# 2010 countdown



## Guest

Well I hope it's not too late to start. There are 241 days till pheasant season opens! It is just around the corner. :beer:


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## Dak

Rock on! 240 and countin'.


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## Katdog

I've been watching your weather and it looks pretty tough out there. Not as bad as last year, but still lots of snow and your normal bone chilling temps.

How are the pheasants doing? Enough food and cover to carry over good breeding stock?


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## Gone Fishin

239 I can smell the gun powder already :beer:


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## Guest

238! :rock:


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## Guest

233 :beer:


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## Guest

225! :rollin:


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## Guest

166 till you get your fix! :beer:


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## doubledroptine08

162 gotta start gettin shells ready. :sniper:


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## Guest

119 till oct 16th 112 till the 9th! :beer:


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## Crazy Horse RVN

I'm eager to get back to ND. What has the hatch been like so far this year? (Especially in the SW.) Are there a lot of broods or has the Spring been bad for Pheasant hatches?


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## Dak

It's been cool and damp...not good for chicks. I'm just starting to see broods along roadways.


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## Crazy Horse RVN

Does anyone have a phone number for "LK'S" in Amidon?


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## Crazy Horse RVN

Yo fellas, hasn't anyone in North Dakota heard of LK's in Amidon (SW North Dakota)??? Ya never ate a steak there? Never shared a beer :beer: and some conversation :******: with LK?

Guess I'll have to sip some suds with the Marines at Tun Tavern in Philly. :thumb:


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## daveb

Crazy Horse RVN said:


> Yo fellas, hasn't anyone in North Dakota heard of LK's in Amidon (SW North Dakota)??? Ya never ate a steak there? Never shared a beer :beer: and some conversation :ticked: with LK?
> 
> Guess I'll have to sip some suds with the Marines at Tun Tavern in Philly. :thumb:


If you had a computer you could just Google it, so here you are...

http://www.plainsfolk.com/oases/oasis18.htm


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## Remmi_&amp;_I

74 days !!!


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## Guest

62


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## Shorthair.On.Point

Time to start getting serious about preparations for the season :beer:


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## d2jlking

37 days boys!


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## d2jlking

31 days. One month. 1/12 of a year...........Cannot wait. First time I'm bringing my kids to ND to hunt pheasant with me.


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## d2jlking

8 days............ :beer:


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## bl|nk

I'm missing the ND opener to go to Omaha to race sport bikes. But i'm hitting the SD opener with a vengence


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## uplandgameadventures

tick tock - 7 days

Anybody taking their kid(s) out for the ND Youth weekend hunt? (wish mine were old enough to take out but only for that selfish reason though)

Tomorrow, I'm getting the gear down out of the loft (that is safely stored at my parents shop). Dust off the Cynergy and turn a couple clay pigeons into dust...will settle for shards too. :eyeroll: 
Bought a box of #5 shot Fed Premium Prairie Storm tonight. Antsy to see that in action next weekend. Also picked up the latest PLOTS Guide.

Anybody else getting the guns and gear out already? Anybody notice (in their areas) how much PLOTS land disappeared/appeared this year compared to last? I'm just curious. I noted one field only that is no longer in PLOTS. I'd say that's doing pretty good - haven't paid enough attention in years past to see if more has gone into the program. I'm more worried about the following two years where more than half of the PLOTS is set to expire.


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## Dak

Will miss the first month.


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## kgpcr

Lost some PLOTS in XXXXXXXX and picked up some in XXXXXXXXX. I hope we get more land put into crp in the XXXXXX area


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## indsport

kpcgr, concur. I did my usual annual fall survey within a 15 mile radius of my home and usual pheasant hunting grounds and two thirds of the PLOTS land of 2008 is now in corn or soybeans with little residual cover. In the same two year time period, 85% of the CRP has now been planted to corn or beans. With so little left around here, there isn't much left to plow up. We are right back to where we were prior to CRP in mid 80's. I look back on the 90's and the early part of this decade with the same fondness I watched the soil bank disappear in the 50's and 60's and the pheasant and deer populations crash in the subsequent years. What's worse is watching the last miniscule native prairie remnants and more pasture land get plowed up these last three years. The unintended consequence is the drop in non residents in our area. Usually I see a number of groups with a peak about 5 years ago. This year, on three scouting trips, I saw just one. I guess that it is gain, but wonder what the small towns will be saying about it. Again, it all comes down to money.


