Montana is known as a haven for big game hunters, and for good reason. We boast about our 11 species of big game animals, our five-week general rifle season and six-week archery season for deer and elk, and our incredibly diverse landscapes to pursue these incredible native species.
But Montana is also an incredible place for bird hunters. We also have an incredible array of upland game bird species, both natives like sage, sharp-tailed and mountain grouse, as well as non-native species including ring-necked pheasants and Hungarian partridge. And of course we’re on major flyways for waterfowl, with some incredible wingshooting for ducks and geese.
I recently joined my fellow Montana Wildlife Federation staffer John Bradley on a pheasant hunt in eastern Montana and it confirmed that the Treasure State offers great opportunities for wingshooting. The trip was especially rewarding because we joined a friend who bought a pup six years ago from my English Setter Sapphire.
We hunted several private farms and found excellent pheasant habitat in the cattails along irrigation ditches, in shelter belts and in willows on the banks of rivers. The cover is really thick, and that’s exactly what pheasants like.
This is classic farm country, with grain and soybeans in the fields next to that thick cover. It’s the perfect mix for prime pheasant hunting, and we weren’t disappointed as Sapphire and Gus pointed bird after bird. Plenty of those were hens that we had to let go, and as always that brought the disappointing look from dogs wondering why they had done their job so perfectly only to watch the bird fly away. But we got into plenty of roosters too, enough to shoot our limits a couple days.
Of course all that agricultural habitat is excellent for waterfowl as well. And judging from the amount of sign – as well as a bunch that we kicked up – there is some excellent deer hunting in eastern Montana.
The next time you get out and spend a few days hunting in eastern Montana, be sure to thank landowners for having you out.
Nick Gevock is the conservation director for the Montana Wildlife Federation.
