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  1. Labs

    Hun & Grouse Opener

    We had several good-sized coveys of huns around my place all summer. No idea where they went, but they weren't in the area last weekend. My wife & I were the only hunters on my neighbor's land and it was opening weekend. Didn't see another person hunting on foot anywhere in the area, but I...
  2. Labs

    Hun & Grouse Opener

    It was an educational hun & grouse opener. All the birds we found were in a standing soy bean field. Didn't flush a single bird of either species from adjoining cover. The hun coveys seem to have broken up. The biggest bunch we flushed was one covey of 4-5, all others were widely separated...
  3. Labs

    NW ND prairie bird count dropped significantly

    Back in the 80's & early 90's western ND was as close to a hunting paradise as I could ever imagine. A guy could set up camp in the National Grasslands, hunt for a week, and never see another person, let alone another hunter. Not so much nowadays...
  4. Labs

    NW ND prairie bird count dropped significantly

    I don't live in an area with much for sharp cover, but there are pockets where I can always find a few. I can say I've never seen more huns around my place than I have this summer. I can't wait for hun & sharp opener this year.
  5. Labs

    Getting Old Sucks

    No shit. a couple years ago I started wearing hinged compression braces on my now 67 year old knees when hunting upland. They really cut down the pain at the end of the day. 12 weeks ago I underwent reverse shoulder replacement on my strong hand shoulder. I started shooting shotgun again...
  6. Labs

    Thinking about a new gun, suggestions?

    I would also add that last year I bought a Franchi Affinity 3 Select (Upland Elite) 26"/3" 20 gauge from Scheels and it stole my heart away from my favorite upland shogun, my Browning Citori 725 Featherweight. At 6 lbs (maybe a shade less), that trim little Franchi is fast on the bird, easy to...
  7. Labs

    Thinking about a new gun, suggestions?

    For what it's worth, last week I bought another SX4 (this one is black synthetic 26"/3", my other one is the LH 28"/3.5" Waterfowl model) at Scheels Bismarck for $749, and it has a $50 rebate on top of that. As dad used to say, it was such a good deal I couldn't afford not to buy it. If your...
  8. Labs

    Help me plan a trip to NoDak

    I live in SW ND and it's lousy with pheasants and huns around my place this year. Best numbers of both I've seen since I moved out here in 2018. I'm really looking forward to hun & grouse opener in a couple weeks. My labs often flush a covey of huns just walking up to the mailbox. Be aware...
  9. Labs

    Any action

    It's lousy with pheasants & huns around my place this year. I drive 16 miles to work on gravel/scoria roads just as it's getting light, and every morning this summer it's an upland bird slalom course. I'm really looking forward to getting into the huns on & around my place when the season...
  10. Labs

    Molle water bottle holders

    I bought extras from Amazon as I didn't see any reason to pay the exorbitant price that upland vest companies are asking. They work just fine.
  11. Labs

    Knee Surgery Question

    I have 67 year old knees and for the last couple years I've used over-the-counter, (bought at Walmart) hinged knee braces when hunting. The really help and I have very little pain after a day of walking the hills.
  12. Labs

    Deer Firearms Opens today (11-08-24)

    Remember that ND Deer Firearms Season opens today 11-08-24, runs through 11-24-24. I can advise that south of Dix the birds have been hunted hard this year and as a consequence are really flushing wind now. A couple days ago I went out to throw trash in the dumpster and there was a rooster...
  13. Labs

    Dog Boots

    I live SW of Dix and we have quite a bit of cactus in the area. There is one PLOTS near our place that I simply won't take the Wrecking Crew because of the amount of cactus. Some of those spines will go through Lewis Dog Boots or even the side of leather hunting boots without a problem.
  14. Labs

    Strange Deer Encounter

    Sounds like Blue Tongue. A couple years ago it hit hard south of Dickinson. We were finding dead whitetails while pheasant hunting, often laying in a water source. Never came across a dead mulie, so I suspect it only hits whitetails...
  15. Labs

    Odd Encounters...

    What struck me about the most recent situation is it seemed like SOP for that guy/group. No preamble or small talk, just straight to can we hunt over your dogs. Not at all like a couple guys at a parking area talking over who was going where on a PLOTS so as not to step on each other's hunts...
  16. Labs

    Odd Encounters...

    I'm curious of others get approached by random strangers in the field, requesting to hunt with you. I've had this happen twice in the last two seasons and am not sure what to make of it. The most recent was ND resident opening day. My wife, two of our labs, and I were first truck at a PLOTS a...
  17. Labs

    Fire Risk high in ND.

    And yet south of Dickinson where I live we're constantly seeing NR driving on prairie trails with tall, dead grass in the center. We've already had wild fires up around Tioga. We'll be damned lucky not to have one around Dix...
  18. Labs

    Franchi Affinity 3 Upland Elite 20 Gauge

    This is the Upland Elite Select model, I got this one at Scheels in Bismarck, ND. They had at one more in stock, I picked this one as it had prettier furniture.
  19. Labs

    Affinity 20 Gauge Ammo Issue

    After several hundred rounds of break-in, my Affinity 20 gauge Upland Elite still will not reliably cycle Golden Pheasant and Prairie Storm either 2-3/4" or 3". The pic shows a fired hull after extracted after failure to cycle with a ring in front of the rim. Prior to firing, both GP and PS...
  20. Labs

    Franchi Affinity 3 Upland Elite 20 Gauge

    It came out of the box with a cast off (right handed shim) installed and I could tell the comb was a touch high. It came with several shims to adjust both cast off & on and comb height, so the other day when it was too hot to run the dogs, I experimented a bit. It was dirt simple to try...
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