# 2012 Recap



## ChukarBob (Sep 4, 2006)

Have been able to enjoy 2 trips to ND this year, one late September / early October to hunt Sharps and Huns in the northcentralsoutheasternwestprobably part of the state and the second trip in early November to, shall I say, "central" ND, when the focus was on pheasants. Our November trip was wonderful, not only because we took our fair share of ringnecks; but also for wildlife "show" that ND put on for us. Waterfowl were everywhere, including one large pea field that must have held somewhere between 50,000 and 150,000 mostly snow geese, a truly eye-boggling spectacle. We saw moose, loads of deer, and a goodly number of skunks and porcupines. Regrettably, we shot few Huns and Sharps on this 2nd trip, but they really weren't the objective.

Poor Boone, my brother's older and nearly deaf Lab, got royally "skunked", but probably deserved it for grabbing the skunk by the nape of its neck and shaking the life from it. Both of the other dogs in the game were successfully called off this skunk, but not Boone. Let me tell you -- this dog took it in the chops and was the rankest smelling "skunked" dog I have ever smelled. Thank goodness for hydrogen peroxide and baking soda (and that my brother, Boone, and his setter Dave were staying in his 5th wheeler, 40 yards from my lodging).

Although my dog Remy did her best to ignore many of my field commands (requests?), she still managed to put up a bunch of birds in front of me, some of which fell to my gun. It was by far my best year in ND for total number of birds and I was just a bird or 2 shy of limiting for 10 days afield. Remy did have to make a few retrieves on "runners" and proved her value in this activity. And she hunted every day for 10 consecutive days (including a couple of half days), so I really need to give her most of the credit for our success. We had 2 days of freezing rain, a significant snow storm with wind-adjusted temps below 0, so the weather gods did challenge us, too.

Thanks to the good folks of ND for their hospitality and to the people and the State of North Dakota for its stewardship of such a wonderful natural resource. Can't wait for 2013!


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

It sounds like your crew had a great trip. A week ago those geese gave a guy a headache from all the noise. Glad you got into some birds.


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## darylrench (Nov 7, 2007)

Bro - that field with the snows was probably 1 mile by 1 mile - I would bet between 500,000 to a million. It was deafening! Felt like we were in an Alfred Hitchcock movie.


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