Picture of a bottom?

Hobie1026

Hobie1026

Active member
No not that kind...

I keep reading that in MT the best pheasant habitat/hunting is in the river bottoms. Does anyone have a photograph they could post of what a river bottom that is good pheasant habitat looks like?

The only water I've come across in pheasant hunting was around irrigation canals and creeks that both had high and steep banks that cut out on a 90 degree angle to the field. I'm having a hard time picturing a river bottom you can walk in.

Thanks for any help!
 
Assuming you're serious and not trying to make a joke: By river bottom I think what is meant is the relatively flat bottom land along a river which is often crop land with grassy hills abutting the crop land as one moves farther from the river.
 
Sorry, not trying to make a joke. A typical comment from another hunter in MT:

"but I did move a fair amount of birds in the bottoms"

Assuming he's not joking I'm not sure what he's talking about. I know wheat fields and coulees and CRP. Not sure what else to be looking for in terms of habitat when I go there this Fall. Thanks!
 
I would think he would be talking areas with river bottoms like the Yellowstone, Marias, Powder ect...Most have Breaks along them with thickets that hold birds, but I am guessing most the rivers have thick stuff that hold birds but are tough to get close too...Myself, I hunt NE Montana where sloughs are plentiful and birds like the cattails along them, especially when their are wheat stubble or pea fields around. That said...Im not a typical anything....LOL.
 
Hobie1026 said:
No not that kind...

I keep reading that in MT the best pheasant habitat/hunting is in the river bottoms. Does anyone have a photograph they could post of what a river bottom that is good pheasant habitat looks like?
Click to expand...

MnMt emailed me some photos from out there. Maybe he can post or PM them for you? Just don't ask for the exact location! LOL

There's some nice habitat out that way.
 
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the water weather in a canal, stream, lake side or coulee produces lots of vegatation not unlike the habitat along the snake river country around Boise.

eastern montana where most of the pheasant habitat exists is a fairly dry climate, again not unlike the Boise area.

Which many years ago was GREAT pheasant country.... used to keep my 870 in my dorm room at Boise state.... ala 1970

Montana for the most part, has been extremely dry this spring and summer, there will be some good bird hunting in some areas.... just drove thru conrad, country on WED. looks pretty beat!

But Montana will disappoint some visitiors too, those with expectations of the good old days
 
The larger bottoms like Yellowstone, Milk, Powder, Missouri etc have a lot of irrigation in the bottoms that some places are several miles wide.
There are thousands of these little bottoms all through Central and Eastern Montana. Without these Bottoms there would be few or No pheasants in Montana.


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MMMTH,

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for. Not at all what I had pictured in my head. Appreciate the help from all. 47 days to go....
 
When you get into semi-arid areas in the west and southwest the river bottom or river valley with a continuous source of water, green vegetation and nutrients, is like an oasis for wildlife.

Another river bottom or river valley surrounded by semi-arid lands is the middle Rio Grande river in New Mexico. The Bosque Del Apache NWR is loaded with all kind of wildlife, including pheasants. See photos in link below:

http://www.pbase.com/merriwolf/134th_camp_bosque
 
Lewis and Clark going up the Missouri in Montana commented in their journals daily of the incredible numbers of game and wildlife. Same thing when Clark came back down the Yellowstone River through Montana. "Game in sight almost all the time".

Fact is, After Corp of Discovery left the Missouri in SW Montana, there was NO game and the whole party would have starved if not for the natives.

Rivers and water is the "Life Blood" in Montana then and now.
 
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