Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Bucket list - pheasant hunt

Was watching a pheasant hunt on public land in eastern Montana (The Flush?). Man, that's what I want to do some day. Eastern Montana is about a 10 hour drive from home so very reasonable distance. They noted they were on public land (what do you guys call it? It's called Crown land up here) and had a fantastic shoot. Anybody know which town would best put you in the action? Or any recommendations for an outfitter lodge? I'm a real flatlander and I don't think my knees could take too many hills.

I hunt E Montana and it can be good. I prefer ND I hunt western portion and south central portion of state. More birds in ND and many more outfitters.


Anywhere East, NE of Billings is good. Get a copy of the upland handbook from Mt fish and game

This site is a decent resource. I d get on and start making phone calls soon to book an outfitter.


https://www.ultimatepheasanthunting.com

pm if want more info

Contact Dukxdog here on the Fire and go hunt his neck of the woods. Thank me later. Seriously......You’ll thank me later!

I'm just north of North Dakota, so western ND is even better. Even SD is within easy driving distance.

I've got a couple of buddies I've hunted with for years. I should give us all at least 6 months to get back in shape.

Don’t base your expectations on The Flush. Great show, however they hunt the best of places and most likely have advance notice of local Bird numbers. While they do hunt public, preserves and private farms are also part of the show.

There are many Birds to be had, however if you are hunting free public, then your hunt will most likely not resemble a Flush hunt.

Grouseman, I agree, that you should at least check out Dukxdog here, and consider SD. If it’s truly going to be a bucket list hunt, go earlier than December. 😉. But, I’m sure you are aware of that.

Of course, considering Mt, ND, and SD, there are a lot of options.

If South Dakota is a possibility, I'd be all over it. Mitchell/Artesian area to be specific. North Dakota has treated me well as has eastern Montana but my experience in South Dakota was the best. I'd see 10X the birds there than I did anywhere else.

The Mitchell South Dakota area.

I've never hunted Montana or North Dakota but have seen many excellent reports from both states. If you want to hunt public land, you'll need to do some desktop research first, which you've done here, good move. Lots more of it will result in good hunting. Good luck!

I hunted Milk River Outfitters near Hinsdale, MT the last two years and would highly recommend them if you decide to go with an outfitter. I hunted in September before pheasant season opened and found lots of sharptail and even got a few Sage Grouse. I flew in the first year, but this year I made the drive all the way from Alabama and hunted my dogs on the way in ND, SD and Montana. I did alot of reading, listened to a bunch of podcasts and had way more success than I ever expected on my own. PM me if you would like to hear more about Milk River Outfitters or my experience planning a hunt on your own.

Some are saying the Pheasants took a beating with this most recent snow and cold weather. Remains to be seen...Perhaps BKinSD can add something factual. Was planning on going out again in late January. Received advice that it most likely will not be a good idea....for a couple reasons.

Recent pic of I90 being opened somewhere in S. D....

Harry, the snow depth can vary tremendously because the plains don’t often get straight-down snow. It comes down going sideways with grass sticking out in places and four foot drifts or much more in others. I can imagine snow shoes and impossible conditions for dogs. And then last week, there were brutal temps.

The freezing rain is the worst for the birds and there was some of that on the front edge of the storm but probably it varied locally. It’s the kind of weather for which the birds need heavy cover with a nearby food source that is not under four feet of snow.

One of our group is scheduled for surgery in the next few weeks while more are headed to gentler climes.
Looks like none of us will be returning until the end of the year again, Lord-willing.

Our places were hard hit in the blizzards, so was Lyman County. I talked to one farmer by Harrold who told me the birds seemed to have done ok, had to have been some losses, but that there's no way to get to them/close enough to them in the aftermath. Conditions on the ground don't seem hunt able. We haven't been out in almost 3 weeks and have no plans to go out at present. Just have to wait and see. 30+ days of season yet and alot of this could melt. Or we could get more snow piled on top.