# God, I Love North Dakota!



## DJRooster

Had a great time last night. Only had one hour of daylight after work so DJ(my dog) and I went out in the snow and walked the edge of a cattail slough by a soybean field and had our three roosters by quitting time. He made two outstanding retrieves of over one hundred yards following wounded birds through the cattails. Put on the rain pants and tingleys and came out dry as a bone! Also kicked up very nice buck! Life is good! Thank you North Dakota!!


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## drjongy

I will second that...I love living in North Dakota!! This is the best time of the year to hunt pheasants as well--watching the dog is the snow is awesome, and the colder weather and snow makes a lot of people put away their guns for the year.


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## Dick Monson

I third that motion. This morning I was able to hunt the new snow also. Rooster tracks galore twisting in and out of the cats. Please explain how a lab that can't stick his nose out the door on a non hunting day will spend endless hours in melting snow and thick cattails? Pup worked a cripple for twenty minutes in a ditch filled with scrub willow before he caught him. I could see the bird running several times but pup was too close to shoot again, darn it. But those rising birds were fantastic. Better than a Redlin print.


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## DJRooster

Dick, I wish I could have been there to see it! It is a moment to be a proud owner and if it is a pup the beginning of a great dog. I hunted with my brother whom I consider to be a truly great hunter when he was a bachelor and then he got married and his job took him to another state so now of course he is a changed man!! But anyway, he had two dogs over the course of 10 years or so who any hunter would classify as some of the best that they have ever hunted with. His dogs were great with pheasants and grouse but also great in a field hunting with decoys. They would sit perfectly still with their heads down and if you went on a sneak they were crawling right with you. They were truly great and versatile hunters. Over the years I saw his dogs make some tremendous retrieves where the dogs would dissappear for 10 minutes at a time and somehow comeback with the bird. One weekend we shot 51 birds and the dog found 52. After hunting with his dogs for many years I decided that I needed a dog and of course went through the peaks and valleys that go along with a pup. Finally, the moment came when my brother and I were hunting and a rooster was shot and of course the dog marked the bird and then went down through a low spot and into the weeds and then across the road and into a row of trees about 300 yds away. Well you probably have guessed it but after about 10 minutes my dog came back with the bird. Dick, I had a tear in my eye that day because my brother got to see my dog do something that I had seen his dog do so many times before. I was a truly proud owner. That was many years ago and after many great retrieves my dog would now make a worthy hunting companion for my brothers dogs. My dog will be remembered in our family hunting tradition that spans 50 years of hunting on the prarie as a truly great dog. My dog will be 11 in Feb. and his hunting seasons are numbered so each night when we go hunting and I think about all those memories I cherish every day and every walk with my dog. That dog has just about 100 roosters to his credit this year so it is a truly great year to be in North Dakota and for this and my dog DJ I am very thankful. Life is good!! We should enjoy the moment for someday and for some people these will be the good old days.


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## birdman

Just wanted to take a minute to say thanks to all the fine North Dakota Farmers who let me use their land this hunting season. North Dakota has excellent hunting opportunities, but your greatest asset is the residents. Three of us from Michigan, hunted the center of the state last week and met some great folks. Even had one couple come up and ask us if we would like to hunt their land. From the stories I read here, I guess we probably didn't do all that well. Shot a few pheasants, sharptails and ducks----no limits, but had a great time just the same. Not sure at this time if i'll be back, but this trip will stay at the top of my "BEST HUNTS EVER" list, just because of the people. Thanks for everything!
Birdman


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## Dick Monson

DJR, I know exactly what you mean about your dogs and the experiance.

Sat. afternoon I was in a frozen cattail swamp hunting roosters again. It was blowing hard from the south with a snowfall coming down, gray and overcast, and the wind so sharp the tears ran down your face. The dog loved it! Cold weather invigorates them, I think, or maybe just being out with you. He and I worked against the wind and in a bit he was on a bird that didn't want to fly. The rooster circled us and rose behind in the typical sneaky fashion and I smacked him with a lucky goodbye shot of #2 steel. All my shots that connect are lucky. (picture an old guy with one foot in the air, twisted half around with the gun stock caught in his armpit and a wad of cattail fuzz stuck between his glasses and his eyeballs)  
As we worked the edge a few ducks that were on the ice headed out and I was thinking they won't be back til April, when right beside me a skunk poped his head out of the rushes and turned his business end around. As he tried to get away, pup put his nose right in there. Grabbed him by the tail and yanked him out before the damage was done. We put up some hens afterwords and then pup started working another bird in the cane. I tried to get around the other side quickly and just when I got planted and ready, old man rooster burst out where I had been standing before. A salute to him, he was beautiful in the snow and deserved to get away, through no encouragement of my part. 
I sat down in the cattails for a smoke and a rest, and I thought how so many of the best days of my life have been in a cattail slough with a dog for company. Rafting as a kid, trapping muskrats and mink, chasing *****, smacking ducks in leaky waders, and for the last 25 years, hunting pheasants. No man made structure has the beauty or variety of that golden shrouded swamp. 
Ten minutes later pup worked another bird down along the edge with the wind behind him. He had to cut back continously to pick up the scent again and when the rooster came up right in my lap I missed him clean both shots. 
Enough fun for these old legs. As we walked back through the snow an eagle came across on the wind, just sailing along slow like he could never put on speed, the old ruse. There were grouse clucking up in the tops of the cottonwood, half obscured by the blowing snow and a flock of partridge blew across out of range, headed for their badger hole. I had to think that the hot summer months are pisscutters, full of water skiers and noise, but any day in the late fall is a treasure where you have to be there to understand it. 
North Dakota has solitude that makes it lonely sometimes, but it is also pricless....absolutely priceless. And there should never be a price put on it. That's why I love this state so much.


