As usual, my brain switches from big game and pheasants to turkeys about now, so I start spending more time on turkey forums. I like reading about everyone's plans for the upcoming season, but have learned not to get too worked up because we have a lot of winter between now and turkey season. Here is a little of what Ive been up to over the fall and winter. This will likely be multiple posts in this one thread with a lot of photos.
Apparently I need to resize my photos for this forum. They were huge. I'll see what I can do.
How bad was the hunting for pheasants, hungarian partidge, and sharptail this past season?
Opener found Heather and I visiting Glacier National Park with my parents. Fun time, but I killed my first whitetail of 2019 on the drive back the following day with my dad's car.
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My dad, Isaac, and granddaughter
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Got out elk hunting once with Isaac. We ran into one bull with cows, but he didn't want to play.
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I packed camp in on my back in mid September. I found elk and had one bull that I thought was gonna come in, but his cows on out.
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Lots of rain so after 4 days I was getting pretty wet. Sitting out some rain in the tent.
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I don't normally have a fire because it's normally too dry. This time it was all I could do to find wood that was dry enough to eventually burn.
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Saw this guy on my drive home. Maybe some day I'll draw a permit.
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Hunted several more days in archery from home.
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I had to look at it a while but finally decided this was a big black bear and not a grizzly.
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I packed in with a friend and his horses on the last weekend of archery. We saw a big herd with several bulls but they were a long way off and made it to private land. It was still fun to watch the biggest bull try to keep track of so many cows.
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More bear tracks
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Nice, must be fun.
I'll get the rest of the season up as quick as I can (antelope, deer, pheasant), but my plan to just copy and paste from what I've previously done won't work with the photos because I've used the full size photo links in my write ups and this forum does not automatically downsize the photos.
The following was written just after I'd returned from this hunt in the middle of October, so take that into consideration when I say "last Saturday".
Pheasant and antelope season both opened last Saturday. They open on the same Saturday in October every fall. I've had antelope tags but I usually find some excuse not to hunt them. My pastor, his son and I put in as a group this year and were supposed to hunt a private ranch on Monday, Tuesday??? and Wednesday, but a family emergency prevented them from going. They were my access to the ranch, so we talked about going at a later date.
I considered just going into work on Tuesday since Monday was a Holiday, but decided that I ?already had time scheduled off and I wanted to hunt. I made a hotel reservation in a mom and pop in Eastern MT, loaded up a bird dog, two shotguns and a rifle before heading east Sunday afternoon.
I didn't have much opportunity to hunt Sunday?, but did let Finn out for a run at some block management about an hour before dark still a? couple? hours? from my destination.
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There was a nice sunset as we walked back to the truck even with the cloud cover.
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The next morning dawned nice but bird contacts were not up to what I'd hoped. I did manage to miss two roosters.
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My antelope tag required a little over an hour drive, so I decided to try a new pheasant spot for a late afternoon hunt that was along the way. I accidentally found this spot while? hunting mule deer last year. It's an old dried up reservoir surrounded by sagebrush except the rancher has planted soybeans on one side. Soybeans are not common in MT.
The hunt went much better than the morning and Finn and I came away with a windy limit of roosters. Finn also pointed a lone hun, but I let it be. A big covey would have been a different story.
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I didn't have much time left to look for antelope after hiking back to truck and the drive time but I did it anyway. The cloud cover didn't help. I didn't see any antelope, but the area looked to have potential for birds and deer, and maybe antelope. I did see a cool old tractor and another nice sunset.
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I went back and forth that evening on where to hunt the next morning and hadn't really settled on where to hunt when Finn and I crashed late that night. I opted for another spot that I've hunted before and hoped for the best. I like to get to a parking spot early, watch the sun rise and listen for roosters.
Another nice sunrise. I heard both roosters and sharpies on this morning.
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Early morning glow.
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I wouldn't say that we saw a lot of pheasants and most that we did see were this year's birds. It took all morning but I killed my last bird for a limit just before getting back to the truck when I'd already settled on two roosters and a sharpie being the day's take. We found around 15 or 20 sharpies ?that were scattered and got up multiple times and I missed several times before finally killing one that should? have been a double.
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We now had time to make a real run for antelope that afternoon after a bath for Finn, lunch and a mid day break.
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I decided to let Finn tag along while I looked for antelope. He had a sore foot and he apparently sensed that this wasn't a pheasant hunt. He was happy to chill while I glassed.
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I found two big groups of antelope. One on property bordering the BMA I was on and the second just before dark on another BMA. The second group left a big broken up grassland area and we're feeding in some type of green field. I made plans for a sneak attack the following morning on the second bunch.
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I left Finn in his crate locked under my topper about an hour before daylight the following morning. I had to do a big loop to keep the wind in my favor and have cover to sneak in on the antelope. I don't normally leave my dogs when I'm out so was a little concerned? that he'd bark nonstop. Cash would have for sure. Finn never made a peep that I'm aware of.
