Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game 2018 Upland Hunts

It is that time again... Hope to see some game pics soon... I will miss the opener of grouse and dove for the first time in my life, but I am anxious to see everyone's success!! Best of luck to all..

For the grouse opener I am going to spend five days in the BWCA. I was up there this summer and found some sweet areas loaded with great habitat and a lot of drumming going on. My trusty GWP died last spring so I'm dogless for the first time in ages. I've never done a pack in canoe upland hunt and figured this would be a good way to get out hunting without him. I'm really looking forward to it.

Won't do any upland hunting until the second weekend unless I fill my bear tag before the season opens. Even then I might wait as woodcock doesn't open until the second week and that gives the dogs more opportunities on retrieving birds. I have grouse in the woods behind the house but I don't hunt much. The habitat is kind of fractured with limited dispersal from other areas. It is also getting rather old and is in desperate need of cutting. I do what I can on my parcel but the neighbor's are at best indifferent to cutting.

I used to hunt sharptails on the opener but the opener for them was moved back to correspond with the pheasant season in my main hunting area. I haven't heard if I drew tags for prairie chickens so that is still in the works.

Still formulating plans to hunt Nebraska or maybe Kansas along with one of the Dakotas. Those have often become later season hunts as their season runs past that of MN. Chasing birds in 50 degree weather during January is a nice break from trudging through swamps with knee deep snow and below zero temps though the latter is not every day but often enough to not be unusual.

I am trying similar in October in the Adirondacks, St Regis Canoe area. There are some good log shelters around, many unused I am sure since deer are not open yet. Have never hunted ruffs. I will stay 2 weeks, and also hunt the waterfowl opener for black ducks.

Where do you like to put-in at BWCA?

Not sure where or when yet, but Hank is getting to go west for some pheasants this year. Thinking IA or KS due to driving distance. Other than that, I hope to draw a pheasant area here and do some put and take stuff.

Not much happening here.. Blue grouse are scarce.. Been all over the mountains, seen none, but am hunting other stuff... Haven't had a chance at doves yet.. This is likely for me to be a slow early upland season..

Well, I have a brand spankin' new Brittany pup who will be 6-1/2 months old when quail open in the Panhandle, and I expect we'll be starting her on wild coveys shortly thereafter. She's going up there to spend a month in training camp prior, and I'll join her in early November.

I've also taken on a new contract in Nebraska, and am considering bringing the new dog up here in Nov/Dec to try her on pheasants.

Best of luck to all y'all, and looking forward to seeing your pics!

We will make our annual, mid-December trek to central SD where the pheasant surveys are up (if only in our dreams and really,.. how can that be?) over last year due to a mild, SD winter (ok, that’s an oxymoron).

It’s not failed to ever live up to expectations. Of course, you need good company too. 🙂

Where in NE?

Made a long hunt for grouse this day.. NO LUCK and they doves seem very scare also.. Very dry here, that may be the problem..

I scouted a new area a week or two ago and saw over 100 grouse. Season opened the first, and I had next week scheduled off for hunting. What could go wrong?

Forest fire. Oh yeah. Smoking it right now. Might as well work.

F2 what a bummer... I haven't spotted that many grouse in years!!!

Took the dogs for a walk Sunday in an area that I often chase sharptails.We found two broods which is a vast improvement over the average and especially the last couple of years. I was unable to get to the other side of the field due to high water but I have hopes for when the season opens in October in that area.

Ruffed grouse are scarce though i know of 4 broods using at least part of our cabin property. There are good numbers of woodcock though, I was afraid numbers would be down due to a late snow that persisted a few days during the laying season. The damp conditions have the birds spread around which is nice as I would rather find a bird every 10-15 minutes than 5 at once and then an hour or more until the next ones.

I'll get to the homestead place at the end of the month after the woodcock season opens, grouse numbers are generally higher there as spruce grouse are also present. Drumming counts were up there but weather was not good for brood raising and the populations have not seemed to keep up with drumming reports which is possibly due to West Nile Virus. That has been the case for a decade and the virus is believed to contribute to low chick survival.

It will still be a good year as many areas cut during the high pulp lumber era are now 12+ years of age and open enough to move relatively easily through. There looks to be another 10-20 years of great hunting on these parcels.

Taking my 5 sons/sons in laws to presho, sd for several days in Oct. We've had a great time on previous hunts and I'm certain our upcoming hunt will be memorable. Nothing like pheasant!

I'll be doing the South Dakota thing for the first time ever towards the end of Oct. Just me and the dog. I hope that the state ground produces something because I don't know a soul in that state.

I think it will be quite a learning experience.

You should do fine on state land, depending on the area. Some areas are still down in numbers and birds are scattered in the grasslands but they are found with some walking.

I mostly hunt the north central part of the state where bird numbers are lower than many other parts. About 2/3 of my time is spent on public lands with half my birds coming from there. Finding land with a mix of cover types within a mile of crop fields, especially corn, will be a winning combination.

We usually leave the weeds in the field.

My thoughts too!

Ruffed grouse opened Saturday but wasn't able to get out until yesterday afternoon. I was able to scratch down two ruffs from a brood in an hour or so of excersizing the dogs. Picked up another early this morning along with two doves. I almost left the gun at home as the area we checked out has only a couple acres of woods and it's been cool enough the doves have mostly left.

Now, I need to figure out something to go with the birds for a meal. Not much here besides bread and peanut butter. I wimped out on bear hunting tonight as rain, wind, and some thunder trumped the cooler temps and clouds and freshly hit bait this morning.

My 22 month old Drahthaar is ready for his second season. Hoping to hit Kansas and Nebraska as hard as we can for quail and pheasant. Anything furry that gets in the way I reckon will just be collateral damage.