Hello all. We are gearing up for the annual trip to chase roosters around the Mott/Regent/New England area. We will be hunting from Monday, December 30th through December 4th. We will be hunting a combination of public and private land. Last year, late season, we saw a fair number of birds. How does this year compare to last year (in terms of bird numbers)? Right now, there is little to no snow in the forecast and we hope it stays that way. Just curious to see if anyone has hunted this area recently and would be willing to help us gauge what to expect. Thanks and happy Thanksgiving.
Mott/Regent/New England
- Thread starter Truth
- Start date
pheasanthunt
Member
nov 30th- dec 4th?
good luck, great time a year to hunt.
good luck, great time a year to hunt.
I've hunted close to that area once so far. There are birds, but the biggest change this year is the poor cover where I normally hunt. Apparently, they had enough rain to get the wheat, but all of the sloughs and ponds have much less water in them than previous years. The good bird cover (grass) is also shorter and thinner than usual.
RoosterBooster3632
New member
Regent
I was in Regent the last week of October. Was roughing hunting than in years past. Crops were still standing everywhere and the birds were pretty spread out. There was a few spots were we did well each time but that was not the norm.
I was in Regent the last week of October. Was roughing hunting than in years past. Crops were still standing everywhere and the birds were pretty spread out. There was a few spots were we did well each time but that was not the norm.
BRITTMAN
Well-known member
jeffstally
Member
Truth- how did you do out there? We're bird numbers looking good?
TRIP REPORT
Overall, we had a very good experience......For late November/Early December the weather was very nice (mid 30's to mid 40's most days) with only a light dusting of snow one night..The eastern part of ND (Fargo) received more snow.(older guys and dogs prefer not to walk in deep snow).
3 hunters, 3 dogs, hunted 4.5 days finished with 33 roosters.....Plenty of missed opportunities due to poor shooting....
Despite what the state said, our observation was no increase in bird numbers compared to last year (we hunted the same time last year) in this area...Numbers seemed to be very similar to last year...
We saw only one small flock of sharp tails and no huns...
Needless to say, the amount of crp is dramatically reduced compared to what used to exist in this area (we started hunting this area in the early 90's)..Fortunately we had a some private ground to hunt as the PLOTS area cover (that we looked at) was just too thin for winter pheasants....We also saw areas where a significant number of trees have been removed in areas we once regularly saw huns and sharp tails....Our concern is a harsh winter could seriously impact survival in reduced habitat...
Thank you for your replies
End of report
birdshooter
Well-known member
Thanks for the update Truth. One can only wonder what the future holds for the Mott/Regent area of SW NoDak with the continuing loss of CRP. There will still be Pheasants, but nothing like the mid 90's thru to about 2008. I suspect some farmers will continue to enroll in CRP if they are eligible and either continue to charge daily trespass fees or lease the entire acreage out to outfitters such as Cannonball company etc..
going to end up a pay to hunt deal in the SW even more.....the rest will be limited in birds and cover.....sad days for bird hunters, the PLOTS program not measuring up either.
dustin mudd
Active member
Many farmers in that area view pheasants as a cash crop, so even though the overall numbers ARE way down in my opinion also. Many farms do feed, and provide habitat to protect their Christmas spending income... There will be nursery to keep a base line population desirable for the Pay to Play crowd.