Pheasant Hunting in North Dakota
Just got back from a pheasant hunting trip to Ellendale, North Dakota. Davey, Re-Phil and I drove 14 hours overnight Wednesday, 29 OCT. We hunted Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and then drove home Sunday, 02 NOV. This was our 10 year anniversary, as we first started hunting pheasants in North Dakota in 2005.
We hunted private land W of Ellendale, just the three of us, with no dogs. We bagged 75% of the roosters that got up within range. We saw somewhere between 100 - 150 birds total. Not near as many as we saw 10 years ago. The wet summers and harsh winters have really put a dent into the population. Well that, and all the loss of habitat. There were almost no public lands in Dickey County where we hunted.
We ended up with 8 birds in the bag and only lost 1 (downed buy could not find). According to the other hunters that we ran into up there - that's fantastic! They also gave us props for hunting without dogs - which is at least 10X more difficult than with a dog. One feller told us he couldn't believe we got any birds at all! The averages we heard out of Aberdeen, SD (the self-proclaimed pheasant capital of the US) was that they were averaging 1 bird per hunter per day with dogs. We did that well, and we did it without any dogs.
The weather was not quite as cooperative. We had anywhere from 10 degrees to 54 degrees F and 7 to 40 mph winds. Yes, it was cold and windy. Windy, windy, windy!
We had a great time and wish to thank our spouses for letting us take off without them. Now I've got birds, guns, and clothes to clean. The plan is to smoke the pheasants and have them for Christmas dinner when the families are back in town.
A bouquet of North Dakota pheasants, Friday, October 31, 2014
Comments
Post a Comment