North Dakota Roosters and Snow...

**Chessbay** · 11-16-2008, 08:14 PM

Just got back from North Dakota yesterday afternoon. Headed out Thursday before last for some Pheasant Hunting. As luck would have it the week we decided to go was absolutley terrible weather. We were basically driving into a damn blizard. Parts of South Dakota received 47" of snow while others recieved not much at all. We managed to get to our destination with not too much trouble and only one near death experience of sliding on ice going 65 mph. Two South Carolina boys that have maybe driven on ice one time in their lives is a dangerous combination in the snow.

Anyway, the weather sucked pretty much the entire time with highs in the mid twenties and snow almost every day. The snow really posed a problem because it clogs the farmers combines. So, with snow on the ground and in the corn stalks it meant no corn cutting almost the entire trip. 90% of all birds roost in the CRP and sloughs at night and move to the corn early in the am to feed and hide all day. In the corn they are virtually untouchable. This of course threw a rather large wrench into our plans. Our trip dates were planned around the farmers cutting corn.

We hunted hard and long for the birds we killed. Everything was frozen solid and it played hell on us and gave the dogs an even tougher time. Hurting feet and raw noses were all to common in the freezing temps. With most of the birds in the corn all day, we had to catch them early in the morning or later in the evening. There were a couple of days that we got lucky and shot our limit in just a couple of hours and other days we hunted for an easy 10 hours.

Don't get me wrong....there were a shit pile of birds, they were just all in the corn. A snow goose hunter who had just come from north of us tipped us off to plenty of cut corn fields about an hour and a half north. We headed up that way on Thursday and smoked em'. With more shitty weather moving in for Friday and Saturday we decided to end on a good note and head home a couple of days early. We were beat and I don't think the dogs had another day in them. Niether pooch wanted to get out of the crate for two days.

On another note there were very few ducks in the area.....everything was frozen and I mean everything. However, there were an absolute shit pile of geese. My pictures do them no justice.

Enjoy the pics.

2 guns and 2 dogs.

Woody and a nice Rooster on day one.

End of day one. Yellow dog named Jack and myself.

The honey hole.

Smoked em'......done by 11:00am.

Nose to ground

Gettin it done.

**sprigdog** · 11-16-2008, 08:22 PM

hell yes. chasing ditch chickens in the dakotas. damn, i'm jealous

**Chessbay** · 11-16-2008, 08:25 PM

We hunted a number of Waterfowl Production Areas. Here is one with a Hen House that could use some more Hay.

Got Snow Geese??

I had to work for this sumbitch.

Some place and towns received more snow than others. This stuff was a pain in the rear to walk in. It was up to the pooches stomach.

A better day.

Scratched out five roosters, a sharptail grouse (AKA...Cluck Cluck), and a nice bunny.

The Cluck Cluck

Geese

**Chessbay** · 11-16-2008, 08:35 PM

The only day that the sun came out in eight days.

This bird was a stud. Nice set of spurs......He's going on the wall.

These next two pictures are rather interesting.

We flush two roosters in a slough next to a set of power lines. My buddy hammers bird number one and we both proceed to Rooster number two. Four shots later we have both totally missed......BUT, we scared the little bastard so bad he hit the power line. He hit it so hard that it knocked his upper jaw/beak into and through the lower portion. Killed him dead and he dropped like a stone, no thanks to us.

**tkohn** · 11-16-2008, 08:41 PM

cool stuff - leaving for there Friday - you guys see the GW?
thanks for sharing

**Cedar Creek** · 11-16-2008, 09:02 PM

I feel your pain..... We were in layout blinds November 2-7 in ND and on Nov 6, we sat through the beginning of all that weather. It started out about 5am with rain and then turned to sleet then to snow. It was rough hunting but the mallards were raining down on us along with the sleet and snow, so it made up for it. Ya'll had a great trip despite the weather setbacks. A lesser hunter would have called it way before you did. Good job on the Pheasants.

**Chessbay** · 11-16-2008, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by tkohn

cool stuff - leaving for there Friday - you guys see the GW?
thanks for sharing

You are going to hammer them.

There is much better weather forcasted for next week. With the warmer temps the farmers will have only one thing on their mind and that's laying down some corn. When this happens it will be a masacre.

You got a guide or hunting freelance?

We never saw the GW, but with Deer Season in full swing I'm certain they are out.