# Your ideal habitat



## Chaws (Oct 12, 2007)

With the opener just a hair over a month away, how about a good discussion regarding the type of habitat you find to be most productive...

When you're scouting for land to hunt, what do YOU look for?


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## wildrice (Sep 11, 2007)

Man, that question is a hard one, I guess depending on what time of year and what weather conditions are would dictate what habitat would be most condusive to holding good numbers of birds. One constant would be good cover within 1/4 mile from a food source. After that consider what time of year it is is and if conditions are warm, cold, windy, snowy etc........

Absolute best would be a cold front with snow coming and the birds knowing it, hunt the denses cover possible close to crops. Scout and get permission to give yourselve the best possible chances depending on weather variables.

WR


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

My favorite to hunt, but not always the most productive is small waterways and creeks. You usually don't find 100's of birds, but the birds usually hold for the dogs.

Other than that...A slough bottom in corn or beans and you are money. If it has adjacent CRP, you are really set!


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## Chaws (Oct 12, 2007)

Rick Acker said:


> My favorite to hunt, but not always the most productive is small waterways and creeks. You usually don't find 100's of birds, but the birds usually hold for the dogs.
> 
> Other than that...A slough bottom in corn or beans and you are money. If it has adjacent CRP, you are really set!


I completely agree here, tougher than nails to get through so having dogs is a must and safety is key as the normal slough stuff we hunt is near shoulder high.

Also when I'm looking for fields in early fall or beginning of the season, I like to see a lot of natural flowering plants along with thistles for natural forage for the birds. Of course a neighboring corn stand is nice in addition to their natural habitat diet :beer:


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Eastern 1/2....Large blocks of CRP to raise them, with cattail sloughs for winter-roosting cover near beans, corn, or flowers. Sounds elementary but it's not. Much early planted CRP was seeded with smooth brome grass. Fine for nesting, not worth a hoot for hunting as they only travel through it and it snows down. First ice is good for fishing and rooster hunting. Late season in the cattails is good if you have snow for tracking as you can move really fast 'til you hit hot tracks. Pheasants will feed out as far as they have to from cattails. The drainages between are good for 1 or 2 guys as the birds travel these and loaf there between feedings before they go to roost. If you can find a food source field that has small sloughs with some cover in it next to the above, that is where they will loaf during the day unless they are pressured out. And seldom will you find roosters in Reed Canary grass.
Western ND...they go where they are shot at the least. 

You'll only take so many steps in a day before the feet say enough.
So look for a spot that can be hunted in a loop back to the vehicle. If you are walking anyway you may as well be hunting. Look for a piece of cover where the most likely part of it can be hunted into the wind. Don't be afraid to tackle a big cover by yourself. Some big ones don't get hunted hard because nobody likes the first 1/4 mile of cattails. Jump in.
As far as scouting for permission keep a notebook with previous contacts, and during the year write down likely spots for future hunts.


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## BNATT (Apr 30, 2008)

I'm always a sucker for tree rows. Doesn't matter what time of year you hunt them they always seem to produce birds and the later in the year, the more they hold. I really don't like to hunt with big groups and tree rows are ideal for just a couple of hunters. You can put a hunter on each side and one at the end, and let the dogs go nuts in the middle. 
Just don't hunt the rows in a farmers back yards.........their not big fans of that.


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## burbach (Sep 29, 2005)

I, and my Springer, always look for the cattails. Especially if they are holding any amount of water. The birds really like this.


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

Cattail slough in the middle of a cornfield. Bam! bam! bam! :lol:


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