To my surprise, the only antelope left in the field ?were three does. I didn't want antelope meat bad enough to shoot a doe. The rest of the herd had disappeared, so I hiked back to the truck. If I hadn't had Finn, I'd have probably went in search of them.
While I didn't get any photos, I got distracted from antelope at the sight of a rooster on the edge of cover in a wheat field. The rooster wasn't a young one and I hoped he'd run into cover where we could trail him and finally kill him, but no such luck. He flushed 75 yards away and flew across the road to property we couldn't hunt. He'd played this game before. Finn did point a hen, and was working into a group of sharptails when one flushed within range that I killed
The most exciting thing was that when I shot the sharpie, a big whitetail buck blasted from cover and ran across the prairie. He was a stud.
We left there with no intention of giving antelope much more effort than glassing from the truck as I drove by state and BMA property. I did drive past this herd of horses. While they aren't wild horses, they acted like I'd shot at them. I'd been listening to a couple Western books on my drives so the sight for right in on this trip.
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After topping a couple rises I realized that I could glass a state section pretty well from a mile or so away. From up close you can't glass it very well because your looking up a hill. I immediately spotted a good size herd of antelope?, marked their location and drove to the corner of the state section.
I left Finn in the crate again and made three approaches from different directions before finally getting as close as terrain would allow. I belly crawled to the top of a rise with a posted private fence immediately to my left and state land to my right and straight ahead. There was a good buck on private along with more that I couldn't see and four antelope (2 bucks and 2 does) on my side of the fence. I couldn't get a range on them through the grass but knew it was a long shot for me. I was guessing at least? 350 yards. I waited a while to get my breathing settled, aimed top edge of his back and tried to squeeze the trigger. I missed and antelope started running, then bunched up along the fence before starting my way. They didn't know where the shot came from, so I got very lucky. When the buck I wanted stopped at 200ish yards, I couldn't hold off anymore. That shot was dead on the money and he was dead on his feet.
I went back and got Finn and we recovered the buck.
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Finn stood back for a while trying to figure out what the heck it was, but eventually decided he was good.
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I took a lot of photos of this guy. He's my first antelope and while I thought he looked like a nice buck, I really don't know. He was good for me either way.
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After gutting, dragging and loading the buck, we pointed the truck west and headed back to reality. The buck is hanging and ready for processing? this evening.
Quote from: Swather on January 03, 2020, 07:32:10 PM
How bad was the hunting for pheasants, hungarian partidge, and sharptail this past season?
Upland is down all over the state. It's worse in some areas than others. Pheasants are down everywhere, but there are pockets that still have okay numbers and some that are terrible. Sharptails and huns seem to be slightly higher than last season, but they are still down. The drought a few years ago followed by a couple tough winters has really hurt the population. We need a few good winters followed by good springs for hatching and moist summers that produce lots of bugs to feed chicks.
My youngest son Boyd and I hunted the rifle season opener. We looked for mule deer on the opener and it was a blizzard. Then we hunted the mountains looking for elk on the second day. We found cows, but no bull. I didn't take many photos due to the cold blowing snow.
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very nice story and pictures,, thanks for sharing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
My next hunt was a combo deer and pheasant hunt in mid November:
I've not copied this from my previous thread because I did it as a semi live hunt. If you'd like to read it in that format, you can find it on Rokslide. (I think its ok to mention that site since it's not a competing forum)
I made this a combo hunt same as my antelope hunt. My plan was to pheasant hunt the weekend and glass for deer in the evenings. I would then drop Kassie off at a local kennel and concentrate on deer Monday through Thursday. If I was lucky enough to kill a buck early, I'd pick Kassie up and we'd continue hunting pheasant.
This region can produce good bucks, but it's a general season during the rut. This means the bucks get pounded year after year preventing many bucks from reaching their potential. My plan was to hold out for a 150 plus deer. I've had some good hunts the past couple of seasons killing my first two mule deer and a buddy killing his first mule deer. I also blew an opportunity on a really good buck in 18.
2016 (low 130s)
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2017 (low 140s)
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2018 (hunting partner's buck)
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Kassie, my part time companion on this hunt (photo from 2017)
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The forecast was cold for the first half of the hunt then getting milder.
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Kassie was ready to hit the ground after the long drive.
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Our hotel room wasn't ready, so we grabbed some food and looked for roosters. We were able to find one rooster on Saturday afternoon on a short hunt. I also glassed a few mule deer does that evening but no bucks.
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It was a muddy mess on Saturday because the sun had been out. However, it snowed that night more than expected, and the temperature dropped. I spent a couple hours that morning glassing for deer between looking for pheasants. It wasn't my normal mule deer hunting area but I was seeing some bucks with does, so I had to check them out. None of the bucks were what I was looking for.
