Eastern Montana 2019

There is a population of pheasants along the milk river, it’s irrigation flooded fields, it’s feeder creeks and dry creeks. Guys I know that hunt that way say numbers are down but not to the point of extinction. I will say the guys I know are mostly a one trick pony, primarily hunting Pheasants.
I’m tired of arguing about this. If the state shut down the season I’d comply otherwise I’d keep hunting. Again your personal perception of the population is just that, there are plenty of successful hunters in NE Montana. How many give or take 10 hunters that have made the decision to stop hunting for the preservation of the species. I bet some had such horrible hunting they moved to waterfowl to have some success and get their dogs some retrieving work. But to do it to increase the population I just don’t see it, unless they continually shoot hens by accident
I’ve been very honest it’s tough times out there, all I can say if a guy is willing to walk a lot he can have success, or get onto the right land.
Pheasants Forever puts out a lot of facts about the birds. Even when numbers are low, hunters will have a limited impact on the population. This is America, if you want to put your gun on safe and let it hang, go for it, hopefully bird numbers will be better this year in MT, SD, and ND.
 
Weeks of sub zero temps, deep snow, strong winds, this is exactly the reason I chose to put my shotgun away for bird season. That decision will not bring back pheasant numbers, that I know. But, it is my way to perhaps contribute to pheasant numbers rebounding. I know some scoff at my post about numbers, oh well. I spoke to a local friend tonight, we spoke about the outlook for this spring with the survival and then the hatch, pretty dismal.
Now to PTM's last post....ahhh...to hell with it, let's just wait for "extinction" then we will react...riiiiigggghhhhtttt. Maybe it is the "one trick ponies" you know, that your trusting. I will take the thoughts of people who have lived here all there lives, know the area, guessing most of these "one trick ponies" have forgotten more about bird hunting then you will ever know.
 
Pheasant season should have been CLOSED in far N.E. MT. last year. The drought took numbers down so far it was laughable the State of MT left the season open there.
Even sharpies were hard hit by the drought. Beautiful cover around last Season but the birds haven't recovered yet & won't for awhile.
 
One trick pony is an old man and so are his friends that have lived there all of their lives. Has access to good private land and a propensity to taking long walks. If he has a tough day he doesn’t make excuses, just comes up with a new plan. I’ve stated my thoughts on it, good luck petitioning for the season closure, at least you’ll be doing your part by staying home. Lol you should have quit with this ridiculousness many posts ago. Their all dead Jim, beam me up Scotty! Lol
 
Man PTM you must really be bored fighting the South American Horde. It is unlike you to get caught up in the fray on here. That is more my speed. I am far more of an asshole than you are.
 
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Ha ha well I apologize if I came across that way, I concede there is not a huntable population of birds in N Central and N Eastern Montana, everyone please quit hunting this part of the country, also in most parts of the Dakotas, please do not hunt these areas either. Thanks.
 
So you have to resort to name calling for your argument? I do not care what you call me or anyone else, speaks volumes regarding you. Your ignorance of the pheasant population here in NE Montana is also evident. I speak, to young and old...I was at a good friends wife's bday party this weekend, and I spoke to several buddies who live in and around Medicine Lake, they travel all over that corner of Montana most every day of the week, even weekends with outages, they all enjoy hunting, each of them spoke of the poor number of pheasants they not only saw this fall, but what they are currently seeing. As you should know, birds stack up in different yards this time of year, hoping for tailings by bins and such, usually a person would see dozens and dozens in such areas, alas, not this winter.
Putting my gun away as far as pheasants was my decision, I still hunted, probably more then most, just changed the game I chased. It was my way of being a conservationist. Was it right or wrong, who knows, but it was right in what I believe. I share those believes on here and other places. Most I come into contact with in the last 2 years seem to agree.
Once again, your name calling and other words mean little to me, you don't seem to bright, gauging from your post. You sure as hell do not know much about the pheasant hunting in NE Montana.
 
This really is my last one first off If I called you a name it was in jest I was not trying to belittle you., I don’t remember calling you a name, but if I did I apologize. I agree 100 percent bird numbers aren’t what they used to be anywhere. For me it’s about my dogs and as long as there is a season I’m going, and for me there is only one bird and I’d walk 100 miles to have a shot at one even if there was an overpopulation of Huns and Sharpies.
I respect your decision to not to hunt them, if you have exclusive rights to a spot it would make even more sense.
Let’s use my Aunts farm as a example for my point about this, it usually holds a good population of birds. 2017 rolled around and they were gone if I remember right I shot one bird the whole year and just didn’t see any there. No water, no bugs no birds. This year the water came back and so did the birds but we didn’t do well until the corn got clipped. After that we got our limit every time. There were way too many birds there for reproduction to produce the numbers that are on her place. If the water is gone then the birds will move off and find a place that has it. That was my point just because your not seeing birds where you used to doesn’t necessarily mean they all died but maybe some of them moved to a place that has what they need. I believe you could kill every rooster legally allowed and not dent the population and I believe the science would back me up on that.
Your only seeing a fraction of the roosters out there, most run away with out ever being seen all they have to do is a 180 or flush out of range. To me it seemed like you were trying to dissuade people from coming to Montana. What seems like low or abismal numbers to you and I probably would keep most guys entertained especially if they are coming from some place that has none. Here is the reality for me this year, I’d say conclusively a mile or more for each bird harvested. We did fairly well but I attribute it all to burning boot leather, private land, and dogs crashing cattails I don’t think there is ever going to be a huge turn around in the numbers in the short term.
 
I've been reading all this, and here is my opinion.In general, birds were way down last year, all over Montana. That being said, I did get into some birds on the high line, in certain places. There were places where I saw no birds at all, and that was discouraging. So the season is upon us, and I'm stoked! I will give a report in general, when I get back. Public land, always gets pounded the first month, so there is that.
 
Not sure what happened to the post I sent last night but I’ll try again. Just got home from my first trip to Montana.. and I’ll be back!! Had a great time!! Saw roosters on every piece we walked and managed to bring 11 roosters home over 2 1/2 days for two guys. Planned on staying 4 days but I got a piece of cockleburr stuck in my eye so spent the afternoon at the clinic. Eyes going to be fine. Saw plenty of sharpies and two small flocks of Huns. We saw four porkies the first ditch we walked but luckily the dogs were spared any quills. The two highlights of the trip were shooting a rooster with a tail feather of 24-1/4 and shooting a double after finding my lost dog( he was on point and I couldn’t locate him for ten minutes). Lots of miles driven and miles walked but my young dog gets better all the time so it’s worth it.
 
Hunt1GSP said:
Not sure what happened to the post I sent last night but I’ll try again. Just got home from my first trip to Montana.. and I’ll be back!! Had a great time!! Saw roosters on every piece we walked and managed to bring 11 roosters home over 2 1/2 days for two guys. Planned on staying 4 days but I got a piece of cockleburr stuck in my eye so spent the afternoon at the clinic. Eyes going to be fine. Saw plenty of sharpies and two small flocks of Huns. We saw four porkies the first ditch we walked but luckily the dogs were spared any quills. The two highlights of the trip were shooting a rooster with a tail feather of 24-1/4 and shooting a double after finding my lost dog( he was on point and I couldn’t locate him for ten minutes). Lots of miles driven and miles walked but my young dog gets better all the time so it’s worth it.
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Sounds like a great time.I got 9 birds in 4 days, and a few sharptails.I also got a double with my 870, which is difficult. Glad you guys had fun.
 
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