The Last Best Place Montana ( Upland Hunting )

K

KansasCowboy

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Here are a few pictures that are the result of several month planning , many hours of computer research , hours of reading , and many hours of day dreaming and 17 hour trip each way. The trip surpassed my expectation by quite a bit.

Many thanks to those I shared the trip with.

We renewed old friendships and strengthened existing ones. We met people from Alberta Canada, Minnesota , New York , Indiana . The local people of Montana were a shining example of gracious host and were very happy we were there. We are all in hopes to be able to make this an annual trip.

We harvested in 6 days of hunting 47 Pheasants, 12 Sharptail grouse, 7 ducks, 1 Hungarian partridge, and 6 porcupine, and 1 badger.

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CornStalker,
After the Guns and Ammo were put away , we downed a few Longneck Bud's. A great time I can't say enough of how freindley the People of MT where.
 
Man this thread is killing me....i leave Nov. 6 for Iowa for pheasant, and i can't wait any longer. Congrats buddy, amazing pictures.
 
I am not sure how to find bird numbers on the DNR website for Iowa. All i know is that the part of Iowa i am going to is the only part that had ht epheasant population increase from last year. We typically do prety well and only hunt public land. I can look into it a little more for you and see if i can come up with some numbers for you.
 
This year will most likely not be a good one in Iowa. Between heavy snowfall, a long winter, and flooding, the birds will be down. I live in the country and have not seen a bird all year. I can hear them cackling in the fields, but have not see any. Here is what I found on the DNR website:

"WEATHER QUESTIONABLE FOR GOOD PHEASANT NUMBERS THIS FALL

Iowa pheasant hunters could see variable bird numbers this fall, thanks to different weather patterns across Iowa. Todd Bogenschutz, the Iowa DNR's upland wildlife biologist, uses a formula based on the previous winter snow fall and spring rainfall and temperature to predict this falls pheasant population. Southwest, western, and central Iowa were hit with a late March blizzard and eastern regions were not. These blizzard struck regions also saw some heavy rains in April and May, as much as 4”- 6+” above normal. Other regions saw rainfall during the incubation period 0-2” above normal. The weather patterns we’ve seen so far would not lead to a large increase in our pheasant population this fall. The weather we’ve seen in southwest, southcentral, westcentral, central, and northeast Iowa suggests bird numbers will be lower or unchanged from last fall, while conditions in northwest, northcentral, eastcentral, and southeast Iowa suggest pheasant numbers could be better than last fall. Putting all this together, Bogenschutz' model suggests that, “from a statewide perspective”, our pheasant population could be lower than last year. Though the weather data is correct about 75 percent of the time, hunters are encouraged to check the DNR’s website in September for roadside counts, which are the best predictor of what hunters will see in the fall."

You can also check the game distribution map:

http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/files/upmaps.html

GrouseSetter
 
Wow good job guys.I cant wait until pheasant season starts. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
Its always fun going out huntin pheasants and gettin an opportunity at some bonus critters like porcupines.Those porcupines can take a beatin though especially just shootin them with birdshot.I cant imagine what the badger must have been like. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Did you get that one with birdshot or something bigger?
Anway it looks like a good time was had for sure.Good job. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Badger 22-250 Head shot DRT. Porcupines shot at point blank range. My hunting pard's took care of them as I was holding the dogs back. They cleared there 3 shot auto's on them till they stopped moving.
 
Thats awesome.I took several porcupines out with my 12gauge last year and it was pretty hard on em' especially with a 3 1/2" turkey load in it.I shot that one from point blank range when it was up in a tree and got rained on a little if you know what Im sayin. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Its a good thing you got em' though because I've seen what they can do to a bird dog and it aint pretty.Badgers could probably be pretty rough on them too I would imagine but I havent ever seen that fortunetly. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
How do you cook those porkies?

Looks like you guys had a great time. I love going to Montana and North Dakota hunting simply because of how fantastic all the people are there. Our country wouldn't have any problems at all if everyone was like that.
 
Looks like you had a good time. We were out in the same area last weekend. Seen lots of birds but it was some tough hunting with the high winds. We scratched out a few birds but I'm hoping for some better weather for our trip back out there in November...
JEV
 
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