In the fall of 2022, when the On Wisconsin Outdoors crew last hunted Marshall, Minnesota targeting wild pheasants, the story concluded, “…we’ll be back.” Birds were more than plentiful and close (six hours) to our Wisconsin homes, competition light, and we had hit good December weather. As novices to the area, we had been helped with everything we needed to know by the people at VisitMarshall who know how to roll out the red carpet. Three years later, in October of 2025, we will be back, no arm twisting required.
In addition to showing us the ropes related to where to hunt public land, answer questions specific to the essentials like lodging and licensing costs necessary for the traveling hunter, Executive Director Cassi Weiss of VisitMarshall had also introduced us to avid local bird hunter Ron Protok. Call it cheating.
In 2022, our baptism to Marshall bird hunting had taken place in late season. The roosters had already been hunted for two months, and many of the birds had been bailing out early as we approached with the dogs through long-harvested crops and vast cattail marshes. We still found ample opportunities to pull the trigger on roosters holding tight, and place birds in the bag. We found other reasons to enjoy this trip, like simply standing at twilight to watch literally hundreds of birds pour back into those roosting marshes from the feeding fields.
Prorok has hunted the area 30 miles from the Dakota border in southwest Minnesota for almost 20 years and was willing to share his knowledge of public land that routinely gives up birds. Good pheasant habitat, he said, requires an entire mix in different areas including nesting cover, chick rearing cover, fall cover and good winter cover. Marshall, he said, has that mix in a good ratio with cattails significantly bolstering the winter survival rate. To serve as true guinea pigs for Wisconsin hunters to follow, we did not hunt private land in Minnesota.
“There are hundreds of public areas within an hour of Marshall,” Prorok said. “They range from 10 acres to thousands of acres. Our regional Department of Natural Resources (MN-DNR) team does a great job. They utilize prescribed fire, rotation grazing, weed control and other methods to promote healthy environment. There are a lot of WMAs (Wildlife Management Areas) that need to be managed and hunters will find them in various states of management so some may be better than others.”
Protok said the pheasants in the Marshall region are all “produced on the landscape,” meaning wild birds. Both Lyon County Pheasants Forever and the DNR, he said, know the key is habitat and releasing pen raised birds is a waste of resources.
Regarding coming earlier in the season, or later like we did in 2022, Prorok laid out the pros and cons. “Earlier you are going to see more birds and the conditions are going to be nicer,” he said. Later the birds are more concentrated. There are fewer hunters, but you’re going to have to work for them. Early you are going to see more hunters, but that’s the nice thing about having a lot of areas to hunt. If you see hunters you move to the next public spot. Hunting pressure really slows down after Thanksgiving.”
