This is the recap of week 1 of the 2024 Pheasant Hunting season. It has been so warm that we did not even try to get out opening weekend. Finally, by Tuesday it cooled down.
October 15th - Day 1
The forecast for Tuesday had the temperature at the opening time of 9 AM around 38 degrees. It was bright sunshine with a very light wind out of the NE. We were hunting private land.
With all of the rain this year, the prairies were tall and thick. Despite that, we started out walking a fence line where we have seen birds the last couple of years. Our mistake was that the last couple years have been drought years and the prairies were sparse. As we were walking we had a rooster wild flush out of the prairie and fly out ahead of us. We continued down the fence line to the south end of the property. We did have another wild flush but I think it was that rooster that wild flushed earlier.
Once we hit the south end we started back north, this time walking the prairies. About mid way through the same prairie where the first rooster flushed we had too more roosters flush out ahead of us and just fly to the fence line. We walked over and tried to find the northern most bird but did not flush it. Then we tried where the southern bid landed. Stella was a bit birdy. I walked into the area and the bird flushed to my side and a bit behind. Kevin and Bill both fired but missed.
From there we continued north until Stella got birdy at the northern edge of the field. Bill and Kevin were off to the sides so I had them get ready and then I followed Stella to the bird. It flushed into the sun for me and then flew right over Stella. So, I did not even raise my gun. Bill and Kevin both had shots and missed.
After that, we took Stella back to the truck for a break and took Willow out. We walked two prairies and did not see any birds. On the way back Willow was out in canary grass behind some pine trees and we had a wild flush. No idea what gender it was. The owner had asked us to look for a beaver dam on the creek so we checked that out. While Bill and Kevin took pictures of the dam, Willow went swimming.

By noon, the temperatures were already in the mid 60s so it was time to hang it up.
October 17th - Day 2
On Thursday, we had another day where the temperatures would be moderate so I went out solo. By opening it was already 44 degrees, although there was a moderate wind out of the south.
Stella and I walked a couple prairies and did not see anything. She did get birdy a couple times in some thickets and eventually got a rooster up. I never saw the bird but heard it flush and cackle. This location can be challenging to hunt solo.
About mid morning I swapped dogs. Willow and I went through a couple prairies and in one small prairie between thickets, she got birdy. I followed her and she actually tracked at a good speed. She pointed and I walked up to flush. The bird got up about 10 yards to my right and flew over a thicket. I took two snap shots and missed. When I fired a second rooster flushed about 30 yards ahead of me and I missed another shot.
We worked our way back without seeing anything else.
Video
This is the first video of the season and as usual it takes me a while to get the GoPro dialed in. I had the camera mounted on my hat at too high of an angle so I missed so close shots. I also had the same old problem of turning it off and on. One bright spot was that during the off season I got a “Windslayer” which is a foam cover that helps with wind noise. I thought it worked well.
This video contains a clip of Stella tracking a bird on day 1 that flushed and was missed. Plus it has a clip of Willow tracking the bird that I missed.
Summary
This was the recap of week 1 of the 2024 Pheasant hunting season. Despite the warm temperatures we did get out and we did see birds. Our shooting was not up to snuff but that will change.
