This is the recap of week 3 of the 2026 pheasant season. We had a couple days this week when it was cool enough to hunt. I was able to get out twice this week and saw roosters on both trips.
10/27/2026 - Minnesota WPA
This was a solo hunt on a cloudy day with almost constant drizzle. Stella was wet the whole time which actually worked to our advantage. Despite temperatures in the 50s, she remained cool the whole trip.
It appeared that an adjacent cornfield had recently been picked so I decided to walk that edge first, even though our backs would be to the wind. Within about 10 minutes, Stella got birdy and started tracking towards the center of the WPA. Within 50 yards, the bird moved into thigh high grass. Stella tracked it down and it flushed. I dropped it on my second shot and Stella found it without problem.
We continued on and after about 20 minutes, Stella start tracking again. The bird led us through prairie, into a low area with grass and back out into the prairie. We finally caught up to it and it flushed within about 15 yards. When it got up I thought it was a hen. By the time I could see its tail it was too far to shoot. When I got home I checked the video and it turns out it was a rooster.
10/29/2026 - Minnesota WPA
A dramatically different trip. Instead of clouds and rain we had bright sunshine. Instead of being solo there were three of us. Kevin was out for first trip of the year and Chris was out for his second trip hunting pheasants.
We were maybe a quarter of mile from the truck when Stella got birdy. We followed her up an incline to the east, right into the sun. Near the top of the rise, a bird flushed out about 30 yards. There was no way to see what it was. Stella was still tracking so we kept going. A rooster flushed in front of Kevin and he took a couple shots at it.
We continued on and eventually started cutting across the WPA towards the west edge. At one point we got to a clump of willows and Stella stopped. We positioned Kevin out of the willows on one side and Chris outside them on the other. I followed Stella through the willows. She tracked it through into canary grass near some cattails. The bird flushed right in front of Kevin and he took a shot at it.
We continued to the west edge and then started heading north. Stella tracked multiple hens and then a rooster that flushed, giving Chris a couple shots. We continued north and saw a couple more hens.
Stella got birdy and she tracked to the east quite a ways. We were moving into some willows with Kevin to my left and Chris to my right. I followed Stella into the willows when a rooster flushed in front of Kevin. He missed and a second rooster flushed which he dropped. Then a third rooster flushed and flew left to right in front of Chris and I. We both fired virtually at the same time and the bird fell. Stella retrieved Kevin’s bird. Chris had marked where the second bird had fallen. It was obvious that Stella didn’t know that a second bird was down. We held our position and she circled downwind and quickly found the bird.
We continued east towards the truck. There was a cattail slough surrounded by canary grass that we were trying to go around when, as she usually does. Stella got birdy. We got in position as she pointed. Kevin moved in to flush, when the bird started running. We realized that it was a cripple and spent the next 15 minutes digging through grass clumps with Stella. Eventually, Kevin was able to reach in next to Stella and grab it. It was in good shape other than a broken wing.
All of the birds this year have been pretty immature. This area did have quite a bit of rain early summer which makes me suspect that these were second hatch birds.
Video
This week’s video is pretty long because we saw a lot of birds. I tried speeding up a lot of the tracking sequences. Let me know if you prefer them sped up or just cut out.
Lessons Learned
- The new camera mount is working well except when I am looking down. I need to really look down so that the camera can pick up what is happening around my feet.
Summary
This was a very good week. Two trips with at least a bird harvested on each trip. Stella is getting in shape and the weather has cooperated.
