Season Assessment

Bob Peters said:
Dixieman it would be interesting to hear from the landowners where you hunted how it went later in the season. I do appreciate your honest report and good luck in your future endeavors. I lived in North Georgia for 3 years, beautiful state.
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Well I hunted early and after deer season in ND. Early sucked, I mean sucked. Some hunters did okay but for me it was like Dixieman said. Left for new pastures for a couple weeks and when I came back it was some better, but that was a really low bar to pass. I had a friend who hunted in December and he did somewhat better but nothing like past years. Sharptails were such that if I did see one I’m not sure I would have shot, Huns were a fraction of last year but better than the grouse.
 
Dixieman said:
I don’t know what happened but I have some ideas. I hunted southeast Nebraska for years and had some amazing hunts. Now it is a dumpster fire. Hunted North Dakota the last ten years and it is headed the same way as Nebraska. Things I have noted is loss of CRP, weather events And most of all Clean Farming and herbicides and pesticides. I noted this year in Dakota that in between rows of Sun Flowers and Corn it looked like an interstate highway or golf course. No trashy cover in between rows at all. Not like it used to be. If there were a few birds you could never get close to them. Like a told a friend on another forum after over 50 years of making two to three trips out west from Georgia it no longer makes any sense to spend the time, money and effort. I have had many fabulous hunts, some not so good, some bad, this year was beyond bad. Just doesn’t work for me anymore. I’m hanging it up. Take care.
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Those sounds pretty familiar. All ground nesting birds are in trouble. At least we saw the golden years!
 
carptom1 said:
Yea that’s a long way. I thought 900 was a lot. I grew up hunting quail in Missouri and se Kansas. In the 70’s Missouri was the quail capital of the nation. I could find birds twenty minutes from the house. On several spots I could be in 10-12 covey’s. Two hour hunts were the norm. It was nothing to shoot a hundred a year. My dad raised/ trained English Pointers and my buddy and I would load a couple in the old station wagon and have at it. We had a blast. That only lasted a few years. It was great and I missed the best of it. In the sixties they were harvesting 2-3 million a year.
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Same here in south Indiana. Probably not 10-12 but enough to have a ball.
 
Thanks for all the responses guys. I wish I was the only one experiencing the decline but I’m not. Yeah we have all seen much better days. I think as bird dude said all ground nesting birds are in trouble deep trouble it would seem.
 
By the way I gave been on these forums for a couple years. I have enjoyed all of you guys comments and reports. You guys have been great. Like my dad always said dedicated bird dog folks are the nicest people you ever encounter. All of you are knowledgeable and know what you are talking about.
 
I meant I have been in the forums for a couple years. I wish all of you the very best. Wish me luck on the golf course to try to break 80 every now and then. Take care, good health and may the Lord bless all of you. It has been a great pleasure. Signing off Dixieman
 
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