Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game 2019 Upland Hunts.. How have you done??

Finally got my pheasant photos up.. The first days were very cold with snow.. Finally some warmer weather and we managed a limit!!!!

Mostly use my old 870, but did take my Grandfather's 12 ga. Fox... Sixty years ago on my first hunt as a licensed hunter, it was raining and cold, but he managed a rooster with the old Fox 3 3/4- 1 1/4- 6s.. WW brand still have the box.. The old gun still does a good job...

Missed the photo, here goes...

Nice, Really like the Fox photo..Well done...

Thanks!!

Just got many of our fall photos up loaded... While we were pheasant hunting, the dogs and I ran into a flock of gobblers... Two shots from the 870 12 ga, brought this fellow down... It was fun to watch Kate bringing him out of the brush... She did an excellent retrieve!!!!

Nicely composed picture with the rooster and the Fox.

We took limits of roosters both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Snow during the thanksgiving weekend storm closed the road past our main spot, so the birds (and deer) were thick in there. Took longer to hike in than to shoot the birds. Hoping for a repeat next weekend. As long as the road stays closed, we'll have great shooting up to the end of the season.

The weather has conspired against me the last couple of weekends. We had 12"-18" of snow last Sunday into Tuesday which made walking difficult this weekend when I went to the cabin to blow out the driveway. An hour or so on Saturday and another on Sunday saw a half dozen hens and a covey of sharptails but no roosters.

I tried to get out this morning but snow, icy roads, and increasing winds made me turn back after 30 miles. I'll try out back if the snow lets up but that isn't really hunting to me. I might try again tomorrow though temps are predicted in the single digits for highs. If winds are light it won't be bad but if they aren't I'll probably wait for next week.

A couple of sage grouse taken this year in September with an Iver Johnson 16 gauge in Wyoming.

Nice sage grouse, thinking about a trip west for them next year. Haven't taken one in ten years, they make really fun hunts.

Working hard for birds on public grounds this year. Hiked 7 plus miles on Thurs and killed all 3 roosters that got up. Did get 2 coveys of quail up and got 3 of those too. Fri hiked 4.3 miles and had 0 flushes on public ground. Drove by some good looking private and there was a good number of pheasants visible. Guessing I need to find some private ground access to up our odds. Got lazy since we did so well on public last year. Beats working though.

My son and I took the dog and our shotguns for a little walk today. We found five roosters, but only brought home four. One got up at an odd angle, my son missed two shots, and he would have been in my line of fire, so I never even shouldered my shotgun. Good day though, we enjoyed!

Here's the good old Ithaca (SKB) 20 gauge double he uses. It came to me in 1969! Still in beautiful condition.


And, you'd think a fellow who had just made a terrific shot, bringing down this bird, would smile.


Regards, Guy

4 out of 5 sounds pretty darn good. Nice looking 20 gauge.

We took limits of roosters again both days this weekend. Saturday was in Stanley County on some new ground with some new folks. Tremendous eye for conservation on this place, have wanted to hunt it for years. Lots of birds bunched up out there and it was a great day. On Sunday we went to Hyde County to a place we hunt annually. Lots of birds on this place but they are well educated by now and we had to work harder for them. The people with cover have unbelievable shooting this year. Taking the day off from hunting today to work at my real job but then back out tomorrow for the annual Christmas Eve trip to Sully County. Good luck to all, be safe and shoot straight.

You are living the dream! Have fun. Gotta get back out soon.

I think the bird hunting is over for the year. This last snowstorm will have closed all the rural roads, filled in the tree belts and generally made the land unhuntable for the rest of the season. Bummer. Things were getting good.

The season is just about over for me too, but not because of the weather. My late season hunt in SW ND is just about done and it is time to go home. The birds were great and the weather was wonderful this year. The big storm that hit further east completely missed this part of the state. We filled out almost every day. The birds were in fairly large flocks already and the key was breaking up a flock and then poking around to flush the singles. When a big bunch are in a large heavy cover they won't stick around until you are within range.

It was a little different this year compared to normal in that there were still some standing crops around. Luckily, not so much near where we hunted, but we saw some huge standing corn fields, a couple sunflower fields and even a little wheat that didn't get combined. The deer and pheasants are going to have plenty of food this winter unless it snows an unbelievable amount.

The rooster to hen ratio seemed higher this year than normal too. I suspect that may have also been a result of the delayed harvest. It was difficult hunting earlier with all the standing crops so a lot more roosters survived.

Jerry

Last September grouse hunt