Current conditions

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kournate

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Wonder how bad the fields are in East and northern part of the state? The drought looks pretty bad , mostly info on grouse and Huns.
Thanks
 
kournate said:
Wonder how bad the fields are in East and northern part of the state? The drought looks pretty bad , mostly info on grouse and Huns.
Thanks
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from the rumor mill, eastern Montana went thru some real bad dry periods , JUNE, and July, some scattered showers fell early in August, but spotty is the reputation... so there are probably lots of birds close to riparian areas, that never totally dried out.. however in the Marginal habitats in the far east, scattered bleakness may be the norm.
 
It is not a rumor, north east corner of Montana has been in extreme drought, from Glendive to Winnett to about Malta, here in Glasgow we did not have much snow last winter, and we never received the rains in March-June other areas of Montana enjoyed. Harvest are very poor, cattle ranchers have little grass. Harvest is coming to an end for most folks, people I have spoke with are very pessimistic on bird numbers, which only makes since . Another factor is a lot of CRP has either come out of the program, or it is being grazed or hayed. I would call before you plan on heading this way, unless we get some early and often fall rains, I believe there will be closures to some hunting. A side note, biggest fire in the country was east of Winnett in the breaks earlier this summer, 270,000 acres, I believe it is the largest to have burned this year, google ...lodgepole complex fires Montana if you have not heard about it.
 
Well, with grouse and Hungarian partridge season starting on Friday, the 1st of Sept, forecast for Montana is HOT and DRY. Calling for a week of 90+ degrees here in Glasgow. No rain forecasted which is the worst thing, 90's are not uncommon this time of year, but with many areas a tender box, it makes for tough conditions. No real moisture in our forecast for the next 10 days they say right now. Looks like a tough go for bird hunters up this way this fall.
 
Hot and dry doesn't make for good dog work! I hunted ND in 08 during that drought and planning accordingly with extra dog water.
Huns seem to handle dry better than others so I am staying optimistic that I can find decent numbers. Hoping to be in Malta on the 2nd and hunt East and north a few days than North and west a few days .
Thanks
Gordonmoblie. kournatekennels.
 
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Hot and dry doesn't make for good dog work! I hunted ND in 08 during that drought and planning accordingly with extra dog water.
Huns seem to handle dry better than others so I am staying optimistic that I can find decent numbers. Hoping to be in Malta on the 2nd and hunt East and north a few days than North and west a few days .
Thanks
Gordonmoblie. kournatekennels.
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Hunt smart and safe, it's going to be hot and dry. Keep those dogs well watered and cool!
 
Seen in our local paper this week, several farmers and ranchers announcing closure to their properties. Also, terrible smoke now in Glasgow, I have heard from folks in town that there is a fire going in Bear Paws south of Havre now, person just needs to keep praying for rain, it will come eventually.
 
This will not be popular...time all should think about canceling plans to bird hunt a LARGE area of Montana. More and more closures every day. Landowners are on edge. I was planning a bird hunt for Warriors in October, if we do not get a forecast for temp changes and moisture by next Monday it will be canceled . If you do not live here you can not grasp how bad it is right now. You will not hear about it on network news. Most acres burned since the horrible fires in 1910. So many things could start a blaze, blown trailer tire, chains dragging, smoking, on and on. If you do not believe this as a legitimate post, call a DNRC office in Montana......
 
Just like you said Montana Husker.
A total tinder box. I did see birds and did see some BML lands with roads closed foot travel only signs. More bird hunters than expected. Plenty of land to hunt .
Will be back in a few years when conditions are back to normal.
 
Cooler temps and moisture finally in the forecast later this week, it will be a great change if it follows thru. Even calling for some snow above 6000' and wide spread rains across Montana. Will not solve the drought situation, but will put a dent into it and hopefully be the beginning of the end for fire season.
 
Planning on being there 10/12 for the week. Hopefully the weather changes. If for no other reason than the hunting , we were in a terrible smokey , dry drought last year and it was rough. Thank you for the updates sir!!
 
I'm heading out Thursday to hunt between Glendive and Sidney with a friend that lives out there. Just talked to him this morning and they got a inch and a half of rain yesterday. He's hoping some of the block areas will now open back up. He also has some private land we can hunt. Just hoping to get into a few birds with my young dog as this will be her first real hunt. If all else fails my buddy has a bunch of quail in his pen and I'll buy some of them to put in the field and do a little training. But at least there has been some good rain in that area and the temps have cooled off a lot.
 
Good luck! Let me know how you did and any info on current conditions. I will be in that same general area in October.
 
esetter said:
Good luck! Let me know how you did and any info on current conditions. I will be in that same general area in October.
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Will do. :thumbsup:
 
Looked like the majority of the state got some rain and snow. I know its too late to impact the birds but hopefully will cut down on the fires and fire danger. Hope its enough to keep some of the private lands open.
 
Got back this evening. Overall we saw a fair number of Sharpies and 3 coveys of Huns. But the birds were extremely spooky. Really tough to get close. Friday the temp was about 45-50 with a strong north wind which didn't help. Yesterday was about the same temp but with a much lighter breeze. Started to rain later in the afternoon and kept it up all night. I was still raining this morning so no hunting today. I packed up and headed home. In the two days of hunting we only harvested 4 Sharpies and 2 Huns.
 
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