The End?

BRITTMAN said:
Growing up in ND and traveling to SW ND to hunt pheasant in late season ... all the birds in the ranch and farm yards was frustrating.

That said, it is these ranch yards that often carry pheasants through tougher SW ND winters ...
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That's the way it is in Montana. The snow gets deep, and is deep in areas right now.
 
I'm heading down to ND from Canada end of the week for a week or so -- anybody got a condition report for the NW of the state? I'm no stranger to cold and wind and drifted snow, but hoping it's not piled up too bad.
 
Shortround said:
I'm heading down to ND from Canada end of the week for a week or so -- anybody got a condition report for the NW of the state? I'm no stranger to cold and wind and drifted snow, but hoping it's not piled up too bad.
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I left about a week ago. Drifts were crotch deep in places and only knee deep in others. Fields were mostly blown clean, but grass was all flattened. To summarize lots of birds in farmers yards and a few clumps in huntable areas. Dogs had it tough breaking through. Occasionally we could sneak up on an area and get a 40 bird flush in range, mostly we got large flushes out of range.
 
Yesterday was too nice not to try. Once the big bunch was broke up we did ok. Two hours of walking cattails got our birds. Tough going for both dogs and hoo man’s though. Might try again tomorrow.
 
I posted about this in another thread, but there appears to be a sizable storm brewing for you guys again next week. Could be blizzard 2.0
 
Shortround said:
I'm heading down to ND from Canada end of the week for a week or so -- anybody got a condition report for the NW of the state? I'm no stranger to cold and wind and drifted snow, but hoping it's not piled up too bad.
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There is a storm moving into the north Canadian soon. It will be drifted and wind blown.Snow could get deep.
 
Looking like a very rough winter for pheasants thus far. We had enough snow to make it tough going already, now a 3 day blizzard with 12-24" over most of the state. Most areas also had a glazing of freezing mist/rain prior to this snow. Been probably 10 years since I haven't hunted up til the end of the season, granted some years had enough snow to make it difficult but I doubt it will even be possible to get out now. Forecast is for bitter cold the next 10 days, several days with HIGHS around -10. Hard to imagine that the birds still have 3.5-4 months to go before winter ends. Let's hope that January and February moderate.
 
zoops said:
Looking like a very rough winter for pheasants thus far. We had enough snow to make it tough going already, now a 3 day blizzard with 12-24" over most of the state. Most areas also had a glazing of freezing mist/rain prior to this snow. Been probably 10 years since I haven't hunted up til the end of the season, granted some years had enough snow to make it difficult but I doubt it will even be possible to get out now. Forecast is for bitter cold the next 10 days, several days with HIGHS around -10. Hard to imagine that the birds still have 3.5-4 months to go before winter ends. Let's hope that January and February moderate.
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+1 looks like we both have the same book and page. Same here, last time I wasn't able to hunt till the end was about 10 years ago.

This weather isn't good for them. Guess time will tell. Looks like we're in for a hell of a winter!

Stay well my friends

Greg
 
zoops said:
Looking like a very rough winter for pheasants thus far. We had enough snow to make it tough going already, now a 3 day blizzard with 12-24" over most of the state. Most areas also had a glazing of freezing mist/rain prior to this snow. Been probably 10 years since I haven't hunted up til the end of the season, granted some years had enough snow to make it difficult but I doubt it will even be possible to get out now. Forecast is for bitter cold the next 10 days, several days with HIGHS around -10. Hard to imagine that the birds still have 3.5-4 months to go before winter ends. Let's hope that January and February moderate.
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Couldn’t agree more. 10 years seems about right.
 
I'm thinking about heading out to SE North Dakota between Christmas and New Year's. Does anyone know what the ground is like? How much snow on he ground? Is all the water froze solid enough to walk on? I know the birds will be in deep cattail cover which is always fun, especially to retrieve a downed bird. It can be impossible though if you are breaking through the ice under the snow. Thanks
 
Reports I've seen for that area were 15-25 inches of snow. Ice should be fine since that area didn't have a lot of snow before this but now I think soft spots in cattails would be the least of your worries.
 
15-25 inches of blowing snow. The cattail edges can get pretty deep with snow,

The cattail sloughs have a lot of thermo-oxidative reactions going on with decomposition of organic matter. I have had soakers in cattail sloughs and it is never fun. They have occurred when hunting in snow and on barren ice.
 
BRITTMAN said:
15-25 inches of blowing snow. The cattail edges can get pretty deep with snow,

The cattail sloughs have a lot of thermo-oxidative reactions going on with decomposition of organic matter. I have had soakers in cattail sloughs and it is never fun. They have occurred when hunting in snow and on barren ice.
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Plenty of springs out there too. Got wet a couple times just last weekend in cattails when a few miles away guys were driving pickups on a lake to ice fish.
 
brucelamo said:
I'm thinking about heading out to SE North Dakota between Christmas and New Year's. Does anyone know what the ground is like? How much snow on he ground? Is all the water froze solid enough to walk on? I know the birds will be in deep cattail cover which is always fun, especially to retrieve a downed bird. It can be impossible though if you are breaking through the ice under the snow. Thanks
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I broke through ice a few times.Scary stuff.If the water isn't deep, and it's been very cold for weeks, it's usually pretty safe, to a point.
 
BRITTMAN said:
15-25 inches of blowing snow. The cattail edges can get pretty deep with snow,

The cattail sloughs have a lot of thermo-oxidative reactions going on with decomposition of organic matter. I have had soakers in cattail sloughs and it is never fun. They have occurred when hunting in snow and on barren ice.
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Or you can fall through in a spot where someone else fell through. Never fun.
 
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