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## mnuser

That is too bad. We will be coming to ND for opener this year. We come back to pheasant hunt a couple times a year. We always make it a habit of stopping in some small town for lunch, to get gas and help them anyway we can. We are only two people though.

Good to all you out tomorrow. Be safe.


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## mburgess

Very interested to see what kind of year I'll have. I've done a bit of grouse hunting and driving the last month and I'm not seeing many pheasants. So much CRP is gone that it is hard for me to believe that the overall #'s are up? I'll still hit it hard this year, working a pup


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## D_Hage

It's finally that time, good luck everybody!


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## wburns

Heading out in a few minutes for the back pasture. Good luck everyone! May be a little tough mid morning. Most of the roosters on my place are out of the grass and into the fields by 8:30. On a plus side the neighbor is harvesting sunflowers and the corn looks pretty close.


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## indsport

About what I expected given what I saw scouting the past 10 days. 2 roosters flushed and 2 were bagged. Saw hens on the roadsides in a couple of places but none in the four areas the dogs and my wife and i walked. Did see both coyotes and fox. Talked to 9 groups of hunters we encountered in our neighborhood by noon. 7 groups with 0 birds, the other 2 groups had one bird apiece. Grim doesn't begin to describe it. Every piece of PLOTS now has beans or corn on it or the PLOTS is no longer there. Off to farther away locations tomorrow because there were none around here. What's worse you ask?????? 1 piece of property that have been unposted for the last 20 years now had signs saying the land was leased. First ever in our area but probably just inevitable. It certainly appears from this hunter's point of view that the future of hunting in North Dakota is pay to play. What drove us out of southwest North Dakota back in the early 90's (pay to hunt and lack of access) for an annual fun fall weekend away from our area is coming to our area now. Haven't been back since and took our dollars with us. Too bad for the kids like me who grew up in in the 50's and 60's when no land was posted and pay hunting didn't exist. We didn't know how good we had it.


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## spoiler92

Went out by myself(and no dog) for a few hours this a.m. in Southeastern ND. Got 5-6 hens up and 1 rooster. Bagged the rooster and had to head back home for son's football game at 11:15 a.m.


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## hunter9494

sounds like NDGF put a spin on the bird report, other states do it too......but the truth gets out soon enough.


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## D_Hage

Didn't think it was so bad,we were 2 shy of a 4 guy limit. And a friend from work sent me a picture of their 9 man limit they got in just over an hour. We saw a lot of birds.


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## Dick Monson

Didn't get out til 10 PM so the heat was building already, quit at noon. Most of my old spots are cropped now instead of grass. However it is super wet so the sloughs are unlikely to be burned out later. Had no shots, put up one rooster at distance, had a few birds in front of the dogs, but no points. Tuesday is supposed to cool off but the corn harvest hasn't started yet in my area. Most of the corn fields have sloughs out in the middle anyway. I did see a few birds when combining beans and wheat so we may just have lower expectations if we hunt local. Always thought they were trophies!


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## D_Hage

Went out again today, saw quite a few birds again. I think it is going to be a great season once the crops are off, and we get a frost...those Mosquitoes are a killer.


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## slough

Hunted the SW part of the state, mostly public land but some private. Didn't see a ton of birds but enough to make it interesting. Saw quite a few hunters out but didn't hear a lot of shooting. Could have had limits with better shooting and a little better luck a couple times. Insanely nice weather and pretty much no wind made walking after about 10:00 pretty uncomfortable even in T-shirts. Probably should have gone fishing with this weather but with my 9 month old pup set to go I could hardly sleep Friday night. He did well so that was fun.


