ND Pheasant Hunting 2009

After a long wait, I finally had an opportunity to head out west for my 2009 pheasant hunt.  I’ve heard all kinds of talk this year about upland populations being down considerably.  After hunting southwestern ND for over 20 years I can definitely confirm that mother nature had it’s toll last winter and spring.  Now let’s put it in perspective…with CRP programs, habitat development, and great management, pheasant populations in ND have exploded in the past 10 to 15 years making it one of the destination locations for hunters.  The state had the honor of boasting perennial record bird numbers .  Pheasant populations being “down” meant that we saw a few flocks of hundreds of birds per day instead of flocks that shade the sun hourly.  We still saw 200 plus birds per day and had plenty of shooting opportunities.  In almost any other state or region, numbers like this would be considered exceptional.

We had a phenomenal trip with limits of pheasants daily.  This was a special trip to me personally since it was two days of hunting with my brother and sister.  It’s one of the best things about the hunting experience…sharing it with the people you care about.

With the hen population I’d expect a fast recovery right back to new record years within a very, very short period of time.  I’ll shut up and let the video speak for me a bit, there’s a couple photos blended in from last year as well.  I don’t pretend to be production artist and wish I could have a few of the recording opportunities back, but I hope you enjoy the footage, especially after the first few clips that are bit shaky!

Filed under: Pheasant Hunting, Upland Game, Videos by HeavyD