Livingston

H

halfbreed

New member
Hi guys,

Been lurking here for a while just as a guest and figured it was time to join the club!

I'm originally from Alberta, but stayed in North Dakota after University. I love upland hunting and love it even more so now that I have my first gun dog, a 6mo chocolate lab/shorthair mix which is why may handle is "halfbreed."

I live in Eastern North Dakota and enjoy pheasant hunting around here, even though the dog and I really have to work for our birds.

The reason I'm posting on the Montana forum is that I'm looking for some information about upland hunting around the Livingston area.

I will be there from the 26th to the 31st of December. I've done a bit of research and found that region 3 has quite a bit of BLM land North of Livingston and I was wondering if that would be a good place to start or should I look at some other areas or even look more towards region 4?

I'm not looking solely for pheasants, just looking for upland hunting opportunities in general, whether that be huns, sharptail, ringnecks or mountain grouse. I'd just like to be able to give the pup some work and hunt with my dad a bit.

If you don't want to post up, please feel free to PM me. again, not looking for somebody's honey hole here, just looking for a place to start!

Here is a picture of us with her first rooster! We got it a couple of weeks ago. She's put up 8 birds for me so far and I've been able to take 3 of them. I'm a lousy shot too! so in all reality, your MT birds are probably pretty safe!
 
Hey Halfbreed -
I've been in Livingston for 10+ years. Shoot me a PM and I'll give you as much direction as I can. Maybe I'll get out with you over the Holiday.
Cheers
 
jsdriggs,

Thanks! She's a really nice little dog and my first bird dog ever. I really had my heart set on a field bred English Cocker, but my wife said that there was no way I was spending that kind of money on a dog!

Zoe was actually a gift from one of my students (I'm a teacher). Her dog was bred by the neighbor's shorthair and had 11 puppies with 9 females. I had my pick and went with her.

She's been very forgiving of my lack of training experience and is an excellent bird finder. I will have to work on her with feathered dummies and cold birds quite a bit this winter as she wants to "pluck" the birds when she gets to them right now. I'll probably go through a FF program as well, but not until she grows up a bit more.

Right now, I just want her to learn about hunting birds, which she is doing a pretty good job of right now.
 
KDavis,

You have a PM!

Thanks for the help and hopefully we can get together over the time that I am there!
 
Halfbreed, Welcome!
Your starting off at a pretty good area. Livingston on the Yellowstone River bottoms has good pheasant hunting all the way to North Dakota. This is a good time of the year to pheasant hunt the valley cause landowners open the gates rather easily.:thumbsup:
Most of the lower elevations to the North and East with a mix of farming, grasslands, winter shelter will have some pheasants, Sharptails and Huns.
Mountain Grouse (Ruffs) hunting should be OK in the Brushy draws in the Foothills.
That's a nice looking pup You've got. I bet She's going to be a fine bird dog.:thumbsup:
 
mnmthunting,

I figured it was probably a decent spot. I know Ben O. Williams lives in Livingston. Thanks for the info!

Everyone has been so helpful on this site already! this is the best forum ever!!

And thanks for the compliments on the pup. Most people look down their noses at her after they find out she's not purebred. All I know is that she does what she's supposed to do, which is find birds!

if they hold, she points, if they run, she'll flush 'em. Kind of have the best of both worlds right now. I think she'll probably end up one or the other sooner or later.
 
region 3 biologist and gun problem

I spoke with the region 3 biologist on Friday. She was very nice and extremely helpful. She mentioned some places that I had done some research on, a few places that some of you suggested, and one or two spots I didn't know, so I guess I'm on the right track!

My only problem no is that my O/U is having a barrel malfunction issue. I had to take it in for warranty work and will probably not have it back in time for the hunt.

A friend of mine is going to lend me a gun for the trip, but I think I'll be buying another O/U or trying a SxS either after Christmas or next Fall. I've been interested in trying a CZ bobwhite for a while and with this malfunction, double triggers are looking more and more promising. Anyone had any experience with these?

Hope everyone is having a good late season. I took Zoe out on Saturday with no birds flushed. Sunday was brutal but I decided to take her out and work her without the gun. She flushed 3 roosters on the "walk" LOL!!
 
