# Cover to find sharptails?



## MikeyLikesIt (Aug 15, 2010)

Curious what kind of cover do you like to hunt where you can find sharptails? Have lots of different types of habitat to hunt, but unsure where to find them consisantly this time of year.


----------



## schlag (Jan 25, 2006)

Any field that does not contain brome grass. Never seem to find them there. We hunted pastures that were between 6 to 12 inches tall with patches of buffaloe berries in it. They also always seem to be on the top or very near the the topes of the hills.


----------



## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

CRP next to stubble.....hilltops when it is windy.....shelter belts and bullberries when sunny and warm.


----------



## MikeyLikesIt (Aug 15, 2010)

Thanks. Hunted them off and on for years and they really have been tough to figure out. Is brome the tall red grass that grows on the tops of the hills? i also agree on the berries. This looks to be a excellent year for the berries and they are everywhere. The last 8 years or so that it's been dry has really changed where I used to find them. This year I'd see them along the roads in the bottoms but since the season opened haven't found one. I've been hunting northeast Wyoming and this should be the best year in the last 10 or so.


----------



## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

I have my best luck around alfalfa fields that are about boot high. They like the hoppers and alfalfa leaves. But there has to be BIG CRP next to it or pastures that aren't grazed to the bone. But then that might be my best luck because that's where I hunt....
Grouse don't like wet grass so they will be in short cover or stubble fields early in the morning if there is dew.


----------



## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Here's my 2 cents.I've seen them nearly everywhere at times-even high cattails-but those situations are rare.Short alfalfa(rarely in high alfalfa),stubble and particularly rock/brush piles in the middle of stubble,pastures and CRP.As mentioned pastures overgrazed don't work for me nor does high CRP.Even in 'medium' height CRP I'd focus on berries near hill tops or just short grass 'green' areas within the bigger field.Find short green grass,even if full of thistles and pocket gopher mounds,within a sea of CRP and they won't be far away.
A banner year so far,good hunting!
PS Last nite my wife fried,yes fried quickly,6 sharpie breasts soaked and fried in Paul Newman vinnegret(sp?)salad dressing and they were fabulous.This from a guy that isn't big on eating sharpies.


----------



## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Correction:The 'boss' just said I had it wrong.She uses Newmans vinnegret on geese.
On sharpies she fries them in a mix of olive oil and 'Newmans Own' 'Light Cranberry Walnut' salad dressing.Consider trying it,suspect you'll like it.


----------



## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

My absolute favorite spot to hunt for sharpies is in a section of WPA that is grazed every year. There are some Russian olives and buckbrush intermixed with sparse grass. It's always loaded, and I have no clue why since there really isn't that much cover.

Otherwise, I love walking ridges in CRP, especially if there are tree lines. For some reason, that just congregates sharpies like flies on $hit.


----------



## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

One thing that I have noticed with sharptails in CRP. There I always some sort of alfalfa mixed in were you find the grouse. I don't know the proper name for it, it is different than the alfalfa farmers grow here in Wyoming, but it is a type of legume/alfalfa. Kind of vine like stuff. If I don't find a patch of it mixed in with the CRP, I move on. If you find a big CRP section of this next to a sunflower field-kaching, you have a winner more often than not. This has held true for me in every region of North Dakota I have hunted.


----------



## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

kc, very true. The legume you mention is probably vetch.


----------



## MikeyLikesIt (Aug 15, 2010)

Thanks for the help. Went out again this afternoon and found lots of birds. They were either close to the tops of the ridges and at the head of the draws. Also found them late in the day along the bottom of the draws feeding on buffalo berries and green leaves that look like dandylion. Mike


----------

