Originally Posted by Magnum_Bob
Originally Posted by MT_DD_FAN
Originally Posted by 300_savage
Keep a backup plan. Eastern MT is in a bad drought. Not only might that impact access to land and even whether there will be a season, but in my experience a really dry spring and summer mean far fewer birds of the year...the young, tender ones that are good to eat.

Bad drought is an understatement! 2021 will probably be a very poor UGB year in eastern MT and western ND due to the unbelievably dry conditions. I fully expect a large number of BMAs in MT to be closed thru most of Sept due to the extreme wildfire conditions. If I were planning a sharptail hunt this year I would look around Pierre, SD. It hasn't been so dry down there, and there should be decent numbers of sharptails and chickens on the National Grasslands. Another plus will be the greater number of UGB guiding operations in SD. Good luck!

Don't know where you got that info, my bud in Pierre said it is plain bad. Don' t pawn your NR's off on us. Mb

And my good buddy in Pierre (SD bred, born, raised, educated & an avid hunter) told me last week that timely rains are saving the UGB 'crop' this year along with the dryland crops. He's seen a decent amount of phez and chickens so far this summer, and unless it all goes to hell in a hand basket before Oct 1., he expects UGB numbers around Pierre to be just as good as last year. Now that doesn't mean all-time record numbers of UGB in central SD but sure sounds like better than what's expected in eastern MT and western ND. Only time will tell.

Pursuit may be, it seems to me, perfect without possession.
Robert Kelley Weeks (1840-1876)