# Opening day success stories! How'd you do?



## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

How'd everyone do? Let' hear some stories about the hunt... what type of cover did you walk? How fast were you done? In time to make breakfast in the morning?

Anyone got pictures to attach?

I don't want any specifics on locations but rather I want to hear about the memories and glory? Anyone got dirt on someone here for blowing an easy shot?

Thanks!

Ryan


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## Sin man (Jul 25, 2006)

in SD you cant hunt pheasants till noon.


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## indsport (Aug 29, 2003)

Done with my limit in the first hour. My younger labrador worked within 25 yards, flushed and retrieved all birds. 3 birds up, 3 shots, 3 birds down. Digusted my dog since she wanted to keep hunting. Lots of hunters out and about. Plan to take the dog out tommorrow and do like last year, find crippled birds from other hunters. Last year, my two dogs found 5 cripples walking through a field immediately after 6 hunters and their two dogs had hunted there. I had watched them through binoculars and saw where their dogs didn't find the birds. The last two years I had one or more days where I didn't fire a shot to get a three bird limit. Would not hunt pheasants without a dog. Just a waste of game. 
Afternoon hunt for wife went a lot like morning. Stopped at a small slough 4 vehicles of hunters had passed without stopping. In went the dogs, and in the space of 3 minutes, 3 roosters came out, and the wife limited out.

Sunday Report. Poor shooting today. Wife and I shot at 8 roosters to get our 6 birds. Dogs worked magnificent. Done by noon with a 9 am start.


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

indsport
So when you find crippled birds, what do you do with them? Legally the most you can keep is 3, correct? I am referring to the possession limit. I am not nit picking, just curious.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

He eats them where he finds them, just kidding about my favorite lib

I too often have had my limit and walked out of the field when my one of my dog brings in someone elses lost cripple. I keep them, what else can you do?

It happens a lot


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## Sparky477 (May 4, 2004)

Went out for a few hours this morning, got this nice rooster......I should of had my three, Rocky did his job I just didn't do mine  
[siteimg]5233[/siteimg]


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

Sparky477 said:


> Went out for a few hours this morning, got this nice rooster......I should of had my three, Rocky did his job I just didn't do mine
> [siteimg]5233[/siteimg]


Awesome pic! Congrats!

Ryan


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## SDHandgunner (Jun 22, 2004)

Well let's just say my shotgunning skills are a little RUSTY so to speak. Today was the first time I have hunted Pheasants since 1990. A couple friends and I went out and in all honesty we should have been done in the first half hour. Not to blame it on pour shooting, but rather figured the dogs needed more time in the field so we missed on purpose (if you believe that boy have I got a deal for you).

At any rate we had out limit in exactly 3 hours and 9 minutes (including driving time to 4 different spots. I had a great time and never expected to see the number of birds we saw. In fact the first flush I was in awe when the sky was filled with Pheasants.

All in all a great day.

Larry


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

Opening day was awsome. We saw a ton of birds, got lots of shots. We were limited out in 2 hours with 21 birds. If some of the other guys in my party would have done there job shooting we would have been done in less than an hour. 
It was a blast. All i can say is shoot strait.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

I am so jealous my dogs know I should be up there.

ND is beautiful this time of year


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

I had the "Curse Of Acker" hanging over me like the cloud in Li'l Abner.


> Only three shells


, all the night before it kept running through my head. When I got to the Black Swamp I was lucky I dressed warm because the temp was 18 with a light breeze. Lucky. Within minutes the temp had soared to balls of sweat. Sam got a lock solid slam point right away. Biggest skunk I ever saw. There are no stupid roosters in the Black Swamp. They dised us right and left. Not to mention the corn was still up on three sides. Came over a waterhole spoil bank and got the flush of a lifetime, at least a dozen birds in the air. One rooster in the bunch. One. Hit him solid and he went into one of those tumble-flap-hit-in-the-head to the left crashes. Right through the ice in the waterhole. Sam is not a lab. Doesn't get paid enough he says. He tried but went thru and blew bubbles before he got his head up. Ran back up on the spoil bank and barked at me. Water too deep to wade, not a lab in sight, (how rare is that), and had to leave him. Picked up one more just infront of the truck and called it good. Back to work. For you grouse hunters, on the way home I was tooling down the highway at exactly 50 mph. A flock of 11 grouse passed me!


