Bag Limit

[gittrdonebritts]

Do you have to Fill it ? reasons why or why not ?

[jkoehler]

Depends what kind of mood I am in. If I am hunting alone and just out to run the dog for the morning. I am satisfied with one or two birds. If I get lucky and stuble on the 3rd great if not no big deal I head home and eat lunch. If I am with the "boys" we hunt all day until the sun goes down or we have our limit.

[Ruffshooter]

No, I do not need to fill a limit. Filling a limit in one area will decrease populations too quick if every one did that. Also once you shoot your limit you are kind of done. I like working with the dogs. Sometimes I will take friends out and just handle the dog and let them shoot.

I have shot me limit a number of times but never in one spot. I take one or two out of an area and move on.

[quailrunner]

Dove-yes, I try for a Limit with only 1 box of shells, Quail-NO, as the season progresses I am trying to take more complicated shots and then change from my 28ga. to a 410. For me this makes the Hunt more of a challenge and sharpens my shooting skills.

[orbirdhunter]

nope....you have to actually hit the birds to get a limit....something that i don't always do so well on quail and chukar. enough to keep the dog happy is usually sufficient....

[ACooper]

My ultimate goal is good dog work, if a limit happens it happens, if it doesn't it has no bearing on the successfulness of the hunt.

[RoosterBuster]

That's no way to measure the success of a hunt I just like getting out. This will only be my 2nd year hunting though. First year with my own dog, and as somebody above said, I just look forward to getting him out, and figuring out what his purpose is in the field this year. 1 area I hunt in is pretty much infested with birds, and doesn't get much pressure, so I look forward to heading out with some friends and shooting limits, or trying to anyways

[bpainter]

I like watching the dogs work. If I shoot my limit then we have to go back home early. I don't think i have to shoot every bird they point. I will the dogs point and I flush the bird a we watch it fly off. i get just as much satification out of that than killing all the birds where I am hunting.

[BigShooter]

When I was younger I had a stronger desire to limit out. Now, I like to shoot birds to reward good dog work but I don't care as much if I limit out.

My oldest brother and his hunting buddy are overcome by the drive to compete with each other and everyone else. It's important to them who is quicker on the trigger & who fills out first each day. My other brother will hunt the entire day & use the last light possible if needed to fill his bag. He seems to crave self-satisfaction more than direct competition.

In the northern-most areas of the pheasant distribution you might just as well harvest your limit because a bad winter can wipe out the birds even if you think you're leaving some for next year. Hunting pressure has little to do with pheasant & sharptail numbers. Winter weather & spring nesting success is by far the most important determinant of populations each year.

[fishvik]

Reading the answers to this thread, reminds me of a study done at UW-Stevens Point back in the late 70's about the stages of hunting.

The first stage is the shooter, the person that just has to shoot the gun. Young kids fall into this stage most of the time.
The second stage is the limiter, they have to get a limit to feel successful.
The third stage is the trophy hunter, they have to get the biggest.
The fourth stage is the method hunter, they get satisfaction out of hunting a certain way(ie. shooting only over a pointing dog, bowhunting, etc.)
The fifth stage is the "I just like being out there" for satisfaction. These folks just like the dog work and comraderie of their fellow hunters.

According to the study hunters tend to be in different stages at the same time with different types of hunting . They might be trophy big game hunters, limit rabbit hunters, decoy only waterfowl hunters and just enjoy watching the dog work upland bird hunters. They also found out that age has alot to do with it. The more years under the belt the more you drift towards the last stage.

[BigShooter]

I'll bet you could also do a study based upon birth order and you would find the drive to be successful and the competitive nature of the first born carries over to hunting activities as well.

[fishvik]

I'll bet you could also do a study based upon birth order and you would find the drive to be successful and the competitive nature of the first born carries over to hunting activities

Yeah, I know I'm alot more competative than my younger brother but he doesn't hunt so that isn't one of our competitions. BigShooter, I just back from your neck of the woods two weeks ago when I took my kid to a hockey camp in Fargo. From what I experienced and what I've heard on the weather reports I figure the fish and game agencies back there are working to conserve wildlife by building an ark and collecting animals two by two. We experienced some of the hardest and most rain I've seen in my life and I heard it go worse when we left. But talking to some of the the waterfowl hunting dads there at the hockey camp I guess the duck and goose production has been unbelievable this year.

[BigShooter]

There weren't as many bag limits last season in ND.

ND spring pheasant crowing counts were down slightly but were basically similar to last years. The winter of 2008-2009 really reduced the pheasant pop. Fall 2009 wasn't a particularily good year for ND pheasants & hunter numbers were much lower than they have been. The poor economy may have had something to do with that as well. Winter 2009-2010 wasn't too tough on the birds. More hens were seen this year but brood counts & pheasant estimates won't be summarized until mid-Sept. The spring weather was decent in most parts that hold phesants through mid-Jun, although some areas got downpours. Fortunately the early rains weren't accompanied by cool weather.

Lots of rainfall after mid-June this year. Waterfowl numbers are the third highest index on record. "However, nesting cover in North Dakota continues to decline. Since the beginning of 2007, North Dakota has lost more than 700,000 CRP acres, and projections for the next two years indicate up to another 1.7 million acres could be converted to cropland."

The above information was gleaned from ND Game & Fish newsletters.

[Ryman Gun Dog]

gitrdonebrits,
People look at this in many different ways, myself I am in the woods because its our family traditon to Grouse hunt and Fly Fish, these traditions have been passed down thru many generations and everything revolves around respect for God's wilderness and creatures. In our family ethics and respect for what God has given us has nothing to due with bag limits so we seldom talk about bag limits. We do respect the law and never take more than the limit however.
RGD/Dave

[Birddogz]

Honestly, limiting if you live in the plains is a matter of time. It isn't hard to shoot a limit of pheasants and mallards in an afternoon in North Dakota. In fact it is just what happens when you hunt. The trick is to shoot only birds that are handled perfectly by dogs.

[ACooper]

Honestly, limiting if you live in the plains is a matter of time. It isn't hard to shoot a limit of pheasants and mallards in an afternoon in North Dakota. In fact it is just what happens when you hunt. The trick is to shoot only birds that are handled perfectly by dogs.

Guess I am moving to ND!

[BigShooter]

Honestly, limiting if you live in the plains is a matter of time. It isn't hard to shoot a limit of pheasants and mallards in an afternoon in North Dakota. In fact it is just what happens when you hunt. The trick is to shoot only birds that are handled perfectly by dogs.

Guess I am moving to ND!

It isn't hard if you access to land with lots of birds. Certain areas of ND have lots of posted land, often including the land around some of the best waterfowling spots.

P.S. You can also get a limit of walleyes the same day as the limit of pheasants, sharps, mallards and cans!