Hunting Trip To Montana

Dakotazeb

Well-known member
I'm planning a hunting trip to eastern Montana in late September to hunt Sharpies and Huns. Probably hunting between Glendive and Sidney. Just wondering if snakes will be an issue in that area at that time of year? Also, what about Porcupines?
 
Might want to have a pair of snake chaps with you. Seems to be plenty of them around this year.
Our dogs go through snake avoidance training and have the rattlesnake vaccine. We also carry syringes of Dexamethasone in the rig. It's a long way to a vet.
Your vet should be willing to set you up.

Yes porky's are a plenty also. Get yourself a Quill Jig if your dog isn't broke on porky's. Might save you a trip or two to the vet's office.
Shoot everyone you see.

The good news is the bird numbers are looking good.
 
I didn't see any snake up that way last year at that time. It was plenty warm to have snakes out, it got too hot to hunt by 10am several days.

Porkies were all over. My buddies GSP got into them 3 days in a row. It was bad enough that we made trips to the vet all 3 times with multiple dogs.

I was lucky that my setters didn't show any interest in them.
 
In 10 years I haven't seen a poisonous snake but then there are place names like "Snake Butte" in that general area so I think I've just been lucky. Porcupines? Yes and in grass cover away from trees. Skunks? Oh yea. It's still been very warm in Oct. so snakes haven't hibernated yet. Oh, and Badgers too. Lots of badger holes to step in.
Be self sufficient as much as possible in that part of the state as October is when all the vets seem to be occupied and out of the office doing pregnancy tests on cows. I had an issue two years ago and couldn't find a vet between Culbertson, Scobey and the Canadian border. There was a very busy office in Williston with a vet who talked to me over the phone and gave some advice I followed on my own. I keep a very complete vet bag with me.
 
Calamari was spot on!

Be self sufficient... The Porcupines, skunks and racoins are out there in numbers.... Apply the 3S program accordingly. Avoid water and trees to get away from the porcupines, you will also find them in the open grass. I hunt with a DD and a GSP thus my experience with the above critters is noteworthy... nothing to brag about:mad:

Enjoy your season,
 
Heading out to eastern Montana next week and should be in the field a week from today. Taking my 16 ga. Citori and my Sweet Sixteen. I've got several boxes of 1 1/8 oz. of 7 1/2 shot that I plan to use because I have no other use for them. I figure a little denser pattern for the Huns and still effective on the Sharpies. I'll throw in a box of #6's just in case. Not sure the Sweet will get a lot of use since it's choked IC and might be a little too open. Plan to shoot the Full/Mod in the Citori and adjust if needed. I figure shots may be a little further than I'm use to when hunting pheasants in SD but I will be hunting over my Brittany and a friend's GSP's. Sound like a solid plan to those of you that have hunted out there before?
 
Heading out to eastern Montana next week and should be in the field a week from today. Taking my 16 ga. Citori and my Sweet Sixteen. I've got several boxes of 1 1/8 oz. of 7 1/2 shot that I plan to use because I have no other use for them. I figure a little denser pattern for the Huns and still effective on the Sharpies. I'll throw in a box of #6's just in case. Not sure the Sweet will get a lot of use since it's choked IC and might be a little too open. Plan to shoot the Full/Mod in the Citori and adjust if needed. I figure shots may be a little further than I'm use to when hunting pheasants in SD but I will be hunting over my Brittany and a friend's GSP's. Sound like a solid plan to those of you that have hunted out there before?

#5 & #6 was all we packed & improved chokes were chase n sage grouse Hun's & sharptails shots were closer then a average SD pheasant shots for us butt not many hunters were in our area...

#6 bout as small as id go but you probably a lot better shot then me with that 16GA. i had 12GA. sage grouse just eat up #6 shot flew off & died 150-200 yards away seen that 3+ times sharptails are weak I think a Hun'sa lil tuffer lol
 
#5 & #6 was all we packed & improved chokes were chase n sage grouse Hun's & sharptails shots were closer then a average SD pheasant shots for us butt not many hunters were in our area...