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## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

We got our 15 birds but I think this was one of worst opening days that our group has ever had.

We had to deal with a bunch of little problems from two broken guns.

We saw about 20 birds go into one of our shelter belts and as we were getting ready to do a drive to go after them one of the guys locks his keys in his truck with his gun inside.

We had to chase two groups of road hunters out of the sloughs.

The worst part was we really got a good look at the effects from the drought. I have never seen the cover this bad. All of the plots land is bare. We don't hunt it but the birds do use it as transition area from the plots land to our land and it is bare.

I also could not believe how many hunters there were. They were every where from every where. Some times it looked like a train going buy, big groups of hunters. One bunch had to have 10 trucks in there party.

We talked to a group from Bismarck who going to hunt the plots land. They told us that they have hunted this sections of plots the past couple of years and did real good. They got there an hour before shooting time and when the sun came up they had nothing to hunt. It had all been cut or just didn't grow. They had checked 4 plots fields and didn't think any of it was worth hunting.

Over all a very fun day and the pheasant tasted good tonight.


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## woodcanoeguy (Oct 8, 2005)

Well our 'opening day' in ND isn't for another two weeks but my son and I had a great opening day hunt at a friends farm in Eastern Oregon. Got two limits and it took a fews hours of hard work for us and our pointing lab.....not too much trouble but not too easy either.
Cannot wait to get out ND and see all the birds...Last year I spent more time with my movie camera in my hand then my gun I think. Our PF chapter here sure enjoyed my film of our Dakota exploits. You ND folks are very lucky and very gracious to share with us. Thank you to all the farmers that help us out.


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## Springer (Dec 21, 2004)

I made it out for about 1 1/2 hr this evening. My son shot his first rooster so now he is saying that he wants to shoot his first snow and blue next.

Anyone want to take us? I told him that I am not buying any snow decoys, we don't have enough canada decoys yet I told him.

The 2 yr old GSP had two nice points on roosters and we both missed the first one and on the second one, I didn't load my gun, first time I think I have ever done that. Too many other things to worry about tonight, dog, puppy came with, son. Any way he shoots first then I go to shoot and click, on his second shot he drops a young rooster not fully colored yet.

He has his grand slam of firsts this year. Sharptail, Mallard, Canada Goose, and Pheasant and he is only 10. I told him that I didn't get my first rooster till I was 30.


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## bowhunt23 (Aug 31, 2006)

i went out today shot my limit of pheasants grouse and partridge but good thing i had private land that nobody else could hunt. i sat ontop of a hil and within a half hour i counted 35 different vehicles all with hunters. and i watched 4 different groups of hunters walk the same tree row haha.. and also i saw 5 guys empty their guns at a rooster that got up 10 yards infront of them and nobdoy touched him


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## Jiffy (Apr 22, 2005)

Pembina sucks man !!! :wink:

Sorry guys I just dont feel like typing it again....go to "brand X" web site if you are so inclined.

I dont even feel like cutting and pasting......its nite nite time

To many of these :beer: ....everybodies going home

lates


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

Pembina rocked for me, Pembina is where it is at !!! I was positive we would be hauling beets today. I found out at 2:30 the plant was gonna stay closed for the day. I got to a field that looked promising by 4:00; 2 hours and 3 shells later I was heading home !!! Life is good, I am happy as hell fall is here and I love being in North Dakota !!!


