I’m starting to believe Montana-North Dakota pheasant hunting is pretty specialized compared to a lot of you elsewhere. Our hunting is wide open country, with lots of draws and coulees, pothole ponds and huge grain fields. Our early season opens for Huns and Sharptail September first, Pheasant opens six weeks later. Birds hold tight at first, then wise up and flush wildly later unless it snows, then they hunker down. You can use a quick open choked twenty early, but you need at least one tighter choked barrel and maybe a little more punch for those late winter pheasants.