ND Opener

I am not a hunter ,so don't know first hand, but I only heard 3 shots all weekend whereas usually it sounds like a battlefield in the distance. I ran a test with a plot of sunflowers though. I went out at 7 am and watched to see what went into the field from grass cover and counted 43 birds. I went back later at 4:30 and watched (until 6:15) what went back in and counted 91 birds and 9 deer. I drove the road by the field and a few roosters gave the alarm distress from the field so I know there were more in there. Until the crops come down it will be hard out in the fields I think to find them...They have a lot of stuff to hide in for now.
 
I am not a hunter ,so don't know first hand, but I only heard 3 shots all weekend whereas usually it sounds like a battlefield in the distance. I ran a test with a plot of sunflowers though. I went out at 7 am and watched to see what went into the field from grass cover and counted 43 birds. I went back later at 4:30 and watched (until 6:15) what went back in and counted 91 birds and 9 deer. I drove the road by the field and a few roosters gave the alarm distress from the field so I know there were more in there. Until the crops come down it will be hard out in the fields I think to find them...They have a lot of stuff to hide in for now.

Thanks for the update. Do you think your seeing more birds than last year ?
 
No, a lot less than normal. So spotty though, places I used to see a lot have none and I see little groups in places I never saw them before. There are so many unharvested crops

eg. corn,sunflowers and a lot of wheat that true numbers are hard to determine. Corn is taller than it ever has been. cover stayed green so much longer than normal because

of all the moisture so is thicker this time of year than normal.
 
Hi, well, here what my opener looked like:

lg2De5M.jpg


So far this year has not been the best. My son and I went out today, couldn't get to most of our spots due to very sloppy, muddy roads. Even had one road that was blocked by a big snow drift. A couple of the fields we hunt, were about ankle deep in water. The other couple areas we hit, we didn't see anything. Not looking good so far. Oh, supposed to rain again Sunday and a couple days next week. Will this weather pattern ever end! Lots of standing crops also. They won't be harvested until next month. What we need is a good solid 2-3 weeks of dry weather. Iguess we'll see about that!

Good Luck!

Greg
 
A group of 6 in an area hunted for years were out for 3 days and killed 25 roosters over 7 dogs. Lots of miles per man averaged 7+ per man. All birds were young of the year and no big groups. It was still a fun year as two young dogs learned a lot. Saw lots of coyotes and foxes. I had one coyote come to 40 yards following my gsp. Wish I had it on video. Some crops still in, some wheat not going to be harvested as its laying down. Plots in the area suck, no cover either mowed or harvested wheat with no other cover. Might be better in a month but with birds seen may have to look for anther area for Nov.
 
My brother and I hunted in the central part of the state with 2 dogs. We were 1 bird short of our 3 day limit, but we put on many miles. The areas that we hunted were extremely wet. You will definitely need some type of rubber water proof boot. There are many crops still in the field and I am not sure how they will be harvested until there is a deep freeze. There are definitely birds out there but until the cattails slews freeze they will be hard to get too.
 
We hunted SW part of state for 3.5 days on opener regent area lots of snow
And crops still up.We did not due good all cover was snowed in.Birds stayed
In crops.Moved about 30 miles south did much better.No corn was planted
In area because of water .Lots of wheat and cover.All the birds we shot were eating wheat.Could see them in middle of fields eating but they had to go to cover through out the day.3 guys 2 dogs got 19 birds.Hunted on pay to hunt land.
Jim
 
No problem limiting both days. Sunday was possibly the most unique day of pheasant hunting in my 50+ years of chasing roosters. I found them concentrated in brushy tree lines & shelterbelts to get out of the wind. They couldn't run in the snow and didn't want to flush in the wind gusting to over 40 MPH. They would get up, fly a few yards chest high, then dive back to the ground. Mass flushes were the rule of the day when my labs & I got the birds pushed down to the end of the cover, often there were so many birds in the air I couldn't shoot for fear of hitting hens. When they did get up, they were really rocketing in that wind...
 
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Leaving Wednesday headed up there. Gonna be in the Stutsman / Kidder county areas. Hopefully some more crops come off and it dries up!
 
Many (if not most) cattails are now under water with duck hunters hunting the water on the outside of the cattails rather than water inside. Much of the pheasants winter cover is flooded. This does not bode well if winter is snowy and long.
 
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