Minnesota Pheasant Hunting Tips:
Late season pheasant hunting in Minnesota requires a little determination. The
remaining roosters have seen just about every trick in the book. They'll flush
wildly at the first sight, or sound, of any approaching pheasant hunters. Deciding
where to hunt isn't a problem. There’s not much cover left by
December. The shorter grasses have all drifted in with snow and the pheasants
are forced to seek out thicker cover. Most late season hunters know where the birds are holding.
The trick is getting close enough to flush them while they're in gun range.
Close working pheasant dogs are a must for this hunting. Pheasant dogs
ranging 50-60 yards ahead of the hunter aren’t much help when all the
roosters flush 35 yards ahead of the dogs.
Late season Minnesota pheasant hunting requires well disciplined bird dogs. It’s
just one more reason why I like to start each Minnesota pheasant
hunting season with a few pre-season trips to Minnesota pheasant hunting clubs. These
preseason workouts at the pheasant hunting preserves will repay you in spades
by the time December pheasant hunting season rolls around. Nobody wants to hunt, or hunt with, a bird dog
that breaks whenever it wants. Who cares how many pheasant hens the dog
flushed by its master’s feet, if the only roosters the dog flushed were in
the next county.
Several years ago I was pheasant hunting with a hunter who had trained his dogs with a whistle. Every time he wanted one of his dogs to
quarter, he’d blow a trill on his whistle and then shout out the dog's name. His dogs quartered well. But the hunter must have blown
his whistle every ten steps for the entire day. We flushed over fifty pheasants on that hunt,
with about a third of the birds being roosters. Every pheasant, with the exception of a few young hens, flushed at least a hundred yards ahead of his dogs. That evening, on the way home from the hunt, the
hunter remarked how spooky the pheasants acted. His whistle was still hanging around his neck
and its sound was still echoing in my ears.
I like to seek out red willow thickets during the latter part of the Minnesota pheasant hunting season.
Pheasants are always wary of air borne predators and will loiter in
locations that provide overhead protection whenever possible. A willow thicket
provides a safe haven from hawks while the wary roosters digest the contents
of their crops. These thickets might provide pheasants with safety from above,
but they also help obscure the pheasant's view. These willow thickets provide
"quiet" hunters an opportunity
to sneak up on wary birds. Leave the bells & whistles at
home. One or two shouts at the dogs and the game is over!
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Early Season Tips
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It's the goal of
their Minnesota
pheasant hunting
preserve to provide
every hunter with
an enjoyable day
in the field.
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