This is the week 9 recap of the pheasant hunting season. This was another disappointing week due to the weather and a lack of birds.
We originally planned on taking a 2 day trip to Iowa but a storm caused us to abort. Winds were predicted to be 20 mph on the first day followed by mixed precipitation and poor driving conditions on the second. It just was not worth making a trip under those conditions.
December 10th
I did a solo trip to central Minnesota under cloudy skies with a stiff wind. Kevin had to work but I still wanted to get out. Stella and I went to a WPA where we did see some birds in the early season. She was able to find and track a couple hens but numbers were way down compared to previous years.
December 14th
On Saturday, Kevin and I hunted private ground. We almost cancelled this trip due to the weather which called for freezing rain and snow. Since it was relatively close, we went anyways. The drive down was fine. MnDot had done a good job of pre-treating the roads. Hunting was okay, although we had to deal with a pretty stiff wind from the ESE.
We did see several hens, usually bunched in thickets and thermal cover. Kevin saw one rooster, fly into an area that we had just left. Stella was tracking at the time but we went back later to look for the bird but did not find it.
We covered a lot of ground looking for birds, saw some hens and then quit when it started to snow. The roads on the drive home were starting to degrade due to some accumulation. I commented to Kevin that I was glad we were not driving back from Iowa.
Video
The video this week features Stella working a couple birds. Both trips were under cloudy skies with strong winds so the video clips are not real good.
Lessons Learned
Just a couple lessons learned this week:
On my first trip I was out hunting when I realized that I had not grabbed a spare GoPro battery. Of course, the battery I had ran out before I finished the hunt. As a result, I put a spare battery in my vest that I will leave there for the season. I will only use this battery if I forget to grab a spare or if I use up the primary and the spare.
I need to adjust what I wear a little bit. My lightweight gloves are not quite warm enough for the mid 20s in a strong wind. Without a wind they are fine. When it is in the 20s, I usually wear a lightweight fleece under a raincoat that acts as a wind breaker. I found that with a strong wind this was not quite enough. I think adding a fleece vest would have helped.
Summary
Week 9 recap thoughts:
The weather continues to play a role. We went from too warm to winter over a couple days. The colder temperatures are pushing birds to thermal cover, which can be harder to hunt. The weather is also impacting when and where we can hunt.
The bird numbers appear to be down significantly compared to previous years. The Minnesota DNR roadside surveys suggested lower numbers due to the spring and early summer rains which negatively impacted nesting. The mild winter last year allowed more mature birds to over winter which may have offset some of the nesting impact.
The late summer drought and good weather in the early fall may have played a role as well. Most of the field crops were harvested prior to the start of the season which concentrates birds. Early season hunters then enjoy much higher success on those concentrated birds. But that negatively impacts those of us that hunt all season, by reducing the bird population. From the following graph, you can see that we were seeing birds early in the season but as the season has progressed the numbers have decreased, making this the worst year since I have been keeping track.
Despite the low bird numbers and the adverse weather, we continue to get out. The dogs continue to work hard and have a good time regardless of whether we harvest any birds.
