# Poor Opener



## JBB (Feb 9, 2005)

After this many years I thought I had hunted in most conditions. But this past weekend was different. Friday, 85 degrees Sunday 83 and Sunday at 1:00 79. Lows were 49, 51 and 50. Should have been the highs. Southwest of the capital (an undisclosed number of miles).Two of us on ground that has birds all the time never failed to take birds on these places. We saw many birds on the road along the SUNFLOWERS in the evening and first thing in the morning one of our spots had atleast 200 birds untill we stopped to look. They all went into the sunflowers. Worked the CRP, sloughs and grasslands all around these sunflowers and corn, the dogs hit a LOT of scents and they all led into the crops. It was a real challange to keeps the dogs out of the crops. Worked untill noon both Sat. and Sun. only pulled the trigger twice and I was practicing shoot and release. That was the only pheasants we saw while working the fields. Saw lots of grouse. Ended up with one grouse, the dog got it. We never shot a bird the whole weekend. Never had that happen to me before.
Talked to several landowners, they say the birds are going into the feedindg fields first thing in the morning and not coming out till night. Finding shade and resting spots right in the field. Lots of heavy dew so they do not have to go looking for water. Talked to a few groups of hunters and they were seeing the same things. Only a few birds being taken and they were road hunted. Not a fan of that, never know who posted the adjanct land. 
Really had to watch the dogs. Quit hunting at noon thinking we would go back out at about 5. Didn't cool down enough, had to have a few beers instead.
All in all it was a great weekend, got out to my favorite place with a good friend, hunted with my dogs who worked great and enjoyed some bonus weather. Can not imagine what it will be like when the corn and sunflowers come off. I spent 10 days in the same area this spring and saw more birds the I have for 6 or 7 years. Just too much cover and heat this weekend. Normally I run the heater in my camper, this year we left the windows open. Looking foward to the next 12 weeks. Only bad thing seasons ends early. on the 2nd.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

That's funny...we did pretty darn good hunting CRP and cattails. Saw tons of birds on edges of tall crops, but still found them in workable cover. Maybe not the numbers, but they are still around.

Look on the bright side: the more crops that come down, the better it will get.


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## uplandgameadventures (Aug 10, 2010)

Too much corn here on the SE part of the state. Saw the majority of the birds near corn fields. I'd say the numbers are up based on what we saw just around the corn. Not many shooting chances. Got my only one within the first hour of season. Really hoped to set up my buddy from out of state on shooting chances which paid off some. Like myself, he had chances and missed. I like that...practicing Shoot and Release. Dogs worked great but heat was getting to them. Mostly scouting Sunday and driving around to hopefully catch the birds in transition from grass to corn. Alot of young birds out there too.


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## mnuser (Oct 4, 2010)

We came from MN and had a great time. We got 10 birds for two days. Hunted some wonderful land with my son and some relatives. Saw lots of birds moving from the corn to the flowers to the beans. Hunted CRP grass in the morning. The birds were moving quickly from the grass to the food. We can't wait to come back in a couple of weeks. Not about the killing but spending some quality time in the field with family and friends instead of at work.

Dog was beat by 1 or so with the hot temps. Come on cool down!


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

It ended up costing me about $400 bucks for days hunt...and I didn't even use a guide... :beer: My dog hit a fence and is in the hospital right now getting fixed up...Other than that can't complain...Got my 3 birds about about 10 minutes into our hunt. Once, the corn comes off...it should be a good year! :sniper:


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## mnuser (Oct 4, 2010)

Ouch. Been there, done that. I'm hyper careful now around fences. Cost me 200 on a Sunday in Dickinson. Vet was nice enough to come in and sew him up. The next day he jumped out the window wanting to hunt again with a bandage on his leg.


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## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

Mosquitos, Mosquitos, heat, sun, no wind, sun, sweat, more mosquitos........and lots of birds.

Birds were holding tight in CRP both mornings, grass was really wet for the first two hours. Made for great scent, and had some great points and retrivies. I was EXTREMELY impressed with my dog, she has progressed every year and this weekend was better than ever before.

Middle of the day, found birds in shelter belts and small tree rows/groves, getting out of the heat I assume. That is also accomplished by piling into standing corn which we saw also.

