Montana 2018!!

Well, I'll type it out some time.its been in our family for a long time.I prefer pheasant, over sharptail, and the eastern sharptails are better eating than the central my. Birds.
 
Yeah, my dad was an avid bird Hunter when I was growing up, and he liked to cook.I have fond memories of all our dogs, my dad always had field springers, and later, golden retrievers.Most of his dogs did not retrieve, lol, but they did flush birds.My dad developed a knack for cooking birdsby the early 70's.
 
Stopped in Northern Utah to pick up the rest of our Hunting Party. Moving through Idaho and it’s clear and cold! Weather outlook looks to be in the low-mid 60’s if you can believe it.
 
calamari said:
You should be sweating by Wed.
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It’s warm for sure. 6 miles yesterday, and 5 so far today. Human miles, so I know the dogs have put a lot on. We’ve seen one covey of sharptails. We’ve hunted CRP, WMA, and a ranch that the state took over. Nothing else. I’m wondering if that cold spell last week had any effect on the birds. Oh well, at least we are trying!

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Goosemaster said:
Are you guys in eastern mt.?
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No, we went northwestern. Now we cruised down outside of Helena for our last hunt day tomorrow on some local advice. We should have bit the bullet and went eastern. But I’m not gonna second guess things now! I’m having a great time. Beautiful country, extremely nice helpful people. It’s great.
 
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That's wonderful. This is sort of a down year for mt.But it's still good.Try between Lewistown, and Roy, Mt.
 
Goosemaster said:
That's wonderful. This is sort of a down year for mt.But it's still good.Try between Lewistown, and Roy, Mt.
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There's not much public access in that Lewistown-Roy section but there are birds there on private stuff. You can try knocking on doors but look at the conditions on the BMAs west of Lewistown and you'll see, for Montana, it's not unwashed hunter friendly country.

Beni, does your local advice involve Canyon Ferry Res.? If so, I'd go drink in a bar. The BMAs there are really snow dependent big game stuff and it's mostly pivot sprinkler fields. Helena is a college town so any hunting near there is hunted by college student hunters.
 
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I agree. It's excellent bird country but excellent bird country you can't hunt is, well, just a zoo you drive through. :cheers:
 
I hunt alone, drive an old beater truck, I don't dress like a hunter, I get on some really good places sometimes.It works.
 
Goosemaster, I hunt alone too, drive a truck with 400,000 miles on the odometer with just a camper shell that I sleep in the back of and hunted with one dog. I take my hat off when I introduce myself and use the manners my mother taught me. I slow down on those gravel roads when I meet another vehicle so I don't break windshields or get mine broken. I shot no more than two birds in any spot and moved on leaving just bent grass. Like you, I found that made a difference. Those are good, generous, tough people back there and they understand and respect someone who understands that they are visitors in somebody else's house. Guys who hunt in groups with a bunch of dogs will never see the hunting you and I have experienced. I can't recall walking more than a mile to shoot the birds I wanted and only walked a longer distance to get back to the truck over a different route and avoid trespassing on land I had no permission to be on.
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calamari said:
Goosemaster, I hunt alone too, drive a truck with 400,000 miles on the odometer with just a camper shell that I sleep in the back of and hunted with one dog. I take my hat off when I introduce myself and use the manners my mother taught me. I slow down on those gravel roads when I meet another vehicle so I don't break windshields or get mine broken. I shot no more than two birds in any spot and moved on leaving just bent grass. Like you, I found that made a difference. Those are good, generous, tough people back there and they understand and respect someone who understands that they are visitors in somebody else's house. Guys who hunt in groups with a bunch of dogs will never see the hunting you and I have experienced. I can't recall walking more than a mile to shoot the birds I wanted and only walked a longer distance to get back to the truck over a different route and avoid trespassing on land I had no permission to be on.
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Good on ya.no pay hunting, no new suburban, no wine, no fancy bs.what I do, is I act like I'm retarted, and it works for getting permission. I gi t a rooster, and 2 grouse today, and missed on a flock of huns, and a group of 5 roosters, because I had trouble with my saftey!! Lol
 
Well all, time for closing thoughts. As calamari said, it was a learning experience. Next time I’ll push for more road time and less sleep to get where we should be. Our final stop allowed us the greatest opportunity. The problem was the fields were full of hunters as suggested. We saw some birds next to private land, but there was no way they they would have let all of us on it. I agree with you two, there’s something about traveling light and without a bunch of people that opens things up. As I said before, I have no regrets. The land is beautiful, people are nice and it’s better than sitting at home!! Thank you all for the encouragement and support.
 
It all comes down to scouting, never hunting with more than one other guy, or hunting alone, looking pathetically poor, but not looking shabby, driving a farm truck, sometimes acting retarted,talking to farmers, not looking like a hunter.Sometimes I wear a old golf shirt, and I look kind of like Nick faldo, and that works for getting permissions. If they think you are pathetic, and no threat to their bird population, they might let you hunt.
 
Goosemaster said:
It all comes down to scouting, never hunting with more than one other guy, or hunting alone, looking pathetically poor, but not looking shabby, driving a farm truck, sometimes acting retarted,talking to farmers, not looking like a hunter.Sometimes I wear a old golf shirt, and I look kind of like Nick faldo, and that works for getting permissions. If they think you are pathetic, and no threat to their bird population, they might let you hunt.
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Goosemaster, I can't let this slide. If you have to put forward a false persona to get permission to hunt, personally, I think you are exhibiting terrible behavior. In effect you're lying to hunt and treating someone who is being generous with their land like a chump. Those ranchers back there name the big game on their property and value them for their own use. The birds, not so much. They are more concerned about hunters bringing in noxious weeds, leaving trash, tearing up their roads and getting stuck and setting it all on fire out of stupidity. Play acting to get permission isn't being clever, it's being an as......
 
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