wis to eastern wa trip

larue · Post by **larue** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 4:39 am

As some of you know,my eva is out being broke by dan hoke
in eastern wa.
I am considering driving out to dans place to pick her up,sometime in
sept,probably with a friend.
Now my thoughts are to take all my dogs and hunt on the way back,or on the way out and back,make it a two week trip,with a couple of days at dans,maybe even time it to run a trial that is out there.
So my question is this any good public areas over the 1600 miles near I-94 through montana,wyoming,oregon?
It will be early in the year,so I expect it will be huns,sharptails to hunt,but not chuckers.
What would even be better would be to meet up with someone who is local who can go hunting with us,on the public lands.
Any thoughts?

Casper · Post by **Casper** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 9:59 am

Might think about getting into some Mtn. Grouse in either one of those states.

Ridge-Point · Post by **Ridge-Point** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 10:21 am

Idahos Chukar Season will probably start September 16th
The Forest Grouse Season starts September 1st in Oregon and Idaho.

I will be Elk hunting all of september, and I always take the dogs so we can go shoot some grouse during the day when the Elk are bedded down. I have thrown around the idea of trying to make the Idaho Chukar opener and Float the Lower Salmon river for about 5 or 6 days. That place is loaded with chukar. Then it dumps into the snake river and you can hunt the idaho side which is also loaded with chukar. Oregon and Idaho have alot of public land that holds alot of birds.

If I were you though, I would head straight to eastern montana. Where the Partridge, Sharptail, and Sage Grouse seasons open September 1st. I havn't made it out there yet, but I hope to get there sometime in the near future.

Later

Justin

NDBDHunter · Post by **NDBDHunter** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:00 am

There are so many places in ND to hunt Sharptails and Huns that you'd never make it to WA.

Maverick · Post by **Maverick** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:05 am

I hope ND has a good year for sharptails and huns as I will be there the first week of November for a hunt!!
Looking forward to a week of good hunting.

Mav....

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:36 am

The year is shaping up so far to be a good one in the Dakotas, but I hope you will not be disappointed going out there in Nov. after sharps and Huns. Pheasant season has started by then, and deer runs for about three weeks starting the first or second weekend. Usually, by that time of the fall, the sharps have begun to group up, they will have sentries out, and it is hard to get close to them. The huns likewise are getting skittish. The time most people go to specifically hunt these two species is Sept. In Nov., if the "seeds" (sunflowers) are still up, that is where the sharps will be. You might get some by hunting around the edges of the seeds. In Dec. they become easier to hunt again. They start to bed down in the CRP towards evening, and you can find them there.

I would go out for pheas. that time of the year, make sure your dogs are wearing orange, and if you pick up a sharp or hun, or a couple, great.

Maverick · Post by **Maverick** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:42 am

Thanks WagonMaster,

I certainly will not turn down any pheasant that shows himself!!
Good thing about my brittanys is that they are always wearing orange

!!
The fact that the birds are skittish is probally a good thing as I will have a young male with me along with my 4 year old female. Of the birds start to flush from to much pressure I am hoping they will learn not pressure the birds to much.

Mav.....

NDBDHunter · Post by **NDBDHunter** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:58 am

Maverick,
I second what WM wrote. If November is the only time you can get away then so be it. But Sept or early Oct is the best, and if you're looking for skittish birds, Sharptails and Huns are it, regardless of the time of year. They're just more skittish in late season then in the early part of the year. After a couple months of being pursued they can be so skittish that they'll flush a hundred yards or so from your dog. Your dog will never even know they're there. For Sharptails, having snow on the ground changes the bird behavior and causes them to bunch up and become shy.

