I hunted sharptail in Sept near Wing. Didn’t see any pheasants driving around the area at all
Birds Around Rugby?
- Thread starter FlushingSetters1724
- Start date
roadscholar
Active member
The winter was tough all over the state, but in particular that area around Bismarck up to Wing/Wilton/Washburn, etc really got hammered with snow. The sharpies probably did ok in that area, but my guess is that it was rough on the pheasants. If you want to see more pheasants, I'd recommend driving 4 hours instead of 2, and end up somewhere in the NW or SW part of the state.
Got back home from North Dakota a couple of days ago. Lots of ducks around Kulm but very few pheasants and not many sharpies either. Drove to Wing Tues morning and lots of nice plots ground but not many pheasants or grouse. Found one plots piece that had some roosters on it but missed on my opportunity.
BRITTMAN
Well-known member
While NDG&F claims or states pheasants are up a lot in ND ... the population appears to be very spotty or bimodal. Certainly, there are areas with high bird counts and other traditional decent areas that are down and down significantly vs. last year.
We were in an area today where pheasants are often prevalent and seemed to be everywhere last year. Today we saw three groups of birds (1 group was two birds in a farmyard) and more strikingly we did not see one other hunter in 4 hours of driving and hunting. Mostly driving since we were more scouting for waterfowl.
Sunday afternoon 55F, breezy, Vikings not playing 'til Monday night. Not one other group (resident or nonresident). Not that one local guy that drives the gravel roads towards dark. That alone told me something was off in this often very good area.
The PLOTS CRP was extensively mowed in one county we were in. Hopefully, it was due to drought in adjacent areas and not tied to the end of CRP enrollments. - I would say nearly every CRP field was mowed similar to what we saw a couple of years ago across MN, SD, and ND.
We were in an area today where pheasants are often prevalent and seemed to be everywhere last year. Today we saw three groups of birds (1 group was two birds in a farmyard) and more strikingly we did not see one other hunter in 4 hours of driving and hunting. Mostly driving since we were more scouting for waterfowl.
Sunday afternoon 55F, breezy, Vikings not playing 'til Monday night. Not one other group (resident or nonresident). Not that one local guy that drives the gravel roads towards dark. That alone told me something was off in this often very good area.
The PLOTS CRP was extensively mowed in one county we were in. Hopefully, it was due to drought in adjacent areas and not tied to the end of CRP enrollments. - I would say nearly every CRP field was mowed similar to what we saw a couple of years ago across MN, SD, and ND.
Curious what area of the state this was? Im headed up there this coming weekend, Im going to hunt where I always do (southeastish).
BRITTMAN
Well-known member
We did less scouting and more hunting today ... I stand corrected ... the pheasants are there ... I stand by that the population is not up in this area. Population is down, but we saw birds on every walk and took 4 today in three 45-minute walks. One Brittany and he was simply dialed in today.
The mowing of CRP grass always seems to hit Walk-In Areas harder than simple private.
The mowing of CRP grass always seems to hit Walk-In Areas harder than simple private.