SW ND: Lots Of Corn & Seeds Still Up

Lamjar said:
Was very surprised to see that most of plots land between Scranton & Hettinger were short on good hunting cover. Just wondering if the CRP contracts expired.
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Well, nothing new here. The PLOTS program is a good idea, but needs some major reform IMO. It seems G&F are more concerned about quantity over quality. They love to say how much is enrolled in PLOTS, but as you saw, many are just crappy. Looks good on the guide and maps, but when you pull up to them......might as well hunt the Walmart parking lot.

Mind you, there are some good ones out there, but I've found other public lands can be more productive. School lands, state lands and WPA's to name a couple.

I really like ON-X, great tool to find some good areas.

Best of luck to you!

Greg
 
Hey all - excited to get out a few times in the next month. Historically i've always checked the ND Crop Harvest Report, but looks like due to the government shut down, they arent updating that this year. Anyone know of other places to see how much of the crop is out? Couple google searches and I wasnt able to really find anything. I know it's been pretty wet this year - just trying to get an idea of what we're walking/swimming into. We usually hunt south around south central ND to the east of the Missouri river - anyone know how the harvest has been in that area?

Cheers!
 
The farmer friend in SW ND I hunt with said he is almost done picking corn. However, deer season starts tomorrow, and those guys are SERIOUS about their deer hunting. Between the corn not being picked, above average warm temps, rain, and 30 mph winds, I'm not going up there till after Thanksgiving.
 
gjw, The SD GF&P is proud of their "million" or so acres of WIA. However, the vast majority of those acres are pasture land void of any game. In fact, you could play golf on much of that land and never lose a ball. The School Lands in western SD are the same. They get grazed to the ground. Eastern SD does have some acres called CREP that I've heard good things about. But, it's many hours from here in the pickup, and ND is closer.
 
Just got home from a four day trip. We hunt mainly around Dickenson and I'd say 95% at least of crops are out. We hunted almost all PLOTS and a little grasslands. Pheasants numbers were outstanding with limits everyday before 10am. The sharpies and huns on the other hand were a struggle for us to say the least. We shot all species every day but never limited on them. A great trip to be sure and dogs and myself are all footsore and ready for a day off but we'll be back next year for sure.
 
Guys quick post. On the way back home from Southwestern ND. I won’t say where but I have been doing this every season sometimes twice a season for 55 years so I know what I’m talking about We have great veteran dogs that have delivered countless times. My rancher friends said come on out lots and lots of birds. This was undoubtedly the most disappointing bird hunt I have ever been on. Tons of standing crops very mild weather. Nothing to force the birds into cover. I think they stayed in standing corn and sun flowers all day till roosting time. Anyway as always I enjoyed just being there but1670 miles one way and all the money spent it was crushing. Should have went to Nebraska and hunted quail. Anyway I’m not crying about it that why it’s called hunting. I don’t know if there truly not that many birds or just scattered all to heck. This little skiff of snow coming tommrow should tell the tale. Good luck guys.
 
Dixieman said:
Guys quick post. On the way back home from Southwestern ND. I won’t say where but I have been doing this every season sometimes twice a season for 55 years so I know what I’m talking about We have great veteran dogs that have delivered countless times. My rancher friends said come on out lots and lots of birds. This was undoubtedly the most disappointing bird hunt I have ever been on. Tons of standing crops very mild weather. Nothing to force the birds into cover. I think they stayed in standing corn and sun flowers all day till roosting time. Anyway as always I enjoyed just being there but1670 miles one way and all the money spent it was crushing. Should have went to Nebraska and hunted quail. Anyway I’m not crying about it that why it’s called hunting. I don’t know if there truly not that many birds or just scattered all to heck. This little skiff of snow coming tommrow should tell the tale. Good luck guys.
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Well that is just what I found. Even where all the crops were in we struggled. Some people found birds but not us. I have veteran dogs and one day the only bird we found was a dead rooster someone else didn’t find. One telling factor is there were no dead birds on the road and we saw none flying around during the golden hour.
 
Collie, sorry to hear that I have doing this every year since I was 11 years old. I was deeply disappointed. I will never drive from. north Georgia to ND again. I will hunt in Nebraska and Kansas where I have many friends. Besides enjoying my two buddies friendship this was a freaking disaster. I only shot 4 birds in four days and walked average 8 miles a day and hunted every cover known to man except all the standing corn. It may be out in Dickinson where I have hunted many times but it sure as hell is not out in the far southwest. Any I don’t get a redux. Safe travels man. Take care.
 
