North Dakota in a week

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
I will be heading to North Dakota in a weeks time. I have a lot of preparing to do... Leaving next tuesday and coming back the following tuesday. Its a over the counter archery only hunt and we will also be pheasant hunting as well. Any tips/advice/gear and general knowledge of what to be expected for this type of hunt would be great!! :greenjump: I know at the moment we are hunting managed land with some stands and ground blinds. I have 2 pop up ground blinds and a climber. I am really looking forward to this hunt with a friend who is a farmer, his son and my father. Hopefully something big walks by but honestly Im just thankful to be going. It will be my first time out west. Thanks for the help.
 

jenkinsnb

Ten Pointer
Good luck with your trip. I will go out to North or South Dakota before I die for a pheasant hunt. That has always been way up there on my bucket list, so you better bring back some good pictures to post. :D
 

JONOV

Twelve Pointer
Dress Warm. That means something with a hood, as even with a hat and warm high collar you will chill when the wind hits your neck. Prepare to dress warmer than you think.

IDK where in the state you're going, but everything I've seen of the state there aren't many trees, so expect to use the ground blind. It will be different compared to NC, that's for sure.

Good Luck and Have FUN!
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Good luck on the pheasants and deer.

Some number six long range shells are what I like for pheasant.


Either Remington Long Range or Federal Prairie Storm loads will work.
 
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cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
Thanks for the replies. We are planning on buying our tags online tomorrow evening and Ill find out more about the lay of the land then. I think that the ground blinds will be mostly what we hunt out of. I have never shot at a deer from a ground blind with a compound bow but I have shot a lot of them sitting down in a lock on. I will practice some over the next couple days out of the blind. I have been able to borrow someones decoy and my friend swears that it will pay dividends esp. out there... Never used one of those either but we will give it a go.... Im a pumped to say the least. Trying to get through this week without getting too excited...
 

Blackwater

Twelve Pointer
Good luck on your hunt; I'm a bit jealous since I haven't hunted ditch parrots in a number of years and would sure like to do it again before cashing in my chips.
 

30/06

Twelve Pointer
Best of luck, I doubt that climber will be much use, haven't been to ND but most of the places I've seen in the mid-west have huge cottonwoods or little crooked trees! Was in Iowa a few weeks ago hanging stands and it was nearly impossible to find the right tree in the right spot. Best of luck and safe travels!
 

ncnat

Ten Pointer
Thanks for the replies. We are planning on buying our tags online tomorrow evening and Ill find out more about the lay of the land then. I think that the ground blinds will be mostly what we hunt out of. I have never shot at a deer from a ground blind with a compound bow but I have shot a lot of them sitting down in a lock on. I will practice some over the next couple days out of the blind. I have been able to borrow someones decoy and my friend swears that it will pay dividends esp. out there... Never used one of those either but we will give it a go.... Im a pumped to say the least. Trying to get through this week without getting too excited...

Slide to the edge of your chair and put one knee on the ground. Almost as good as standing.
 

tra_cline

Ten Pointer
Contributor
take a set of climbing sticks and a lock on. hunted a lot of western and mid west states and can count on my hands the number of climbable trees in the right spots out there. climbing stands aren't a lot of use out there in most instances…. good luck and kill a GIANT!
 

Cootmeurer

Six Pointer
Been going up for 20 years. Give me an idea (general area, county - but nothing to specific) and I will give you some ideas.

Remember that it is always windy up there, and you will get a one or two day notice before weather changes dramatically, make sure you have lots of layers. Roads are generally good but the clay up their turns slick as snot with the tiniest amount of rain or snow. Folks are really really nice and will usually let you hunt just for asking - except they tend to be real protective of the deer permission and pheasants during first week. Since pheasant has been open for 2 weeks now most places should let you on for a simple ask.
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
I will be close to the town of Almont ND. The land we are hunting is along the heart river. Ive looked at the lay of the land some what and it looks pretty good in my opinion but then again ive never been. Everything ive been told is to hunt the river bottom land and look for cotton wood bottoms with funnels, cover and food.... All of my my reliable lock ons are in the woods here in nc. I may go take one down tomorrow or the next day time permitting.... I guess ill leave the climber at home...
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
We have bought our licenses and printed them out. Come hell or high water we are goin. Now its time to check and recheck gear. Organize everything. Scent wash clothes and make sure everything is ready. Im trying not to get to excited and just focus and making sure everything is in check. Thanks for the support and hopefully I will have some good stories to tell and the pictures as well.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
Can't stress enough to be prepared for wind the temps won't get you you've hunted colder but the wind will get on your nerves first times your out there hopefully you'll get lucky and it won't be strong and constant. Your hunting a river drainage so you'll have timber deer will use that timber in daylight hours food source will be important I would spend a day scouting hard instead of hunting just to get layout and food source down take good binos or spot scope and watch from distance deer in wide open western space can be predictable if not busted they only got so many places to hide depending if you have CRP on the land
 

sakoman

Guest
Nice Country you will enjoy it . Take clothes for all seasons. I have a good friend that married a gal that's from there, they moved out there about 5 years ago. I can just say it was 69 one Tues. morning that night a cold front came in and dropped 42inches of snow by the next day. There was nothing on the pic up truck sticking out but the cab.
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
I hope I have enough clothes. I'm not use to howling winds but I'm prepared.. I plan out scouting Wednesday afternoon and maybe even Thursday morning depending on what happens. What is the dominate wind? Northeast?