We flushed birds that were the size of a dove and could barely fly 50 feet, to fully mature birds and everything in between. There were a lot of birds that were just on the verge of turning color.


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## Nick Roehl (Mar 7, 2002)

SE ND opener. We were done in an hour each morning with 6 people. Spent the rest of the day grillin and drinkin!


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## WATERLOO (Oct 9, 2003)

Rick, sorry to hear about your dog. Mine got a cut on the morning we were leaving last year. he was fine but I was worried they weren't gonna let him on the plane home. he made it but got six stitches for his foot.
I'm headed to Nodak on Thurs. and cant wait. Heres a tip-of-the-hat to the dogs.hope yours heals up.


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## Nick Roehl (Mar 7, 2002)

Rick Acker said:


> It ended up costing me about $400 bucks for days hunt...and I didn't even use a guide... :beer: My dog hit a fence and is in the hospital right now getting fixed up...Other than that can't complain...Got my 3 birds about about 10 minutes into our hunt. Once, the corn comes off...it should be a good year! :sniper:


Sorry to hear that. My lab Nelli punctured her side late last fall. I didn't even know it until I was wiping some stickers off of her. The hole was a size of a quarter and the vet could stick her entire finger along side her ribs. I also had a vizsla that just had to rip through barbed wire fences, and one time it cut him to the muscle and was about 6 inches long on his back towards his rump. 
I hope your dog recovers fast.


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## BNATT (Apr 30, 2008)

Thanks for posting your pic's. It gets me jazzed up for this season. Hopefully I wont be hunting in flip flops when I get out there.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Hey Guys, thanks for the concern...My dog is doing well and came home last night from the vet...Stiched up nicely...My wallet is not doing so good...I learned an expensive lession around fences. I guess, I've just been lucky in the past! oke:


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## dukdawg (Oct 5, 2010)

Glad to hear your dog is improving. The only solution I see to fence collisions is "old age" of Dog and hunter. My dog has slowed considerably with old age and so have I. The fences don't get hid hard anymore by either of us. My opener was great. Took my 11 year old lab out. I was worried she wouldn't make it pheasant hunting this fall because of leg ailments. She was slow, methodical, but awesome flushing lots of pheasants, retrieving ducks, and reminding me how good it is to be alive with an old friend for another opener. October in the outdoors. Ain't nothin' like it!

:beer:


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## deacon (Sep 12, 2003)

Wingmaster, nice pics. Did get out in your area with son during youth opener, birds appear to be better than last year. Cannot wait for cool weather and crops to come off. Good year to get lots of exercise and work dog.


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## wurgs (Mar 3, 2008)

Great pics wingmaster. We hunted sw ND and found the hunting to be hit and miss. Birds were hard to find at times but when found there were alot there. We found the birds were hanging in the thick cover, mainly in the coulees or areas with cattails or other areas they could get out of the heat in. We shot mostly young ones but they were nicely colored. 3 of us brought home 34 birds in 5 days so did pretty good.


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## Nick Roehl (Mar 7, 2002)

Thanks, guys. The birds are up in my area and with a lot of the crops down already it worked out great for opener and will only get better when the corn comes down and it will be down early this year for once!


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## KurtR (May 3, 2008)

45 in about 1.5 hours for our opener here in sd hunted right around mobridge. Just on the drive home i ssay about 200 pheasants on the road as they harvested a corn field


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## tigerdog (Jan 24, 2008)

The opener was great! We had to do a little work to get our birds, but that's what makes it fun. We had most of our luck near water holes. Zero lost birds is a huge plus too. I have a 2 1/2 year old Golden Retriever who was diagnosed with cancer this spring. I was hoping that he'd remain in good health for at least another pheasant season and here he is. He worked wonderfully--brought a tear to my eye. He'll be greatly missed when the cancer finally gets the best of him. I'm so glad that he's still healthy to enjoy another season. He loved getting out in the fields and retrieving birds.


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Tigerdog,
Been there,done that.Hunt often with him and treasure every moment.Pics may help down the road as well.Happy and sad times.
Our opener up on the plateau was OK.We got our birds but it took work.Springer(old one)wore out so used my Lab.He lost one in water which I'll never understand.Must have nearly 200 retrieves this year on ducks without a loss but...????
I think the average up here was down.What a difference 4-5 ft of snow and wind can make.


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