Northwestern North Dakota opportunity

goldenboy

Well-known member
Guys,

It looks like North Dakota has had a bit of a boom in pheasant numbers. Has anyone on the site hunted up there at all? I don't see anything for hunting lodges in the area. Anybody had any luck knocking on doors? What about farmers who would charge a trespass fee? Anybody have any direction for me? I have hunted in the southwestern part of the state a lot but no experience north of 94 at all. I you want you can send me a private message to share any info you might have on the area. I am looking to try it out there but wanted to get a little intel if possible. 1/4 of the state is a pretty big area! Thanks in advance for any help.
 
NW

Hi Joel,
I've been out to extreme NW N. Dakota only twice, so take this for the limited data it is.
I went out for a week in 2016 and 2017, with my 14/15 year old son and my father in law. Hunted the second week of the season (MEA week here in MN) both times.
We camped at the county fairgrounds in Crosby in the inlaws 5th wheel. Camping was free, and had electric, water and sewer hookup, and a showerhouse.
My father in law had hunted that area 3 or 4 times in the previous 10 years. The first year we really only hunted about a half dozen spots. We only hunted unposted private and public spots. We found very good numbers of birds, my son had some great shooting and limited the first 4 days we were there. All of these spots were less than 10 miles from Crosby. We saw a couple of small groups of other guys, but that was it for the week. We all came home with our limits easily.
In 2017 things were much tougher with the drought conditions. We really had to work for our birds, we saw about half as many as we saw in 2016.
Could not make a trip work last fall, and now I'm having total knee replacement surgery in 2 weeks so this year is probably out too. The trip in 2016 was our first out west for pheasant, so I'm sure more experienced guys would have done better than we did both years. It was nice not having to deal with other hunters, I think only 1 time did we head to a spot and see someone else there. There were more waterfowl hunters than pheasant guys around.
 
I know 2017 was a hard year for everyone out there. We hunted in SW North Dakota and it was really tough. But I have been hearing good things about the northwestern part of the state. Thanks for the updates and the help. I might just give it a try this fall. Anyone else got any tips for me?
 
Breaking news....NW ND washed away, along with NE Montana.....rain,rain and more rain. Sheridan county Montana actually banned all heavy truck traffic on county gravel roads till further notice....wow.
 
It is happening as I write this, and has been happening most of September, I have friends who have been unable to harvest, I doubt we make the national news, doesn't fit their objectives.
 
I usually don’t make it to the NW corner but heard really good reports last year. We trekked over once but ran into weather that made it almost impossible to hunt. I think it is posted up but mostly for deer hunters so access always is better after that is over. We did get a lot of rain the past couple of weeks, should be dry in a couple of days at least on the ND side. Never have went SE but maybe this year I’ll have to check it out.
 
I Know the rain has been crazy in Central part of the state, We had 7 inches in 3+ weeks, a lot of roads and trails are in tuff shape. I know my renter said he would do his best to fix the roads and trails he messed up while harvesting. I know he is just finishing up wheat this week, that he started in the middle of august. I think the harvest will be much later this year in the central part of the state. but I am hearing good reports on pheasant numbers.

Jim
 
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