I never know until I am out there. I hunt public land, am blessed to have a lot of access all over the state, but, some of it is off limits until hunting season. I don't typically hunt the openers of either season, preferring to let a month or so go by.
When the corn is still standing, it is mostly a waste of time to hunt pheasants, and if you have more than about 50% of the leaves up on the trees, the same is pretty much true with grouse. Hearing grouse flush without seeing them isn't my idea of fun. Pheasant hunting, later in the season, without a dog, is mostly hiking, and has been that way my whole life.
Minnesota was hit very hard with heavy, flooding spring rains two years ago, pretty much from the Iowa border to the Canadian border. Just north of the metro area of Mpls/St. Paul, I got 13 inches of rain on one night, 6 inches on another, and that storm ran the entire state, south to north. I expect most of five years will pass before that event is not a factor in the bird numbers. I only hunt pheasants and grouse, but, I think I can legally shoot 5 Canada geese every damn day during the season, they, in addition to deer and turkeys, are in plentiful, pestilent supply, even in areas outside their historic range, and, are doing well in the metro area. I have seen turkeys and deer on the edge of downtown Mpls. Geese, are everywhere, including downtown. I can't even bring myself to shoot Canadas anymore, so many of them just eat off golf courses, and taste like whatever fertilizer or bug control chemicals are being applied when they are there. The same thing happens with morel mushrooms, by the way, if you are interested.
I'll let you know. Pockets of birds are your friend in times like these. I know very few hunters who will put in the effort to find birds these days.
Best,
Ted
