Anderson: Dogs revel in Minnesota pheasant opener, finding birds, while bringing their humans along

From small Munsterlanders to English setters and Labrador retrievers, a veritable kennel’s worth of dogs scampered across southern Minnesota Saturday, the opening day of the state’s pheasant season.

Proud and always hopeful that a bird or two might be put to wing by the canines, the animals’ human partners followed in tow.

Odessa, for example, a 17-month-old wirehaired pointing griffon, was among the canines that hoovered Minnesota’s extremely dry grasslands early Saturday, searching for the scent of a rooster. Partnering with the young dog was Mark Norquist of the Twin Cities.

“We hunted not too far from the Twin Cities, near Hutchinson, and there were a lot of hunters around,” Norquist said. “I hunted alone with Odessa. She found a hen first, but wasn’t really staunch on point on that bird. Later, we flushed six birds, including two roosters, and she held her point well that time. I shot and missed. But I was happy for Odessa.”

Farther west, in Stevens County, Cricket, a small Munsterlander, was trailed through a federal Waterfowl Production Area by John Luetmer, Cricket’s partner, and Dave Jungst.

On a typical opener, Ellie, Jungst’s English setter, would have joined the fun, but she’s on the mend after being treated for a seed she inhaled.

“We put up 20 to 24 birds Saturday morning, including about eight roosters,’’ Jungst said. “We got three. So it was pretty good day.”

In Lyon County, the seat of which is Marshall, Kaiya, a German wirehaired pointer, led a trio of dogs, including another wirehair and a French Brittany, through a plot of public land, with Keng Yang of Minneapolis and a couple of pals in tow.

“There were a lot of hunters out,’’ said Yang, who with his friends had felled a pair of roosters by noon Saturday. “But we found quite a few birds. Some of the pheasants we saw were mature, but there were smaller ones, too, indicating a late hatch.”

Because some southern Minnesota counties haven’t seen measurable rain since mid-August, farmers are taking advantage of the dry conditions and are harvesting their crops early. Almost all of the state’s soybeans have been harvested, and corn is following quickly.

In Lincoln County on Saturday, the advanced harvests benefited a diverse sporting-dog pack that included a Weimaraner, a couple of vizslas, a trio of English pointers and a Labrador retriever.

“There were six of us in our group and we saw about 36 birds Saturday morning,’’ said Jared Harbort of St. Paul. “We passed up the first three roosters we flushed because they were so young, indicated that the second attempt at nesting in this part of the state must have been successful.’’

Two cock birds as well as a woodcock that rose ahead of Harbort’s wirehaired vizsla, Merlin, ended up in his game vest.

Deluges that washed across southern Minnesota in June — the pheasant’s peak hatching time — were feared to have wiped out, or seriously set back, the year’s ringneck reproduction. But pheasant hens that lose their eggs before hatching often will renest, and even renest again, in attempts to produce a brood of young.

That’s apparently what happened this summer, because sightings of roosters that were barely identifiable due to their immature plumage were widespread on the season’s first day.

That was the case Saturday in Brown County, when two Labradors — one an 11-year-old yellow named Odin and the other a 4-year-old chocolate dubbed Apollo — led Christopher Davis of Rochester and seven other hunters onto private land.

“Of the eight roosters we saw Saturday morning,” Davis said, “some were fully plumed. But others definitely came from a late hatch.”

Davis said he and his bunch heard considerable shooting Saturday morning, indicating, possibly, that many of the state’s approximately 75,000 pheasant seekers were afield on the opener.

“We ended up shooting eight roosters, but they all came Saturday afternoon, and they were all mature birds,” Davis said.

A French Brittany named Lark, meanwhile, hunted in Lac qui Parle County on Saturday morning, hoping to find a bird or two for his companion, Tom Carpenter of the Twin Cities.

Bordering South Dakota, Lac qui Parle County traditionally is one of Minnesota’s best pheasant producers. Confirming that, Lark and Carpenter had seen quite a few birds in that part of the state while scouting. But Saturday morning they came across relatively few.

“We hunted a Waterfowl Production Area and moved eight birds. Lark had three points, but they were all hens,’’ he said.

Finally, one of two semi-famous German shorthairs hunted with Julia Schrenkler Saturday morning while she served as a guide at the Governor’s Pheasant Opener, headquartered in Sleepy Eye in Brown County.

Schrenkler’s shorthairs are noteworthy because they appear on the cover of the latest Department of Natural Resources hunting regulations booklet.

Nixie, the younger of the photogenic brace mates, showed up for work Saturday, while Wren, the older, enjoyed a well deserved rest.

Wren holds a special place in Julia’s heart because the dog introduced her to hunting.

“I didn’t hunt at the time I got her, but after I found out she had such good hunting instincts, I felt obligated to take her into the field,’’ she said.

That was in 2013.

In the years since, Schrenkler has honed her field skills to a fine edge, noted by her appointment to the Governor’s Pheasant Opener guide staff.

In her group at the celebrity gathering were Sen. Judy Seeberger, DFL-Afton, and Emily Schumacher, Miss Minnesota, and Schumacher’s mother, Lori.

Pheasant hunting continues in Minnesota through Jan. 1.