrators at a time looks like. Headed out here soon, gonna freeze my nuts off but should be good.

Scouted a new place and only got set for like 45 minutes. Saw a bunch of geese but no ducks.

You?

 

[IowaMeatMan]

Miss the days of waterfowl hunting,use to be a passion of mine. Cardinal Marsh by Cresco is where you could find me.