Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Best state for freelance pheasant/waterfowl hunt

A group of hunting buddies is trying to plan a road trip from NC to combo hunt waterfowl and upland. I've been to ND but we didn't chase pheasants then. ND could work but maybe not as good as SD for pheasants. SD has the issue if getting drawn for OOS permit. We've considered KS, OK and others but none of us know where to begin really. Freelancing means it has to have a lot of public land. We don't want the hassle of dragging a boat so I'm not sure how that limits us. We will be bringing my German wirehair and another guys lab.

Any suggestions on states or areas to search?

South Dakota would be your best bet. Lots of public land and CRP out in the western half as well as plenty of potholes for ducks. You'll also have a crack at some sharptail grouse. Otherwise, North Dakota and eastern Montana might work. Others may have some better suggestions.

Nebraska seems to have a lot of public waterfowl. Their walkin areas for pheasants have been down this year where I hunted but perhaps better years to come.

Hunted South Dakota for pheasants this year for the first time, spoiled on private ground. We also got into some on public ground and enough seen in road ditches to know they were around the area. I've never seen as many ducks at one time in my life as I did driving by a couple potholes. Duck tornado. Circumstances just right to pile them all in there.

I've hunted Kansas all my life. Back in 2006-2008 it was awesome for pheasants. Everybody shooting 4 bird limits. Thats a thing of the past now. Many of the old hotspots don't even have birds now, or reports are 'we hunted all day and saw 3'. Opening day, the best, easiest pheasants to kill, in an area thats the current best region, our group of 5 killed 6 birds hunting daylight to dark. Did others kill more? Yes. Did others kill none? Yes.

Montana is your best bet. Or North Dakota.

North Dakota

yep

Montana probably won't happen as that is just too far (from NC) to make a road trip, although not much further than ND. Still looking at options and will be for a while, but thanks for the input.

Couple of things to think about: SD NR licenses are not that tough to get here but its a consideration.

The bigger factor, to me, is the possibility of missing the migration. We are not that predictable on the migration. The pheasants will be here but the ducks can be gone prior to pheasant season opening. You plan a huge trip with all that comes along, and you've missed it. So I would not try to combo here. I think you can combo on the north end of the flyway, although I don't know what their upland seasons look like. I think you can combo further south on the flyway because I don't think they freeze up like we can and frequently do.

Id suggest doing the homework to make sure that seasons are open AND the birds you seek to hunt will likely be in the neighborhood at the same time. Just doesn't always work that way here in SD.

While I never hunted waterfowl in KS while bird hunting Lordy did I see a bunch.

Big Bend KS is an area I’d take a look at.

360Mi to drive length-wise across ND.

By the time our pheasant season opens the local waterfowl are either gone, or the few left know where they're not going to be harassed. The best hunting for migrating waterfowl usually happens in the 1st half of Nov. However, after being chased for 1Mo, the pheasants are getting pretty wily by then unless we get a little snow to slow them down and bunch them up. The first time someone slams a truck door or gives their dog a voice command, the birds know where you are and will either flush wildly to get away, or run around you, or, if you're making a bunch of noise, they'll hunker down and let you walk by.

If it were I planning, I would focus on one or the other per trip. Maybe do the other on an alternate year’s outing.

Catching both in the same region at the same time could work but would also be so weather-dependent (waterfowl) that the best laid plans...

Waterfowling by itself can change last minute even with all the tags/non-res licenses gathered up.

We hunt pheasants in SD with a group from Michigan each year. In November, before our annual December pheasant hunt together, they hunt water fowl in ND each year. This year they were told not to come because ND froze out pushing the migration south earlier than usual.

And yet, I would not generally advise hunting pheasants early (mid-October through mid-November) in top areas of the upper midwest because of unharvested crops, and crowds on public lands.

How many days are you working with?

Can you prioritize upland vs. fowl?

What are you hoping for with the fowl hunts? Mixed bag water hunts or field mallards? Keep in mind field hunting will require a lot of scouting time in the evenings, and you're still reliant on cool temps/wind to make birds come off the roost before LST.