# late season



## jsr (Oct 31, 2012)

Do due circumstances beyond my control my only opportunity for bird hunting this year will be early in Decenber. Does any one have experience with hunting this late in the season in Western No. Dak.? Suggestions?


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## HUNTNFISHND (Mar 16, 2004)

Cattails.

Oh and be very quiet.


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## Springer (Dec 21, 2004)

Best month to hunt if you ask me. Just go slow and let the dogs work.


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## indsport (Aug 29, 2003)

Best time of year to hunt is December. My dogs and I love it the most. The snow keeps things quiet, the dogs have had enough work that you don't need much more than hand signals.


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## deacon (Sep 12, 2003)

HUNTNFISHND said:


> Cattails.
> 
> Oh and be very quiet.


Diddo, as Mr. Fudd once said, "be very very quiet"









Hand signals and control of dog make a tremendous difference.


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## HUNTNFISHND (Mar 16, 2004)

deacon said:


> HUNTNFISHND said:
> 
> 
> > Cattails.
> ...


Haha exactly! :rollin:


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Just got back last night from our November pheasant hunt in eastern Montana. It was an absolute hoot. November hunts are generally our toughest hunts -- wild flushers and runners. With the dump you guys in ND and Montana had last week, we were hunting in 10-12 inches and it made for wonderful hunting.

The wild flushers still flushed wild but there weren't runners. We had more close flushes than any hunt in the 20-plus years I've hunted with friends across the border. My friends and I always look forward to December hunts because of the snow but this hunt was exceptional to the point my dogs pulled three birds out of the snow.

I had three-dogs this trip -- my yellow Lab female who is a wonderful hunter, my black male who isn't really into the game, and my daughter's 2-year-old black Lab male who shows a tremendous amount of promise. I took him last month for his first hunt and he exhibited such good bird sense I had to take him again, and his Lab-hunting instincts are so strong I know he's going to be an exceptional hunter.

What also added to the trip was my friend brought along a field trial guy who runs Springers in national field trials and who also judges national field trials up in Canada. The snow was pretty deep for his (what I would think) were relatively small Springers but they worked well. They hand-signaled, were steady to flush and shot, and generally were very well trained dogs who worked very well to the whistle.

And you know what? My yellow Lab who is a natural quarter, my black who is a good retriever but still doesn't really know why God put a nose on his face, and the third dog, my daughter's black Lab who has only had two hunts but shows so much promise put up way, way more birds than the field-trial Springers.

I don't know why. Maybe the snow was too deep for the smaller dogs, maybe me letting my dogs (at least the yellow female and the one black male) do what they do best and having the confidence in them that they wanted to boost birds so they didn'tneed me to direct them, I don't know.

Now don't get me wrong, it was a pleasure to watch the field-trial quality Springers but when it came down to this hunt, under the conditions we faced, my dogs bounced up plenty of birds. It was fun -- I had fun watching my dogs, fun watching the field-trial dogs, fun watching how their owner worked them, etc.

Just that under these tough hunting conditions we had this hunt, it reinforces why Labs are just the dogs for me, even though I would never consider myself much of a trainer. They just knew what had to be done -- and did it.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Labs are out-of-the-box hunters. No question, they are terrific pheasant dogs. In ND I'd guess that far and away they are also the most popular. It would be a great topic in the dog forum.


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