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:00 am

couple things. by skittish, i mean the birds are getting up as much as a half mile ahead of an approaching hunter and/or dog. most of the crops are down, things are cut short, they are in large flocks, and they have sentries watching. so your chances of getting into gun range, i mean even "best shot in the world" gun range, are not good. that is the problem that time of the year. we have seen flocks in the hundreds on occasion. lots of birds, but you are not getting remotely close to any of them. during the day they will just be out in the middle of a bare field someplace, feeding. no cover. no way to get close.

sometimes you can get some driven bird shooting in a well engineered drive, but finding them with a dog is a very low probability.

send a PM to tallgrasser, he is from the eastern side of the state and hunts the northern areas, and I gather he has better late season luck on sharps. they do not have so much corn and seeds up in that area, more grass, hay, prairie, so you might have a better chance to get within range.

also, i appreciate your joke about Britts always wearing orange. they are cool dogs. but I personally just hang it up for the first couple of weeks of deer season. i don't want a dog on the ground then at all. professionally, have seen a couple of those instances where a hunter, maybe with not the best eyesight to start with, got a little excited and took a shot at something he should not have. so make absolutely sure you have a blaze orange or better yet a flourescent yellow vest on your white and brown thing that is going to go running across the prairie. please.

PS I see that NDBD chimed in with the same opinion, so you can hold the email to Tallgrasser, that is him.

Maverick · Post by **Maverick** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:58 pm

Hey Wagonmaster and NDBDHunter,

What is the snake population out there like. I don't have any where I run and have not had by dogs snake broke. There is no where close to have it done. That makes another good reason to go late when it is colder and the snakes are gone.
We will be hunting near Medora, ND.

Mav.....

NDBDHunter · Post by **NDBDHunter** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:24 am

I don't hunt that far west so I don't know what the snake situation is. Generally I stay east of the Missouri River, for no other reason then I don't need to go that far away from home to find birds.

My acquaintances that hunt out there never talk about snakes ????

When I lived in MT I encountered rattlers about once or twice a year.

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:38 am

there are no rattlers east of the missouri. you could run into them out by Medora. but i have shot prairie dogs out there, and if there is anyplace you would see a snake it would be in a dog town. we didn't see any. would stay away from rocky places though.

that time of the year, with the temps dropping, they will likely be denned up and not a problem. unless you find the den. i will see if i can scan my den picture for you. (From AB, not from ND).

rschuster54303` · Post by **rschuster54303`** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 8:54 pm

Last year I was out near Ross, ND and ran across one 3' rattler it was so small it only had 1 nub on its rattle. :roll:

We left Ross and headed toward Bismark, near Bismark we were hunting and I ran across a 6'+ Rattler.

This snake scared me as my dog went on point and was acting funny he then jumped up in the air about 4'. I yelled and the dog came running. We chacked the dog over and got really lucky. My dogs are not snake broke either so be careful but in going west at least 1 time per year for the last 4 or 5 years to either ND or SD this was the closest scare I have had.

As some advise if you go out in early season (early Sept to Early Oct) I would hunt mornings and be cautions on Hot afternoons. I have never seen a snake in the morning as it is normally cooler. But they seem to get active on warm afternoons. By October they are all mostly gone but ya never know.

Good Luck,

wannabe · Post by **wannabe** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 9:18 pm

Maverick wrote:Hey Wagonmaster and NDBDHunter,

What is the snake population out there like. I don't have any where I run and have not had by dogs snake broke. There is no where close to have it done. That makes another good reason to go late when it is colder and the snakes are gone.
We will be hunting near Medora, ND.

Mav.....

We have run into rattlesnakes just south of Medora in late September. The temps were in the 30's at dawn, but climbed to near 90 after noon. We usually do a lot of driving and scouting during the heat of the day and hit a likely looking spot for the last hour of daylight.

I have never seen a snake in October in North Dakota.

Wa Chukar Hunter · Post by **Wa Chukar Hunter** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:09 am

We have summer camp near Timber Lake, SD. We killed over a hundred of the things - that last being the 2nd week in October.

I now carry a .22 pistol with rat shot - I've lived in snakey areas all my life including TX and AZ and I have never seen as many snakes as I did in SD.

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wis to eastern wa trip

wis to eastern wa trip

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