Hello from Carl

Carl_P

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Hi All,

My wife and I currently live in Washington, about 15 miles north of the socialist city of Seattle! We moved here from North Carolina 6 years ago - work related. I was directed to this site by someone living in ND. I'm trying to plan a pheasant trip this season with my son and new son-in-law.

It will be the first trip to the Dakotas, so I'll be pestering some of you for general information.:)

I can't wait to hunt around there with my family. Last year, my son Grant and I went to eastern Alberta duck/goose hunting. I created a folder with a few pictures.

Carl
 


NDSportsman

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ND doesn't have any pheasants left. Well there may be a small pocket up around Neche but if you want pheasants you better head to South Dakota.

Oh and the waterfowl hunting here sucks too. SD is where it's at, that place is awesome just ask Kurt, he'll tell ya!
 


Meelosh

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Seriously speaking here. ND’s pheasants took a pounding winter before last and haven’t fully recovered yet. I didn’t even bother pursuing them last fall. It was that bad. Don’t know what it looks like in SD but good luck on your trip.
 

Trip McNeely

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Heard the spring counts were up 6% from last year but if my simple math is correct.... dogshit multiplied by 6% still equals dogshit numbers....its going to take 2-3 years of good spring hatches to get us even close to the numbers we used to have.
 

NDSportsman

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Heard the spring counts were up 6% from last year but if my simple math is correct.... dogshit multiplied by 6% still equals dogshit numbers....its going to take 2-3 years of good spring hatches to get us even close to the numbers we used to have.
Until the farm prices force another Soil Bank or CRP type program I wouldn't hold my breath for great pheasant hunting in ND.
 

Carl_P

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OOHHHH... So you guys are serious! :;:thumbsup

I thought it was a case of "Nope, no deer, turkey, (fill in your game here), around here - go somewhere else."

I do appreciate it. I'll turn my sights on SD.

Thanks very much,
Carl
 


Carl_P

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I believe SD has a harvest report. I hesitate to go to the highest reported areas just because of hunting pressure. Does that make sense or not?

Carl
 

Rut2much

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I believe SD has a harvest report. I hesitate to go to the highest reported areas just because of hunting pressure. Does that make sense or not?

Carl
There's a reason ND is home to the annual waterfowl boat parade come Non-resident opener.
 

Allen

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There are always pockets of good habitat that will hold a great trip's worth of birds. The trouble with that is 1. Finding that pocket, 2. Figuring out how to get access to it, not like there won't be a long list of landowner's friends and relatives ahead of you.
 

Carl_P

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I'll continue to research areas in SD. Perhaps I'll call a biologist and ask for general areas to concentrate on. We don't need to limit out, I'm looking to create more memories. My son graduated 2 years ago from college and my goal is to do 1 big trip a year.

Thanks again for the help,
Carl

- - - Updated - - -

There's a reason ND is home to the annual waterfowl boat parade come Non-resident opener.

::laughing::
 

Kurtr

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First the waterfowl is a draw tag to come hunt and that has already happened so you will have to go to ND for that.

Second our pheasant hunting is a lot better we have a lot of them and aint scarred to have another few guys tromp around and chase the chinese chickens . Been seeing alot this year so i think hatch ha been pretty good. Had alot of new habitat the last few years. Me if i am hunting i like later season like first week of december big fields are gone can hunt sloughs and cat tails with good luck. I go out of state to hunt so i have no problem with others coming here unless you are from Wisconsin or Minnesota they can stay home they suck.
 


Duckslayer100

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I hate to be a naysayer, but I'll agree with my fellow NDAers. 4-5 years ago it would be a no brainer. Head somewhere generally west of the Mighty Mo River and you'll bump into pheasants. But our habitat declines and rough winters have beat the snot out of them. For someone just hopping across the border it might be still worth the trip (and the scenery is pretty epic in fall). But if you're traveling all the way from Seattle to kill roosters, I think SD is where it's at (although they're even down from their true heydays.
 

BrokenBackJack

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Hopefully you can get a good plan as all the private land is considered posted in SD if i remember correctly.
Maybe Kurt can help you out with where to go and who to talk to about pheasants.
 

Kurtr

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dont worry about private land get a walk in book let the dog out and shoot the birds. After the first few weeks we start at 10 am and can be done by noon with two guys pretty easy. this year with the rain there are going to be lots of great places for late season hunting
 

Bfishn

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Although the G & F spring crow counts looked promising, once you actually dig into it, you'll notice the prime area SW was down 8% again this year. Its going to be another tough year SW, ill still do my normal few weekends because i live 100 miles away, but no way i would come from Seattle for our current numbers.
 

Carl_P

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dont worry about private land get a walk in book let the dog out and shoot the birds. After the first few weeks we start at 10 am and can be done by noon with two guys pretty easy. this year with the rain there are going to be lots of great places for late season hunting

Kurtr,

You make it sound so easy! :D

Curious, what does the rain have to do with it being better later in the season?

And, my son and SIL will be flying from NC. What airport would you suggest?

I need to get someone to drive with me to share the $$ and driving. It looks like 21 hrs of driving, not including stops! I drove to eastern Alberta by myself last year and sure would like to have someone to split the expenses with. We were about 10 miles from Saskatchewan.
 


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