Learned my lesson on that one. I worked all that stuff on Saturday and not one bird!

shows what a little bit of bad weather can do!

It really is feast or famine out this way. Either you hit the pocket and you find a few birds, or you walk your butt off hoping to run into one.
 
Well, we made it to Livingston. I'll be running into town this morning to get my license and hopefully we can run into some birds!

I'll keep you all updated.


Zoe has done a terriffic job for me the last couple of weeks. She's found a good number of birds for me and I've been able to take a few of them. Anyone ever feel like a disappointment to their dog? Lol!
 
Great looking pup, eh! It can get windy around Livingston, but I've been away from Montana for 30-years. Have fun! Keep us posted.
 
Just got back from our first outing. Things looked promising when on the way out to the BMA we spotted a covey of partridge on the road. No birds flushed. We put about 6 miles in.

Hopefully we can figure this out and get on some before we leave!
 
Well guys,

I was able to hit up a few of the BMA's that you and the region 3 biologist mentioned to me, and was able to get out for two full days of hunting,but I'll tell you about the beginning of my trip, first.

When we arrived at the cabin, it was already dark, so I didn't have time to take the the pup out exploring. As I was unloading my equipment, my mother informed me that there was a clause in our rental agreement that guns were not even allowed on the property, let alone hunting. Nice to know after I've brought all of my stuff along. I kept it at the house anyways.

I took my dog for a walk in the morning and she pointed 2 coveys of huns and 4 ruffies. It was really cool just to see those birds because we don't have them around where I live. I was feeling pretty optimistic at that point.

On our way out to the first BMA, we saw a covey of huns and a rooster, another good sign. However, we were not able to locate any birds on the first BMA after a full day afield.

The next day, We decided to try another place that was recommended to us. It was a very large and fragmented BMA, so we bounced around from piece to piece that day. We hunted some very good looking ground but again, came up empty. I did pick up a partridge wing on the side of the road as we were leaving one area to try another.

The areas we hunted looked good to me, but I'm going to say that my inexperience hunting huns, sharpies and mountain grouse was probably the main factor in our lack of success. We still had fun!

All in all, It was a very fun weekend spent with my family. The country was beautiful and everyone we encountered was very friendly.

On a side note, I've never seen so many whitetails in my life! You guys have a borderline epidemic out there. We were hunting above a feedlot one day and the rancher had rolled out a bail for the cows. there was literally more deer in that pasture than black angus!! That's not an exaggeration, either, I counted! We stopped at a grocery store to pick up some snacks and I mentioned this to the checkout lady. She said some years they're so bad they eat the cedar siding off of people's houses! We probably saw north of 1,000 deer a day, especially on the BMA's that we hunted.

Thanks for all of your help guys! The end of the season wasn't a total loss, I shot a rooster on Saturday that should win me the tiger tail contest on Wednesday. he's over 24", but I have to leave the tail whole (rules so no one can cheat) until Wednesday night. I'll post a pi and let you know how it goes.

I'll definitely be back out to Montana to chase birds, hopefully with more success next time! If any of you that gave me advice ever need any for ND, let me know and I'd be more than happy to send some your way! I'd even try to get out with you if I can!

Cheers!

Halfbreed
 
Late season birds in heavily hunted areas in MT are hard hunting.
Having a good experience makes a trip.

That many deer around cattle feeding areas this early is NOT a good sign.
Predators are likely a factor, Drought also likely.
Not good for the birds either.:(
 
I figured that was the case. Next time I might just try to knock some doors down instead. I really figured that I'd be the only one out there, but there were people in the day before me in both cases. Not saying that was the case. I just have to learn about huns and sharpie hunting, and burn some boot leather.
 
cz bobwhite

a little late on your post, saw it cause i have been thinking maybe about a bird trip to montana or maybe just anywhere. sounds like your hunt was not really very productive, maybe the learning curve was. anyway, i own two bobwhites, a 410 and a 28 ga. my friends also use them. i have had them for about 4 years and love them. all cz's are made on the correct frame, if they have a problem it is that the cyanide, fake case colors, don't hold up well. i have killed 100's of birds with mine and love it, i also own some really nice bird guns but like these just as well. i am a believer in a sxs and it would have to have two triggers. as you get used to them you would likely never go back to a nearly useless selector system.
 
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