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## gaddyshooter

Man I envy you guys! Unfortunately where I live we have no wild pheasants as all. If you want to hunt pheasants you have to go to one of the State Parks where it is pen raised and released birds that you have to pay for. 2 birds for 20 bucks. Then they let so many people out there that everywhere you walk, your walking towards another group of hunters, or there is another group walking towards you. Really sucks!!


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## DJRooster

If you don't start hitting the birds instead of shooting at them your dog will want a new owner!! I hunted with a couple of guys on Sat. whom I will call "rookies". When we first started they were just plowing ground four abreast. After a short distance my dog got hot and so another guy and I took a 90 degree turn and after 75 yds or so a rooster got up and the other guy dropped it. A little later my dog got hot and so I had to sacrifice for the group as a whole and shoot a rooster. And then I had to shoot another, and then another. Well by now we pretty much had four guys huddled around my dog. After a lung shot retrieve of 200+ yds over a hill, a runner of over 300 yds over a hill and two cattail runners of over 200 yds everyone was DJ's friend. There were times when the "rookies" said he was in the wrong spot looking for the bird but.....you can't out fox the fox. Trust the nose or you will lose everytime! I truly love my dog DJ.


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## djleye

DJ.... What type of dog do you have????


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## DJRooster

Springer, his nose is outstanding and when he smells a pheasant he is on a mission!! He's much better looking that the owner and my wife just loves him. She thinks that I work him to hard though when he comes home with his nose all rubbed, his eyes all full of pus, his belly all red and usually a spot or two where he is bleeding from the paw or somewhere else from when he ran into a fence or who knows what but he just loves it. A dog just takes a beating doing what they love to do!! My wife never feels sorry for me and all my sore muscles from working the cattails and trying to put food on the table! She just tells me to go sit in the hot tub for a while and then she just tells me to get my butt back out hunting and provide as I'm suppose to!! What a gal you've got to love her! Seriously though eleven years of hunting make for a good dog.


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## Dick Monson

Had an odd thing happen yesterday. Gus was working the edge of a cattail when he bumped a nice rooster which I rolled in the stubble. As he brought the bird in I heard a grouse cluck. Looking up I saw a pair of high flyers going right over the top of me. Dropped the first, missed the second. The grouse piled into the cats about a 100 yds out. Gus went for the retrieve and on his way back he bumped another rooster that flew right over my head. It was so still you could hear the wingbeats. Three in the bag in less than 5 minutes, time for home.


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## Bobm

Dick your are killing me!!!!!!! But I love hearing the stories, isn't funny how as a hunter its so easy to visualize exactly what everyone story looks like in the minds eye. I love this time of year


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## Dick Monson

Well Bob you'll love this one. Two days ago I walked the edge of a big cattail just at dusk. Nothing. I started to leave and stopped for a breather. I do that alot. Out in the middle of the cats a rooster started to crow. Then another one started. Pretty soon they were fighting, jumping up in the air above the cats and landing in the same spot. Gus looked at me and looked at the roosters and started to whine. Walked out and shot both of 'em deader than smoke. Hormones cause a lot of trouble.


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## gandergrinder

So which one was the winner?  he he he


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## Dick Monson

The hens, as always.


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## Bobm

You're right I do love it , I guess you didn't have any of that cattail fuzz in your eyes this time!!! ( thats a great excuse I can't wait to try it on some of my buddies).


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## Brad Anderson

Cattail hatred with a vengence!


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## Dick Monson

Bob you have to get back here. It's going to be 4 below by Sunday and snow forecast Friday and Sat. OOOOOOOh it's going to be good. Tracks. And there's 7 weeks of season left! If we can pull about 6" of soft stuff the grouse will hold too. 

