We did great, my pup Stormy got her first rooster this morning. It made my day, if not my season.

We are heading out again tomorrow, we can't wait! Right now we are all down for the count, after a nice nap we'll be good.

 

Hunted public land in the rain. Got wet but didn't have a tough time finding open areas to hunt. Rain quit, and the orange hats came out in droves. Pretty much nothing left to hunt with all of the fields full, so we went home. No points, no birds, only heard about 3 shots from 8:30 - 11:00 am.

 

Went out with two buddies and my lil boy, we ended up with 4 roosters and over 2 dozen flushes.

 

I got one this morning .Bud

 

Went out with two buddies and my lil boy, we ended up with 4 roosters and over 2 dozen flushes.

Nice job, what Part of Mi do you hunt.

 

Nice job, what Part of Mi do you hunt.

Thanx, private land in Southern Mi.

 

Hunted public land for about four hours...no dog...put up 4 hens and one bird which flushed so far ahead this "old guy" could only tell it was a bird. Did see some nice deer...a ton of hunters...all in all a good day.

Moss

 

We did great, my pup Stormy got her first rooster this morning. It made my day, if not my season.

We are heading out again tomorrow, we can't wait! Right now we are all down for the count, after a nice nap we'll be good.

Nice job Jim. Great Pic

We were not so lucky. Rained buckets at day light which made it kinda nasty. Flushed two hens, one juge Tom Turkey that Jett pointed. LOL :lol: scared the crap outta me when he flushed. I almost..... had the safety off, and went what the ????? Saw lots of deer a few with horns, not many hunters. A Bow hunter tagged a nice 8 point.

We will get me next time

 

Took the day off to hit public land in the Thumb and could hardly find a spot to even park at 5:00AM in the morning. Went to shoot a few grouse and headed home. Then hit an old landfill, shot my rooster for the year and will not go out again until December. I was duck hunting this weekend and heard crackles coming from everywhere but it is hard to get into the good spots .

 

Went out on my lease this morning with my best friend. My oldest went on point early and the pheasants kept coming up like quail. Finally a rooster went up and I shot him. A couple more went up but I didn't shoot. I wanted to run the dogs a little longer. Got my second about 15 minutes later over a nice point.
I unloaded my gun and walked around with the camera. I had another point and my buddy was 100 yards away with his dog. I finally got him over to me after about 7 or 8 minutes. The beeeper just kept beeping. As luck would have it. It flew low and right at me and he had to wait for it to turn right a little. Of course I dropped to my knees. He ended up missing.
After that, all the pheasants started running and flying out ahead of us. Got to warm to quick. Better days ahead I know.

 

It was Ok day. Seen many hunters but also some birds too. Four birds pointed. One female and three males. Two did not wait for me to walk up them, and flushed before i got in position to shoot.
I got one that droped right on the border of the land I hunted.

 

I went hunting on public land up in the Thumb...all i seen was lots of orange; but few shots fired despite a lot of hunters.

My Brittany did manage to add about 2lbs to his coat with burrs though.

Got to work today; but the weather looks much better; on off rain yesterday.

 

Worst Opener I can remember.

Three of us hunted in prime time Lenawee and Hillsdale County CRP, Set aside, and moved maybe 6-7 hens and three roosters, bagging one.

The cover is as good as I can ever remember down there, in the private land spots we have this was one of those years when zero mowing took place on CRP, and the mowing in the previous years really helped make for wonderful grass lands.

I am of the belief that in the 25 mile area we hunted they had very very poor hatch if any....but hey that is hunting...

 

I was sort of bumm'n too. Was hop'n to get on a hen or something for the benefit of the dog working so hard. Looks like one more shot, if no luck im back on the grouse

 

The best I could do was one Rooster and a it was very old bird. I got rained out for the evening push. ... in total saw 1 rooster and 2 hens.

