End Of The 2023 Season

G

gjw

Well-known member
Hey all, well, this weekend is the end of the our season here in North Dakota. It was a good year, not fantastic, but good. Plenty of birds, and the weather was great! Not a lot of snow, warm for the most part. The big downside was the ice storm we got the day after Christmas. That made things tough. Hard to get around, had to watch every step you took or else you'll be on your arse (like me a couple times!.

The season for us started out with a bang and ended in a whimper. Went out yesterday and today and didn't bust a cap! The last couple weeks the birds have been exceptionally wild (pheasants that is) . Hens would hold, but the boy birds flushed well ver 50 yards away. We did get more Huns this year than the last couple years. Grouse were so so and pheasants were darn good.

The dogs did well, no injuries or issues with them. Addie is turning into a first class bird dog. Very happy with her. And Raina, the old hand did very well also. For a 10 year old dog, you would think she was 5 out in the field

As I said, a good year. No one got hurt, not problems with vehicles and had a wonderful time with my son Jim and my daughter Patty. My two best hunting partners.

Hope the weather holds and the spring is good for nesting. If it does, next season will be great.

Thanks to the good Lord and St Hubert for the blessings you showered on us!

Best Regards to all!

Greg
 
The first couple of weeks were great and showed a lot of promise, lots of young birds. Things never did seem to recover after that snowstorm on Oct 23? (13" or so). I think we may have lost some birds in that storm. I seemed to have shot a higher proportion of old birds afterward. They did seem to be more concentrated in certain areas, that were inaccessible, afterward. Travel was impaired for a while as well with the mud. Sept Grouse season was more productive than usual like last year.

It was year 2 for my Draht. She may be my best dog yet. I can't recall losing a bird. I started the year with a new gun, a 725 Feather 20 ga and really like it but I did go back to my 12 for late season. Like every year I had the one miss that should have been a layup.

Getting older sucks. This year I learned to stop shooting porcupines from the hip. It can mess up your wrist for a few weeks. I also tweaked my ankle a week before the season. That slowed me down and it still isn't right. I have an appointment today.
 
ND was OK this fall. I would say mid/late October was not easy when we were there with the rain and fog, but we also hunted waterfowl.

The counties we were in had been hayed (PLOTS).

January was much better. I was there for other reasons, but main dog came along, and we found time to hunt.

Outside of some ice storm areas, winter has start off pretty nice to wildlife across much of ND.
 
Years ago, I had damaged Achilles tendons (both ankles). They were not ruptured, but they were bulbous ... you could visibly see the damage. Ice and compression. Lost a little weight (not enough). I rested them too several months the next mid-summer and thank God they healed. Not been a problem since.
 
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