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## jhegg (May 29, 2004)

On Friday afternoon I found a soy bean field that the mallards owned. I collected 5 full plumage drakes. On Saturday, they were not so accommodating - I got two lessor canada's and one hen mallard (she was behind the drake I shot at). Saw two ditch roosters on the way home, then I let my wife drive. We did see one more - he died! Not a bad weekend so far!
Jim


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## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

On an all day hunt, I think I'll just kill two birds in the morning, so I can scope out a third in the afternoon. I had three birds on four shots by 10:00 a.m., and Gunny pointed two and flushed them on command. It was great, I can still see it now.

My old man and brother got three apiece, dad with a wild swinging shot over a rooster that flew into the sun and came back down, Ben after a rocky morning took three birds in five shots after lunch (the running joke is that my brother doesn't function well til after noon - he's a night owl) to bag his first pheasant ever, and his first limit.

Shot one with 3/4" spurs and about a 22/23" tail feather. No other monsters, saw a couple that looked as big or bigger, but some flushed wild. Lots of hunters around Watford, but not as many as I've seen in the past. Gigundous amounts of birds...just ridiculous.


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## griffman (Jan 17, 2004)

Pretty tough around Bismarck/Mandan for an opening day. Did manage to get my birds, but had to work a lot harder than I thought I would, also had to compete with DROVES of hunters. Several big parties of 4 to 8 people, a few droves of 3, many of 2 and a few lone hunters.

Didn't get out til about 3pm (which probably didn't help). Had to work in the am, but figured the pressure would be less in the afternoon....it wasn't.

Got several nice points, lots of hens. Shot two rooties, Kobe retrieved a lost cripple someone left behind from the morning...3 birds...two shots. The cripple smelled kinda funky, but I figured I'd better bring him home. On the way back to the truck...guess what....of course....another solid point....mature rooster in the air! Can't shoot, already three in the bag.

Get home, clean the birds, funky bird is REAL funky...can't use him  Don't know if he was shot last week for the youth or guts leaked into the meat? Oh well, at least I know there is one more bird out there!

Met an older guy with a lab who lives near the field turned war zone. Nice guy, I felt kinda bad, he didn't get any birds. He had his truck parked next to mine, when I got back to the truck I was sweating like whore in church! The chase on that cripple was brutle! He says to me "Looks like you did pretty good out there, you should have.... for as much as you're sweating." I noticed he wasn't sweating and his dog wasn't panting as hard as mine....I didn't feel so bad he didn't have any birds after that! I laughed and we shot the bull over a soda :beer:

Felt good to be out in the field. Nothing like a good romp in the field to cleanse the soul.

Here's to a happy and safe season to all!! :beer:


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## griffman (Jan 17, 2004)

Dick--Great story as usual....this is my favorite part! I laughed out loud! :beer:



Dick Monson said:


> He tried but went thru and blew bubbles before he got his head up. Ran back up on the spoil bank and barked at me.


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## Jiffy (Apr 22, 2005)

Yesterday, 6 of us managed 16 birds. We saw A LOT of hens. The numbers are WAY up in our area. Didn't "feel" like going out earlier this morning. :lol: I'm on the way out the door after I hit submit. Good luck guys and be safe.....Later!!!


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## little hunter (Oct 12, 2006)

first day most of the pheasants in our land were in the open feild, so only got one up and missed. But today got one, had 5 different birds get up in about 1 minute, got one, went dow, started running annie my dog made about a 75 retreive in thick cover,fun day, had a blast.


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## 94NDTA (May 28, 2005)

Supposedly it is the best year for pheasants in North Dakota and Minnesota, and I beleive it. The spot we hunted was hunted last week for junior hunting opener, so the birds were skidish. We were also hunting next to a very large corn field that hadn't been taken down, and as soon as the shots went flying, we could see 50-100 of them fly into the feild for cover. It started off quick. First one up was a big one (in the pic) dropped it like a sac of potatos. Second one was big too, but we lost it in some really heavy cattails. MY father got two also, both were very large 2nd year birds. This was after about an hour and a half of hunting.

