Wild Pheasant Road Trip 2015-16 Season

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I am throwing this out there for next season. Seems like we have a half dozen or so good guys, passionate pheasant hunters using this California forum so....

How about we get together and organize a wild pheasant hunting road trip for next season? Let's pick a part of the country and plan a trip together. Seems like we've got a lot of knowledge and dog power among us...

I've had my eye on North Dakota and northeastern Montana, but don't have any immediate hunting buddies interested in taking that kind of trip. This doesn't seem like the "lodge" crowd interested in a pampered hunt. However, I'm not opposed to an outfitter, guide or private ground to get into wild birds. Public land is fine, too.

What do you think? We've got a year to plan it? I'm thinking earlier in the season to avoid too much extreme weather. Open to all ideas. Let's hear 'em.
 
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I would be game for something like this.

I think a mainly public land with a day of trespass fee ground set up would be great.
 
I would be up for this! Yeah, I'm not a guy in need of a pampered living situation! I've also got another buddy who would probably be interested. Great idea!
 
Ok...so based on the input so far, I'm going to suggest two destinations:

Mott, North Dakota:

Medicine Lake, Montana.

Look them up and check them out. Both are wild pheasant-hunting destinations but without the large-scale commercialization.

Reasonable accommodations possible, both places have wildlife refuges and lots of other public hunting options nearby. Both places also have local farmers/ranchers who will let you hunt property for a trespass fee I'm told by those who have been there.

Montana might offer more possibilities to run into sharptails and Huns. Let me know what you think.
 
I'd be interested myself, but I don't think I could get my partner to go for it. He's a great guy, but, God bless him, he seems to get more and more uncomfortable around people he doesn't know well with each passing year. He lost his younger brother to cancer last spring and that made this year particularly difficult.

I've known him since before kindergarten (we're 50 now) and we made our first rooster road trip together (with our fathers) to Idaho in 1979 when that state still had a ton of pheasants. We've gone to Montana 7 of the past 9 years and I imagine that we'll always do it any year that both of us are able.

If I can somehow figure out a way to make two trips, I'm in.
 
If we can talk Ditch Parrot into coming, then I vote for Montana -- since he has actually been there several times. That knowledge would be huge -- and not just for hunting, but for an overall good time, what towns to stay in, where to stay, eat, etc.

I'm in the same boat as you Ditch Parrot. My friends and family just aren't interested in that kind of a trip. One of my best pheasant hunting buddies has become more interested in Sporting Clays than hunting these days. He is content now to hunt the pheasant clubs.

For many years, he managed a farm out near Marysville that was home to more wild pheasants (and other wildlife) than any place I've ever seen outside of South Dakota. I think that kind of spoiled him. As farming practices changed over the years and rice replaced the variety of crops there previously, the pheasants slowly began to vanish, which sapped his enthusiasm for wild bird hunting. It got really hard without much reward.
 
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