# Late Season Hunting



## mnswd (Oct 13, 2005)

I have been reading the different strings here and the common theme seems to be that the birds move to the heave cover ( i.e cattails and such) with the coming of the snow. I am still learning - what are some tatics for late season hunting.


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

Presuming you have a dog, hunt frozen cattail sloughs near food sources. The birds will use deer trails in the cattails to move around in the sloughs. Work the deer trails, watching for fresh bird tracks on the trails & open areas. Let your dog use it's nose. Follow your dog close enough to keep a visual within good shooting range. When it gets birdy, close in and stand by for some fast action.

Hard to beat a cover busting flushing retriever like a lab for the late season...


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## Goon (Apr 3, 2005)

NDTerminator said:


> Let your dog use it's nose. Follow your dog close enough to keep a visual within good shooting range. When it gets birdy, close in and stand by for some fast action.
> 
> Hard to beat a cover busting flushing retriever like a lab for the late season...


Fun to watch when this happens and get on your dogs rear and be ready to shoot the birds are going to be in the air.


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

If it is a sunny day, I think you might be surprised at the number of birds you will find along the edge of the cattails. Check out any tufts of grass that are a little taller or thicker than the grass that is layed down by the snow and ice. Or check out the side of the hill on the sunny side particularly with a north wind. I find that late season roosters like to take an afternoon nap in places such as these. What a beautifull sight when they bust out of the snow at your feet!


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

DJ, you forgot to add..."Be very, very quiet in the field"! Try not to talk at all! Pheasants number one sense is hearing! Especially, late season roosters...If you're slammin car doors, yelling at your dog, etc...You will not be very successful this time of year!


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

This reminds me of a story I read in an outdoor magazine about a hunter who drove by a rooster who was hanging out in a fence row. The hunter tried to get him a couple of times but the wise bird would just run down the fence row and escape out the other end. Well the hunter finally decided to get out and slam the doors and make a lot of noise then got in his vehicle drove to the other end of the section line and started walking the fence row from the other direction. And yes he outfoxed the "cock!"[/i]


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

There is a new storm forecast with good snowfall starting tonight. These last warm days exposed a lot of food and the birds really spread out again. Drifts will bunch them up and send them into the cattails. When the CRP fills up they won't be running in the grass. The deer are opening up the sloughs for easier travel now, finally. If you can work the wind for your dog and are right handed, move around the slough counter clockwise. The birds will almost always fly toward heavier cover when flushed so you can predict what direction they will fly, and thus give yourself a left swinging shot.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

I shoot right handed Dick, but my swing is much better going to my right! I'm left handed in Softball, hockey, golf, etc...Does that mean the odds are against me?


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

yep.


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

Works most of the time except for the two roosters at my feet last weekend in the cattails...the ones I missed clean.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

That explains my crappy shooting!


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## tumblebuck (Feb 17, 2004)

hmmm....work counterclockwise.....never thought of that.

Great tip, Dick! Thanks!


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## Coach529 (Dec 22, 2004)

> ....work counterclockwise.....


interesting, I will try it out on friday!! :beer:


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

counter clockwise keeps the cattail fuzz out of your eyes, has to do with the rotation of the earth but only works in the Northern Hemisphere.


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

Ah, yes the Coriolus Affect. I forgot about that excuse for my poor shooting although I did hit 14 in a row last year but only have got up to eleven this year. If you shoot better working one way maybe you should go the other way and work on your weakness. Most of the direction I work is dictated by the wind direction, type of cover and on what side I find the the nearest food source and ranked in that order.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Oh yea of little faith.... I know I'm wearing this out. The slough is round or oval and of course you want the wind in your face for the dog when you walk the best side, which is closest to the feed source. Unlike grouse, pheasants want to go to the thickest escape cover, so you can usually detrime the direction of flight in advance. They prefer to run but the dog will force them into the air, point-flush, no differance. If the wind is in your favor then you want to work counter clockwise for a right handed shooter because your best shots are from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock position, the easiset to hit and hardest to kill is 12 o'clock. If you were in a clockwise pattern you have to move the gun from 9 o'clock to 2 o'clock before you are swinging on the bird. Only takes a second? All that time he is putting distance between you. If the rooster flushed at marginal distance in the first place he just got a huss from the shooter.

It's just a tip like being quiet or wearing the right clothes that don't turn you into a sweatball, or getting up behind your pup when he goes birdy, or aging a track, or using shot big enough to break bone on late season roosters...the king of game birds.


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## Scraper (Apr 1, 2002)

Well Dick,

I'm a strategist too. I like the tip.


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