They have been spoty from what I have seen as well here in ND and in MT. I have been hunting in both states while working. Around my farm (south central) the sharptails are way down. I have gotten into them, but not anywhere like the last few years. One other problem is there are still a lot of crops standing as well and it makes it hard to get into birds. Might be better to come a little later. At least as far as pheasants go. The sharptails get pretty spooky later in the season.