Bird Report from Northern Montana

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WielandGSP
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Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by WielandGSP » Wed Sep 05, 2018 4:56 pm

My dog Rowdy and I went up near the Canadian border, in MT for the first 3 days of the season opener. I can tell you that birds are extremely scarce and the covies are small. The first day, Rowdy put in over 24 miles on the Garmin. Early in the day, he pointed a single sharptail that flushed out of range in the 30+ MPH winds. A half hour later he had a stop to flush on a second single. We went the rest of the day without seeing another bird until the last spot we tried, where we hit some really nice looking mix of native grass, sage and snowberry, with some buffaloberry draws. Classic sharptail type stuff and we did find one bigger covey that I scratched out a 4-bird limit on. HIt a double on the first two birds to flush. Missed another bird with my third shot. 4 more sharptails came up while I was reloading. Once reloaded. 3 more sharptails flushed and I shot 2 as they came out like popcorn. A last bird flushed but limited out, we headed back to the truck with a few hours of daylight to spare. The second day Rowdy and I did not see a single bird (except a half dozen pheasant in a draw) until he had around 20 miles on the Garmin. We hit a small covey of what turned out to be only 4 birds and I ended up with a double on them, again on the very last spot we tried, in a different area. Monday, I could tell Rowdy was getting tired, being that it is the season opener and I didn't condition him like I normally do pre-season. He put in 11 miles on Monday and I ended up with 1 sharptail out of a "covey" of two birds. Rowdy was pretty much done after doing 59 miles in 3 days of hunting. A day off and he would have been fine to go again. We did not see one single hun, which was surprising. The game warden who checked me on Sunday told me that the area had a severe drought, followed immediately by record snowfall last winter. Between Rowdy being gassed and not wanting to beat up already struggling birds, I made the decision to drive the 8 hours back home. It was a fun time. I enjoyed having to work hard for the birds we did get, but bird numbers in MT are REALLY low this year, from what I saw and from talking with the 4 or 5 other people I came across.

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3 Dogs and a Gun
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by 3 Dogs and a Gun » Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:40 am

Rowdy looks pretty happy with the birds you got!

Hate to hear the numbers are down. I'm headed to the lewistown area last week in September. Hope the numbers are better there.

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mtlhdr
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by mtlhdr » Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:07 pm

Good job guys!

WielandGSP
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by WielandGSP » Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:49 pm

mtlhdr wrote:Good job guys!
Hey, now there is a friendly "face." How are you doing? When does the season open for you and Chancey?

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mtlhdr
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by mtlhdr » Thu Sep 06, 2018 9:38 pm

We're good. Glad to see you and rowdy getting after it. Mountain quail and sooty (blue) grouse opens Saturday. Both boys have soccer so chance and I will head out Sunday. It's still quite warm and dry but looking forward to stretching out our legs and seeing what we can find.

WielandGSP
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by WielandGSP » Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:01 pm

Good luck to you. Eager to hear a report.

averageguy
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by averageguy » Sat Sep 08, 2018 6:01 am

Good to see both of you on this board. Happy Hunting.

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dan v
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by dan v » Sat Sep 08, 2018 7:13 am

Just returned from the Plentywood/Scobey area. We hunted large Block Management areas on horseback, 3 hunters and normally 3 dogs (sometimes more) on the ground. We hunted from Sunrise until it was too hot for the dogs. (around 11am)

The dog track on the Astro would show that the dogs would cover about 20 miles on the 2-3 hour morning go, then we would switch dogs.

We maybe averaged 2 covies of Sharps per day....and as many contacts with porcupines. We were there last year and the bird numbers were dismal then as well. I'm going to need to hear some glowing bird reports before I invest the time and money to go back.

Love the country, love how the dogs can roll in front of a horse, but they need a reward....and they aren't getting one given the bird numbers in that area.
Dan

Rio
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Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by Rio » Tue Sep 18, 2018 10:27 pm

Headed to Montana for the first time this year. Going to pick up a puppy and make a hunt out of it so can’t really cancel at this point. Pheasants will be open by the time we make our trip out. Hopefully the pheasants fared a little better than sharpies and huns. These poor reports have me a little less excited. Has me wondering if we should cut the trip short and come back to Eastern WA where we seem to have had an above average hatch. Typically WA would not compare to MT but maybe somehow WA turns out better this year.


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WielandGSP
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by WielandGSP » Fri Sep 21, 2018 6:01 pm

Rio wrote:Headed to Montana for the first time this year. Going to pick up a puppy and make a hunt out of it so can’t really cancel at this point. Pheasants will be open by the time we make our trip out. Hopefully the pheasants fared a little better than sharpies and huns. These poor reports have me a little less excited. Has me wondering if we should cut the trip short and come back to Eastern WA where we seem to have had an above average hatch. Typically WA would not compare to MT but maybe somehow WA turns out better this year.


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I did not see too many pheasant. A few down in one creek bottom and that was it. Pheasant numbers on the prairie are down overall. They are saying SD numbers are up.

TTIERNS
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by TTIERNS » Fri Nov 02, 2018 6:51 pm

Go a little farther West to Cheateu or Fairfield. Birds wintered much better

Robbw
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by Robbw » Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:35 am

Scobey area was pretty bad last week. Only a couple of small coveys of sharptails, a few pheasant and no Huns. This was with several excellent dogs being run in successions of braces. At least the Chicken Fried Steak at the Ponderosa was tasty!

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DonF
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by DonF » Fri Nov 09, 2018 10:05 am

Hey Eric. Welcome aboard!
I pity the man that has never been loved by a dog!

RyanDoolittle
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by RyanDoolittle » Fri Nov 09, 2018 8:35 pm

I live an hour north of the boarder (about 3hrs north of Great Falls). We did bird counts with the ACA about 30 min north of the border in the late summer and found populations were down 60% over past years.

A drought last year meant very little cover then this winter killed off alot of wild game not just birds. Its going to take some time for populations to come back.

This summer we didnt start moving covies until the end of august when the weather cooled down and the smoke from.the BC fires cleared.

RyanDoolittle
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by RyanDoolittle » Fri Nov 09, 2018 8:36 pm

Looking at the reports from the trials this summer also showed bird numbers suffering.

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ON Honker Hunter
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Re: Bird Report from Northern Montana

Post by ON Honker Hunter » Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:39 pm

I was out there six weeks October to December and you're right, it was very bad. Worst I've ever seen in fact. I wouldn't even shoot at a sharpie or Hun last season. Only saw one covey of Huns and hardly any sharpies. Pheasant hunting was exhausting. Few birds and they were VERY jumpy. Lots of time for deer hunting this year but that didn't take long ... as usual. Two days and it was done. Surprised it took that long. My older Lab got the only daily limit I've taken there over the last two seasons. Really tough! Talking to a pal in Havre tonight and he says the winter has been tough so it's not looking great for coming season either. Sounds like they just as well cancel antelope hunting this year. The poor devils just can't catch a break with these successive deep snow winters.
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