Gun Dog Forum

I retired early last year and got dog no 2 in the lineup a couple months back. Looking ahead at early season getting the dogs into some birds and it looks like Huns/Sharpie might be the ticket, but I've never tried them before.

I did late season truck camping/scalie hunting in South TX last year on state land. Never saw one bird, but Had a blast. I've been looking around the net for articles or reports to put me in the right direction for that type of thing in sharpie country. Other than the general direction of NW No Dakota, or across into Montana I'm not coming up with much.

Is it hard to find places to stay up there with the oil boom or has that tapered off?

Any thoughts on counties or cities to try as a starting place?

Target PLOTS land, or large national grasslands?

Just not sure where to start, what cover to target, or what to look for. I've never even been up there.

Just start walking. Thats how I figured it out.

You can do sharpies in Nebraska--but no huns. There is Bessey National Forest in the middle of Nebraska or Mekelvie National forest in North Cental Nebraska. They are national forest but they are MOSTLY sand hill short grass country. Bessey is 93,000 acres and Mekelvie around valentine, NE. is about 2/3 that size. You will run into an occasional prairie chicken on Bessey. Not as many birds as Mont, ND, or SD--but they are out there. Good luck wherever you go

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It can be very hot in early September and very hard on the dogs

reba wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 09, 2019 9:32 am

It can be very hot in early September and very hard on the dogs

Yeah, understood. My setter isn't very good in the heat - won't stop. My new pointer seems OK - he slows down at least when he gets hot. But if I'm going to do this and camp the weather needs to be OK. I'm definitely a fair weather camper even if it means cutting days short hunting a couple hours AM and PM.

Probably shooting for mid-September and hope for the best. I don't have more than a week flexibility one way or the other if I'm going. I have a family wedding in the Chicago area that can't be missed, and October I'll be spending a lot of time at my hunting cabin the northwoods chasing ruffs.

Not much mention of South Dakota, where I have found birds on the usual spots like Ft. Pierre National Grasslands, but also look at waterfowl production areas that most upland hunters ignore. Not a lot of birds, but not a lot of hunters either.

reba wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 09, 2019 9:32 am

It can be very hot in early September and very hard on the dogs

It can but you have to be smarter than the dogs. The nice thing about much of ND that I've seen is that there is water in abundance in the form of stock tanks and potholes.

Sharptail especially are a "Sleep-In, drink your coffee" bird; nothing much to be gained getting after it first thing. On windy days you can find them on the sheltered side of the hill. On Chilly days the south side of the hill.

I DIY'd it for two days before meeting my group for duck hunting. I went with a 1 year old dog, a black and fuzzy wirehair, never had any concerns about the heat. It wasn't HOT but it wasn't so chilly that I didn't hunt in a t-shirt. This was two years ago. I had no trouble finding affordable lodging though oil prices weren't what they are right now (I think, not sure.)

At this point in the year the advice of "Throw a Dart at the western half of the state" is as good as anything for NoDak. You could also try the Little Missouri National Grasslands for something a little different.

The time for my trip is here. Weather looks to make things interesting. Rains and flooding advisory on the map. I’ll be in Eastern MT today. Picked Terry MT based on accessibility of block management and advice of the game warden. Haven’t ever been to MT so I’m a bit worried the rural roads will be a problem with the wet weather. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

Leave the pavement/gravel at your peril!

Lots of walking yesterday. Goose egg.

First spot this morning I saw about 20 birds in two groups. My veteran setter made a beautiful find. Scratched down two birds.

Hopefully getting a better feel for where prime spots might be.

Cut trip a day and a half early with high temperatures and higher forecast.

I got very frustrated around Terry with a lot of walking and very little finding so I ventured a couple hours north to find birds and slightly cooler weather. Good thing I did! Hunted two full days and two half days, although the full days were short due to temps.

Saw: 3 coveys of Sharptail, 4 singles (30+ birds maybe total). 6 pheasant. 2 coveys of Huns (20+ total)

I would not likely go back to Terry. I did see far more birds per mile farther north.

Take away lesson: Every single bird I found was in grass about knee high (approximately), in fields of grass of 100-200ish acres, ALL within sight or more like surrounded by wheat. Every single bird (Pheasants excepted which are not in season yet anyway). Two fields produced every Sharptail and Hun I flushed, except one covey of Huns. Three fields total for all birds.

Maybe there are Sharptail in those endless sections of grass. If they’re there I can’t find them.

Killed 4 Sharptail, 1 Hun, fired 9 shots.

Hopefully my younger dog learned something. My older setter got all the finds but one. It is my pointer's first season.