# Hunting Report



## ChukarBob (Sep 4, 2006)

Our group of 4 hunters, all NR's from the Northwest, just completed our week of pheasant hunting in ND and I can happily report an excellent week of hunting. We hunted north of I-94 and west of route 83 and saw plenty of birds, although in pockets as reported elsewhere. We bagged almost 70, so well short of limits per man each day, but all had our share of misses and unfortunately there were a few cripples that escaped the dogs. Where we come from (Oregon and Washington), shooting 2 wild pheasants in a day is a rare occurrence (2 is the limit in Oregon, 3 in Washington); so North Dakota is a treat for us.

Dog work was outstanding, from the 13 year old Lab likely on his last ND pheasant hunt to the 7 month old English setter on his first. All of the dogs had their moments of glory. My late maturing 6 year old Lab, Remy, has finally turned into a very good bird dog. Once upon a time, I characterized her as a Labrador "Finder", not "Retriever", but that has changed. She made a number of retrieves of wing-broke birds that were running for the next county. Need to work on retrieves to hand, as when she drops a live bird at my feet, it tends to take off on another race for life. More sport for the dog, I suppose.

I tried out a new gun on this trip, a Benelli M2 in 20 gauge, but the verdict is out on the shell "system" I thought would make sense in a 20 gauge auto on pheasants. My combination of lead and steel loads worked well early in the week, but when I ran out of lead and was shooting 3" steel loads in #3 and #4 shot sizes later in the week, my performance plummeted. Need to pattern this gun with different loads.

We bumped into some really nice folks on the hunt and are appreciative of the hospitality and generosity we encountered. Thanks to all of you North Dakotans who helped to make our hunt so enjoyable.


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## deacon (Sep 12, 2003)

nice report, thanks for sharing!


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Thanks for posting up the good report, we like pictures. Love to see dogs working. Just a suggestion but # 2 steel is the ticket in that department.


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## ChukarBob (Sep 4, 2006)

Well, Dick, the 3" #2 steel load is all that a couple of my partners use on pheasants, sharps, and Huns. Apparently I'm a slow learner  And I don't take a lot of pictures. So I agree with everything you say, just don't follow through well.


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## wybirdhunter (Nov 18, 2011)

We hunted SW ND the last week of October. Hunted plots and unposted ground. There were some birds but not
near as many as in previous years. They knew the season was on and would run and flush out of range but we 
managed to get some and had a real good time. Saw a lot more sharpies than we had before, fewer huns.

I think the birds are learning to read as there seemed to be a bunch on the posted/no hunting areas, or if they
were in a huntable area, they would quickly scramble over to the non-huntable area post haste.

One thing we did notice was the lopsided rooster to hen ratio. In the two areas we hunted, seperated by about 70 miles, both areas we seen more roosters than we did hens. In the one area little farther east, I honestly think it was 10 roosters to 1 hen, I could not believe it and have never seen such a descrepancy before, but definetly fewer hens.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

> One thing we did notice was the lopsided rooster to hen ratio. In the two areas we hunted, seperated by about 70 miles, both areas we seen more roosters than we did hens. In the one area little farther east, I honestly think it was 10 roosters to 1 hen, I could not believe it and have never seen such a descrepancy before, but definetly fewer hens.


Phez average 50/50 in the hatch ratio. If there is a lopsided ratio someone is likely buying roosters for release for $$$$ hunting. It is very common in the comerical arena. Just saying.

ChuckarBob, if you try #2 steel you won't go back to other steel sizes. It's like a fistfull of lightning. In the WPAs and Federal Refuges in the eastern side of the state steel is required. When I shoot up the last of my lead it will #2 steel from then on.


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## ChukarBob (Sep 4, 2006)

We saw a pretty even balance of hens and roosters in our hunts -- no released birds where we hunt, the NW quadrant of the state.

Dick: 20 ga. 3" steel #2's are on my Christmas list. I've got a 3 or 4 boxes of #3's and #4's to use up. Will use the 4's on quail. Do you prefer the steel 2's over lead 4's or 5's as well, if lead is allowed?


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## wybirdhunter (Nov 18, 2011)

well it might be, in the areas we hunted I sure was not aware of any pen raising didnt see any flight pens but I sure dont
know.

Personally, I was chalking it up to the hard winter and hens being more suceptible winter/spring kill, from what I have
read and such, roosters are a little more hardy and able to survive a little tougher weather condidtions. But, at any rate, I sure hope there are some ladies around there somewhere otherwise the hatch this spring is going to be pretty skimpy even under ideal conditions.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

I use Federal Premium Mag. 3" copper coated #4 late season. The reason is that it shoots well in my shotgun. If you have pointed birds that hold for your boot you could probably kill them with trap loads. The birds we hunt are wild and I mean wild. They wouldn't hold for Moses. So you take your shots with something that will kill them when at range.

Switching different loads back and forth makes me an inconsistant shooter. When my phez lead is gone it's steel for me. JMO. NDGF has a good,if long, report on #2 steel at the top of this forum.


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