Something you learn as an upland hunter is that from year to year the areas you hunt can change dramatically. This inevitably causes birds to shift from one section to the next and sometimes even more dramatically than that. These changes are due to land use and crop rotation as well as excessive flooding and moisture.
The advantage I gained by becoming a resident in North Dakota was to be able to scout areas extensively when changes occurred. I remember for example several years ago area residents saying there were not Sharptail in this area. Upon hunting and scouting the cover I found very hunt-able populations in every direction just not where people had traditionally been used to seeing them. And in the season of 2011 it was the same with Pheasants and Huns. With the population down by 50% or more the remaining birds having spread out were not easy to find in all the usual places but again through scouting weeks in advance I was able to locate hatches in isolated pockets.
These pockets of cover holding birds were not always obvious or visible from the road. You could only find them by having your boots on the ground which for hunters with limited time to hunt could be very hit and miss. The temptation is to just drive around scanning the cover from the road or gambling if you will. My thoughts are that your chances of finding birds is always better walking behind your dog than riding in your truck. So my strategy is to know whats going on in an area as far as land use and walk it until I find what areas the birds are using. If nesting cover for Pheasants changed then where is the next closest nesting cover this year? If Sharptail are not near a traditional mating area then where is the next closest area they might use?
It was Sunday the second day of the 2011 Sharptail season. I had decided to make a run with Mick in an area where the sections to the west had come out of CRP and gone back into production. These sections had for many years held both Pheasants and Sharptail. I was sad to see the change but you just have to adapt just like the birds. As I looked at this area earlier in the year I surveyed the surrounding sections and asked the question " Where would the birds go now?" We walked some adjacent pastures in August and found both Pheasants and Sharptail so when Mick and I headed out my plan was to walk those spots. Although we hadn't found birds in abundance in our scouting runs they had to be close by I thought.
It was a sunny morning with absolutely no wind and temperatures in the mid fifties when my boots hit the ground. The plan was to walk through a mile and a half of alfalfa to the east and then cross into the adjacent pasture and head back west. This hay ground was about a foot high with several sloughs scattered about and some gentle hills. The pasture was excellent hilly cover not yet grazed this year with plenty of low buffalo berry patches and sloughs.
Mick was glad to be on a solo run and cast about through the alfalfa working the high spots. He was birdy a hundred yards in and began working towards a hill to the east. This could have been either species and as he came to point at the top of this rise I walked in and flushed a hen Pheasant. We then continued on another few hundred yards with no other birds until we crossed the next fence and Mick started working scent again casting wide circles. We had birds moving. Finally he pinned them down around a rock pile and a brood of Pheasants took flight following each other in succession. Good to know! I was really surprised we hadn't seen any Sharptail but kept moving on through the last quarter of a mile to the east end of the hay field.
Mick picked up scent again towards the back of the run and worked around in the alfalfa circling about trying to locate the birds. I kept up as best as I could but gave him plenty of room to work. The fun thing about Mick is that he'll hold his birds no matter how long it takes me to get there. He'll even turn his head to see where I'm at then sometimes will wag his tail slightly signaling to me " Yup. Got em right here Boss! " It's all fun for Mick and I enjoy his laid back attitude. Then suddenly Mick froze as he cruised the alfalfa 50 yards out in front of me. I quickened my pace and just within range a covey of Sharptail exploded from the ground straight away. I shouldered my 20 gauge RBL and brought down a bird. Nice Job Mick! By the time I reached Mick he was laying down with his tongue hanging out and one paw on the bird waiting for me. What a beautiful morning! We took our usual moment and then headed back west into the pasture.
As soon as we crossed over into the pasture I couldn't help but notice how ideal this cover was. Plenty of high spots and open cover. Grass hoppers everywhere still a favorite food this time of year. We had a mile or more of this cover to hunt and Mick started working up and down the hills. We had gotten a few hundred yards in and Mick came on point on top of a high spot a hundred yards ahead. He was right out in the open and I knew if the birds were close they probably wouldn't hold. I started to run ahead but got only 20 yards closer when Sharptail just started coming off that rise all around Mick. He was right in the middle of a large group! There must have been at least 2 dozen birds that all flushed eventually as I got closer. All still out of range.
Mick then started to cover the whole area around the rise and quickly came on point 40 yards to the north just down hill from this flush. I was able to walk all the way to him and flushed a Sharptail single from the grass which fell with one shot from my RBL. Perfect set up. We continued on in the bright sunshine with no noise except the meadow larks calling and not a hint of wind either. You would think Sharptail would be spookier without wind but its just the opposite. So we were lucky to be out on this day enjoying the best of conditions. Mick worked on up ahead and once again came on point. This time a couple hundred yards ahead on the west side of a rise slightly down hill. I walked all the way in again with Mick turning to check on me as I approached as I mentioned earlier. This is just as good as it gets is what he would have said to me. I once again went ahead to flush but nothing moved so I kicked about the grass and finally a single bolted straight west again and fell with a report from my 20 gauge. Wow! Mick had slowed down a bit in his 9th year but this was a perfect performance and a real pleasure watching him put me on these birds.
We collected our third bird and as I looked around in all directions I understood why the birds had picked this spot. Back off the road. Hidden from view but close to good cover and food. Within a couple miles of where they lived for the last few years. Just a "Little Piece of Heaven" is all they need to survive I thought. Mick and I were glad to have found it on this morning. We would return here throughout the season as well as other similar spots found only through pushing ourselves over the next hill and exploring similar "Pieces of Heaven" which became the magic of this season. It sounds odd maybe but the lower populations were a good thing for us. It was a great challenge. The Setters really had to work to find birds but that's what they're bred for and that's exactly what we did!
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