prairie chicken

B

Bob Peters

Well-known member
Boy, I really hope I draw for the prairie chicken this year. Such a fun hunt. When I went almost three years ago me and Skye had a riot. Missed a flock of birds right off the bat. Hit a wild flush the 2nd day in the AM that I didn't get a shot at, then the weather got HOT and we layed off, but managed a green wing teal on a wma pond, just so she could get a retrieve. I kinda gave up hope day 3 but kept trying, if that makes any sense. About 10 or 10 30 AM Skye scented up two prairie chickens in quick succession and we had our limit. I was a little nervous because all you ever hear about are pointing dogs for grouse. But she scented them up and flushed both of them right off her nose. It was a really great trip and one I'll never forget. I got checked by the wardens every day, but they were good dudes. I've got a wedding on opening weekend so if I get a license will have to hunt the 2nd wknd.20220925_142117.jpg
 
I'm hoping I can get picked this year too but I just got picked last year so I don't have any hopes for it. I'll probably head north into the sharpie zone for a few days this fall because I like hunting the prairie up there too.
 
ND tried to jumpstart a PC flock or two in the 80s and early 90s by diversifying the gene pool.

They were active in the Sheyenne National Grasslands and a remnant flock on some prairie outside of Grand Forks. I set up a blind and photographed them about 40 years ago.

I believe they are still there in both regions, but they never reached huntable numbers.

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BRITTMAN said:
a remnant flock on some prairie outside of Grand Forks
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I drove through Grand Forks and Walsh counties last September for work and saw several dedicated plots of land for Prairie Chicken restoration. They had signs posted. I am not familiar with these birds so I don't know what kind of habitat they need. To me it looked pretty bare. But then again, the whole landscape was bare up there too.
 
gimruis said:
I I am not familiar with these birds so I don't know what kind of habitat they need. To me it looked pretty bare. But then again, the whole landscape was bare up there too.
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They need lots of open native prairie. Shorter grass than pheasants. They eat lots of things. Berries and grasshoppers I know they really like. And bean fields. Really neat birds.
 
I'm not sure when it opens up, I just know it closes August 16th haha it's usually sometime in July from my memory
 
First birds were easily my best two. Truly a pair of boomers.

I don't think I will get close to this again. This was when season was in mid-October.


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How do you tell the difference between a hen pheasant and a prairie chicken? I asked someone I know in person, and they said, oh you'll know. But HOW? What do you guys look for?
 
I was hunting out in western NE when the farm told me they had a PC pinned down in the final rows of corn they were picking. I ask how I could tell the difference between a hen? They said they fly different. Bird flushes, I shoot. Pick my bird up and say to myself “man that sure looks like a hen”. Got on the web and compared pictures for like 45 min. Finally I’m like dude this things a hen and chucked it out the window. Never seen one in the wild while hunting. I guess they fly with a big swoop of the wings. But I guess i suck at knowing the difference.
 
Chickens generally have a much faster wing beat than Pheasants. When they get up, their wings are really flapping but they also have a wing pattern that goes something like "flap flap flap glide, flap flap flap glide".

The coloration is different, but they are similar to a hen. Chickens are a tad darker than a hen pheasant, hens also have a longer tail feather than a chicken. I will say, I'm not too ashamed to admit I once accidentally shot a hen while chicken hunting here in MN. My (legitimate) excuse is the sun was in my eyes. Bird got up right in the sun, flew straight into the sun, I shot it, dog goes and grabs it and starts to bring it back to me and I knew before she even got to me that it was a hen.

Only reason I shot without having a good look is due to there being a minimal pheasant population where there's chickens in MN. Before then, I'd only encountered one rooster before in years of chasing chickens. Normally I always confirm what it is before I pull the trigger but pheasants are such an after thought up there so you're dealing with chickens 99.9% of the time.
 
Pheasants are not that common in most of the prairie chicken range pheasants ... exception is the southern units especially after a mild year or two.

In MN hen pheasants are known to drop eggs in prairie chicken nests and this can be detrimental to the overall population.

Perhaps the oddest conservation issue affecting the greater prairie-chicken comes from another upland species: the ring-necked pheasant. Pheasant hens will occasionally lay eggs in prairie chicken nests, a sinister practice called nest parasitism (Westemeier, et al. 1998). Prairie chicken hens will usually leave their nests within a day of their first egg hatching. Pheasant eggs tend to require a few days less for incubation than prairie chicken eggs. As a result, hens will see the pheasant chicks and lead them away from the nest, leaving the almost-ready prairie chicken eggs to a grim future.
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Maybe pheasants (including hens) should be open along with sharptail grouse to the PC hunters holding a license.
 
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