Vito's last thread inspired me to take the camera on the last rooster hunt of 2010. Although Minnesota's pheasant population was down compared to last year, there were a number of birds to be had early on. Now with 2+ feet of snow on the ground, cattail sloughs are full of snow and winter cover is getting hard to find. It is shaping up to be an extremely rough winter if we get no relief soon. With that.... My hunting buddy. She is almost four and is by the truck door waiting as soon as the gun case makes an appearance. A late December pheasant hunt in Southwest Minnesota just would not be complete without 25 mph winds and blowing and drifting snow. Does it really get any better? The first stop, a Waterfowl Production area. No parking in 2 feet of snow but that also means not many are willing to put in the effort to hunt. Snow with no tracks is always an excellent sign. It isn't a combination routinely encountered, hip waders and snowshoes, but with all the snow we have received, the ice on the sloughs never had a chance to freeze real solid. You can expect you will get wet feet when your leg breaks through the ice sooner or later. Typical winter cover for pheasants. Unfortunately all the snow combined with the blowing and drifting has filled the cattails and forced birds into less desirable woody cover...this will be obvious with my empty game bag at the end of the day. When the sloughs fill with snow, birds become sitting ducks and hawks have a field day. The scene was observed over a dozen times. "Are you serious? We are hunting in this stuff?" When the birds dont cooperate, you have to make due. Unsuccesful today, infact very few birds seen, but still a good time with a good buddy. After I took this I realized it represents the end of December in Minnesota. Hunting seasons are ending and we are preparing for a long, white and seemingly endless winter....
I dropped the yote with 3 inch #2 steel. He was only at about 25 yards when I woke him up and he took off. It hammered him pretty good.
