Every
upland hunter should experience prairie bird hunting at least once. Both you and your dogs will love the
prairie. My wife, Susan, the dogs and I
have traveled to Montana three of the past five years. And, we’re already planning our trip to the
American West for 2016.
There are many reasons that influence our
love of hunting the prairies. The
wide-open spaces are easy to hunt, beautiful and have plentiful bird
populations. Plus, the local folks are
darn right nice to strangers.
The upland birds available in Montana are
the ringneck pheasant, sharptail grouse and Hungarian partridge. The ringneck pheasant season does not start
until October and Susan, the dogs and I only want to be in ruffed grouse
territory in October so we miss the Montana pheasant season. In September, when we hunt sharptail grouse
and Hungarian partridge, we never see another hunter in the fields. We’re told, however, that the fields are full
of hunters during pheasant season so we’re very happy with September hunting.
There are two methods of hunting in
Montana. You can hunt Block Management
land, public land or gain permission from a rancher/farmer to hunt their
private land. Block Management land is
privately owned land which has been contracted by the state to allow public
hunting. There are sign-in stations
where you must register to hunt Block Management property. During September, we never see another hunter
on the Block Management properties so there is always plenty of land to
hunt. In August, you can print a Block Management
map from the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks website: fwp.mt.gov. Public land is usually state owned property
that is open to hunting. And, there is
always private land that is not part of the Block Management system. Permission to hunt private land is obtained
the old fashioned way…knocking on ranchers doors and asking for permission to
hunt.
Let me add a few additional comments on
hunting private land in Montana. Susan and I have done very well with getting
permission to hunt land that is even posted.
Ranchers/farmers are not enthusiastic about letting large groups
hunt. Your chances are better if there
are only two or three in your group.
Have a smile on your face when you knock on their door. Promise that you will not drive into their
fields or over their crops. If you have
top-notch dogs, invite the rancher/farmer to join you on the hunt. If all their crops have been harvested, they
may very well accept the invitation.
Most of the land owners have never seen really good bird dog work. We take a farmer who absolutely loves to see
the dogs point birds.
Hunting prairie birds is not much
different than anything else you hunt. They feed early in the morning and late
afternoon. In the morning they migrate
from their roosting field to their feeding field. The feeding field may consist of wheat
stubble or a pea or bean field. All
three have either grain, peas or beans that dropped during the harvest. After feeding, the birds migrate to prairie
grass where they loaf for the most of the day until it’s time to feed again in
late afternoon. Although there is no
rule that always holds true, both Huns and sharptails like to loaf in high
spots so they can see danger coming.
Walking the prairie grass, after the birds have left the feeding fields,
is how we locate most of our coveys. If
the day is exceptionally hot or windy, then try the coulees where they can get
relief. A coulee is simply a ravine. For September hunters, I offer a bit of a
warning about hunting coulees. You’ll
get numerous pheasant flushes in a coulee and they are of no benefit; unless
you simply want dog work.
For ruffed grouse hunters, we’ve learned
through GPS systems that our dogs run about three times the distance that we
walk. In wide-open prairie hunting, the
formula is four times what we walk. With
the dry prairie air, that means your dog will get thirsty very quickly. For a one to two hour hunt, make sure you
carry at least two bottles of water for every dog on the ground. They’ll need it. And, don’t forget your own
water needs. Your dogs will, of course,
maintain a high energy level if fed Native Performance Dog Food.
Go West…you’ll never regret it.
Paul Fuller is host of the Bird Dogs Afield TV program. Paul’s website is www.birddogsafield.com.
