Pocket Full of Shells

Well Fall has officially come upon us. I have this itch for Pheasant hunting pretty bad this year.. So I wanted to write about some Pheasant hunting and using public land…

Public Land seems to be an over looked commodity. People have fears that there are others out there that are only there to get the bird, deer what have you before the other person or people out there.. Or the land has been over hunted.. To tell you the truth I feel a whole lot different about it then most.

We pay good money as hunters to have this land bought and managed by different agencies. It can be very valuable to hunt if you do it right. Here I will be writing about just Pheasant hunting on public land.

First suggestion is to hunt early and hunt late..

at the start of the season from the opening day through about the second weekend, is when most of the hunters will be in the field. After the second weekend most of the hunters will be at home taking care of the things they need to. Happy with being able to get out for opener..

This is also when everybody would think that public land has that black mark against it. Over hunted, over used etc etc…

The roosters still use the land, they just get smart fast and early in the season. With all that hunting pressure and the life and death game you would also.. Like I say the best times to hunt public land is early morning and late at night..

2)  Use the most promising exit and entrance locations…..

Try to figure out the the most likely direction the birds will come and go from the habitat.. Concentrate on the grass cover, where the birds will be leaving the habitat and going for the possible feeding area or the field next to the public land…

3) Hunt the middle of the week…

For most hunters that are using public land Friday thru Sunday are the most common times that a lot of the hunters will be out in the field.. Plan the days of Tuesday thru Thursday to hunt. Most hunters will start their weekend on fridays. Do not hunt on Mondays. This give the birds more time to get back in to their groove, since they are creatures of habit.. They will always go back to where they bed down for the night…

4) Try to time your trips according to the worst weather….

Any of the habitat that public land has to offer is some of the most protective for wildlife. Specially when the weather is wet, foggy, windy cold icy snowy… This is where the Pheasants will go when the weather calls for protection… Even cloud cover can cause the birds to be a little confused… morning time with fog and heavy cloud cover may play a mind game with the birds biological clock making them think that its not as late in the day as it is..

when the bad weather comes in… Be there to take them out..

5) Time your hunting with harvesting……

If the fields that you have chosen to hunt have crops in very close proxemity to the public land. Try to get out there when the farmers are cropping their land.. When Pheasants leave their roost in the morning they are generaly leaving to go feed.. Unharvested corn, sorgum, milo, sunflowers and haylands all give the birds cover and food through out the day.. Once the food has been harvested the birds have place for food and cover. They fly or run back to their roosting areas. This makes the public land filled with birds that are disoriented and at a lose for food source.

Ok yes I know I am trying to keep this site about duck hunting, but today is the first time I went fishing in ages!

I ran over to Joe’s house, we jumped in the car and meet John at his parents house on the Rum river. What a beutyful river, never been on it before.

We got in the john boat and traveled up river a ways. John seemed to know the river pretty good. or atleast beter he grew up on it.

After doing a lot of casting and no bites. John pulled out the fly rod and started to cast with that. It didn’t take very long and he had a nice 14 inch Bass on the line. Joe and I were still casting with or rods and reels as John was trying to get at them again. Once again he had another small mouth bass on the line. For some reason John put down the fly rod and went back to fishing with the bait caster.

I did at one point have a close catch, as I was throwing out my orange and chartrouse spinning bait, I had a follow and swirel. Close to catching adecent bass. But then again all I saw was the black back. So I am guessing it was a bass.

Anyways thanks to John for taking us out on the boat this afternoon!

Being an employee of one of the biggest hunting supply chains stores, I see everyday that the frustration of gun owners and buyers, that including buying ammunition has really made a lot of people mad! The way that the 2nd amendment is being changed due to the new administration moving into office has jumped all over gun rights and control.

Now I am a shotgun guy and personaly don’t see any need for a AR 15 around my house, and since I don’t do any hunting of that sort I don’t need one. Don’t get me wrong I am not in anyway against these “tools” or weapons. But from the day this country has started WE have always have guns by our sides! May they never take them away!

I suggest that people call there Governor. Speak your voice to the Governor, is not our political system supposed to be inverted? Are our politicians supposed to listen to us, Were are the people of the united states, WE are the boss of the country.

The problem is the people all want something and are not willing to do a little work to get it. If its a phone call or some minor way to get involved to voice their opinion besides just voting then maybe people will get more of the expected outcome they have.

By the way, has anyone looked and noticed that stock prices are going up and up for companies like Ruger, Smith and Wesson etc.. Stocks maybe dieing in one area of your portfolio, but from what I am seeing this is a good area to be buying in at the moment!

I think I have one solution for knocking out the wait to buy weapons andammo. I found a place that you can possibly get your Federal Firearms License and get the clearance needed before you even go buy a weapon.

To get all the information that you need Please follow this link Click Here!

Just up front I am not trying to be political activist here, I am trying to save a right that we so have had since the start of the country. Lets get down on the idiots that are making it hard for the rest of us!

The history of ducking and tradition has long gone back to the forfounders of the country. Ducking was a staple, having to eat duck hunting became a part of life. Not so much a hobby or “Sport” or to this day an industry.

A dream of mine has always to go to the Chesapeake Bay and hunt. Seems that is the oldest place of duck hunting in america. All the pictures I have seen either painted or the storys that I have read in the old days of the Canvesbacks flying and the rain falling so much in a day, seemd to be so daugnting but those days and storys and time I would never let go of.  God I would love to have a past like that. Time to tell my son and traditional places for him to go and drop his first duck..

Those memories are the reason why I put together this site. I have a passion for waterfowl hunting. I have only been hunting for a handful of years. But if it wasn’t for a great friend of mine, Terry that first brought me down to the Minnesota river valley in western MN and put me on some ducks and deer for that metter I would have never gotten this bug. Now I have a son that is 13 years old nd has never shot a gun. But does remember when he was younger his dad going duck hunting and deer hunting that he wants to be a part of the hunting tradition. All the more power to him.

I remember when I was a youngen that we went up to North Eastern Wisconson, Brual to be exact. That my mothers side of the family had bought an old logging office and the acrage around it. We used to go up there in the humid summer days, to a cabin that had no electrical, no running water, we went to town to get drinking water and pumped water to do the dish’s out of the creek running behind the cabin. Wonderful times I remember go there and learning about the forest. Animals, Spending evenings driving around to “shine” deer, just for the site of seeing them. Going to the garbage pits to see Bear. These are the memories I will never forget. I miss going up there, and has been completly changed. The old cabin now has electricity a hot tub and bathing. Its not the old stinky shack that I was used to. The forest is the same, just older and wiser at this point, with more people buying land around there and the four wheelers going all over the place in the summer time.

I can’t wait for this fall to spend time in the field hunting Geese and Ducks with my son, that is I must say holding up hiw end of the bargin to be able to go hunting. The bargin was that he pulls B’s or better in school for the year. Now my part is to live up to taking him hunting. Good thing I am a Cabelas employee, I have meet one of the other outfitters that is a guide. I explained to Jeff what my deal with my son and he offered to take us out field Hunting. Another part of this page is that we are opening a Delta Waterfowl group in Big Lake MN, hoping for a huge focus on youth duck hunting and bring some memories to kids and passing on a tradition to them. Bringing my son into that should also be good for him.

Ok enough for this evening.

Mike