Retirement trip

[Alaskan swamp collies]

Just finished a retirement present to myself. Hunted across Montana,North Dakota and South Dakota. Hunted almost exclusively public land and never the same place twice. Not even the spot I had 3 in the vest in less than an hour. Not the best way to get the most birds,but sure was fun. Weirdest moment was flushing a bird right up into the wings of one of those giant wind generators. Felt like science fiction. Most memorable retrieve was a bird broke through the ice and then got stuck under it. Dog spent several minutes using her front feet and teeth to get it to surface and bringing it in.Hunted in 70 degrees and below zero. Worst moment was when we rented a house in South Dakota that allowed dogs. Within 30 minutes of moving our gear in one of the dogs showed up with a ripped up bag of rat poison in his mouth. Enough was gone to kill him, house owner said it had been there for 2 years and no other dog had been in it. Anyway we treated him and it looks like he will be okay. That or the rats got most of the poison,hopefully not the dogs that stayed in the house before us. Moved to motel.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Sounds like you had a great trip. I've done those, too, but much shorter distance and time. I'll do it again. Explore new lands I haven't seen. Scout and hunt different ground each day.

 

[McFarmer]

Sounds like a good trip all in all.

I had a retrieve similar to that. The dog was digging at a patch of ice out in the middle of nowhere. Sure enough we broke the ice and there was the bird. Don’t know for sure how he got under there, ice was at least two inches thick.

That same dog would point pocket gophers out in the pasture, in their underground tunnel. I couldn’t figure out what the heck she was doing until I saw the mounds and put it together.

 

[BritChaser]

Nice retirement present! I'm going to retire . . (?) . . someday.

 

[jackrabbit]

Sounds like a trip of a lifetime!

One question I have, how does the pheasant hunting in Montana compare to South Dakota? I am very familiar to how South Dakota works, whether it's public or private, and where and how many birds you can reasonably expect to see. I would love to be able to shoot a pheasant with the background of a mountain off of in the distance... and just explore a new area! Is there public land in Montana that you can reasonably expect to at least see a few birds at with a good dog?

 

[Alaskan swamp collies]

Sounds like a trip of a lifetime!

One question I have, how does the pheasant hunting in Montana compare to South Dakota? I am very familiar to how South Dakota works, whether it's public or private, and where and how many birds you can reasonably expect to see. I would love to be able to shoot a pheasant with the background of a mountain off of in the distance... and just explore a new area! Is there public land in Montana that you can reasonably expect to at least see a few birds at with a good dog?

The good news is that there is probably more available land to hunt in Montana than any other state. The bad news is that where in South Dakota you count the number of flushes per mile walked, up n Montana you count the number of miles walked per flush. That being said if you put the miles on,both in the truck and on foot you can find some birds. Nowhere’s like the numbers you find in South Dakota.