Birdless Weekend

I had a free afternoon on Saturday and decided to take Bandit out to scout several spots in the vicinity of St. Cloud. I checked probably 10 different WMA's, most of which didn't look particularly promising for late-season roosters. The two that looked good were already occupied by groups of hunters so I kept on driving. I had forgotten to bring non-toxic shot, so I had to pass on a couple Waterfowl Producation Areas as well. After 160 miles, I ended up at a WMA near Paynesville that has great habitat but never seems to hold any birds. I heard one rooster cackling as it flushed out of range, and that was it for the day.

I made plans a couple weeks ago to go hunting with a buddy on Sunday, no matter what the weather. We started out just south of Avon, where we walked for about 30 minutes without even seeing tracks. We left and went to another WMA a bit West of there. Given the 30+ mph wind and dropping temps, we knew the birds would be in the thick stuff. There was a frozen lake ringed with cattails that looked promising, so off we went. We ended up flushing 10 hens, but no roosters. 6 of them flushed wild, while Bandit put the other 4 into the air. I've never seen that many hens without even one single rooster!

I don't really like to work cattails, but figured that's where the birds would be weathering the storm. We pushed a couple out of a red willow thicket, but most were holed up tight in the 'tails.

The thick cover and heavy snow tired Bandit out to the point where he just stayed close to me and would only venture out if he got on scent or I cast him into a birdy-looking piece of cover. Considering the fact that my 200lb self was having trouble walking through it, I wasn't expecting much.

I'm hoping the weather warms up a bit so I can get out a few more times before the season ends.