I want to Hunt Huns

Anytime I hunted near clean grain fields I found Huns last fall in Montana. All over the state and the one thing we found in common no matter where we went is if we were close to hotels and places known for bird hunted the bird hunting was a noticeable step down but we just hunt public lands.
 
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I get a few each year and with flushing dogs no problem LOL. Just cant have the pointer 300 yards out running wild so you can get to them ;). Huns are a strange bird. I have hunted them in MN SD IA ND my whole life since a kid. But, I don't go looking for them, I just let them find me. If you go strictly looking for them alone your going to starve to death first. It is an opportunistic venture. 99.99999% of the time they will be in wide open spaces you will never hunt. Plowed fields are the favorite. They are the bird gifted at looking like a dirt clump in a worked up field, 30 yards away as you drive right by and never see. Only when snow arrives we seem to stumble on them and spot them. If your lucky you will see a group on a fence line, or run across a gravel road you can get out and walk legal. All you have is those moments in time to take advantage of. And 99.999999% of the time when you flush them it will be in a dirt field, you will walk right at where you "think" they are and saw them. They will flush off 50 yards one way or the other and you have a couple very quick shots. Rare you get 2. And if you see where they go it is almost nearly a 99.99999% chance it is a waste of time to pursue. They will do exactly the same in the wide open, only flush a hundred yards ahead the next time. Very good bird at eluding you. Very big prize in a small package. Very tasty. The best eating of all game birds in my opinion. I know they are there, I also know now not to drive myself nuts trying to find them. I go pheasant hunting and when it happens it happens. Kinda like loosing your virginity LOL.:D
 
I have had my dog point them at over 800 yards, walk to and out front of him and shot Huns. Saves a lot of walking if the dog gets out there and checks things out. In a big place like MT, a big running dog is a big plus.
 
SetterNut said:
I have had my dog point them at over 800 yards, walk to and out front of him and shot Huns. Saves a lot of walking if the dog gets out there and checks things out. In a big place like MT, a big running dog is a big plus.
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Agreed. When looking for a needle in a haystack, a long range magnet is better than a small rake.
 
Huns were the bread & butter bird in North Dakota until 1993.

I grew up hunting huns and they were more widespread and huntable than either sharptails or pheasants in the '70s and '80s. Huns did extraordinarily well long before CRP, albeit their populations rose in the '80s as CRP came into play.

North Dakota was characterized predominantly by drought through the '80s. Over 90 percent of the wetlands you see in North Dakota today were completely dry ... example we hunted a WPA dry slough bed planted with millet and grasses in 1991. This is area is not just underwater - it is a 600+ acre lake with a perch fishery.

In 1990 and 1991 we averaged seeing a dozen or more flocks (coveys) per day of hunting and often would see twice that along the gravel roads when pursuing other game. I would shoot a dozen or more ... my brother living in the area shot closer to 3 - 4 dozen ... along with a lot of pheasants and grouse.

The cold summer rains of '93 and '94 absolutely decimated the Hun population in North Dakota and they have never really come back. Counties in the NC part of ND were the primary range - now you are lucky to see one or two flocks a season and feel happy when you here then calling in the AM dawn as you sit in a decoy spread eee-ek, eee-ek.

There is someting going on with the Hun that no one may ever know about since they are not widely studied ... the Hun should have rebounded more than they have.
 
FCSpringer said:
They are the bird gifted at looking like a dirt clump in a worked up field, 30 yards away as you drive right by and never see. Only when snow arrives we seem to stumble on them and spot them. LOL.:D
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My brother and I called them sugar beats. As high schoolers we chased Huns hard in the NoDak winter season (Nov-Dec). We would basically drive the country roads of rural ND looking for coyotes, fox, and Huns.

Sometimes we would stumble on a creek system with massive flocks of Huns and walk them up.

More often we would spot the sugar beats in a field, put on our whites and stalk them. We tried to only take 2 birds per flock and even as high schoolers we would leave flocks of 2-5 birds alone.

Somedays we would get to grandma's house with a coyote, a fox or two, and a half dozen huns to show for our efforts. Not bad considering the weather was often -15F or lower...

By the way - usually - the colder and windier it was, the more likely you would see the Huns out and about ...
 
I see a few on walk in land in extreme NW SD, but I hear it's much better on the Montana side. That would be Carter County, I believe. Like FCSpringer, I shoot a few where I find them, but don't go after them specifically. Seems like I see more when coyote hunting than when pheasant/grouse hunting.
 
I live and hunt in a fairly small area of Central ND, and most of my rancher/farmer neighbors seem to think that Hun population follows about a 7 year cycle. They have been coming back again the last two years around here, after being pretty scarce. I know that our method for figuring the life of Huns is not very scientific, but I never did do very well in Science Class...or History, or Biology, for that matter.
 
I have hunted huns in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, Idaho, and Montana. I only use a flushing dog and pursue them exclusively prior to the pheasant season. I do not shoot sharp-tails by choice. Once you start looking just for huns they are not that hard to find. By not difficult, I mean if you don't mind walking 5-10 miles on a typical hunt. However, they are much more adaptable than most hunters think. I have flushed them with blue grouse at 7000' in SW Montana and also found coveys very near chukar coveys in Idaho. These coveys live miles from any cropfield. If you are heading to eastern Montana, I look for native prairie, some shrubs, and cropland mix. For some reason old building sites almost always seem to hold a covey. Also, check Hutterite colonies if they allow access also seem to always have some huns.

Good luck with your quest. :cheers:
 
Yep same here. I saw a covey up here in Ottertail county recently. In the early 80's it was the same in sth MN. Saw more huns then pheasants. I hope they bounce back like they were back then. I find it odd that they even allow season on them here in the 4 state area of IA MN SD and ND right now. Maybe they see more then we do LOL. Numbers seem to be extremely low right now.

BRITTMAN said:
My brother and I called them sugar beats. As high schoolers we chased Huns hard in the NoDak winter season (Nov-Dec). We would basically drive the country roads of rural ND looking for coyotes, fox, and Huns.

Sometimes we would stumble on a creek system with massive flocks of Huns and walk them up.

More often we would spot the sugar beats in a field, put on our whites and stalk them. We tried to only take 2 birds per flock and even as high schoolers we would leave flocks of 2-5 birds alone.

Somedays we would get to grandma's house with a coyote, a fox or two, and a half dozen huns to show for our efforts. Not bad considering the weather was often -15F or lower...

By the way - usually - the colder and windier it was, the more likely you would see the Huns out and about ...
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We flushed a covey in ND this past season. They were right on the edge of public / private and guess with way they flew. We didn't have permission and it was posted. People there tell us there used to be great #'s but not anymore. Killed my first hun in Wyoming. Awesome table fare too I might add.
 
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