By Tom Hintgen

Otter Tail County Correspondent

The early 1960s are remembered by many baby boomers as the heydays of pheasant hunting in Otter Tail, Grant and Wilkin counties. 

In the early 1960s, when school days ended, many youths would head home, grab their shotguns, and head into the fields for some great pheasant hunting. Many kids had good luck hunting pheasants at stubble fields near the Otter Tail River. A stubble field, by definition, is a field covered in stubble that consists of short stalks of corn that remain in the soil after harvest. 

The pheasant, one of Minnesota’s favorite upland game birds, is known as being wily and elusive. “It has a well-honed reputation for humbling shotgun-toting hunters by fleeing on foot or exploding into the air,” said a DNR representative.

Many hunters learned early on that pheasant hunting is good exercise and joy at the same time in the great outdoors, especially on a warm and sunny afternoon each autumn. The reward is some great eating pheasants.

The secret to a delicious meal, most pheasant hunters have found, is to cook a pheasant on low heat. Some people add a can of mushroom soup during the cooking process along with diced onions and diced carrots.

Side benefits of pheasant hunting, late in the afternoon, are seeing some beautiful sunsets, something older baby boomers remember from those glorious days 60 years ago in Otter Tail, Grant and Wilkin counties. 

Times change and pheasant hunting is not the same in this area compared to the 1960s. Wonderful memories live on, and those days of pheasant hunting as a teenager were grand days, indeed.

Today, pheasant hunting remains as autumn family rituals in many areas of Minnesota. Traditions are passed from one generation to the next.

The Sharp farm near Everdell, between Foxhome and Breckenridge, is a chapter in a book, “Farmsteads and Old Neighborhoods,” available for purchase at Lundeens and the county museum in Fergus Falls.

“I remember pheasant and duck hunting seasons when men and boys came to hunt on the farm and I was able to assist Grandma Sharp in preparing their evening meal after hunting,” said Sherry Mjelde Landrud. “Bessie often made her signature dinner for the hunters, roast pheasants in cream sauce (with all the fixings), and it was a favorite of all who gathered.”

She added that Grandma Sharp always had at least two kinds of homemade pies, served in hearty portions with her homemade ice cream for their dessert. Proceeds from this book go to the Otter Tail County Historical Society.