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Colorado pheasant opener

Old 11-16-2003, 07:51 AM
  #1  
Nontypical Buck
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Rifle, Colorado
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Default Colorado pheasant opener

Being a transplant from the midwest the thing that I have always missed about living in Colorado is the bird hunting. We have some real hit and miss years for pheasant hunting. Last year was a total bust. Drought, bad hailstorms in the summers will knock down the pheasant poplulation to barely huntable numbers. So what would this year be like? I was pleasently surprised to see more roosters just driving to our hunting spot (3) than I saw in the entire opening weekend of last year. So how was this year you might ask, friggen awesome!

We had a great group of 14 guys, and in the very first field we pushed, we got atleast 100 roosters up. The shooting was fast and often, I went through a box of shells in the first 30 minutes of our hunt, and was limited out before I hit the blockers. What a difference a year makes. We hunted hard all day and ended up with 32 roosters in the end. The best opener I have ever been a part of. What was even better is that we had 3 kids with us (2- 12y/o and a 13 y/o) and they all got birds and had a great safe hunt to inductrinat them into pheasant hunting. As a group we figured that converatively we had atleast 200 roosters up in the day, my guess would be around 250 though. Man, what a blast!

If I ever figure out how to upload a picture small enough for this web site I will post the end result of our hunt.
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Old 11-16-2003, 10:12 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Colorado Springs
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Default RE: Colorado pheasant opener

Sounds like you guys had a great day. We are thinking about going next weekend. Did you guys hunt private or public land? We are going to try some of the Walk-In Access land I think.
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Old 11-16-2003, 11:02 AM
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Nontypical Buck
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Default RE: Colorado pheasant opener

We hunted both private and walk-in. The walk in field was the one that we got 100 roosters up. Walk in up in Yuma where we hunted is great, but you have to have lots of guys. Those fields are huge up there in the program.
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Old 11-16-2003, 05:24 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2003
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Default RE: Colorado pheasant opener

Thanks for the intel, I really appreciate it.
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Old 11-17-2003, 10:10 AM
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Default RE: Colorado pheasant opener

Sounds like a good start Jorgy. I was chasing ducks this weekend again, going for pheasants next. Gonna hit some of the SWA' s up toward Sterling. Any pointers?
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Old 11-17-2003, 01:22 PM
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Nontypical Buck
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Default RE: Colorado pheasant opener

Bigbore, you really have me confused, do you live in Cally, or Colorado?

I' ve hunted a few of the SWA up in that area (closer to Brush though). I' ve always had ok luck. I' ve seen more rabbits than pheasant though on them.

If you don' t have a decent group of guys, then cut little corners where the pheasant can' t run off to cover. If your by yourself, stop often and any pheasant who was thinking of running will freak out and fly. If you see a runner, take off after them if the ground is level enough were you won' t take a header.

You would also be surprised at the number of landowners who will let you hunt thier land if you ask. Up in Yuma, the common thing I' ve heard is " there are pheasants on my land, I didn' t know that, go ahead"
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Old 11-17-2003, 03:44 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2003
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Default RE: Colorado pheasant opener

Jorgy,

Glad to hear you guys had some success. What was the cover like up that way? I am down here in Lamar, and it seems either there is very little cover or so much that you can' t get anything out of there. Were you guys seeing many hens? Reason I ask, is cause I like to see near the same number of hens or more than we do roosters. That way I know that there will be some reproduction. You should put up some pictures of your hunt.

Schemy
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Old 11-17-2003, 04:26 PM
  #8  
Nontypical Buck
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Default RE: Colorado pheasant opener

Schemy,

Most of the cover was pretty good. Nothing too terrible to walk through, but good ground cover. The field that I said we got so many roosters out of was a cane field. Most of it was about knee high, some patches were over your head. The overgrown corn patches we drove weren' t bad either. Some years the thorn patches you have to get through are 5' -6' tall and tear you up, this year it was all about knee level. The red grass we hunt was also about shin level. Hunt the red grass, they love that stuff. The cut corn fields were great. The stalks were dry enough that you could just walk them right over and they didn' t trip you or anything.

I would guess we saw about a 9-1 ratio of roosters to hens. In all of the birds we got, there was only one of them that was more than a year old also. spurs were all short. The youngest kid got the oldest bird, if he would have been " of age" he would have won a case of beer. He is going to have to wait 9 years to collect it.

I would post some picture, but I can' t figure out how to get them under the limit for " k" Right now they are in my digital camera (not really any great photo' s anyway) but they are all over 1 mb. I' m going to have to read my manual at some point.
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Old 11-18-2003, 06:27 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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Default RE: Colorado pheasant opener


Schemy,

Hunted around Holly CO. Sunday and Monday, between two guys we got 2 young roosters but we only ran into 6 birds the whole time we were down there. Talked to a couple of landowners that said there' s virtually no birds in that area at all. I did walk some huge weed fields probably near the kansas line and did notice plenty of roosts but, would have to have 10 guys to get any up. Do you know how it has been around Springfield or Walsh?
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Old 11-19-2003, 05:45 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: parker, colorado
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Default RE: Colorado pheasant opener

Didn' t do as good as Jorgy but, had good success considering the last couple of years. The fields are way too big for 1 guy and 2 dogs. Just hunted the draws and corners of fields. 1 rooster 1st day, limited out 2nd. Going out again next weekend for another round. Had to let the dogs rest, so I decided to go back to work for a couple of days. See you out there, maybe!!!!
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