5 day trip for pheasant in December. Where would you go?

BrentD said:
I hope you luck out on weather in Malta. I'd be thinking KS/NE myself.

But heck, I go pheasant hunting to hunt pheasants, not see 1-light towns of dubious reputation (which I have in abundance locally).
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Right. I spent two night in sketchy Montana cities already this year, this is plenty. I’d rather just hunt pheasants, and then if we limit early go and putz around looking at stuff, shoot rifles at long distances we don’t get to in MN on BLM land, etc. no reason to all the way to Malta to do all that.
 
In my experience some of these smaller towns have some of the highest pressure in the state. Just because it’s small doesn’t mean no one hunts there. You probably won’t have a ton of company in December, but it sure seems like people come and stay a lot longer and later than they used to.
 
Okay boys, I think I may have talked him down to either Scobey or Sidney. Hoping I can get him all the way down to Sidney. Going with the ability to hunt MT and ND angle if we stay in Sidney.
 
Here's what it looked like the last day of Thanksgiving weekend near Havre. We tried to hunt Saco and Hinsdale yesterday. Forget it. Drifts are worse there than in Malta and everything is badly crusted. Very difficult going and terrible hard on the dogs' feet. My Fr Britt is done. Unless you are physically in very good shape, this crusted crap will wear you out in a half hour. Miserable. Malta area in the afternoon was only slightly better but extremely noisy snow made it impossible for man or dog to get close to pheasants. A rangey pointing dog is a wash in these conditions. Almost better to keep the dog right next to you and hope for a bird that makes a mistake. It is hard to find any place with cover left for the birds. Coulee bottoms are all full of crusted deep snow drifts and cattails are blown over. No place for the birds to hide so raptors and coyotes are cleaning up. I hunt here every year for past twelve years and these are the worst conditions I have seen. It's a banner year for sharptails and much easier to hunt them on blown ridges and hilltops. Flocks are very large (I have seen some approaching a hundred). Come at them from downwind and some birds are bound to get blown into range when they flush.20201129_163132.jpg
 
I have heard complaints in the past about hunting pressure and lack of publicly accessible land around Sidney. The "oil patch" gets hit hard. I heard last year when there were few pheasants anywhere that it was great hunting around Winnifred. Might want to consider the Fort Peck Reservation. The Indian license there is reasonable and don't have to have a resident tribe member along like some reservations. I have talked to several guys who said the pheasant hunting there was great even during the lean years.
 
OntarioHunter said:
Here's what it looked like the last day of Thanksgiving weekend near Havre. We tried to hunt Saco and Hinsdale yesterday. Forget it. Drifts are worse there than in Malta and everything is badly crusted. Very difficult going and terrible hard on the dogs' feet. My Fr Britt is done. Unless you are physically in very good shape, this crusted crap will wear you out in a half hour. Miserable. Malta area in the afternoon was only slightly better but extremely noisy snow made it impossible for man or dog to get close to pheasants. A rangey pointing dog is a wash in these conditions. Almost better to keep the dog right next to you and hope for a bird that makes a mistake. The birds will not hold. Rarely will a dog get close enough for a point. It is hard to find any place with cover left for the birds. Coulee bottoms are all full of crusted deep snow drifts and cattails are blown over. No place for the birds to hide so raptors and coyotes are cleaning up. Makes the birds very jumpy. I hunt here every year for past twelve years and these are the worst conditions I have seen. It's a banner year for sharptails and much easier to hunt them on blown ridges and hilltops. Flocks are very large (I have seen some approaching a hundred). Come at them from downwind and some birds are bound to get blown into range when they flush.View attachment 164878
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Weather will be nice by the weekend and crusted snow should be softer. Talked to a school chum last night who's an optometrist in Lewistown and he says they have very little snow left down there but finding publicly accessible land with pheasants is tough. I'm thinking Winnifred might be a good choice.
 
It's been decided. We are staying in an Air BnB near Scobey. It's all over but the passive-aggressive comments I make on how bad the pheasant hunting is.
 
I grew up in Scobey. Used to go Up every thanksgiving and deer/bird hunt. Haven't done it the past few years, but there are birds to be had if you look for them. Make sure you can identify a Hen Pheasant from a Sharptail. LOTS of sharptail in that country that are fun to shoot. Huns are hit and miss.

If you are in that area, take a drive over to the Plentywood area as well. Easy drive. That corner of the state gets pounded on during the early season, but its a big area with lots of opportunity to walk!

I'll PM you with a spot or two to get started on.
 
A few years back I took the trouble to drive north to Medicine Lake Refuge for pheasants. What a disappointment! The half of the refuge open to hunting was grazed to the dirt. Only cover was on the part that was closed.
 
OntarioHunter said:
A few years back I took the trouble to drive north to Medicine Lake Refuge for pheasants. What a disappointment! The half of the refuge open to hunting was grazed to the dirt. Only cover was on the part that was closed.
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I’ve shot a few handfuls of birds around Medicine Lake and Froid, but I’ve never hunted the refuge itself. Had some fun times up there.
 
Weather did not warm up enough today (Saturday) to make much difference with the snow crust. Hunted from sunup to end of shooting (1/2 hr after sunset) and it was a killer! Very hard on the knees. Finally got the second rooster five minutes before closing. Hell of a shot. All of 35 yds and tight window. Snow is still terrible noisy. I just let the little Fr Britt find the birds in Russian olive. When she stops coming back she's got one on point in there. Stop moving and wait. Then hope it flies my way when it flushes for a pass shot. Not the way I like to hunt them but it's all I can do. Keep moving and the crunchy snow tells the birds fly the other way and no shot. In the open they are in the air seventy yards away.
 
Looks like the warming trend has been delayed till midweek. If it gets up to fifty as promised, conditions should be much better. It's eleven this Sunday morning and heavy frost. I'm not going out till late afternoon when the temp is supposed to climb to 41 (albeit only briefly I'm sure). I can take it but the crusty snow is brutalizing my dogs. I doubt boots would help. Either crust would pull them off or ice crystals get inside. My dogs hate them anyway. Only birds I shot at were ones the dogs pushed out of Russian olive thickets that I took passing over. Stand still so the roosters can't hear me, position myself to intercept as they flee to cattails, and hope for the best. AND DON'T MISS. One shot may be all there is for the day. I saw maybe 150 pheasants all day yesterday but only three shots for two roosters.

I'm sure conditions are no better around Scoby which is considerably north of here. Perhaps you should delay coming till Tuesday or Wednesday when weather will be 40 to 50 degrees, especially if your dogs are soft. Mine have been hunting hard almost daily since first of October and this stuff has still hurt them. Very hard on their feet ... and my knees. Also if it gets warm enough to kill the snow, the birds will settle down and hold better. Good luck. I have two to fill my possession and I can leave for home. Doesn't bother me to drag it out longer. I love hunting ... and the harder the better. But my Lab looks like a bag of bones greyhound now and both are nursing sore feet so I guess I should get it over with. Amazing I can hunt all day in this awful crap (crusty snow and heavy cattails) with a hernia. Slow and steady.
 
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I appreciate the updates! My buddies dog is pretty tough, but we will have to keep an eye on him. Also, we won't be in MT until Wednesday evening so the timing should be a little better. Hopefully with highs above freezing the next few days things improve some.
 
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