[tlr]

this was the worst opener we have had in years! 'We hunted land that we have hunted for years, private land , and saw very few birds. the cover was good. The numbers in this area must be down as there was nosign of birds in the fields.Last year 10 guys got 30 birds- this year 5 birds. we hunted hard with good dogs too.

 

[1fastskeeter]

The birds acted like it was 2 months into the season. As soon as the dog got birdy they were running. Did manage to get 2 though.

 

[malspeck]

I took my sons out yesterday and the place we saw lots of birds last year, we didn't see one yesterday!

 

[Cin]

Birds are a little scarce where I am in Western ND. Too cold, then too dry. Rained all day yesterday and we have several inches of snow on the ground this morning, still coming down. Not great hunting conditions.

 

[kevin.k]

I agree the birds seemed like they have been hunted hard already, although i did get my limit as soon as my dog got on one the birds were running like crazy and getting up way ahead.

 

[Rick Acker]

I agree the birds seemed like they have been hunted hard already, although i did get my limit as soon as my dog got on one the birds were running like crazy and getting up way ahead.

Well, when you think about it...A lot of birds have been hunted already with the yooth season getting more and more popular...

Weather was lousy, but we scratched out a limit each day in the S.E. From the people we talked to at the bar, I think we were fortunate!

 

[NDJHG88]

This weekend was not the best opener. I hunt around Stutsman county, the past few year around our farm we have been able to limit before noon on opener. Not this year, with the large amounts of standing corn and poor weather the birds were just not coming out. It took us all day and hard work but we did limit.

 

[hunter9494]

probably the real reason the birds are wild is due to the fact reproduction was way down and you guys are hunting last year's birds, for the most part. i have seen this before, i used to live in Nebraska and one year we had a very poor hatch, same deal, most of the birds, what few we could find, were survivors from the previous season. also nature has a way of instilling even more wariness in the last of it's species....which over the long run is helpful......may be a good year to travel south and hunt in your sister state.

 

[bornlucky]

Three of us hunted Saturday morning with a good dog and only got one bird. We missed another. The birds we saw got up way ahead of us. I think the birds are out there. They are heading to corn and soybeans early and staying there all day.

I talked to a guy who said his hunting party hunted out by Mott. They had very good luck out there, but they were hunting some prime habitat which included food plots.

 

[94NDTA]

Only 2 of our 6 pheasants were last year birds.

We saw a ton of birds. I am not worried about the pheasant population.

 

[spoiler92]

We had 8 hunters, and got all we needed on Saturday somewhat easily. Birds were spooky for so early, but the young dumb ones held tight. Sunday we got only about half of our limits, but didn't hunt much as it was so wet

 

[NDJHG88]

I will agree the majority of the birds that we shot were older birds. The wet spring in our area i think hurt the hatch, along with the increase in predator numbers. we have many older birds and many younger birds that are so young i am afraid they wont make the winter.

 

[nd_hunter]

There were tons of birds up in the NW corner...we were able to get a 6 man limit in 3 hours saturday when the weather was good. Had to settle for 10 on sunday with the slushy/windy conditions. It was also our 8 month old black lab's first outing and she did outstanding!

Hopefully there will be some nicer weekends comin up...

 

[bigbrad123]

I am guessing the entire weekend was a combo of a lot of factors: lower numbers in parts of the state, a TON of standing crops left, wet conditions, youth hunt becoming more popular, etc. I'm guessing hunting will improve as the crops come down. There was a lot of standing corn and beans in the SE part of ND and I doubt they will be getting in the fields anytime soon!

 

[vizslaking]

We saw a ton of birds. I am not worried about the pheasant population.

I agree. :withstupid: We saw a lot of birds. Hunted PLOTS and unposted grass. Found them on windblown hilltops. Poor shooting held us back but the vizslas worked great, including one rookie on her firs hunt. Shot birds, watched some good looking pointers, was NOT at home with a 10 foot honey-do list, ANOTHER GREAT OPENER!

:beer:

 

[huntinND]

My brother and I did manage to get our limits within about an hour Sat., Sun. and Mon. Hard to say how the rest of the year is going to go. We only shot about four adult roosters out of 18. So it seems like there was a descent hatch in the area we hunted. Saw about the same amount of birds as last year. It was pretty miserable in the rain on Sun. but the birds were stacked up in some russian olives. A lot of birds were running but we hunted thick enough cover that enough held for easy shots.

 

[martin_shooter]

on saturday the same 6 of us that go every year on the opener went and we always get our limit on public land in the XXXX area. we got our limit this year as well but had to work much harder for them than we usually do. out of the 18 birds only about 4 were last yeras. the birds all seemed to be sitting very tight and didnt have any problems with them bein flighty. i went over by XXXX with a group of my buddies and it was a totally different situation. we shot six birds, all of which were from last year and we were having a ton of birds get up way in front of us. could be an interesting rest of the season. does anyone know if the game and fish publish their hunter assisted study on the age of birds harvested?

--edit by R y a n
-- no listing specific locations please

 

[fargojohnson]

Shot birds, watched some good looking pointers, was NOT at home with a 10 foot honey-do list, ANOTHER GREAT OPENER!

:beer:[/quote]

Great line vizslaking. All I have to add to that is Mott, North Dakota is great.

 

[MSG Rude]

Shot birds, watched some good looking pointers, was NOT at home with a 10 foot honey-do list, ANOTHER GREAT OPENER!

:beer:

Great line vizslaking. All I have to add to that is Mott, North Dakota is great. [/quote]

Ya, Mott is great if you have a few bucks you want to spend hunting or you know someone with land out there. I was out in Dickinson for a few years about 8 years ago. It was hard then finding some where to hunt.

I can say that I have never, ever seen as many Pheasant any where in the world like I saw out there. When 14 of us in a group can limit out by 0930 on an opener day, you know that there is birds....

 

[Norm70]

Didn't really go out this weekend, but the last few nights driving around looking at the deer I have noticed that on roads that had birds on them every night last year there were none this year.

I saw 1 hen in days.

Yikes!