# North Dakota journey: week one



## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

Well folks, I have just recently returned from the first week of my annual North Dakota pilgrimage. Things got off to an interesting start. I arrived at the camper (it stays on a farm up there year round) and settled in for the night. Then the scratching in the walls started. Yep, mice had taken the place over. I looked for the traps. Not there, hmmm. Sleep was interrupted frequently that night to say the least. Evidently mice can't recognized the horrible things your are saying about them or they would have left post-haste. The following afternoon I returned, armed with 4 good ole snap 'em type traps. Caught 16 during the first few hours! Day two would find me much better rested after all.
Well as far as pheasants go, I had pretty high expectations of seeing near record numbers. Didn't happen. There were however, more than enough. Far more than last year. Limits actually came pretty easy and I spent time shooting sharptails each day too. I used my 20 ga. more than ever this year and would have used the 28 ga. more if I had actually brought more than a few shells for it. Last night I loaded up a full box of #5 shot for that gun. I will soon return to apply some of these to a few more roosters.
The weather was something else too. 70 degrees for days!? My 11 year old border collie still hunts very hard, but she was feeling that heat. So was I. Then the cold weather hit, along with the blissful day in the mid 40's that led to it. Life got easy for the dog. Anyway, here are a few photos to make all of this seem a bit more interesting.


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## duckjunky (Mar 8, 2007)

Great Picts. Thanks for sharing.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Outstanding, thanks for posting up the good pics too.


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## deacon (Sep 12, 2003)

Awesome pics! Nothing better than shots from the field.


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