I walked up the middle of a CRP switch grass and brought the edge back because sometimes they hold longer if they think there is a threat on the side and behind, instead of just behind. Just hens at the end. Across the section line there was a bean stubble with three little cattails and when I walked the first the roosters were flying out real low from the other end into the next one. So I used the hook. Walked the second from the opposite direction and they held perfect.


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## Bobm

Dick, I'm trying I'm trying! Maybe soon


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## Dick Monson

The last weeks I have been hunting roosters pretty steady and the pressure I have seen seems evenly distributed around the areas. No place seems to be getting swamped with hunters, yet there are bird hunters around. Most of the sloughs had hunter tracks and the number of hens per rooster flush is climbing. As it should during a regulated harvest.

In '96-97 I hunted Hettinger County the last two days of season. If you remember that winter, you know what everyone saw. Pheasants died by the millions that winter. Snowed down. The last afternoon there were birds dying on the road from exposure and yet no one in that county that we could find was going to let a hunter have access. They did not care that the resource was dying before their eyes.

This year, due to the new upland law and also the PLOTS increase, not only does hunter pressure seem more distributed, but both farmers and hunters seem to have mellowed out a bit. The frantic search for birds seems to have changed into a respectfull sport which is what it always should have been. At my last walk today, I had just pulled up to the slough when another vehicle came in on the other side. They watched me start my hunt and then pulled away a mile to try another spot. Hats off to those guys, and to North Dakotans for passing the right laws. I'm proud of this state.


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## Dick Monson

So you've all heard the joke about the guy that moves up here because his wife would like to see some snow and they might even see a wild deer. Yada yada yada---by spring he wants to kill the snowplow driver, his wife wants a divorce, and he'd like to nuke all the damn deer. So....

After today that's the way I feel about those cursed roosters. Three days of wind that would blow your hat off, no snow, no decent scent trail, *^#+!
and birds that don't hold for *^#+! This should go under mistakes! Walked a good crick bottom that I had saved, a$$ end to with the gun pointed away from the cover as I am right handed. Which required a 180 swing if they flew out the other way. ????? So there were two escapeies right off the bat. The next bird up flew into the sun and was a hen until it turned out of gunshot and cackeled. Rooster. Caught the other side coming back downwind and stopped to rest Gus and take a drink of water. Gus starts to turn in circles. The cattails honest to God erupt birds on all sides. Every one a hen. Two and half miles later we had flushed 13 more hens. The last six were in CRP and each ran at least a hundred yards. (Why fly when you can run? Make the old guy run, he won't come back.) I carry a packet of asprin in case of heart attack. The truck is in sight. There are little white spots dancing through my field of vision. They look like ricocheting tracers.
An old farmers pulls up on the road and says "are you hunting pheasants?"
No. Not until I foget today. I'm going ice fishing.


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## tsodak

So Sunday WAS the start of a streak.tsk tsk tsk.......

Was great Sunday Dick, I had a blast. (at least one of us did) I sure there is another one of them critters you had on the table. Good luck with that.

Tom


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## Dick Monson

Tom, I had fun Sunday too, believe me. It was great to see good dog work and good shooting. You have done a real nice job of training with your pup. Think snow!


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## Dick Monson

OK, so I lied. The heck with ice fishing. Thursday it snowed about 6" and the birds bunched up again. Today they held perfect. Where the cattails drifted in on the north side the birds burrowed right in. The late hatched roosters are coming along nicely toward maturity and if the weather stays decent they should do alright. The last time it looked this good was the fall of '92. Remember what happened then so take advantage of this season.
(we can ice fish later)


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## DJRooster

Someitmes it's hard to figure wild animals. Dad and I went out Sunday afternoon for a hunt and for some reason the birds were really holding tight. It was a sunny day about 35 degrees. There was no new snow and about a 10-15 mph wind. They were out in the thinner CRP and must have been enjoying the sun hiding under the clumps of grass. The birds have been real wild and prone to run after being hunted for almost two months but Sunday for some odd reason my dog had to literally bump them out to get them to show themselves. It was more like opening weekend as tight as they were holding It also didn't seem to matter if we walked into the wind or with the wind. Either way they were holdiing tight. Took us about two hours to fill. A beautifull day to enjoy the North Dakota outdoors. With the great hunting we are having over much of North Dakota for roosters it's not too hard to figure out why people don't want to drive all the way to southwest North Dakota and pay $100/day to hunt. Thanks again to our landowners and all the opportunities that they provide. Believe me it is well appreciated. Also the biggest outfitter in our area said that he doesn't have any more bookings so if we wanted to hunt there were still too many roosters. Please don't clump all outfitters into the same category. This guy is about as nice of a guy as you would ever meet and if you had any trouble he would be the first one there to help you out. He is just another guy who loves to hunt and is trying to make an honest living.


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