North Dakota Roosters

Well some guys wait all year for the fishing to get good and some wait for the Rut to get in full swing and yes there are some guys who wait for those cold and crappy mornings to shoot some ducks, but for me the end of October signals the time of year I start to chase roosters. For me a crisp October or November morning get my blood pumping. After a tough month at work because of a new computer system install my first of 4 trips to the great state of North Dakota was just what I needed.

Sunrise Sunday morning greeted us to miles upon miles of standing corn and sunflower fields. There where literally ZERO combines running due to rain and wet fields. I stopped and asked permission from a farmer who was out in his yard working on his tractor and he said of the 6000 acres of beans he has he had only picked 250 acres and hadn’t even started on the 5000 acres of corn. That was not the information I was hoping for so we changed up our tactics and instead of hitting the bigger grass fields we concentrated on smaller cattail soughs and water runs next to the corn and sunflower fields. That proved to be the ticket and we started pushing a few birds into the air.

We hunted hard for three days and as usual we were treated to some incredible dog work. It just amases me how you can be working a cattail slough kick up 20 birds and knock down a nice rooster and when it lands 30 yards away from the closest dog in 5 foot high cattails the dogs can find those birds, with all of that fresh scent in the area they still find them. I just dont get it, but im glad we are blessed with the dog work that we have. All in all it was a great hunt with great friends. The good news is that it is only going to get better as the crops come out and some of the fair weather hunters take up their normal place on the late season couch. As for me those late season birds better keep one eye over their shoulder cause Im hot on the trail