Forecast
Options | Hey John, Just wanted to drop a note and give our input on upland bird forecasts. We do read the various forecasts and have learned to believe in the spring rainfall predicting the bird population in the fall. However, the crop rotation on club land and the weather probably affects our results as much as anything.
When we joined MAHA, we had just spent the prior hunting season trying to travel and hunt public land and/or attempting to find land owners to ask permission to hunt. We found it to be a very frustrating experience. Now, we travel 15 hours to hunt 1-2 times a year, but have really enjoyed it. However, it does not allow much of an opportunity to scout ahead of time or to pick and choose the days we are going to hunt. We pick the dates long in advance and hunt in whatever weather that comes our way. Then, we adjust where we hunt based on the crop and weather conditions we encounter when we get there. Since there are normally only two of us, we tend to stick with the edges around crop. We enjoy watching the dogs work and actually hunt CRP sparingly. Ever since joining the club, we have taken notes on the crops planted, the birds flushed, and overall opinion of the quality of the cover of each section that we hunt. This doesn’t guarantee we will find birds the next season, but it does save us some valuable driving time. Since we have notes on the land, a quick drive by to see what crop is planted helps us make a quick decision to hunt it. Year before last, all of the forecasts were up and we went out expecting a big year. The first day, we headed out and were greeted with field after field of winter wheat. Our favorite crop to hunt near is milo followed by beans and corn. But, if anybody has a tip about hunting winter wheat, we are all ears. That year, we shifted focus and hunted some thicker cover and found more pheasant than quail as would probably be expected.
We typically go the first week of the season and hope for decent weather. Anybody that went that week last year to the area we go will probably agree that the weather was terrible and the road conditions worse. This really restricted the sections we could safely reach. Again, having good notes helps out! When it gets cold or windy, we generally head for thicker cover. We knew of such a spot that ended up having milo in and around the thicker cover. We managed 10 (yes 10 including the few dups) covey rises and several pheasants while hunting 3 adjacent large sections of club land without ever having to move our vehicle. We returned to the hotel with limits of quail and pheasant while everybody else had little to no success and some had even called it off early out of frustration. This was the day after we suffered hunting in snow, ice and 45mph winds. In short, we hunt regardless of the weather or crop rotation adversity. We just shift slightly based on the conditions. When it is warm, we stick with the edges along the crop fields and head for the thicker cover when it turns cold and/or windy. The amount of rainfall in the spring has been linked to the bird population in the fall. It is probably also a good indicator of the quality of the crop. Besides that, our only advice would be to stay flexible and have good notes. West Virginia Hunting Partners Karen and John Have a look at Karen and John's past hunting trips.
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