2024 Plans & Gear Upgrades

[dkell]

It's getting to that time of year where birds begin to take over my brain as I hold on to hopper fishing for trout. This year Minnesota has had an extremely wet summer and it'll be interesting to see how the bird numbers look after two years of phenomenal grouse numbers during borderline drought conditions. After I get back from elk in late September, it'll be woodcock and grouse time.

What are your plans for bird hunting this year? Any trips?

I think this year I won't be adding any new gear as I have settled on what I feel is a near-perfect setup for how I like to hunt the grouse and woodcock woods.

What are you adding/or are you not upgrading this year?

Best of luck as we prepare and anticipate the coming season.

 

[Seubs070]

Have an end of September tip to ND planned for sharptails and huns. Will be the 4th year going out there and am excited to get back to the prairies.

After that I'll be back in Wisconsin. I purchased some property in Northern Wisconsin this spring and have a camper to put on it. I'll finally have a base camp to hunt out of. Super excited for that.

 

[dkell]

That's awesome! Having a basecamp in the area you want to out of is amazing and definitely a game changer!

 

[UpTop]

Maybe going to add a final rise or a shotgun, but the real goal is to work less and hunt more!

 

[loganwayne]

I've got a 10 day trip planned to northern Wisconsin. It's going to be "interesting" my wife will be 6 months pregnant so not sure how much hunting we are going to get done.

 

[Wheels]

Iowa in November and South Dakota in January for pheasants. Will spend the rest of the fall in a duck blind in Missouri.

 

[2Stamp]

Continue to get my young dog on as many birds as possible. That's about it.

I'm torn this September because I mostly archery hunt, but I want to get him on more grouse and huns.

 

[chemist]

Washington state every weekend from October 5th through January. Probably will take a week off work as well to target chukar which I have not hunted successfully yet.

Bought a final rise vest and too many shotguns last year so no new gear for me aside from replacing dog boots and other sundries.

 

[loganwayne]

The dang este auctions have gotten the best of me this year. I've bought two shotguns. (I'm a sucker for a good deal) and bought a pyke vest. Need to find a garmin 550 pro plus before season

 

[huntineveryday]

Too soon to tell. Once bird counts come out and dependent on how water conditions look for duck hunting spots will give me a better idea of what fall will look like. I have sime more work to get done, but pup should be ready for whatever the conditions allow for this season. Grouse, pheasants, doves, pheasants, quail, ducks...lots of possibilities out there.

I drew an antelope tag for the first time though, so I plan on a few more days chasing grouse in the sandhills with the dog while trying to find some new areas that are holding some speed goats.

 

[KurtR]

More speck decoys and maybe a different speck call.

 

[Macintosh]

Well, I’ve lost my dog this spring, Mac was 14 and really went downhill the last 2 seasons. This’ll be the first time Im dogless in almost 30 years. I added a little duck hunting stuff just to get my feet wet, as Ive always been much more of a bird hunter than a waterfowler. But the only real meaningful aquisition Im looking forward to will be a puppy. Maybe spring 25.

 

[SodakJay]

I plan on my yearly return to South Dakota for opening weekend. I really want to go to the Nebraska Sandhills again for sharptails/prairie chickens.

Gear wise I have my eyes on a super black eagle twenty gauge. Otherwise I might upgrade my vest. I was looking at Final Rise or Pyke, but then today I got a flyer from Kuiu that included a picture of an upland vest so I’ll wait and see what that looks like before I commit.

 

[dkell]

For what it is worth, I have a Final Rise and it's the best vest I have ever personally used. I will hunt with it until it no longer functions which by its build quality will be a loooong time.

I have driven through the Sandhills a few times and it has always intrigued me. I've read a few articles and accounts of hunting birds in there and seems like a cool spot.

 

[160andup]

No big game tags out west this year which will save me a lot of vacation time to chase birds. Added another pup this spring and she's 3 months old right now. Will try and expose her to as many birds as possible (grouse/woodcock here). Then might load up the dogs and head out to SD for a mid season hunt in early December to chase some roosters. Went early November last year and had a blast.

 

[Irish Miner]

All geared up here. Idaho and Utah birds is the plan here. This extreme heat wave has been rough on the pup so we are both looking forward to fall!

 

[dkell]

BTW, I found this a few days ago and I am going to test it this year as a super small bird knife.

 

[tpicou]

Might pick up the garmin lte dog tracker just as a backup for my alpha 200i. Seems like it wouldn't hurt and tbh I don't use the gps collar that often so having it on his normal collar is probably a good idea. Also plan on hunting woodcock every weekend of the season and am going on a quail trip to NM.

 

[dster3]

I'll be doing some more duck hunting this year. My plan is to head up further north out of the usual central valley in CA that I hunt. Longer drives, but better bird populations. I have a few points on OnX that I'd like to check out. Cross referencing with some other info, I think I can find some public land ducks in the early season in some unusual places.

I've added a GFC superlite as I got tired of pulling all my gear out of the truck to crash in the bed for the night. Going to add an awning for the truck as well for the mid afternoon sun.

Upsizing my sled this year to the mini magnum. Duck, goose, spinners and a blind - I ended up dumping my overloaded sled in the marsh after a hunt. All my gear froze up, not a great time.

 

[Seubs070]

Might pick up the garmin lte dog tracker just as a backup for my alpha 200i. Seems like it wouldn't hurt and tbh I don't use the gps collar that often so having it on his normal collar is probably a good idea. Also plan on hunting woodcock every weekend of the season and am going on a quail trip to NM.

Let us know how that works. I can't see it being fast enough to use bird hunting. Seems more like a hound thing to me. Might work nice around the house to keep track of the dog and not have the huge antenna knocking into things though.