Pheasant hunting

[harvey lee]

I do alot of deer hunting(gun&bow)south of Leonard,southwest of Fargo and I was wondering how much farther west one needs to go to get into some fairly decent bird hunting?

[marine_man]

Well... it all depends on what your definition of decent is I guess...

I would say this past year was one of the better years for pheasants in the past couple of years in SE ND... perhaps a little more SE than Leonard, but not far... that's for sure.

If the number of birds I've seen around so far this year is any indication of things to come another great fall should be in the works... hopefully we'll have a good spring for the broods and things will be in excellent shape this year!

marine_man

[harvey lee]

Is the hunting within a hour se or less?

[iffwalleyes]

You bet Harvey Lee Marine_Man lives in lisbon which is with in a hour of Leanord and ther bird population looks to be good. If you head toward Oaks it is even better that is pushing probably 1.5 hours though but it isn't necessary to go that far south of Valley City around Kathryn has really improved the past couple years. Around Foreman the hunting is always good but alot of the land is posted so you have to keep that in mind. Good luck..

[Sifty]

We hunt in Harvey and it is funny you only have to go about 20 miles south and it makes a huge differents.

Sifty

[marine_man]

That wouldn't be because of the lone tree refuge, would it?

That's a great area for pheasants as well... that's where my inlaws live... which makes visiting the inlaws in the fall all that more enjoyable...

marine_man

[Sifty]

Yep.. we try to stay to the west of Lone Tree it seems to get a little less traveled. Only seven more months.

Sifty

[tucker52]

Does the hunting get better if you go farther west of Oaks, like to Wishek, Strasburg?

[iffwalleyes]

Quote:

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Does the hunting get better if you go farther west of Oaks, like to Wishek, Strasburg?

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It sure does get better the farther west you go. Strasburg and Linton are very good most years. I typically don't go out west just because hunting out there is so commercialized and the land is tough to get on without paying to hunt. I refuse to pay to shoot birds so that is why I stay in the southeastern part of the state.

[tucker52]

I agree with that paying part.On a budget like ours I just cant afford those high prices. Is is hard to get permission on land? We have a new dog this year and would be great to find a spot to try him out, just my wife and I would be hunting and problably just for one weekend. Sure would be fun, I sure remember the old days when those roosters were everywhere.

[iffwalleyes]

Getting on land all depends at the time of year usually. Late in the season it is easier because there are less hunts in the field. But there also is quite a bit of public land or plots land that you can hunt on. These areas are walk in acess.

Here is a link to ND Plots guide:

http://gf.nd.gov/info/plots.html

[tucker52]

That's a good web site for the PLOTS maps. I thinks this summer will take a drive down there and see what that country is all about. Never hurts to pre-scout an area. Wonder if they got alot of ice this past winter and how it affected the pheasants.

Did seem to affect them in S.D. they are everywhere in the Rosholt area, and that area got hit real hard with ice.

[Tyler Holm]

Now that I am no longer a resident of SoDak, I might consider getting a non-resident NoDak license. I've always heard there are good numbers of birds up there. I've been spoiled a lot in SoDak, but the licenses are $115 for 10 days. What's the damage for a NoDak non-resident license?

[marine_man]

Tyler,

A non resident pheasant hunting license will run you 100 bucks... and is only good for 2 weeks, which you may pick (our for two 7 day periods that can be at different times)...

It's too bad ND's non resident fees have gotten so expensive... and to boot, they limit the amount of time you can do it. Hopefully sometime in the future all the states (MN, ND & SD) will be able to agree on a reasonable license amount instead of one state raising prices, then the other state raising prices to counter the first state's increase...

Bird hunting should be pretty good this year.. it was great this past year, and with the mild weather things are shaping up pretty good... hopefully we don't have too wet of a spring!

marine_man

[2 DA GILLS]

As mentioned the license is $100, you can hunt ducks and pheasants for $185. It use to be that the small game license covered you for pheasant (and it was good all year), but not anymore. One thing about pheasant hunting is that you can buy more than 1 license (unless that has changed). So I believe that for another $85 you can get another 2 week period. Essentially, if you have the money, you can hunt pheasants all season. Ducks - you get 14 days.

The prices are increasing and sure I would like to see them more affordable, but it has been worth it to me. Introduced my pup to pheasants in ND last fall. It was a great experience for both of us.

[harvey lee]

The same goes for my deer tags,if I remember not that long ago my tags were around 80-90 dollars.Now,over 200 for archery and rifle each.

The extra doe tags get to be another 50 dollars.It is only going to get worse.

Maybe one day these states can get together and work together so the sportsman doesnt have to pay through the nose.

[marine_man]

I certainly hope so... I would love to Deer Hunt in MN with the rest of my family... but with the license cost approaching 200 bucks it isn't going to happen anytime soon...

marine_man