Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game 2016 upland season!!l

Spent last week in SW North Dakota. Pheasants are down quite a bit from the last few years where I hunt, but there are still enough to keep it interesting. Hunting should get better in the next few weeks as more of the sunflowers and corn get harvested. There were some very young roosters that were barely colored out. Must have been a second hatch after the first one failed for some reason.

My old Lab tires pretty quickly these days. I have to think about getting a pup so she can show a young one the ropes.

Jerry

Just a heads up, the snakes are still out in force.

One of my new pups was bitten in the face by a rattler yesterday.

Hear that?

It's the sound of a beer cracking and me staying home.




Travis

Michigan Ruffed Grouse/Woodcock trip in the bag. Hot, leaves still on thick and windy. Good numbers of Woodcock if you wanted to chase them, but Grouse numbers were the attraction. Shots were few and fleeting with the leaves and wind, the heat was hard on the Dogs, but still managed to get a few. On the last day had the three easiest shots, but didn't connect. Some multiple 4 and 5 Bird flushes in the thick. Over 75 Grouse flushes for a 6 day trip, most of which we didn't get to shoot at, but Dogs had many contacts.

Merlot keeps improving into his 2nd year. Pretty good trip.

Yes, sounds like a good trip. Nice dog.

Does ND typically have good bird hunting? Do they have grouse?




Travis

You were hunting in Michigan?

What do you mean about the heat being hard on the dogs? I have never hunted Michigan.



Travis

Heat--Nooo,not that heat. Although Merlot was feeling it and tried to work on a female Pointer Dog.

Temperature heat: It was 65-70 and the Dogs were panting hard in the thick. Last day was the best when temps dropped down in the 40's for most of the day. We were not all the way up to the Upper and perhaps it was cooler further N.

75 flushes is pretty damn good

how were the ticks?

I hunted NW WI last year for grouse and they were terrible. Never seen them that bad in October

God job

That's a bit confusing to me but I'm glad you enjoyed your hunt.




Travis

Hunters didn't live up to the Dog work as far as a good job goes. Although two Dogs decided to take a dump in their kennel in the pickup bed, which lowered their rating some.

Anyway, no ticks that were found on a total of 8 Dogs. Mine were styling Seresto collars.
The two of us also didn't find any. They seemed to be absent in that area of Mich.

Nice hunter friendly people up there. Ran into one guy who lives back in the timber a good bit. Perhaps 4 miles from a hard road and 10+ from a town with nothing but wood between. Pretty bunged up, but he directed us to a couple out there spots.

Asked him how cold it got in the winter. He said 20 below and a little more some times and he goes thru about 20 cords a winter. Educated and interesting fellow who said screw the town.

Crossed quite a few trees that had some high Elk rubs.

Addition: He had his own dozer back there to plow his way out on two tracks in case the need arose. But it broke down last year. Didn't seem to worry him all that much.

Nice to see folks are getting some birds.. We have had a slow season.. Ringnecks are safe til Nov.. Battue, we spend some time near my wife's folks near the straits.. Hunted grouse there some, but that flat, swampy country is NOT my favorite.. Glad you had a good hunt..
Jim hope the dog heals fast..
ribka, nice photos..
flave, glad you can fit work into your hunting schedule. Keep the pic's coming.. Love to see what everyone is doing..

I haven't hunted other states for a long time, but the spots I hunt in ND are the best I've ever seen. This year is an exception. Must have had a bad rain at the wrong time during the hatch.

Sharptails are sometimes mixed in with the pheasants, but not in big numbers. Had a covey of 12 fly by one evening while we were standing on a road talking with the guns put away. See an occasional Hun, but pretty rare.

Jerry

Made it out chasing pheasants this morning. I wanted to take my old female to an easy spot close to home. It's tree rows that were planted in CRP years ago. They plowed up the CRP last year on pheasant opener and planted corn. The corn is off now so figured this might be a hot spot.

I figured out quickly that my soon to be 12 year old pointing lab still has the will but not the stamina or agility that she used too. She stumbled over the gopher mounds and tripped quite a bit but she gave it whirl. We did not find any birds here but it was a beautiful 34* morning with ground haze and no wind. We had fun.

Here are some quick cell phone photos I took when we started:









Here she's getting pretty petered out:

Here she is a few years ago during a good hunt in the CRP mentioned above:

And here she is in her prime (the dog that is). That daughter is 23 and married now:

Today was our pheasant opener, windy and raining but still made it out. Took my grandfathers 51' wingmaster out. Ive gave it a refinishing couple years ago, rust blueing, new but used 26" IC barrel, new pachmayer brown pad, nice lightweight gun. First bird I flushed, I shot and heard another shot right after. Another fella ran over and grabbed it so thought, Oh' well. Next bird I flushed I dropped without competition. My last bird I spotted sneaking into the woods, I put the moves on him and he flushed out over a high grass field. I dropped him but had a hell of a time finding him. As I was looking for him I was shootin the breeze with some other hunters and their dog flushed another bird. Good day considering the weather. I used some low brass winchester 4's I picked up for late season rabbit hunting. Much more gentle than high brass 5's I usually use and work just as well.

7 beautiful old lab... Tough to see them age so quickly.. Lost my 11.5 year old Peach a year ago this Sept.. But have a 4 year old Kate, and Maggie just over one year.. Good luck the rest of the season..

Tom, nice shooting there.. Haven't been to Pa. for pheasants for several years.. Now that the camp is gone, probably won't make it for birds maybe next year for deer.. Have a good one.. That old Wingmaster is a nice one.. I have several, but all later models.. Still a great shotgun..

Nice COCK.




Travis