Albert Lea MN Pheasant Hunt Limit Nov 2 2024

A Mid Season Pheasant Hunt

The afternoon drew me back to the Albert Lea area, where we'd managed to bag a single bird on opening weekend. Despite temperatures climbing to an unseasonable 55 degrees, the sun and steady breeze made for promising hunting conditions.

The action started quickly, with Val pointing eight hens in succession. Working into a tailwind, she bumped a rooster at about 120 yards - a forgivable mistake given the challenging wind conditions.

Later, while trying to direct Tasha toward Val's position, I noticed Val intensely working a scent trail off in the distance. It turned out to be just another hen, but the dogs' enthusiasm never wavered. As we began making our way back to the truck, Val locked up on point. This time, the rooster held tight until I could close the distance. When the bird flushed, one clean shot brought it down.

The day wasn't over yet. Approaching the road, both dogs caught wind of something promising. Their behavior telegraphed what was coming - a magnificent rooster erupted from cover. Another single shot rang out, and our second bird of the day was in hand.

The warm weather might not have been ideal for late-season pheasant hunting, but with cooperative birds, steady dogs, and clean shooting, it turned into a successful afternoon in the field.

 

 

Hutchinson MN Pheasant Hunt October 30th 2024

We had been home for a couple of days and decided to make the switch back to pheasants.  We head out to our favorite spot near Hutchinson MN.  Last year this spot didn’t produce too well for us due to the drought.  Normally there are a couple of ponds on the property and there weren’t any last year.

Normally I prefer to run the dogs separately but with my injured foot I am trying to keep my hunts to about 90 minutes so I decided to run both dogs at once.  We started by running along the north side of the field.  We got 4 or 5 hen points right away and one wild rooster flush.  We swung left and worked the west side… we didn’t move any birds along this stretch but as soon as we swung along the south side we got 2 more hens pointed.  It wasn’t until we hit the east side that we got a point on a rooster.  Both dogs were working scent in the thicker cover and it looked like they were moving it right on the edge of the field.  The rooster finally broke and I was able to get a shot off.  It was hit but not folded.  Tasha was on the track quickly and I thought she had it a couple of times but we never did find it.  

We moved towards the interior of the property and got a few more pointed that turned out to be hens.  After the batch of hens we got another point and this time it was a rooster and we made a solid connection and put it into the game bag.  We made our way back to the truck and gave the dogs a quick break.  I ended up leaving Tasha in her kennel and just ran Val after the break.  We ran for another half hour but didn’t see any more roosters.  We wrapped up at about 85 minutes.  The dogs worked well as they have all season.