Hunters could find it rough going during early pheasant opener

Minnesota's 100,000 or so pheasant hunters could find tough going Saturday for the season opener.

A cool summer has left the state's corn harvest behind schedule, and little if any harvest will likely occur by Saturday. Standing corn means plenty of places for roosters to hide from hunters, greatly reducing the birds' vulnerability.

"We're going to have a slow start," predicted Kurt Haroldson, Department of Natural Resources pheasant biologist. "I see a lot of corn fields that are still green."

It doesn't help that this is an early opener; Oct. 10 is the earliest the season can open. By law, the season begins on the Saturday nearest Oct. 13. It hasn't opened this early since 1998. The season length -- 86 days -- remains the same as last year.

Of course, for many hunters, the pheasant opener is a tradition they wouldn't miss. With bird numbers down, according to the DNR's August roadside survey, Haroldson is projecting that hunters will kill about 420,000 ringnecks, down from 522,000 harvested last fall.

Minnesota deer hunters are being notified if they were drawn for an antlerless deer tag. The DNR began sending out cards last week to successful lottery winners. More than 100,000 people applied for the permits. Leftover permits will be made available Oct. 12 to unsuccessful applicants. See the DNR's website, www.dnr.state.mn.us.

Heavy leaf cover continued to hamper Minnesota ruffed grouse hunters, but most were finding birds and high winds in the north likely were helping to take down some foliage. Grouse hunters in the Baudette area are reporting good numbers of birds, but dense cover is making hunting difficult. Ditto for hunters in the Cook and Hibbing areas. In the Ely area, "hunting has been slow, but the few people willing to walk were taking some birds," reported officer John Velsvaag.

Illegally baiting deer has been a persistent problem in recent years, and DNR conservation officers continue to encounter baiting by some archery hunters. Cary Shoutz found a bow hunter in the Crosslake area hunting over a corn pile who told him he figured he would just get a warning if caught. Wrong. He was cited and faces up to a $375 fine. And a hunter near Willow River was cited and had his bow and deer seized for shooting over bait and failing to validate his tag.

• Between 40 and 50 yellowthroat warblers were found dead in Montevideo last week after they flew into a store window there, apparently confused by lights and heavy fog.

• Fishing has been good on the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota. Near Winona, some anglers were catching limits of panfish, though walleye action was slow. And near LaCrescent, bluegills, crappies and sauger were biting.

• Angling has ranged from fair to excellent in the Blackduck area, with grouse hunting better than expected for this time of year, reports conservation officer Keith Backer.

Doug Smith • dsmith@startribune.com