# Montana Upland



## The Doob (Mar 4, 2007)

Made the trek out to Montana to chase sharptails, Huns and pheasants with my son and soon-to-be 10 year old springer. According to our source, the winter in NE Montana was non-existent and the upland numbers were going to be very good.

4 days of hunting produces multiple limits of sharptails, only a couple of pheasants (cold, rainy opener sucked big time) and more flushes than we could count. A lot of bad luck (wrong side of the bush, hens in our faces while the sneaky roosters snuck out the back, missed a couple of layups, etc) didn't stop us from having great success!




  








Montana 10-9-21.jpg




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The Doob


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Oct 12, 2021








We tent camped at a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) where you can stay for 7 days. This one had a new latrine and was on the banks of the Yellowstone River. We did stay at a motel on the day we arrived and on the day that we left but even so, the trip was incredibly inexpensive ($700 each) for the week.

I will say that the country is very hard on the dogs and by the fourth day we had to go it with our canine companion as he was just wore out. None the less, we had great success with conservatively over 100 flushes - sharptails, pheasant and Huns all mixed together in the same cover.




  








Montana 10-10-21.jpg




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The Doob


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Oct 12, 2021


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

Very nice, looks like a great time. Most don’t drive past SD, why MT? Do you have connections there?


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## MallardMaster (Nov 17, 2003)

What a great trip you had! Thanks for sharing the report and pictures. Beautiful country that you were in


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## The Doob (Mar 4, 2007)

sourdough44 said:


> Very nice, looks like a great time. Most don’t drive past SD, why MT? Do you have connections there?


Three reasons:
1.) Yes, we do have a great contact. Have a great contact in SD as well

2.) A mild 2020-2021 winter had the bird numbers in NE Montana at a high rate (confirmed!). Plus the opportunity for sharptails and huns, which our SD location does not.

3.) Pheasant in South Dakota opens on 16th, Montana was on the 9th. That allows for a return home to be here for primetime duck hunting.


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## DoubleJay (Aug 9, 2009)

The Doob said:


> Three reasons:
> 1.) Yes, we do have a great contact. Have a great contact in SD as well
> 
> 2.) A mild 2020-2021 winter had the bird numbers in NE Montana at a high rate (confirmed!). Plus the opportunity for sharptails and huns, which our SD location does not.
> ...


Nice trip; we also hunt MT for upland. Your opening date for SD is for residents only.
Jay


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## gundogguy (Oct 5, 2008)

The Doob said:


> Made the trek out to Montana to chase sharptails, Huns and pheasants with my son and soon-to-be 10 year old springer. According to our source, the winter in NE Montana was non-existent and the upland numbers were going to be very good.
> 
> 4 days of hunting produces multiple limits of sharptails, only a couple of pheasants (cold, rainy opener sucked big time) and more flushes than we could count. A lot of bad luck (wrong side of the bush, hens in our faces while the sneaky roosters snuck out the back, missed a couple of layups, etc) didn't stop us from having great success!
> 
> ...


Looking good. just amazing that it's been ten years since i saw that Pup. As they say time flies by!!


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## The Doob (Mar 4, 2007)

Yeah, Sully has been all that I could have asked for!
He is living his best life as a country gentleman at our new house. Contemplating retiring him but he is still getting it done. Does he have one more Montana trip in him? Hope so, plan to make a return adventure in 2022.


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## frankster2021 (Oct 17, 2021)

Looks like an awesome trip, were you hunting federal/state land or private property?


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## The Doob (Mar 4, 2007)

All birds were taken on a combination of Block Management Areas (BMA), Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) and State land. So much public land available that we never considered trying to get onto private.


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

DoubleJay said:


> Nice trip; we also hunt MT for upland. Your opening date for SD is for residents only.
> Jay
> View attachment 795150


SD resident season was Oct 10-12 .
We were there for the regular opener on October 16.Hunting was good even with crops still standing and the emergency haying this year.
We were getting some very long tails.


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