Boots on the ground report from ND

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Wilber
Rank: Junior Hunter
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:16 pm

Boots on the ground report from ND

Post by Wilber » Fri Oct 03, 2014 5:08 pm

I just spent three days training with my year-old setter in SW ND. Took her up there for some time on wild birds. In the area south of Regent/ Mott we found the unbelievable numbers of pheasant from years past. We consistently saw coveys of 50 or more exploding out of wind rows. But south of Bowman we found very few even though a farmer I spoke with said there were good numbers this year. In both cases there were a lot of juvenile birds not yet in full plumage. The young males looked like raggedy hens that cackled when they flushed. I guess there was a spring weather event that lead to a late hatch. Anyway for those of you headed to the Mott area, expect to limit in 15 minutes! Anyone headed to Bowman, drive another hour east. It should be another great year.

Best of all my little girl turned into a bird dog!

Tried some photos, but no luck.

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Chaingang
Rank: 5X Champion
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Location: Hanover, Minnesota

Re: Boots on the ground report from ND

Post by Chaingang » Sat Oct 04, 2014 7:47 am

Yeah, Mott/Regent is no surprise when it comes to bird numbers. I have a contact out their and they did get a lot of rain this summer, so much so that as of a couple weeks ago they hadn't been able to get into the fields to get the wheat out yet. Side roads were extremely muddy etc.... She did say the hatch was "very favorable" though and should be a pretty good season.

I was going to head that way mid- Sept myself, but decided to go to SD instead.

Most of the land is posted unless your willing to pay a trespass fee. Were you running on public land?

Wilber
Rank: Junior Hunter
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:16 pm

Re: Boots on the ground report from ND

Post by Wilber » Sat Oct 04, 2014 7:06 pm

Yes, I was on public land. It rained the day I got there. Very slick muddy roads. There were combines marooned out in the fields wheel deep in water. There are still a lot of standing crops.

Wilber

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Chaingang
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Re: Boots on the ground report from ND

Post by Chaingang » Sun Oct 05, 2014 6:32 am

Wilber wrote:
Tried some photos, but no luck.
Are you having problems posting pics or that you had no luck taking any?

I can help if you can't get them posted. Just PM me and and I'll give you my email address and you can email them to me.

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Chaingang
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Location: Hanover, Minnesota

Re: Boots on the ground report from ND

Post by Chaingang » Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:28 pm

Here they are. I would have made the bottom pic bigger but the original image was smaller and to make it any bigger would have made it out of focus.

Image

Image

Wilber
Rank: Junior Hunter
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:16 pm

Re: Boots on the ground report from ND

Post by Wilber » Tue Oct 07, 2014 8:25 am

Thanks Chaingang. The dirt roads looked like a hen house there were so many tracks.
And within an hour my setter became a bird finding, bird pointing machine! What a relief.

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