Then, our dog bree sprained her front paw and couldn't work the field. We cut it short there. By 10:30 we saw as much action as we did all day opener the last 4 years. Dog is allready walking better, but right now she is cashed out on the couch. She will be movin slow for the next couple days.

Any, picture time!










Ignore my parents corny halloween decorations, lol.


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## Wes (Aug 1, 2006)

Five of us got 15 birds-we had a great time. There were a lot of birds and a lot of hunters. Dog found all the deads, cripples and runners and pointed a bunch of hens as well. He was hunting dead and jumped on a pretty large boar ****, so we had a little extra excitement. Bad day for the ****, though. Swapped some hunting stories and enjoyed the great weather. Wes


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

Took a buddy and his 12 year old son out for their first rooster hunt. Brought my 9 yr old son along as well just to watch. Done in less than 2 hours. Plenty of birds and we flushed 2 roosters for every hen. Strange, but great. More hunters than I have ever seen before in MN.


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

Had a terrific opening weekend. Plenty of roosters and the hun population seems to be up as well! I stuck with the 28 gauge, and killed six roosters and a hun. Johnsona had an interesting opening morning, and collected this mixed bag in the first mile.
[siteimg]5246[/siteimg]
He's out in the garage skinning the coyote as we speak. That's the biggest ***** yodel dog I've ever seen at about 30 lbs. and prime as can be. The fur is very light with black tips and just a little red on the legs and head. Should make a beautiful tanned hide to grace the head of his favorite recliner. Good hunting all, Burl


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

Took my wife out today for her first pheasant hunt, we didn't do well. Didn't even get a shot fired, odd day? Did run into friend and walked some of his family land with him. All in all even though we didn't get any birds it was a good day.

Burly
Nice bonus yote Johnsona got there. Last year I started hand calling them but never was able to call one in, this year due to lack of confidence in my abilities I am going to use an electronic call. I have only got 2 bonus yotes in my life, one was pheasant hunting and the other I was deer hunting; both were mangy


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## mburgess (Aug 11, 2003)

Saturday ended with two roosters and a sharpie and had to cut the day short as the dog had a belley ache. Dog was better on Sunday and got a nice limit of roosters in an hour and a half. Hunters were everywhere this weekend, probably won't go out next weekend with all the NR's coming over. It will be like WWIII out there.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Took me more than 3 shots...I was just playin Mr. Monson...Opening day my Dad and I hunted til noon and got our 6...Good thing, because I'm not in Cattail shape yet...Sunday, very few shots and we had our 6 by 9:30ish...The area we were hunting still had 90% of the crops up. It's going to be "silly" once the corn and beans are completely off. MORE HUNTERS than I've ever seen before. Opening morning I would have swore I was dropped into Normandy...Bang, bang, bang everywhere in the distance! N.D. will harvest a Million birds this year...You heard it here first!


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## deacon (Sep 12, 2003)

Great weekend, you guys can have the plots. These areas are just to big for my son and I. Luckily most people will still grant permission on the spot to a dad and his son.

Have to say it appears more birds than last year, but it does help that more corn has been harvested and the harvest continues at full throttle. Love it when I see a corn field going down!

Oh yeah, the walleye fishing is awesome besides the birds we bagged we were able to catch a dozen walleyes. Farmers love it when we give them some walleyes, once it a while they will take a pheasant but they will ALWAYS take some walleye.

CAST N' BLAST.


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

Our group consisting of my college age son and two of his friends did well. One of our areas we hunted had a lot of corn so if you walked the edges right before sunrise you could find birds on their way to feed. But after that the hunting got a little tough because the birds were in the corn and we would shift our hunting area to where there was less corn and then a water hole with cover near buy and then we would get into the birds again. Our new 8 month old pup really started getting a handle on the birds the second day and marked two birds that he kicked up and we shot and then retrieved them them both so that was promising. The little sucker has a lot of heart and has great instincts so it should be fun watching his progress throughout the season. Yes there were lots of hunters but when the birds are there that is the way it will be! But then again there are hunters and then there are hunters. I have a feeling that with only 3 weekends to hunt before the deer opener because of the later start the pressure will be pretty intense for the rest of the October. Looking forward to next weekend because I will have to "guide" for my scissorbill friends! Oh, well as I have stated before, "scissorbill" need love too!!