 

I couldn't hunt until after work yesterday, didn't get out until about 4:30 on some state land. a place I used to hunt with my Grandfather back in the 80's, I even toted his gun. I went more to not miss the opener than anything. I was so surprised that Thunder got hot that I almost missed. We only got the one, but it was great to take one with my Grandpa's gun

 

Hit 3 different spots yesterday and only saw 1 hen, all places are public land. 2 of the spots Im guessing I was the only one to hunt them, cat tail swamps seem to limit the traffic. Im produced at both posts in the past, not this year. The last spot is widely known and when I drove by early there was at least 10 vehicles, not my cup of tea.
I too think the hatch is down, usually see a few roosters thru the summer and at least one hatch by my house. Nothing this year. Will head out tonite and try again!

 

Here is a pic of my son and I, I had tossed this in a thread I started about our hunt and forgot to post here with the other opening day pics. I didn't have my digital with us and only got pics of our two roosters of the four harvested. Great opener!

Jacob and I.

 

We hunted public land in the Thumb as well. Lots of Orange. I was surprised by how few shots I heard. We flushed six in total, four roosters. Friend got a shot at one of them and missed and he was the only one to fire. Memorable as it usually is, hope for some birds down next time.

 

Still a GREAT day. I was alittle worried about the weather as we got close to the center of the State. But the rain sortof steered off and at shooting time the temp was good, it was moist enough for good scenting conditions. Maggie behaved herself (who are you and what have you done with MY dog?). Her ground work was excellent, obedient, and two productive points that were hens. We saw 2 Roosters (no shot possibilities) and 4 Hens.

If anyone from the DNR is reading this I have alittle tip for you. If you think Pheasant Hunting isn't important to the Sportsmen and women of this State you need to get out of your office and come and see for yourselves. You couldn't pound another truck into the parking lots where we were, with a BIG HAMMER. And phone calls to friends at other areas revealed the same thing in those areas too.

All in all, it was a good day spent with a Great friend and a good dog. In my book it just doesn't get any better.:coolgleam FRANK

 

If anyone from the DNR is reading this I have alittle tip for you. If you think Pheasant Hunting isn't important to the Sportsmen and women of this State you need to get out of your office and come and see for yourselves. You couldn't pound another truck into the parking lots where we were, with a BIG HAMMER. And phone calls to friends at other areas revealed the same thing in those areas too.

:coolgleam FRANK

I think it is more sentimental than anything else Frank.

Young guys like me, have to rely on old guys like you, to tell us how good the pheasant hunting was 45-50 years ago!!!!!!!

 

A little wet, but fun...Had five flushes within 100 yds. of the truck, never saw another hunter. Of course...I was grouse hunting in the U.P. :coolgleam

Scott B.

 

SLOOOOOOW morning. Hit a public land habitat project with some VERY nice cover. Dog got hot twice, but came up short. Oh well, that's part of the game, right?

 

Drove 3hrs to hit the same state land I hunted last year with my dad, by OURSELF.... this year, 6 cars in the "turn off", drove down the road to another side of the property, 8 cars, another road, 5th wheel and pop up camper and all the vehicles to go with it.... needless to say I was getting concerned about finding a place to hit. I did, didn't move any birds in the first field (of course the solid rain didn't help). Did hear lots and lots of shooting from the field I planned to hunt. Long story short, moved 2 birds, hens. Had a great time with the dogs, good breakfast in town (l love pheasant hunting breakfasts at local resturants!) My hunting pants are still drying..... the wrinkles finally left my toes from being wet all day.

 

yep, sure would be nice if the dnr would purchase some mass quantities of prairie lands... ive seen lots of huge parcels (100's of acres) of private land for sale that ends up getting split up cuz no one can afford that much land anymore. be nice to see it purchased by the state... i personally live in one of those sections... few houses around the outside of the 1 square mile, and all the innards are nice crp, set aside...that's like 600acres right? all for sale at once but has been broken up now.... (farmer died, kids split and sold) happens over and over it seems like. id love to hunt wild pheasants some time but again, like many, i'm not into hunting with that much pressure.