wagons east

[Stilly bay]

just wondering how many folks are heading east to the prairies for sage grouse, sharptail grouse and huns in Sept?

I am going to eastern MT in early sept, I have never hunted there before and plan on doing a lot of cruising around and scouting.

[wildweeds]

Got 4 dogs going for a month,going to head over and hunt a week at the end of it.

[Wingin it]

Lots and lots of folks will be there! It will be worse than the pheasant release sites on opening day here! Save your money and save yourself some real frustration and stay home. Just kidding! I wish I was going this year but I have to sit it out due to a new job and not enough time off. Have fun and post some pics when you get back. 

[Stilly bay]

Lots and lots of folks will be there! It will be worse than the pheasant release sites on opening day here! Save your money and save yourself some real frustration and stay home.

heard it gets down right crowded overthere, I saw picture of three cars parked at one Block management unit parking lot - at the same time!

[AWS]

We're headed over the weekend after the pheasant openner, we leave openning weekend for the locals and they are very nice to us.  Neither of us like the Sept. heat, hard on us and the dogs.  We'll be there 2 weeks and there are always plenty of sharptails and huns left when we get there.

We like to hunt some coyotes and the pelts are looking pretty good the last half of Oct.

[Stilly bay]

  Neither of us like the Sept. heat, hard on us and the dogs. 
.

I am kind of worried about the heat. but I figure if I hunt in the cool of the early mornings I can drive around, scout, or fish for the rest of the day and set up a new camp in the evenings for the morning hunt. I don't really know where I am going so I figure I should cover as much ground as possible.

[AWS]

I could never get my partner to hunt like that.  We rotate the dogs throught the day, by week two both my knees are wraped and I'm living on Aleve, my dogs feet are wraped to the knees to keep the CRP from wearing through his hide.  My partner gives me a break and drops me off at camp and gets one more hunt in while I make dinner.  My dog sleeps for a week when we get back.   

We have some great times though.

[Stilly bay]

thanks for reminding me.. I need to go to costco and get big old bucket of aleve before I go.  If I had few more big running dogs and a clear direction on where I was going I probably would wait till mid october and hunt hard enough to run myself and the dogs into the ground.  as is it will be just me and my busted up old setter so were going to take it pretty easy. he can snooze in the truck while I catch brown trout... or a buzz on brown liquor.

[Wingin it]

It is a great experience to hunt the prairies for sure. It is surprisingly hard on dogs so best to be prepared with dog boots, etc. I always take them along and every year by the end our dogs are having to wear them. (We are usually there for 2 weeks).

[fethrduster]

I have friends who go there every year and rave about it.  They say it spoils you though.  I've never hunted there myself.  I've heard sharpies are bad table fare though, so that kind of kills it for me, even though I'm sure it's a blast.  I suppose you could always bake them with chutney on a wooden plank with onions and apples, then throw the birds away and eat the plank.

[Stilly bay]

.  They say it spoils you though.     

after fly fishing in MT I had a hard time getting excited about fishing western washington again. I love those german browns!

I've heard sharpies are bad table fare though, so that kind of kills it for me, even though I'm sure it's a blast. 

that bad Eh? I figured out how to make snowgoose palatable, a sharptail should be easy

[jetjockey]

Not a big fan of eating sharptail or chickens, so I've never really targeted them too much, but they are fun to train dogs on, and at the end of the day it's all about the dog work to me.  With that said, I'm hoping to be in the Sandhills of Nebraska to watch the American Brittany Club Chicken championship that starts Sept 17th near Bassett NE.   It's a true All Age wild bird trial and they don't release any birds.  A dog has to point a chicken to win, even if it finds 100 sharptail.  It's one of the toughest trials to place a dog in since the birds are wild, the dogs have to run big, and the heat and wind can be brutal.  Many dogs go bridless in the hour braces and the winners usually only have 1 or 2 finds.  I think pheasants are more fun the shoot, but chickens and sharptail in the prairies are a lot more fun to hunt.

[ribka]

I'll be heading over in Oct when it cools down a bit for Huns and sharpies. probably hitnthe Missouri River too for a few days of fly fishing

[Stilly bay]

  A dog has to point a chicken to win, even if it finds 100 sharptail.  It's one of the toughest trials to place a dog in since the birds are wild, the dogs have to run big, and the heat and wind can be brutal.  Many dogs go bridless in the hour braces and the winners usually only have 1 or 2 finds.  I think pheasants are more fun the shoot, but chickens and sharptail in the prairies are a lot more fun to hunt.

god that sounds like fun. it would be cool just to tag along and see some hardcore dogs in action.

[singleshot12]

Hey Stilly , is the wagon back west yet?  If so a detailed story and pics please