# Not looking good for fall



## JBB (Feb 9, 2005)

Spent Labor Day at my place some where between New Salem, Flasher and Carson. Was there 4 days, two of them did not hear a rooster crow. Saw very few birds. The grass is REALLY high so will not see them unless they are on the road but still did not see many. Did not see hardly any dead ones on the road. But the beer was cold and the steaks hot. I think the ND GNF count is pretty close. Was there on the 4th of July and saw 6 hens with broods following them around. Anywhere from 3 to 7 chicks. Not going to shoot a lot of birds this year but still going to be a good season. All I need to do is get out there. Birds are just a bonus. I usually practice a bunch of shoot and release anyway.


----------



## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

I've been hearing and witnessing the same thing. One of the landowners I know was telling me how he'd just seen his first brood of "fuzz balls" in mid August. I don't care what you know about nesting -- that's late! Lots of rain and water, combined with loss of CRP and proper nesting cover will resonate for years to come. Looking back on 2011, we'll probably consider it a "banner year" compared with what's just around the bend..... :eyeroll:


----------



## slough (Oct 12, 2003)

Definitely alarming driving around the countryside at how much CRP has come out. The good ol' days of pheasant hunting of 2-3 years ago are behind us and probably won't be back soon.


----------



## indsport (Aug 29, 2003)

Confirmed here in this part of the state unless pheasants can swim. CRP? 90% gone within a 10 mile radius of my home in the country. Two quarter sections that had been in grass since the early 70's got plowed up and planted. Quite a bit of PLOTS land (the signs are still up) was plowed up or mowed so short, you can see a mouse at 100 yards. NDGF reported crowing counts down 50% in our area and without having seen any broods this year, it will be probably be far worse than NDGF predicted. Without the CRP or the pheasants, the hunters sure aren't going to be there. I had three groups that normally would come to stay at my house during the season already cancel their trips and telling the rest not to bother for pheasants or grouse. I wonder how all those small communities and convention and visitors bureau folks that told us they were dependent on hunters will do this year? They sure didn't support the hunter back when things were good by talking to local farmers about access or CRP. It will be interesting to see how things shake out. I plan on a lot more ice fishing this winter.


----------



## g/o (Jul 13, 2004)

> I wonder how all those small communities and convention and visitors bureau folks that told us they were dependent on hunters will do this year?


They should do just fine, lot's of water and duck hunting is what most from MN like to do anyway. I saw 5 broods of pheasants in a 3 mile stretch last evening all is not lost indsport. By the way when did you start an outfittter buisness?


----------



## indsport (Aug 29, 2003)

Sorry G/O never an outfitter, family and friends who are former north dakota residents comprise the 3 groups that stayed at my home and they are not predominantly waterfowl hunters. As to pheasants, the word was published yesterday that the brood count in the southeast are down 60% which confirms my own observations. Regarding communities, those comments were made during the discussion over the pheasant issue, not waterfowl. Even so, with CRP going under the plow, so will the ducks. It will just take a couple of years for the effect to be seen.


----------



## g/o (Jul 13, 2004)

Sorry indsport, I thought when you feffered to cancellation I thought maybe you were in the lodging buisness of some sort. Lot's of land coming out of CRP and many more to come in the next couple of years. Many reasons for taking out most of us a just sick of putting up with the regulations. I personally reinstated 2 quarters last year only to pay then off this spring and put them back into production.


----------



## ChukarBob (Sep 4, 2006)

As an NR who has been upland hunting ND since '92, it's too ingrained in me NOT to come back this year. Plus, as most of us recognize, the actual taking of birds is just a small part of the hunting experience. Just walking around the cover with a gun in hand and dog out front ranging for scent, with late fall colors in the foliage and waterfowl migrating overhead, can make an exceptionally enjoyable day.

The Game Dept. headline on the brood count report references bird numbers similar to a decade ago. I checked my hunting journal for 2001 and our 3-man group did OK. We didn't take limits every day, but we saw some birds and took a few.

Maybe we'll throw a couple bags of decoys in the truck just in case some waterfowling opportunities materialize for us this year.

I'm old enough now that I can see an end to my bird hunting days, so there's a feeling inside me about not passing up any of the few opportunities left to me to hunt in ND.


----------



## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

Funny how that double edged sword gets us, isn't it? The water has us cheering about the ducks and crying the blues with the upland birds. Even if you don't hunt the ducks, a slow day of pheasant hunting still beats rotting on the couch! I live in Wyoming and bird numbers crash often here. Every year at least on type of bird takes a huge plunge. Sometimes another takes a big upswing though. I am still waiting to see what the chukar and hun hunting will be like. Last year's hun crop was so good, I will say that even Saskatchewan could not have compared to it. This year? Might be a total dud. Winter wa real long and wet. Deep crusted snow made feeding real difficult for the birds. Don't know how the hatch went. There will be decent hunting for something other than sage grouse( excellent as always) this year though. Waterfowl, coyotes, chukars or something. I will adjust. Even if all of the upland hunting is marginal here (often is), I will still go. The experience is just too wonderful to pass up. That includes ND pheasants. I will welcome the sore feet that likely are going to accompany it.


----------



## indsport (Aug 29, 2003)

Got out at dawn, drove roughly 60 miles of gravel in my usual early fall survey route within 15 miles of my home. One rooster, no hens, no broods and one sharptailed grouse. That same route last year I saw over 20 roosters, a number of hens, and 8 broods on the roads, let alone the birds in the fields. Mailman reports hardly nothing out there. At least for me, it is going to be grim. On the other hand, saw a small lake I hunt occasionally had over 200 ruddy ducks and their broods on it, not that I shoot ruddy's but it was a treat to see so many of them.


----------



## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Lots of CRP is going into production, just not large chunks. Mainly around sloughs and alkali holes, so smaller pieces.


----------



## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

> Lots of CRP is going into production, just not large chunks. Mainly around sloughs and alkali holes, so smaller pieces.


This is a huge problem. The smaller chunks are critical in producing and holding birds.


----------



## Nick Roehl (Mar 7, 2002)

I have been out early goose, doves, reg season waterfowl now constantly scouting. I haven't seen anything for numbers. Also I have heard 5 roosters cackling while sitting in the decoys in normally great pheasant country. Loss of most all CRP, 3 bad winters and heavy spring rains have taken a toll big time. I will be out this next weekend but I am bringing the goose decoys. Might just wait till late season for some pheasant hunts. All in all pretty sad to let it get to this stage.


----------



## hunt61 (Aug 26, 2008)

My experience also, been goose hunting/scouting every weekend since mid-August and i am hearing NO roosters crowing- NONE. This is hard to believe in an area that was loaded with birds for many years. I have seen 5 or so roosters and as many hens in my travels. One brood on our land about a month ago, just barely able to fly across the road.

CRP is almost gone in the area, lots of water, terrible winters = very few pheasants to be had.


----------



## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Same up here in Saskatchewan. Our pheasant season opened Saturday. Today, three of us hunted an area about a dozen miles north of the ND border straight north of Fortuna. Saw three roosters and about a dozen hens, hunting from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. American friends I've talked to who live on each side of the ND-Montana border say pheasants are pretty scarce there as well.

The last few years gave us phenomenal hunting so it's to be expected we'd eventually hit a point when numbers dropped. Many of us, however, didn't expect to see the numbers drop as drastically low as they appear to have dropped this year.


----------