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## shae1986 (Sep 28, 2006)

Got our 3 man limit both days. First day by 1:00 and the second day by 11:00 with plenty of birds around. I will be back again in a couple weeks.

A. Shae


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## holmsvc (Nov 26, 2003)

What a great weekend!
I had my limit of birds both days by 10:30. I got to spend the rest of the day walking with the other people in the group.

Saturday morning it looked worse than opening weekend of deer hunting. I could not believe the amount of people. Sunday we didn't see nearly as many people.

The farmers were real busy this weekend in the area I was hunting. Lots of beans came down and the corn is also starting to go.


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

We finished off the weekend, with a four person limit in 3 hours. That was pritty good considering the amount of birds in the corn in our area. We walked a few corn plots, and that was where we did the best. We had a good weekend with a 7 person limit on Sat in two hours, and a 4 person limit in 3 on sun. My dogs are tired they are looking forward to there two day break till i go out again.


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

Anyone else have pictures from the field to post up?

Thanks for the other pics guys! Reading this thread is one of the highlights of my day!

Ryan


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## fargodawg (Sep 20, 2005)

3 of us got 8 in an hour and a half on saturday I am going to try to post a pic, but cant finding "how to post a picture" questions getting answered, I know that I see it asked all the time


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## fargodawg (Sep 20, 2005)

[siteimg]5256[/siteimg]

maybe this way


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## fargodawg (Sep 20, 2005)

I give


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

fargodawg said:


> I give


I hooked you up brother! :wink:

Go back and check out what I did... You need to use siteimg instead of img (E.g., [siteimg] vs )

Great photo by the way!

Thanks!

Ryan


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

AWESOME weekend. Great weather...Lot's of birds.....

First day...5 man limit in 2 walks
[siteimg]5247[/siteimg]

Second day. Dad and I went out!!!
[siteimg]5248[/siteimg]

Hutch is a 6 month Britt. 
Only 6 months old, and on his first hunt. He had 2 points, and a face fully of feathers getting a pheasant to flush! He retrieved 6 birds.
Couldn't ask for anything more.


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

awesome pics Mav!

Thanks!

Ryan


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

I think we need to update how we attach pic's to posts...It would be nice to just attach them like on many of the sites...


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## Jiffy (Apr 22, 2005)

Here is myself and Bruce with a few we got opening day. What a weekend!! :beer:


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## deacon (Sep 12, 2003)

Maverick said:


> AWESOME weekend. Great weather...Lot's of birds.....
> 
> First day...5 man limit in 2 walks


Mav, some of those men you are hunting with sure look like women. Or do the dogs count as the 5 man limit. oke:

Any way, nice field pic!


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## 94NDTA (May 28, 2005)

God bless North Dakota. These pics make me want to call in sick tomarow...

:::cough:::


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## deacon (Sep 12, 2003)

[siteimg]5257[/siteimg]

Joe, Dave & Charlie

1 boy, 1 man & 1 dog limit. :beer:


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## jamesavp (Apr 20, 2006)

Tough opening day, didn't find them in the same place as last year. limited out at around 11:00. Lots of hunters this year. I must have seen 25 trucks hunting in around the same area. Birds holding really tight. Still a great hunt and opening day. 

Here is a pick of our dog and her hard work
[siteimg]5274[/siteimg]
Here is a pick of my limit and my Browning BPS Pump Shotie
[siteimg]5275[/siteimg]


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## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

My brother Ben with his first set of Roosters. Congrats!


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## DustinS (Nov 9, 2004)

Opening day birds with my dog Solo. Limited both days in a total of 2.5 hours.


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