The Hunting Authority » Pheasant Hunting http://www.thehuntingauthority.com/hunting-blog Deer, Bear, Turkey, Elk Hunting & Guides Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:27:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Pheasants Weathering the Storm – Story and VIDEO http://www.thehuntingauthority.com/hunting-blog/2010/02/03/pheasants-weathering-the-storm-story-and-video/ http://www.thehuntingauthority.com/hunting-blog/2010/02/03/pheasants-weathering-the-storm-story-and-video/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:04:05 +0000 HeavyD http://www.thehuntingauthority.com/hunting-blog/?p=928 It’s official!  The upper mid-west is going through another tough winter with heavy snow cover, unrelenting periods of cold, wind, ice, and just general nastiness.  A quick example is my recent family visit where I traveled to the southwestern corner of ND (where this video was shot).  They had a weird frost, high humidity, with cold temps followed by snow…bottom line, a significant slice of the state had miles and miles of power lines and poles snapped under the weight of the ice.  My brother finally got power back… NINE AND A HALF DAYS LATER!!!  I’ll reiterate, people were without power for well over a week.  FEMA wasn’t called, I didn’t read about a “state of emergency”, there weren’t troops helping save the “victims”…they helped themselves (kinda weird!).

Anyways, it was great to see the birds hangin’ tough.  I can say the pheasant population was concentrated to farm yards and places with very heavy cover.  Many of the “usual” spots were lifeless.  These are tough, rugged birds, but they need a break.   It was almost shocking to see the large numbers of roosters, particularly mature, older birds.  If winter lightens up, next year looks to be outstanding to spite Old Man Winter.  Check out the video and enjoy!

]]> http://www.thehuntingauthority.com/hunting-blog/2010/02/03/pheasants-weathering-the-storm-story-and-video/feed/ 0 ND Pheasant Hunting 2009 http://www.thehuntingauthority.com/hunting-blog/2009/11/20/nd-pheasant-hunting-2009/ http://www.thehuntingauthority.com/hunting-blog/2009/11/20/nd-pheasant-hunting-2009/#comments Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:37:40 +0000 HeavyD http://www.thehuntingauthority.com/hunting-blog/?p=879 IMG_4430After 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!

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