This is the week 12 recap of the 2024 pheasant hunting season. This was our last trip in Minnesota and we had a successful final hunt. There was no recap for week 11 because I did not go out. Stella had an injured paw, the weather was bad and we had the holidays.
January 1st - Minnesota
For our last trip of the 2024 Minnesota season we went out to private ground near us. It was about 20 degrees with a stiff wind out of the Northwest, with cloudy skies. We started out checking the usual thickets where we have typically found birds but only saw one, at a distance.
So we started walking prairie grass, which turned out to be the ticket. With the high winds, I believe the birds were out on the thick prairie grass for protection. Stella started tracking and after a relatively short distance we had a hen flush out near Bill. From there we moved out to another prairie area where Stella got birdy. She tracked for a while then lost the track. Another 100 yards later, she got birdy again. This time she tracked to a hen that flushed near Kevin.
From there we walked to a third prairie. We were following an edge when Stella went on point. I moved up and Stella started to track. From her body language I knew the track was fresh. About 30 yards later she locked up on point. Bill and Kevin moved into position and then I moved forward. A rooster flushed about 3 feet in front of Stella. Bill and I fired almost simultaneously and the bird dropped.
Video
The video this week includes Stella working the two hens and the rooster.
Lessons Learned
As noted in a recent post about GoPro challenges I have struggled with GoPro Voice commands. On this trip I started using the “Capture” commands instead of the “Recording” commands. They work much better and will hopefully reduce the number of missed clips in the future.
The other lesson we learned is that the birds will hang out in dense prairie grass when it is cold and windy.
Summary
In the week 12 recap I talked about our last Minnesota trip of the season as well as what we learned relative to GoPro voice commands. We have about a week left of the Iowa season.
