Every pheasant hunter can help create more habitat by purchasing a Federal Duck Stamp each year.

If you were listening to FAN Outdoors on Saturday morning at 7:45 AM, then you heard "The Captain" Billy Hildebrand share his hot pheasant hunting tip from three weeks of pre-season scouting: "The birds have been in the brush."

The Captain, his two sons, friend Steve and I departed our trucks a little more than an hour after that statement was made on the radio across a five-state listening area. We were resolved to test the theory.

Within minutes, The Captain's scouting recon proved valid as he opened the 2010 season with a single blast from his new Beretta over/under as a rooster tried to escape on the backside of a willow thicket. A second rooster was added to The Captain's game vest a matter of minutes later from another patch of short willows. The Captain's youngest son, Chad, dropped the group's third bird over my shorthair's point beside a small thicket along a cattail slough.

In total, our group of hunters walked three federally owned Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs) on Saturday's Minnesota pheasant opener. With a few misses, a tailgate lunch, and a grassy nap; it took most of the day, but we bagged our 10-bird limit behind some excellent dog power from Steve and Billy's brace of golden retrievers and my shorthair. Of our ten roosters, seven originated from brush of some form. Cattail edges produced the other three birds in our bag.

Other Observations from the Field

  • There were a lot of hunters in west central Minnesota on Saturday morning. The state and federally owned public lands were being put to good use.
  • WPAs again proved their value to pheasants. Please support the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's acquisition of these lands through the purchase of the Federal Duck Stamp. Duck Stamp dollars are used to purchase lands that become WPAs, creating nesting habitat for ducks and fantastic habitat for pheasants to boot.
  • The juvenile birds we flushed displayed fuller plumage and seemed to be further along than most openers in my recent memory. That may indicate this year's early spring led to an early hatch. That's by no means a scientific analysis, just this PR guy's hunch.
  • The beans are all out in west central Minnesota and the corn is coming out quick. If the weather stays dry, next weekend could be a dandy one for a pheasant hunt.
  • We only hunted a few hours on Sunday, but again proved the brush theory consistent on a fourth WPA with three roosters in the bag and four others flushed that should have joined them. I also bagged a woodcock from the willows on Sunday morning as well.

The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever's Vice President of Marketing.