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## indsport

Must be a local phenomenon around here. Took off today and drove about 180 miles in total after hunting the first hour (we saw 5 roosters and harvested only 1) and we walked only three other places. From roughly 8:30 am - 2 pm, saw two non resident vehicles, and a grand total of 5 groups of hunters in the fields. Of those we talked to, almost all birds were in the standing corn by 9 am. It may be the slowest start I've seen in over 10 years and the fewest number of birds. I suspect a few more hunters will come to our area but I expect by November, we will have the area almost to ourselves. BTW, saw a WPA that I had hunted and had grass on it two years ago and this year it was planted to soybeans. Going to check with USFWS and see what gives. As to the other 16 pieces of PLOTS we surveyed today all but 2 were mowed and/or the grass was gone and soybeans were planted. I guess an isolated wetland in a quarter section of soybeans with a 10 foot ring of cattails counts as habitat for the program. Glad the rest of you have birds in your area but we are toast.


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## Call'emIn

My two sons, new dog, and I were out today with about the same results. A lot of water in the SE, a lot of plots cut down, a few other hunters both Res. and Non. The new dog did well for 8mo, 1 solid retrieve to hand with a live bird, made the day great. We only managed to flush 2 roosters and dropped both. My 13yr old did not get a shot and my 11yr old decided he wants to try pheasant hunting...YEAH! To say the least, it was a great day. I could not have asked for more..........!


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## Dick Monson

> My 13yr old did not get a shot and my 11yr old decided he wants to try pheasant hunting...YEAH!


 Can't ask for more than that. 
Tried again this morning but just too warm for me. Did see several duck into corn. Put up one covey where the chicks must have been born in late August. They could fly about 50'. But a few guys are combining corn now and it should be going full blast in a week as the grain moisture is falling into the teens.

We won't know what we have for birds until it freezes the sloughs and there is snow.


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## slough

Well the countdown to 10/8/11 begins now... Went out this morning after being holed up due to the weather to get one last hunt in. It was actually pretty nice out with no wind and the sun was shining. Walked a shelter belt right away that had well over 100 birds in it and got 1. Could tell the pup had been laying around house for a few days as he was pretty anxious and got out a little far in the trees. Walked some cattails and kicked up lots of hens and missed a pretty easy shot at a rooster. Kind of stinks to miss the last shot of the year but oh well. All the snow made walking difficult at times - I was pretty gassed after 2 hours. Much cover that was holding birds a couple weeks ago was now buried in 3-4 foot rock hard drifts. Based on my observations, I would say this year was quite a bit better than last for bird numbers but still not nearly what it was before the hard winter of a couple years ago. This was my first hunting season with my own dog (yellow lab - just turned 1) and I can now truly understand the satisfaction of watching your own dog work. I don't know if I'll ever bird hunt without one again. He probably got 40 retrieves on pheasants this year and watching him get birdy is awesome. About the only reason I hunted the late season was because he seemed to enjoy it so much and I enjoyed watching him. Let's hope the winter mellows out a bit and the birds are able to make it through.


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## Dick Monson

slough said:


> ................ and I can now truly understand the satisfaction of watching your own dog work. I don't know if I'll ever bird hunt without one again. He probably got 40 retrieves on pheasants this year and watching him get birdy is awesome. About the only reason I hunted the late season was because he seemed to enjoy it so much and I enjoyed watching him. Let's hope the winter mellows out a bit and the birds are able to make it through.


 :beer: Way to go roughing it out. Not easy out there. I tried again last Monday and gave it up. But there were still a few around. Today the first ones showed up at the pheasant feeder so I hope to get them through the winter.


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## Rick Acker

I went out Wednesday before the Blizzards to the S.E. and 85% of the roads were snowed in. Did one walk with my landowner friend and I got my 3, but it was tough going with snow drifts up to your waist. Hope the rest of the winter settles down a bit too! :beer:


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