#6 bout as small as id go but you probably a lot better shot then me with that 16GA. i had 12GA. sage grouse just eat up #6 shot flew off & died 150-200 yards away seen that 3+ times sharptails are weak I think a Hun'sa lil tuffer lol

I won't be hunting sage grouse and I've always favored smaller shot with a more dense pattern. I shoot 6's all season for pheasants here in SD, but might throw in a few 5's very late in the season.
 
I won't be hunting sage grouse and I've always favored smaller shot with a more dense pattern. I shoot 6's all season for pheasants here in SD, but might throw in a few 5's very late in the season.


Sage grouse was probably the coolest prairie type bird I've hunted look cool mounted season won't stay open forever be worth a day hunt for the next bird going on protected list like lesser prairie chicken...

I'm a steel #2 & #3 shot pheasant guy & #4 & #5 shot lead pheasant guy break bones & kill stuff vs wing & wound I not a big off season shooter lol

Good luck on your hunt... Give them sage grouse a chance very fun hunt
 
Sharp Tails in my experience aren't all that tough to get close to if they haven't been hunted before. After they've been busted up, maybe only once, they are double tough and will fly a mile once flushed. An example is one day I walked into a covey of 30 birds and shot three out of it. The next day in the same area they flushed when I was 300 yards away and I was being very quiet sneaking up on where I thought they were and flew out of sight on flat ground. Mod and full will work but then you'll have to go straight to the .270.:)
Some days a single pellet will bring them down like they were doves and some days they are as tough as pheasants. I like 7 1/2 shot and feel like you do about pattern density. They look bigger than they are. Body size about like a hen pheasant.
Before you kill a bunch of them, eat one. They have a distinctive taste that I find not that pleasant. Dark meat that results in something like a poorly cooked duck without the tasty fat.
 
Sage grouse was probably the coolest prairie type bird I've hunted look cool mounted season won't stay open forever be worth a day hunt for the next bird going on protected list like lesser prairie chicken...

I'm a steel #2 & #3 shot pheasant guy & #4 & #5 shot lead pheasant guy break bones & kill stuff vs wing & wound I not a big off season shooter lol

Good luck on your hunt... Give them sage grouse a chance very fun hunt

Just buying a 3 day non-resident license which does not allow you to hunt Sage Grouse. :(
 
I've herd that bad taste bs lots try this marinaid in say bulls eye BBQ sauce & add some soy sauce or try teraki or even steak & chop marinaid then bake in Pyrex baking dish after marinaiding treat the sharptail or prairie chicken breast like beef cook low & slow I useually line bottum of dish with olive oil & onions top the breast with sweet baby rays BBQ sauce & lay a few strips of bacon on top of the breast just so they don't dry out add a Lil extra sauce to bottom of baking dish u will have a juicy sharptail breast ...

If u just marinaid & BBQ rap In bacon again flavor & so meat does not dry out if they dry out & get tuff they taste like crap just like a over cooked waterfowl will...

I've shake & baked prairie chicken but not sharptails the sharptails are s Lil darker meat then chickens... Sage grouse yuck purple meat smell & taste like sage dogs don't even eat em lol

That a bs license only can hunt sharptail & Hun's??? Weak Montana weak... What about blue & ruffed grouse etc. Can u bag them on that license???
 
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I shoot a 20ga SxS out there and use Imp. and Mod with 7 1/2 shot and have zero problem. My hunting partner shoots a 28ga.
You will be fine with what you have George!:thumbsup:
 
I've herd that bad taste bs lots
If you hear it a lot from lots of people, maybe there's some basis to it. Smothering game in lots of different sauces and tastes can hide all sorts of sins. It won't taste like a Sharptail tastes but you can eat it OK. If you smother a possum in BBQ sauce or teriyaki sauce you can eat that too but there's a difference between being able to eat something because you've hidden its inherent taste and enjoying it because it tastes good. Just try one before you kill a bunch and end up not liking them.
They are as dark a meat as a duck or goose

Sage grouse yuck purple meat smell & taste like sage dogs don't even eat em lol

I've shot Sage Grouse in California that were as inedible as you describe. Just awful. Then a friend and I went to Idaho for Sharptails, got into Sage Grouse and shot one each. We cooked the big B-52 bomber my friend shot thinking that an old bird would be the best test of a different population of birds. Fried in olive oil and a little garlic and it was delicious with absolutely no bad taste. It was around grain however while the calif. birds weren't. The erratic taste is something you can't predict.
Sporty they're not. Slow flying, big birds unless you get one in a strong wind or going down slope. Then again anything is sporty in those circumstances.
 