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Justin

Old Mossy Horns
take a set of climbing sticks and a lock on. hunted a lot of western and mid west states and can count on my hands the number of climbable trees in the right spots out there. climbing stands aren't a lot of use out there in most instances…. good luck and kill a GIANT!


This. This is why Lone Wolf has a cult following. Never found a tree in the right spot that a climber would get up, out there.
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
update... Pulled my best light weight lock on out of the woods this evening and have plenty of screw in steps. Only have one set of sticks. Decided to take the screw in steps because i didnt want to mess up my spot where the sticks are.
 

Cootmeurer

Six Pointer
We mainly hunt birds but have seen a lot of deer over the years, including some really nice bucks. One thing about the deer is that they can be found in a lot of places you wouldn't expect. The number one spot we have seen the big boys is in secluded cattail marshes. Not only that, but when we bump one out they are often back by the next day. If I was going to target deer I would take a Double Bull or similar blind. Finding a tree where you want one in NoDak can be pretty hard.

As to wind, the prevailing are NW.

GoreTex or something wind resistant is worth having. Also, remember to drink constantly, that wind will dehydrate you without you really knowing it.

Also, never pass up a chance to top off the fuel tanks. Towns can be pretty far apart and not every town has a gas pump. It is big country and you can hunt most of it, so be willing to drive and scout a lot. For waterfowl we don't think twice about 150-200 miles of driving a day.

Take good optics. We each carry a decent set of binoculars , and have 2 spotting scopes in the truck.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
No one has mentioned it but out west was where I learned the value of scarves. Never wear them here but I damn sure did out there.
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
Cootmeurer.... Thank you again for some great information. I will have my eye out for those cattail marshes. When you jumped said big bucks were they bedded in the cattails? I have a small pop up blind and then a big double bull style blind. I dont have, nor can afford a spotting scope at the moment but i have a good pair of binos. As for the waterfowl hunting, I would like to hunt some ducks but right now my main priority is a good buck and then pheasants with my father.

Nccatfisher.... that is a great idea. Around here i always wear a neck gaiter when it gets cold. People do not realize how much body heat you can lose from your neck and head. Its heavy dudy and i usually only were it in the morning with my toboggan. I hate the cold and try to be as warm as possible with sweating.
 

ncstatehunter

Twelve Pointer
It hits 50 and you are cold. Yes they will bedbin those marshes as well as open CRP fields. YouTube marsh bucks, if it wasn't so late in the game I'd let you borrow my DVD.
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
Yep look for points in the marsh. The deer will bed on the tips as a general rule.


Yes to the scarf or baclava type gear. I didn't realize it but when I was in MN, that was one thing I never went to work or hunting without, from October to April.
 

labman63

Ten Pointer
If you see a huge bodied deer sneaking thru the windbreaks don't think it is for sure a buck. I saw a doe a few weeks ago that had to go over 200lbs. I did see more deer this year than in past years.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Cootmeurer.... Thank you again for some great information. I will have my eye out for those cattail marshes. When you jumped said big bucks were they bedded in the cattails? I have a small pop up blind and then a big double bull style blind. I dont have, nor can afford a spotting scope at the moment but i have a good pair of binos. As for the waterfowl hunting, I would like to hunt some ducks but right now my main priority is a good buck and then pheasants with my father.

Nccatfisher.... that is a great idea. Around here i always wear a neck gaiter when it gets cold. People do not realize how much body heat you can lose from your neck and head. Its heavy dudy and i usually only were it in the morning with my toboggan. I hate the cold and try to be as warm as possible with sweating.
The first year I went I carried HEAVY clothing for here but I hate hoods so I didn't have anything hooded. I had friends through work that lived out there. All of them wore cowboy hats and scarves. A storm blew in and it was in the teens but the wind was in the 30's. They just acted like it was business as usual but no matter what I had on I was freezing after I would stop walking 30 mins. Finally one time when I was together with one of my friends one day on a hunt he reached in his coat and pulled out an extra scarf and told me to use it he was tired of hearing my teeth chattering. I mentioned something to him about cowboy crap but I wrapped it and tucked it. It was like being in a heated room in a few minutes, well maybe not that much difference, but it cut all that wind off my neck and I was warm.

When that hunt was over, were were in a remote camp I couldn't do it then. I became a connoisseur of heavy hunting scarves for out west hunts.
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
Thank y'all for the replies! I have a good neck scarf packed away but I may invest in another one. The only thing that i hate more then the cold is the wind. I am prepared for it there and I know it's something that is going to be consistent out there. I just hope and pray it's not howling...


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Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
Good luck! I'm in the truck riding back from ND right now. Weather was pleasant and saw a good number of pheasants and deer. We were on the other side of Bismarck from where you will. Have a great time it's beautiful county.
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
Wildlifer, how was the pheasant hunting? Did y'all kill your limit of birds each day? Where did you find the birds and in what areas did you see the deer?


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Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
We should have pheasant hunted. We were doing a week long DIY duck hunt. If we had bought the license we could have killed a few each day incidentally while scouting. We actually had a rooster fly across a pond right over the decoys. Every morning we would hear several and we never hunted the same place twice. The birds were pretty much in any type of standing cover. Tall CRP fields, cattails, edge of standing corn, unmaintained field edges. From what we heard it's been a great year for them. Most birds seemed to be holding in the tall cover around potholes. The deer were in the cottonwood thickets and bedding in thick cattails.
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
Thanks for the info! I will out that knowledge to go use! Did you see any good bucks?


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Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
Yea saw one good one 2 feet from the front of the truck slamming on the brakes. Nice tall 8 point that had to be over 200lbs
 
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