where to start in eastern montana

[calamari]

It is a 2000 mile drive for me.

If that's one way, you've got me beaten by a couple of hundred miles. Round trip, I'm ahead by over 1,000. It's a sickness.

Here at home I talk about it at field trials and training days and someone always says let me know when you go next year maybe I will go with you.

Don't like what happens when you do that? Don't do that. It's hard not to talk about something that was so much fun but very little good comes from it.

I think a person has to know how hard it is and what's involved to really get the full value out of a hunt like this. Nine out of ten times it is this kind of inquiry that is always followed up with how many birds did I kill, that bothers me also it tells me that the value of the trip to them is in the amount of birds killed and I don't like that. I have always felt that the value was in beautiful country, great dog work, nice people and as a bonus lots of bird contact for my dogs. I always write the Fish and Wildlife people every year to thank them for the great job they do to provide such great access to and out of state guy like me. I feel only general information about where to hunt should be given out let people earn it and they will appreciate it more.

That pretty much sums it up. I'd also add that before I really get down in the weeds about hunting with someone I don't really know I will have talked to them enough to feel comfortable that their point of view about such things mirror my own. I've been told of places to go by people on this forum through pms and emails and I've never hunted them. Not because I couldn't find them or any other reason other than I will always feel that those are their places, found through their hard word and time spent and I shouldn't add any pressure or worse be seen hunting there and draw attention to their places. It may seem to be an odd point of view but then a number of ex wives have told me I was mentally defective so any similar conclusion won't be a revelation to me.

 

[only a pointer]

If that's one way, you've got me beaten by a couple of hundred miles. Round trip, I'm ahead by over 1,000. It's a sickness.

Don't like what happens when you do that? Don't do that. It's hard not to talk about something that was so much fun but very little good comes from it.

That pretty much sums it up. I'd also add that before I really get down in the weeds about hunting with someone I don't really know I will have talked to them enough to feel comfortable that their point of view about such things mirror my own. I've been told of places to go by people on this forum through pms and emails and I've never hunted them. Not because I couldn't find them or any other reason other than I will always feel that those are their places, found through their hard word and time spent and I shouldn't add any pressure or worse be seen hunting there and draw attention to their places. It may seem to be an odd point of view but then a number of ex wives have told me I was mentally defective so any similar conclusion won't be a revelation to me.

LMAO now thats funny shit cal im working on getting married my 3rd time of course i know im mentally defective lol!!! My first divorce i said aahhh heck shes just a &$^*$% my second divorce i said to my self uuuum bryan you might seek some counseling here that one took the life out of me!! But it didnt take me long to recover only 10 years lol now back to momtana hunting i dont want to hunt pheasants i can kill the piss out of them in ks i just need help with the sharpies huns and hopefully a sage grouse since ive never hunted any of those i dont know what to do and really dont want to be just wondering around cluelessly in huge country

 

[mmmm]

I live in NY its about 2000 miles one way so I try to stay as long as I can. The hunting here is not to good in NY and our deer season last forever and I don't like my dogs in the woods with deer hunters.

Your right I should not tell anyone, and I have dialed it down just most people know I go now and they ask.

For me Montana is the only place I can go out and let my dogs run and they can cover all the ground they want with no roads and wild game. I can walk and enjoy the dog work and hunt a different spot every day and still have time to look for new ones. I know the landowners are paid but I still think it is nice of them to offer the land out to the public and the landowners I met have been super nice people and they have the best advice when it comes to where to hunt.

Only three weeks till its time to leave and head out there again.

 

[calamari]

I live in NY.

For me Montana is the only place I can go out and let my dogs run and they can cover all the ground they want with no roads and wild game. I can walk and enjoy the dog work and hunt a different spot every day and still have time to look for new ones. I know the landowners are paid but I still think it is nice of them to offer the land out to the public and the landowners I met have been super nice people and they have the best advice when it comes to where to hunt.

Only three weeks till its time to leave and head out there again.

