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Happenings 2012
Happenings Fall/Winter 2011-12
Summer 2011 Winter
2010-11
Fall 2010
Summer 2010
 More Hunt Photos on Pine Shadows Facebook
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Pheasant season 2012! Weather has held pretty well, a couple
of snow squalls. Harvest was over early
which helped define bird locations, although we still have cover we have
yet to hunt.
Here are some photos of our
guests this season.
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Breaking News: A Million Dollar
bird bagged at Daybreak Sunday morning.
Morgan guided the McCoy group
into limits that included a banded rooster that qualified the hunter for
the Million Dollar Bird promotion in Brown County!
Two guests shot this ringed-neck,
Doug McCoy and Glen Danner.
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Saturday evening campfire had a
few curious onlookers on the hill over the Elm River. It was just after
sundown and seven deer appeared on the hillside. A couple of them
ventured to the edge and silhouetted themselves against the sky. They
watched us for about five minutes.
What an enchanted evening!
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Fall 2012 has begun with several groups already
hunting. Weather has been warm, birds are plentiful, but scattered as the
harvest is not yet complete. Soybeans have been picked, corn is next.
Looks to be a great season. Oil your boots and
guns, pack your bags and come on out to Daybreak!
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Food plots are growing in nicely. Grains look good, rains continue to
come timely. Soybeans are nearly waist high, with whitetails walking
throughout. And very importantly,
we are seeing young
birds throughout the farm.
Our building projects are progressing. Here’s a
look at the new back porch on the Post. This will be a great place to
watch the campfire, play bean bag, and tell tall tales while holding a
Red Solo Cup.
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Last
week at Daybreak we over-seeded some of the food plots, controlled some noxious
weeds, and mowed the new CRP planting with the Bobcat. It’s always encouraging to see the
broods of young throughout the farm. The Elm is down to a more normal
summer level. If this holds we will have much increased hunting access to
the river bottoms and new haunts to explore with our pheasant hunters.
We
continue the remodeling projects in the houses, barn, and Post. Grant
will soon begin building the deck between the Post and the campfire.
RESERVATIONS
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All
of the grain crops have been planted with beans predominately in the
north half of the farm and both corn and beans in the southern half. We have been seeding also.
We put
in a small CRP area a couple weeks ago. Now in the first week of June we
are planting food plots. We will
have about twenty areas throughout the farm when completed. In
addition to providing both food and cover for the birds in the winter,
these areas attract insects during the growing season – another important
nutrient.
RESERVATIONS
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The
cover is greening up quickly. Grasses seems to have had an early growth
spurt, providing acres and acres of great nesting cover.
The
many blossoms are attracting insects, important nutrition for the
developing chicks. We have seen many birds and also clutches of chicks,
some already flying.
RESERVATIONS
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Spring
is arriving rapidly on the prairie. We have had a several weeks of visits
from the many migrating snow geese. These thousands were in section 13,
on the southern edge of Daybreak last Tuesday evening.
A large number of nesting pairs of Canada
geese are present throughout the farm. Water levels are down, but every
pond has ducks. The pheasants had an easy winter; we are especially
encouraged seeing flocks of hens.
RESERVATIONS
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Morgan
has utilized the Daybreak fields a number of times this late winter for
dog training. He brings about fifteen dogs out to prepare them for the
spring field trial season during which he will compete in 8 to 10 trials
throughout the Midwest. Helping this time were Ross C., Mark R., Lynn C.,
Steve K., Mark and Morgan.
RESERVATIONS
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We brought in the New Year at
Daybreak. The weather was nice for several hours of pheasant hunting with
our English springer spaniel gun dogs. Front Row, l to r, Merlin, Zia,
T.A., Middle Row, Pelli, Joannie, Sophie, Back
Row, Hadley the Buttermaker.
The winter was quite mild
throughout. Not much snow to restrict movement of the game, not much cold
to endure.
RESERVATIONS
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In
mid-November we hosted Eric Mathiowetz and his
brother Todd Dahna of Mountain Lake, MN. Eric
was the winner of the Million Dollar Bird Hunt promoted by Ron Schara’s Productions (RSP), the Aberdeen CVB and Pine
Shadows Daybreak.
Eric
became aware of the contest through Pine Shadows Facebook. Besides the Pine Shadows
huntsmen and springers Eric and his brother were hunting with Minnesota
Bound personality Bill Sherck and his
associates. RSP is filming the entire weekend for stories to be presented
on Minnesota Bound, Due North, and Pheasants Forever
Television over the next year and a half.
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Great group of friends with
the Minnesota Bound (RSP) group for the Sunday hunt at Daybreak: Morgan,
Jake Gibb, (RSP), Casey Weismantel, (Aberdeen
CVB), Larry Brenner, (RSP), Aaron
Achtenberg, (RSP), Bill Sherck, (RSP), Eric Mathiowetz,
(contest winner), and his brother Todd Dahna.
RESERVATIONS
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Good friends, two pair of
father/sons, a group of eager hunting dogs, a batch of birds – priceless.
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December hunts – frozen
ponds, grouped birds, clear weather - a delight for hunters.
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September: Early season goose
hunt brought some excitement. Hunter Barnett, one of the farm staff,
hosted his brothers and his girlfriend for a great hunt.
Crops are still in so birds
have a lot of hiding places. We have flushed a few coveys of young
pheasants.
RESERVATIONS
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September: One afternoon we were looking out the east door of
the barn watching a nyde of four roosters and six
hens scratching in the wheat stubble. A pair of roosters comes running
across the field to the group.
They
begin to display their wares and pick a fight with each other. The show lasted
about five minutes and they chased each other into the woods. The
remaining pheasants continued to scratch for another thirty minutes.
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October: Our first groups on the first week of the
month. Hunters came from Oregon, Arizona, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Weather
is very warm, lots of south wind. We are finding birds in the grass
adjacent to the wheat stubble.
RESERVATIONS
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This group of avid sportsmen from Milwaukee have hunted with us for several
seasons. This year they brought five of their own springers along for the
hunt.
Besides chasing pheasants some from this party had duck licenses
also. Each day we lured an interesting variety including wigeon, gadwall,
teal, mallard and pintail over the blocks for nice shoots.
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appreciate these improvements also. reallydlo\ng grass
fields and the CRP areasparticipated in the the big hillside food plot t
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For some of our hunters, pheasant camp is extra
special as it brings together old friends for their annual visit - the
conversations, the campfire, the party, the hunting, the memories
made.
RESERVATIONS
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As
the corn harvest progresses we see more game, pheasants and deer, as they
no longer have those many acres in which to hide and eat during the day.
RESERVATIONS
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Morgan examines a banded
rooster shot by one of our guests. The Aberdeen Convention and Visitor’s
Bureau has a hunting season promotion “The Million Dollar Bird”. They
released a hundred birds throughout Brown County, each worth a hundred
dollars if bagged and turned in. In addition, the lucky hunter is entered
into a drawing which may have a reward of a million dollars. Good Luck
Don!
RESERVATIONS
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November: The South Dakota Wheat Growers
and their guests have been enjoying several days of fine weather and
great hunting. This week we have introduced Dakota Pheasant Hunting to
folks from Massachusetts, Colorado, Texas, Connecticut, Minnesota,
Arizona and Missouri.
RESERVATIONS
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RESERVATIONS
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Fall Pheasant Hunting, the way it ought to be.
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Call Mark 218.821.1295
218.829.4736
Ó Daybreak 2012
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