North Dakota Pheasant Hunt Late October

As per our usual custom, RePhil, Davey, and I headed to North Dakota to try and knock down some roosters.  We took RePhil's boy Aaron (A-A-Ron) again this year and added two freshmen:  son-in-law Alex Martin, and Zach Livengood.  Also tagging along this year was Riley, Krueger's bird dog.

We arrived in Ellendale, ND on Wednesday, 26 OCT after a 14 hour drive in a pouring rain that put 2.5" on the land we were about to hunt.  I'm not sure I got more than 1 mile of "dry boot" walking the entire time we were there.  On top of that, we rented a party van so that the six of us plus the dog could travel together and save on gas.  What we did not count on was that the van would not allow us to travel the sloppy roads.  We had to park and walk a lot farther than we normally would have.

We waked Riley through the CRP on day one with a 100' lead to ensure she was "ready" to hunt and not run off.  None of us wanted to explain to Krueger why his dog did not come back.  We put the lead away after the first mile - she was golden - even though we did not kick up a single bird in that CRP.  We walked sloughs, corn fields, and ditches in temperatures from 45 - 66 F.

Aaron, Alex, Dave, Phil, Zach and Riley on afternoon hunt in CRP.
Note Dave & Phil holding their chins up to make them look taller.

Zach dropped the first bird along a fence line in a corn / turnip field.  It ran off and was not recovered, even with a dog.  Aaron dropped the second bird in a slough.  It jumped up from a reed patch and fell where it was shot - an easy recovery.  Alex shot the third bird from a slough inside a standing corn field.  It popped up behind us and flew down our line.  Everyone except Phil shot at it, and everyone missed except Alex.  Riley made a perfect retrieve, back to Zach.  The last bird was downed by Dave in a picked corn field.  An easy mark at 30 yards.  And those were all the birds we shot.

Alex with his first ever rooster

We saw somewhere north of 40 birds total - and yes, we missed some.  However, most of those birds jumped up more than 75 yards away and went into standing corn.  It was tough hunting.  We walked between 7 - 9 miles every day we hunted and it was tough walking.

The boys walking a slough surrounded by standing corn - trying to jump some roosters.

An early morning fog didn't stop us from hunting

Our own experience in conjunction with the other hunters we spoke with, led us to conclude that the bird numbers are down in Dickey County, ND this year.  There just is not enough cover for massive bird quantities any more.  Why?  CRP is not being funded like it used to be.

We averaged walking 5 miles for every bird we got - and we got the fewest birds we've ever taken.  Last year we shot more birds with half the hunters and no dog!  The birds just aren't there to be had.  That, however, did not deter us from having a great time with good friends.  We had a blast, for sure!

Aaron and his new bestest buddy Riley.
She's a good dog, and loves peanut butter.

We've been back less than two days and are already making plans for next year.  We're not sure those plans include North Dakota.  We're thinking that Nebraska might be the way to go in 2017.


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