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We struggled to pin down any roosters during the little bit of hunting that we did, but I did lose a bird that I knocked down and Kassie couldn't keep track of in the tall grass amongst a bunch of other running birds. I did find a good looking buck that evening just before dark that I planned to look for in the morning before dropping Kassie at the kennel.
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Monday morning was really foggy, so glassing early wasn't working. I drove Kassie to the kennel then drove 20 miles to a spot to glass. The spot had more hunters than I liked, so I glassed for a while then left. I decided to drive another 40 miles and check out a spot that I'd seen a stud whitetail during my antelope hunt. I was hoping to find him on the prowl for does. The area had mule deer also, so I would be glassing for both.
I use OnX so was keeping an eye on any public land or block management that I drove past on my drive to the next location. Just by chance I decided to glass a spot that I'd considered before but never hunted. I spotted a nice buck at about a half mile or so as soon as I started glassing and close behind him was a much better buck. Both skylined and went over a ridge. I took off as quick as I could knowing they could disappear quickly in this country.
I found this when I topped the ridge, but no bucks.
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It took me a half hour or so of slipping around and peaking into different drainages before I found the deer. There were several bucks and does. I won't cover all the details, but there were several intense minutes when i finally got in range of trying to identify the correct buck, does and one buck busting me, and me making a dash to get in range before getting a 168 yard shot at the bigger buck.
The buck was in the bottom of this draw next to the big cedar about mid height of the photo. He dropped where he stood. He can barely be seen laying there in the zoomed photo.
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I knew when I finally found them that the buck wasn't as big as my initial impression. It was due to that whole looking wider while walking straight away thing. I decided that he was still a shooter but was hoping that there wasn't a lot of ground shrinkage. I was happy that while not huge, there was no ground shrinkage. I scored the buck a couple days later at 159 ?", not a huge mule deer, but respectable for this region.
As he lay
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It broke him down, packed him out of the bottom of the draw, then went and retrieved an ice fishing sled in my truck to get all the meat and head out. The pack was approximately 1 mile, half on a gradual incline through sage and the other half on a two track. The temp probably was teens but the wind was brutal on that ridge.
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I picked Kassie up the following morning and we started back hunting pheasants. We lucked out and found my cripple from two days earlier and Kassie ran it down this time. We then killed two more roosters, one each at two locations, and two bonus sharptails.
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The next day we found a good number of birds stacked into some heavy cover due to the snow and cold, but needed a blocker. They were some running fools. Kassie did manage to pin three roosters between the two of us at the end of a patch of cottonwoods. All three roosters came up at once and I doubled with the first two shots. I wanted to go for the third, but he doubled back through the cottonwoods and I couldn't get on him. I still should have had a limit because I missed two other roosters that were in range.
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On the last morning we hunted a new area but couldn't pick up any birds. Kassie and I headed across to this patch of cover, but the only thing we found were some bedded whitetail does on the edge of a hayfield that isn't visible over the hill. I had bought a region whitetail doe tag, so I hiked back to the truck, put kassie in the box, grabbed my rifle and orange and headed back across.
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We headed home after I got the deer back to my truck.
I did one last rifle hunt for elk on the last weekend of the season but did not locate any elk. I have a shoulder season cow tag that runs until Feb 15, but not sure how much I'll get out with that tag.
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I wanted to do two more multi day pheasant hunts, but the weekend before Christmas turned out to be my last hunt of the year. I hunted with a buddy that I've not hunted with before. It was nice to not be driving for a change. Also, he has a much nicer truck than my own.
I took Cash my old GWP on this hunt. Kassie and Finn are both Wirehaired Pointing Griffons but stayed home. I killed two roosters on Saturday. We both killed two roosters on Sunday with a bonus hun. Then my buddy killed one rooster Monday morning before we had to head back home. We didn't get into the numbers that I had hoped for, but it was still better than sitting at home.
Four rooster skins (after removing body) at my hotel parking lot cleaning station (my tailgate and a trash can).
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Hungarian Partridge (Hun)
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Cash is really slowing down at 10 years old due to a previous hip surgery, so this is likely his last multi day trip. He's a hell of a bird dog.
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My buddy and his dog (last rooster of the hunt)
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Unfortunately I didn't get out again for roosters and I've not been out looking for a cow elk. However, it has not been all bad. I've had lots of granddaughter time lately and I like that very much.
Kaleah and Cash:
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Kaleah likes to nap in the recliner with me, but I'm not supposed to rock her or let her stay in the chair with me, so keep it to yourself :)
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Pretty pictures. Looks like you enjoyed yourself this fall and winter. Congrats
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awesome pics thanks for sharing
This is why I WILL sell everything and move to Montana when my kids are grown and off doing their thing. That state has everything I could ever want
Awesome!
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Thanks for sharing / taking us along!