# Extreme SE ND



## QuestionableShotGuy

Hunted extreme SW North Dakota before Thanksgiving and had a very successful, good hunt. Am now thinking about a second trip and would like to hunt extreme SE North Dakota in the Wyndmere Lisbon area. Have any of you hunting this area in 2012? Are there enough birds in the area to make the trip worth it?

I have no contacts in the area and don't know if landowners will let people hunt in the late season and am looking for some guidance from those of you who have hunted this area this year.

Thank you all in advance.


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## Sasha and Abby

You can do what we all do, which is go scout and knock on doors. There are birds all over ND - just get out there and scout.


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## Dick Monson

QuestionableShotGuy, if you were able to have an enjoyable hunt in SW ND you will have no problem with gaining hunting spots in E ND. Bird #s are fewer but so is the pressure.


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## J.Adams722

My buddy and I have been hunting that area this season. We have hunted just east and west of Lisbon, and a little north towards the Fort Ransom area. We have seen some birds down around that way. We haven't had much luck, but this could be due to the fact that we are new to the area and newer to pheasant hunting. And we do not have dogs to hunt with. Our schedules of being able to get out and go hunting has also not been ideal. So that being said, I think there are birds to be had, but as has been mentioned the numbers are less out this way compared to the western part of the state. But good luck if you decide to come out this way.


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## uplandgameadventures

J.Adams722 said:


> My buddy and I have been hunting that area this season. We have hunted just east and west of Lisbon, and a little north towards the Fort Ransom area. We have seen some birds down around that way. We haven't had much luck, but this could be due to the fact that we are new to the area and newer to pheasant hunting. And we do not have dogs to hunt with. Our schedules of being able to get out and go hunting has also not been ideal. So that being said, I think there are birds to be had, but as has been mentioned the numbers are less out this way compared to the western part of the state. But good luck if you decide to come out this way.


Will you be hunting SE ND again during the 2013 season?


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## As56hley

compared to the western part of the state. But good luck if you decide to come out this way.


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## Rick Acker

Not a lot of cover left and what's left is under water. Going to be a rough hatch for sure in the S.E.


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## J.Adams722

uplandgameadventures said:


> J.Adams722 said:
> 
> 
> 
> My buddy and I have been hunting that area this season. We have hunted just east and west of Lisbon, and a little north towards the Fort Ransom area. We have seen some birds down around that way. We haven't had much luck, but this could be due to the fact that we are new to the area and newer to pheasant hunting. And we do not have dogs to hunt with. Our schedules of being able to get out and go hunting has also not been ideal. So that being said, I think there are birds to be had, but as has been mentioned the numbers are less out this way compared to the western part of the state. But good luck if you decide to come out this way.
> 
> 
> 
> Will you be hunting SE ND again during the 2013 season?
Click to expand...

Ya we will probably do some hunting down around this way this season again. In my pseudo scouting over the summer (driving to and from research sites), I didn't see many birds in the area. I have been not on this site for awhile due to school work and such. But since hunting is starting up again, I will be around more. I am always looking for people to go with and learn from when my schedule allows me to go. Best of luck to everyone with the upcoming season!


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## indsport

Grim where I live in SE North Dakota. Ran my usual morning survey routes two weeks ago and again this week. I drive about 42 miles in total. Four years ago, I counted 46 roosters in the right of way or on the road. This year, 2 roosters in 42 miles. 70% of CRP has been returned to corn and soybeans on the route. Saw 6 quarters of former pasture or alfalfa planted now in corn and beans. No future here for pheasants or grouse. Dog training has been tough. My new setter is enthusiastic at a year and a half but finding birds is a problem, even for my lab with 9 years of experience. Farmers I know along the route all report very few birds and fewer broods. At least the fishing has been decent.


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## BROWNDOG

Hunted ducks for the NR opener in the Ligerwood area, between two rigs we put on over 400 miles scouting in 2 /2 days and seen ZERO "0" pheasants, heard a couple crowing in the morning, but that was it, very little grass land left unless it's a PLOT or A WMA, all corn and beans right to the road and to the cattails...


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## upland420

If it's as dire as many are saying, they should close it down for a year or two. Make the same area closed for roosters that has been closed for sharpies for many, many years. Between the loss of habitat and hard weather, they could also do without human depredation for a while. Hard to believe we were shooting roosters just a few miles outside of the FM area, just 4 years ago.


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## Rick Acker

You can't BANK roosters...They have a life expectancy of 10 months in North Dakota. One rooster can take care of 20 hens in the spring. Hunting has very, very little to do with populations of birds...Especially pheasants. Limits are more based on distributing the birds among hunters. I would expect a 2 bird limit again, once we get back to harvesting total number of birds comparable to the 1980's...Last year we were in the 500,000 range...80's it was below 100,000.


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## slough

upland420 said:


> If it's as dire as many are saying, they should close it down for a year or two. Make the same area closed for roosters that has been closed for sharpies for many, many years. Between the loss of habitat and hard weather, they could also do without human depredation for a while. Hard to believe we were shooting roosters just a few miles outside of the FM area, just 4 years ago.


Closing the season won't do much if there's no habitat.


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## Duckslayer100

I say shoot as many as you can before winter hits. By then, they'll all freeze anyway with the lack of cover. Better them taking place in your freezer than the bellies of predators.