Dixieman said:
Collie, sorry to hear that I have doing this every year since I was 11 years old. I was deeply disappointed. I will never drive from. north Georgia to ND again. I will hunt in Nebraska and Kansas where I have many friends. Besides enjoying my two buddies friendship this was a freaking disaster. I only shot 4 birds in four days and walked average 8 miles a day and hunted every cover known to man except all the standing corn. It may be out in Dickinson where I have hunted many times but it sure as hell is not out in the far southwest. Any I don’t get a redux. Safe travels man. Take care.
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Thanks. I also only got 4 while hunting out of Dickinson. The only thing I regret was I have a one year old who I really wanted to work on pheasants. There just was not enough scent to decently have him figure it out. The veterans could squeeze a few in the air but he needs some really dumb ones to get a clue. I thought about Nebraska but ending up in SD, really need some dumb hens for junior. Funny about the corn, there was still a lot standing where I hunted along with a lot of sunflowers. Last day in the morning I saw them harvesting sunflowers in a field. Later that day a good portion of the field gone. There was a draw close, the best cover around. My hopes high I took the A team in and put up one hen.
 
Damn. Like I said the biggest disappointment of my hunting life. And believe me I’ve had a few. Last trip to ND. Can’t roll those dice anymore.
 
One last comment. We did pick a few Huns. As I said I only shot four roosters and four Huns in four days. Two of my best friends with decades of upland experience and good dogs did awlful. One of them killed the only rooster he saw that he had a shot at. My other friend only shot is gun twice the whole week at roosters that were border line range that it. Those were the only roosters we saw besides birds crossing the road to roost at dusky dark. As far Sharptails go last they were incredible in five days we saw several hundred and got 15. This year we saw two sharps one sitting on a wire and one flying across the road. If someone around the general area around Hettinger and Lemmon SD area says something different I would have to see it to believe it.
 
Dixieman said:
Limit before 10:00 every day. Horse shit. My last post on this forum good luck to you all. Adios.
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So I will tell you I didn’t shoot a limit up there by 10 but there were a couple days I didn’t start hunting before 11-1130. Had a couple days it came easy and a couple days it came hard. There were plenty of birds around but I moved around until I found them. Sounds like maybe you were locked into something and were unable to shake it.
 
Dixieman said:
Limit before 10:00 every day. Horse shit. My last post on this forum good luck to you all. Adios.
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Not sure if you read my whole post or not but the limit was on pheasants not huns and sharptails. The spots we hunted even you could've possibly limited on them. On Wednesday we walked 16.2 miles and no limit on huns and sharpies but we did kill some of both. Sorry if my post made your hindend hurt a little. Maybe you should look into preserve hunting.
 
Dixieman said:
That’s good. I’m glad for you but you don’t know anything about my hunting experience brother
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I agree, I don't know but you don't know about ours either yet you called ma a liar. If I misunderstood your post I apologize but seemed you think I exaggerated.
 
I heard stories of hail this summer so bad they had to get out the snow plows to clear the roads. Perhaps that or some other weather related reason can explain the vast difference in experiences.
On my trip to Lemmon-Hettinger area mid-October I saw plenty of birds, but hard to get to them with all the sunflowers and corn still in. Sharptail numbers were good as well but they were flocked up and I'm a sharpie novice.
 
chad.vis said:
I agree, I don't know but you don't know about ours either yet you called ma a liar. If I misunderstood your post I apologize but seemed you think I exaggerated.
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You didn’t misunderstand it and I don’t know why anyone would think you were one. As any experienced hunter knows, five miles can make all the difference in the world. Consider my experience up there. I was into fair birds the first day and a half, but decided to travel 25 miles NW where I had done well in the past. I saw some birds but it was honestly better back where I had been, so the next two days I trucked around there and got into a couple good bunches. Right after I left I got texts from a group of five I know that were up in the general area I vacated and they were shooting limits everyday while I had seen few. That’s why it’s called hunting
 
Chad, I apologize. I would not call you a liar. I would never do that. But I got to tell you. I will not say every year I got a limit but most years we were always close. I hunted in the Dickinson area where you were and it was always sweet. Yeah limited out every year then I lost my ranch friend and had to relocate. I know birds are affected by the weather in different locales. I’m just telling you I put in the miles every day with great veteran dogs and just didn’t see birds like in the past. Blue bird warm days birds staying in the standing crops I don’t know but I’m telling you I think the bird numbers were not there at least down there. You could at least stumble into a bunch every now and then just disappointing. Anyway I’m sorry if I offended you. I was just talking some shit. Sorry if I hurt your feelings I didn’t mean to. Glad you had a great hunt. I did not for the first time in many years. I am jealous. Take care man.
 
Collie. Sorry man It was such a strange year. Never seen anything like it. North Dakota has always been so good to me and I love it. I been fighting prostate cancer for the last ten months. That’s okay not many birds but a good time. Hope the very best for your future hunts. Don’t think I will be back. I’m North Georgia right now 34 degrees and snow showers amazing on November the 10th.
 
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