doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Pheasant hunt suggestion in NE North Dakota

Please email [ raven@freeway.net ] or PM any suggestions. Have hunted for years south of Bismarck in Mr. Burns territory, but look to change turf. Any comments would be welcome. Haven't been to the Dakotas in a couple years as gas prices and motel cost became a budget breaker. Did get a paper route so am flush and ready to take the pups west. Appreciate any replies, will tell no one and will blind fold my brother for the trip Thanks. RMC

E-mail sent

Though you asked for an e-mail, I will respond here for the interest of others who may share your fall ambitions.

NE ND is just due north of me and like here they have been awash with rain. Much of it in mid June when the hatch was on and they were cold rains. Hyperthermia was devastating to so many of the chicks.

I hunted spring geese at Devil's Lake and dined with a regional ND G&F biologist. He said pheasant numbers were not good in Eastern ND and if that is true, the rains certainly made fall prospects poor.

For what it is worth NE SD has fared no better.

For the same reasons I have cancelled a long planned trip to south Saskatchewan. Way too much rain this year and they hadn't even recovered from 2011.

Bad for the pheas good for the ducks. Must be one of those zero sum games the political crowd talks about...Geo

You might not want to change territory this year. Central ND appears to have done better than the eastern part (or the SW, which has long been the hottest area for pheasants) in terms of rain. I recently checked focusing on early prairie grouse, and it looks like they've done OK. Did not ask specifically about pheasants, but the news should be similar for both species.