New York! Well that would be the license plate I haven't seen out there yet. That far away talking about it isn't much of a crime. There'll be guys who say they are going but when push comes to shove they are too lazy to do it on their own.
I couldn't agree more with the rest. I'm not saying this is true with you, just a general observation, but I don't know how guys can spend more than a month in Montana hunting constantly and not run afoul of possession limit laws.
Ran into a guy in a campground a couple of years ago who begged my friend and I to take a couple of Sharptail breasts so he could hunt again the next day. He'd hunted every day for a month and couldn't eat one more bird. At least he was trying to comply with the law.
I've also stayed in a motel that had a picking room and freezers for guys to use to clean and keep their birds. There were all sorts of packages of birds with guy's names on them that I knew had left Montana and gone to N.Dakota to hunt more on their way home. They just left their birds because they either had too many or didn't eat the game they shoot. That not eating what they shoot is a strange but all too common trait of a significant percentage of hunters.

 

[small munsterlander owner]

to be honest they are not hunters they are shooters & to upitty to eat wild game cuz there wife wont eat it???

they are the same guys to tired to cook there game at the end of the day or ever they just like to shoot em???

i know a few deer guys like that they shoot deer then give the meat away every year??? what a bummer??? i get free venison thow!!!

 

[mmmm]

That's why I don't like it when people ask how many did you get. In the east our grouse are so hard to find and even harder to shoot we count flushes. An a good hunt is measured by how many flushes you had not how many killed. The preserve mentality has brought people into the how many killed way of thinking because people can kill as many as they can pay for.

I like to eat the sharptails but I try to limit myself to one bird killed per dog per day and I am lucky to get that. This is where poor shooting skill can come in handy. When I am on my shooting game and I get a couple I use my blank gun and let them fly away. I also do this with pheasants. Last year we worked a ton of pheasants and I shot blanks, sorry but I think I am prepping them for pheasant season and they must be hard to shoot after we get done with them.

 

[calamari]

This is where poor shooting skill can come in handy.

You put a smile on my face because I employ the same technique. You'd be surprised how hard it is to hit a bird that flushes in front of you when you pull the trigger with the gun a Port Arms like I did once last year. Everybody involved got a good lesson from that shot.

When I am on my shooting game and I get a couple I use my blank gun and let them fly away. I also do this with pheasants. Last year we worked a ton of pheasants and I shot blanks, sorry but I think I am prepping them for pheasant season and they must be hard to shoot after we get done with them.

So you're the one who taught them to flush on the other side of the Russian Olive! I always wondered where they learned that trick.:beer:

 

[oilcan]

"i mean if they guide take em to private lands & leave the public for DIY guys like it was meant..."

I understand why you guys might feel this way i probably would also if a guide started taking clients to an area i was hunting.

I am just getting back into upland bird hunting after doing very little for the last 20 years.I plan on making a trip to Montana and or south Dakota next year with my GSP pup and am starting to do some research to get a jump start.

I can understand not wanting to give up to much info i know how much work goes into researching ,scouting and learning all the in and outs of an area.

I have hunted Deer,Elk and Antelope in 8 different western states and i have a pretty good idea where the good areas are in most of those but it has taken me the better part of 28 years to get there.

For the out-of-stater calling Biologists and researching on the web (like this site) can help immensely with finding areas to try but your not gonna really learn an area till you get out and put boots on the ground and unless your lucky enough to hook up with someone who knows an area it could take some time to find an area to your liking.

Good luck to everyone

 

[mmmm]

My first year I used a guide and he took me to all public land and we did well. I was shocked to see how much public land was available and that it had birds. He charged me a lot of money and his dogs were nice but I prefer my own. I did learn from him and never used him again. I remembered all the spots and they are public and I hunt them every year. I guess with a guide you are paying for the dogs and pre scouting I can understand not leasing private land when there is so much public as it keeps the cost very low. The problem with that is you give away a spot each time you guide someone on it. I guess that is why they charge so much.

In SD I used a guide for pheasants and it was good because he had all private land and it was all wild birds. His operation was to small to supplement birds so he managed his land and birds carefully. He was a good guy and very reasonable but he got sick and had to give it up. I have been unable to find a suitable replacement.
mm