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## upland420

> You can't BANK roosters...They have a life expectancy of 10 months in North Dakota.


Based on your 'logic', we only need ONE rooster to populate the entire state. Gee, do you think the HUNTING SEASON has anything to do with that life expectancy??


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## Rick Acker

It isn't "my logic"...Its well documented. Feel free to look it up yourself on a little thing called the internet. And there's a big difference between one rooster for 20 birds, then one rooster for the entire state...as you say. And, I stand by the comment that the "HUNTING SEASON" has very little to do with the pheasant population. Weather, predators & mother nature in general takes a much bigger toll.

This is directly from the Pheasants Forever website "Mortality
Rarely if ever does a pheasant die of old age, in fact, the average life span is less than 1 year. The pheasant is a prey species and must face 4 major sources of mortality beginning the day it is laid in the nest as an egg through the day it dies."

I read a past article in North Dakota outdoors from a biologist, that has North Dakota pheasants at 10 months.


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## slough

No doubt Rick. You get into the game of trying to bank pheasants in ND and then one big storm/winter can come in and wipe it all out. Thing is, we have those types of storms/winters here every 2 or 3 years so playing that game just isn't going to work. Nebraska or Kansas it might but not ND. It's all about habitat, plain and simple. Look at the last 10 years...we've (and SD) had some real bad winters in there but because there was so much CRP the birds handled it well and hunting was good. Now, the CRP is going away and the populations are crashing. Would there be more birds if there were no hunting season? Sure, but probably not all that much. A corn field produces the same number of birds whether there is a hunting season or not.


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## crna

The only reason we have limits for roosters is shooting opportunities for hunters, that's it. Like Rick said, limits have very little to do with pheasant populations. When they went to 2 roosters, it wasn't to increase the population it was to give more shooting opportunities for hunters. We shoot both female and male sharptails and rough grouse, yet we still have a population that is dependent on weather, hatch, etc.


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## kappy shack

upland420 said:


> Hard to believe we were shooting roosters just a few miles outside of the FM area, just 4 years ago.


Still can...I was out Sunday and counted 41 birds in 2 hrs.


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## indsport

If we want pheasants, we need some grassland. http://www.pheasantsforever.org/page/1/nestingcover.jsp
If we want pheasants to survive the winter, cattails and shelterbelts http://www.pheasantsforever.org/page/1/winter.jsp

If CRP goes away, sloughs are burned or plowed, and shelterbelts are torn out, pheasant populations go down. It really is that simple.


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## 6162rk

indsport said:


> If CRP goes away, sloughs are burned or plowed, and shelterbelts are torn out, pheasant populations go down. It really is that simple.


exactly along with other things that we don't even realize yet


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## ChukarBob

Sometimes "public good" collides with itself. We all want the independent family farm to do well, yet we also want habitat that fosters wildlife diversity and abundance. If the CRP program isn't funded, or its funding reduced ("get gummint off our backs!"), and there's a better economic return on crops, vs. CRP, for the independent family farm, who can blame the farmer for optimizing his outcomes? If public policy says that a field of CRP should have the same or greater value as a field of corn and we're willing to put our tax dollar where our mouths are, then we'll have more CRP, more wildlife and wildlife diversity, a healthier natural environment, and more pheasants to chase. But that's just my opinion.


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## Macdog#1

I'm confused, we already pay for crop insurance and ethanol with our taxes. Shouldn't we use some of that money to pay for CRP too. We aren't talking about small time farmers anymore. These are large corporations making millions of dollars and using taxpayer money to do it. Plus, why not switch grass? Less water needed to grow it, no nitrogen needed, and allows for spring pheasant nesting. Why do we need to remove the shelter-belts implemented during the dust bowl era. There is a huge difference between corn growers and farmers.

Sorry, I have some opinions about this topic!


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## Trail

My son and I are heading out to the Ellendale area on Tuesday. We'll hunt through Sunday. I've heard the dire reports and only hope that with the crops off it'll be a bit better.

Having said that, if things are as bad as they say....and if the plots keeps disappearing, we may be looking elsewhere next year. I keep hearing good things about Montana. I'd be sad, though. We've made friends out there the last 10 years. We also spend money at stores, gas stations, restaurants, hotels, etc. I was a little disappointed last year to see the amount of habitat lost. Corn's back down now, so maybe the Plots program will pick up some acres.

We'll see....

Good luck to all,

Trail


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## Rick Acker

Trail said:


> My son and I are heading out to the Ellendale area on Tuesday. We'll hunt through Sunday. I've heard the dire reports and only hope that with the crops off it'll be a bit better.
> 
> Having said that, if things are as bad as they say....and if the plots keeps disappearing, we may be looking elsewhere next year. I keep hearing good things about Montana. I'd be sad, though. We've made friends out there the last 10 years. We also spend money at stores, gas stations, restaurants, hotels, etc. I was a little disappointed last year to see the amount of habitat lost. Corn's back down now, so maybe the Plots program will pick up some acres.
> 
> We'll see....
> 
> Good luck to all,
> 
> Trail


Heading out that way myself Thanksgiving. Low expectations and high aspirations! If you're depending on plots around Ellendale, not much left! Corn might down a hair but soybeans more than make up for that. No, I wouldn't expect any new CRP to speak of for a long time. Sad but true, if you look at history.


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