Minnesota Pheasant Opener 2010 Report

Pheasant opener was a hit here is west-central Minnesota.  Most of the corn has been picked, and despite high temps and limited dog power (the warmth completely saps the dog, plus they had already had a very successful duck hunt under their belts with lots of retrieves), we still scratched out three, while dropping a fourth. 

On the second day, I was forced to leave early to head back to Green Bay at a decent hour, and on my way out I decided to hit a small patch to let the Yellow Dog and I stretch our legs before the 6+ hour trek ahead of us.  In 10 short minutes we had our two bird limit, and were back on our way.  Unfortunately, one of the birds I shot landed in a wet area, and while she tried all she could to find it, Deuce was unable to produce the bird.  No worries.  I called Fuzzy on the way out, described the area, and asked if he could don his waders and take his dog through there.  Sure enough, the bird was ultimately brought to hand - nice work boys. 

Speaking of nice work, here's a photo of Fuzzy with our first coyote kill. 

The predator hopped out into a picked corn field and presented a great shot well away from any dogs, and Fuzz put a couple of caps into him, and just like in the cartoons, the coyote pays the tax man.  He was a big one too - compare him to the small dog (60 lbs.) and our guy had to be in the 50+lbs. range.  We've been plagued by coyote for years now, and I'm becoming increasingly worried about the safety of our dogs and the population of our pheasants. 

Here's to having one less mouth to feed up there.  Well done, Fuzz.