Oh, I'm quite familiar with the taste of Sharpies. Shot plenty in SD. I can't stand them. There isn't enough bacon and BBQ sauce to hide that taste. I'm going to the hunt. Probably leave the Sharpies with my friend in MT. Sure would like to bring home a few Huns to cook up.
 
If you hear it a lot from lots of people, maybe there's some basis to it. Smothering game in lots of different sauces and tastes can hide all sorts of sins. It won't taste like a Sharptail tastes but you can eat it OK. If you smother a possum in BBQ sauce or teriyaki sauce you can eat that too but there's a difference between being able to eat something because you've hidden its inherent taste and enjoying it because it tastes good. Just try one before you kill a bunch and end up not liking them.
They are as dark a meat as a duck or goose



I've shot Sage Grouse in California that were as inedible as you describe. Just awful. Then a friend and I went to Idaho for Sharptails, got into Sage Grouse and shot one each. We cooked the big B-52 bomber my friend shot thinking that an old bird would be the best test of a different population of birds. Fried in olive oil and a little garlic and it was delicious with absolutely no bad taste. It was around grain however while the calif. birds weren't. The erratic taste is something you can't predict.
Sporty they're not. Slow flying, big birds unless you get one in a strong wind or going down slope. Then again anything is sporty in those circumstances.


Sage grouse very cool hunt if not for anything else the habitat u r in dog work was cool rather hunt grouse the running pheasant that's just me...

I've taken sharptails & did popers but that is hiding the flavor of the sharptails I guess?

The 1 thing in Common most of these guys have is they burn hamburgers & mostly have there wives cook for them... Smoother & marinaid is 2 different sub jects don't add BBQ sauce just marinaid if u want...

I've shot MT & MN sharptails both hevi agricultural areas eating sunflowers corn & soy beans in MN. & wheat in MT but close to sage actually shot sage grouse & sharptails same spot... The sharptails are not for all but if u are not best cook to start that mite be a issue for some of the hunters reading this...


I'll only shoot another sage grouse for the wall I'll never eat them things again... Its about 70/30 on people thinking sharptails are garbage or great 70% no good... You are the only person I've ever herd say sage grouse was edible...

I wanna shoot a few of all upland species 1 for wall & some to prove its not luck lol . Blue grouse & some quail species left to go ... I like to eat what I shoot so I find ways to prepare them I'm fussy eater so do what work 4 I'll do same...

Maybe like Canada geese sharptails sauceage mite be good like a polish but that mite be hiding the flavor of the meat with all them spices ??? I gonna try it sometime with the darker meat it mite be ggood recipe?
 
You are the only person I've ever herd say sage grouse was edible...
Actually, my friend and I are the only ones we know who have had that experience. Like I said one bird was great out of enough of them being bad we didn't hunt them anymore. My friend was a Calif. DFG unit biologist who ate ANY game and whose unit contained some of the few Sage Grouse left in Calif. so we could have decimated them if they were delicious but we quit them quickly after trying a couple from our state. In Idaho where we were, the locals looked forward to the opening of Sage Grouse season like they looked forward to deer season and wanted to get all the law allowed to eat. It had to have something to do with their diet in a local area.
small munsterlander, I neglected to give you great credit for finding a way to eat the Sharptails you shoot. My hat's off that you don't give them away or just dispose of them. I don't kill things I don't eat personally so I don't hunt Sharptails because I don't like them. Good on you for working out a way.:10sign:
 
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