for quality pheasant hunting you need to get to far eastern CO unless you hunt at the places where they plant the birds....no thanks.
holyoke is the place to go in CO for pheasant IMO. but it gets POUNDED for the first couple weeks, and every weekend is typically covered as well with hunters.
Private land can be found, you have to meet the right people, put in the time and knock on a lot of doors. land ownership maps are what you want to find to go this.
has anyone ever done the Burlington Rotary Club Hunt that give you access to most of the private land around Burlington?
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I have been to Burlington a few times, private land, including land adjacent to the Rotary Club. In my opinion Burlington is not very good. The group I go with has gone out a couple of other times out there and without a dog, i don't think they have ever bagged more than 4-6 birds a day for the WHOLE group. So maybe one bird a person per day at the best.
They say Goodland Kansas much better.
I have come to the conclusion that you cannot hunt birds without a dog, and expect any success. Much like a horse for Elk is crucial.
I should find out today for certain if we're going to SD next Friday. Private land, friend of a friend. Sadly, I'm filling in for another friend that passed away this year. 12 hour drive. Shoot, I don't even have a set of gators or field pants, off to Bass Pro I guess. He told me we'll easily see 100+ birds per day.
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My son just went through hunter safety a week or so ago so we are headed out soon. Next generation...![]()
SD didn't happen.
Friend joined RMR so well be heading out there for a canned hunt soon.
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Credit TFOGGER : Liberals only want things to be "fair and just" if it benefits them.
Credit Zundfolge: The left only supports two "rights"; Buggery and Infanticide.
Credit roberth: List of things Government does best; 1. Steal your money 2. Steal your time 3. Waste the money they stole from you. 4. Waste your time making you ask permission for things you have a natural right to own. "Anyone that thinks the communists won't turn off your power for being on COAR15 is a fucking moron."
Went to Eastern Colorado this Saturday to do some pheasant hunting. We were out by Joes and Idalia. This is going to be a bad year for pheasant, and next year will probably be worse. The farmers out east bailed most of the CRP and walk in areas or let the cattle graze them. There isn't nearly as much cover for the birds and the hatch was not very good this year because of the dry conditions. Two years ago we saw hundreds of birds on opening day. This year we saw less than a hundred. Because the cover is so poor this year if we have a hard winter it is going to kill off a lot of the birds. My guess is that it will be several years before they can recover to great numbers again.
So far everything I have read and people I have talked to about pheasant populations in KS, NE and CO the populations aren't doing well due to (as someone said already) CRP was hayed and grazed due to the drought. The Feds made an emergency use of all the CRP to help save the cattle industry. I hunt KS in the southwest corner and it hasn't been good for a couple of years now. I have a GSP which helps, but use to hunt without a dog and would limit out just walking a lot. No more.
For CO look up the Golden Triangle in the northeast for the best pheasant in the state. It has pretty much collapsed this year.
Suggestions would be to find water (example: along the Platte, Republican or Arkansas) and find Walk-In access or SWA to hunt. Pheasants need water daily, food (corn, sunflowers, milo, wheat, etc) and heavy cover to roost in and in bad weather.
The CO DOW website has a very good video of pheasant hunting.
Last edited by ridgewalker; 11-13-2012 at 18:38.