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From the Canadian border to south Texas. #7070910 02/08/18 06:57 PM
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Stxflood Offline OP
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I have heard of guys hunting birds up north and traveling south with their dogs as seasons open and close until they end up at the end of the year in south Texas. I personally do not know anybody who has done this but am very interested in talking to someone who has done something similar. Are these guys hunting leases or public land? Are they guiding hunts? Is this something mainly field trial guys do ? Anybody here have experience doing something like this?

Re: From the Canadian border to south Texas. [Re: Stxflood] #7071901 02/09/18 02:56 PM
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Mundo Offline
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Prairie states all have offer walk-in public access. Also, many of these states have a lot of public land--national grasslands, blm land, national forest, state school land, that is accessible. This is especially true of eastern Montana. Most of the out-of-state guys hunting the prairie states are not guides, trainers or field trailers. They are just folks who drove up there and scouted around or went with someone who had already been. In addition to this, a lot or landowners will allow access if you ask politely. (This is not the case for pheasants but is for Huns and prairie grouse.) All of the hunting in these states is on foot. You need to do your homework -- check with state biologists, game wardens and fish and game departments about bird populations. Many of the Indian reservations also have upland populations and sell licenses.
Also, motel accommodations may have to be made in advance in hot spots like Pierre, SD and the oil patch in North Dakota. Opening week of prairie grouse season in Pierre is a zoo--attracting hunters from all of the country to the grasslands south of town. Birds there are well educated--pro trainers begin using the grasslands in July and all birds have PHds in bird dog. Pierre and the Nebraska sand hills are some to the few areas holding a huntable population of both sharptails and prairie chicken. North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming can have good populations of huns and sharptails. Sage grouse can also be found and hunted in Montana and Wyoming.

In Eastern Montana it is pretty easy to pack up and move if there are no birds where you first travel to. There is a a lot of land up there and most of the locals ignore upland and hunt big game.

Season in Montana usually opens on the 1st. The Dakotas mid September, Nebraska Sept 1
Kansas in November. Last season bird populations were way down over much of the western prairie due to drought. We really struggle to find birds in eastern Montana. However, in up cycle years we've, pointed as many as a dozen coveys of sharpies after we shot limits and were walking back to the truck.



Last edited by Mundo; 02/09/18 02:58 PM.
Re: From the Canadian border to south Texas. [Re: Stxflood] #7072204 02/09/18 06:54 PM
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Thanks Mundo. Ryan sound like it would be fun. I'm looking at November Iowa trip and a Panhandle of texas trip in December or January. I'm also going to research Kansas.




Re: From the Canadian border to south Texas. [Re: Matagorda Mud Pig] #7072287 02/09/18 08:10 PM
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Had a friend who started in Canada and worked his way south each year. He passed last year, wish I'd made the trip with him.

Re: From the Canadian border to south Texas. [Re: Stxflood] #7072903 02/10/18 04:19 AM
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Stxflood Offline OP
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Thanks for the info. I would love to go try it sometime.

Re: From the Canadian border to south Texas. [Re: Stxflood] #7073009 02/10/18 12:11 PM
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I start out in September with sharptails along Canadian border. End up in February with desert quail. All public do it yourself hunts

Last edited by blanked; 02/10/18 12:17 PM.
Re: From the Canadian border to south Texas. [Re: Stxflood] #7073520 02/10/18 09:19 PM
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For the last 16 years I have started out up around the Canadian border and end up either in south or west Texas. It pays to monitor how harsh winters hit various regions to predict carryover. Then watch spring and summer weather and be flexible enough to hunt regions that get good hatches in order to travel to areas with good numbers of wild birds. These spots vary from year to year. I am strictly a DIY guy.


Smokey Bear---Lone Star State.
Re: From the Canadian border to south Texas. [Re: Smokey Bear] #7078154 02/14/18 03:50 PM
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A friend of mine does something similar by going west from Texas. Starts in the valley with chacalaca, gets his bobs in the high plains, goes to NM for blues and gambels and ends up in Arizona with mearns.

I believe he’s going to do something similar in Africa this year.

Last edited by therancher; 02/14/18 03:52 PM.

Crotchety old bastidge
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