Some Good News For A Change

G

gjw

Well-known member
Hey all, just thought I'd give a little update on the current conditions and birds in my neck of the woods. Right now we are in a nice heat wave (in the 40's) and the snow is melting pretty good. We're even seeing bare ground now in places. A lot of the grain fields are getting bare or down to a couple inches of snow. Looks like we'll have this weather thru this week, but next week will be cooler, but no sub zero stuff. As far as the weather goes, we lucked out, but not out of the woods yet, still have March and part of April to go. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't get hit again. Still this will sure help the birds out, more feed for them to find and more cover also.

I've been seeing quite a few birds on the road, more than I expected. Had a nice talk with our Mail Man, he said he's been seeing a ton of birds on his rural route. Darn good news. Looks like the survival rate was better then expected. I just hope we have a good spring, pray for that one.

Anyway, just thought some of you would be interested.

Best,

Greg
 
Hey Joel, I live south of Mandan in a small farm town.

Best,

Greg
 
SW So.Dak.

Hi do you have anyupdates on the conditions in the sw portion of the state on current snow condtions, I suppose I should ask about The WILLISTON basin as well. We are melting slowing in western Montana...
 
Hi Gregory,

My son and I are interested in a N.Dakota/S.Dakota pheasant hunt this year.

We have had some good luck on private ground in S. Dakota we paid per gun to hunt. It was excellent and worth it. Would like to explore N. Dakota as well. If you have any leads/ideas/options they would be greatly appreciated.
We have been thinking about duck hunting as well, but not as experienced as
with the pheasants.

Again, any info would be appreciated. We live in Northern Illinois.

Steve Vecchio
stevenvecchio@aol.com
 
Hey all,

Joel, Darby and Birdhunter, your very welcome, only to happy to report good news.

Dustin, the SW got hit also, but not as bad as around here. We're still in a heat wave thru this week. It also rained this morning which really settled a lot of the snow. We're seeing a lot of melting now, bare ground in most places, with snow were it really piled up.

Steve, around the Mott area (which is the pheasant capital for our state) it's becoming a pay to hunt area much like SD. There are a couple outfitters who can set you up on private land for a fee of course. You can also knock on doors to get access (either for pay or free) in that area. Public hunting areas (PLOTS) are there, but they really get hit hard and to be honest for the first month of the season not worth the effort. You can get birds, but it's tough, they wise up really fast around there. If you don't mind paying you'll get plenty of birds. Just google ND bird hunting Outfitters, you'll get plenty of hits. I would advise you to avoid Standing Rock Indian Res. Great hunting there, but you have to hire a guide and also there maybe problems because of the Pipeline protests. Better safe than sorry.

The best area for duck hunting is around the Wing area, lots of WPA's and potholes. That's where I hunt ducks. Good area. The Minot area is also great. You may want to hire an outfitter if you want to hunt ducks, or do some scouting. Almost any pothole will hold ducks. This year looks to be a good one with all the run off we'll be getting.

Just a couple reminders, the first week of pheasant and duck hunting non-residents can not hunt state owned lands (PLOTS, School lands etc), but WPA's (which can produce great pheasant hunting, with non tox shot BTW), private lands are wide open to all. November is our deer gun opener, starts on the 10th and runs for 16 days, so you'll have to contend with deer hunters not to mention the weather. And lastly, all shotguns are limited to 3 shells even for upland game.

Hope this helped. If you have any other questions let me know,only to happy to help.

Best,

Greg
 
This fall will be my first western bird hunting, and I'm already learning some things that I should have done differently. Somehow in my planning I never even considered deer season. I'll be arriving just a week give or take from the deer season opener. Lesson learned.

At least knowing now will prevent me being surprised when I actually get there, and give me time to hopefully make the most of my available hunting time.

Very appreciative of the reports and info!
 
It will be mine as well. I didn't even think of deer season but I too will be there for the first week of Gun deer season
 
steven vecchio said:
Greg,

Thank you for the excellent information and prompt reply.

Steve
Click to expand...

Your very welcome! Only too happy to help.

I want to wish each of you on this thread a very successful and safe hunt when you come out next season to the state I love so much!

Safe travels everyone

Greg
 
Winter Update

Greg,
Thanks for the update, after the brutal early winter you had out there I was wondering how bad things were gonna get by spring. Nice to hear there is some relief for the birds happening.
My son and I did our first ever trip out to the NW part of the state last fall, with my father-in-law, who had hunted there off and on the last 10 years.
Plans were finalized even before we left, and we will be back in October again, it was an incredible experience for both of us! Such a different hunt than what we do at home for ruffed grouse. Here's to a good spring and good nesting season.
 
MNXplorer said:
Greg,
Thanks for the update, after the brutal early winter you had out there I was wondering how bad things were gonna get by spring. Nice to hear there is some relief for the birds happening.
My son and I did our first ever trip out to the NW part of the state last fall, with my father-in-law, who had hunted there off and on the last 10 years.
Plans were finalized even before we left, and we will be back in October again, it was an incredible experience for both of us! Such a different hunt than what we do at home for ruffed grouse. Here's to a good spring and good nesting season.
Click to expand...

Hi and your welcome, I was just curious where in the NW part did you hunt? My family was originally from Niobe. It's a very small farm town by Kenmare

Best,

Greg
 
2016

Greg,
We hunted in the Crosby area, so drove right thru Kenmare. My in-laws pulled their 5th wheel out, and we camped at the city campground. Its 600 miles one way but it was so worth it. Not just the hunting, tho it was very good, but to just see all the geese, cranes and ducks was incredible.
Just last weekend I smoked up 3 pheasants, wrapped the breasts and thighs up in bacon and in the smoker for a few hours. So good!! And they bring back the memories. My son (14) cannot wait to get back out there again!

Chris
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top