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Waterfowling near Dillon?

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  phutch30 
#1 ·
First off, hello. Finally found a forum that has some local info on it and hoped you guys could help me out a bit. This is my second year chasing ducks, but I've pretty much been limited to hunting with my buddy at his spots around Whitehall. I had one nice little spot on the Bighole river just north of Dillon, but found out today when I headed down there that someone had built a new fence and closed off the property that used to have "Sportsmen Welcome" signs on it. After driving around for a couple hours I gave up as every place was either posted heavily or leased to an outfitter. I'm not yet equiped w/ decoys (trying to piece gear together on a family budget), so I haven't even tried hunting Clark Canyon. Can anyone point me in a general direction to do some jump shooting that isn't an hour from town? I need a little duck mentoring here.. :help:
Also...I've noticed the hundreds of geese flying over Dillon...is there any good opportunities to get on some around here that aren't locked up by the outfitters? Thanks a millon.
 
#2 ·
I hate to tell ya this but the duck hunting around here is just about over. This year hasnt been a very good year as far as the ducks sticking around. You might want to try poindexter. There are always a few birds out there. The ducks are for the most part gone from Clark and there isnt much happening on the river. Hart and I hunted on Sat morn and never fired a shot, which is passing unusual for us. Instead we went an busted a couple limits of pheasants.
 
#3 ·
I had forgot about Poindexter. I took a drive up there today just to look around and saw one rig working it already. Drove up the frontage road and found what looks like some jumpable spots with actually quite a few mallards on the water. Problem w/ most of it is the proximatey to the freeway, but the piece of BLM down past Grasshopper exit looks promising. Thanks for the reply. Are you hunting pheasants on a lease around here? I'm pretty new to the area (orginally from Plains/Tfalls area) and was told there wasn't any wild birds in the area.
 
#5 ·
If you are going to jump shoot that stretch near the hwy make super sure that your ducks fall in the water and you stay below the high water mark. I hear the new owner of that land doesnt look kindly on trespass.And you are in trespass if you leave the river channel to retrieve a bird. The high water mark thru there is basically the edge of the bank. So to legally hunt it you have to walk in the water for the most part. Also just for your info, if your dog retrieves a bird outside the legal boundry you are also subject to trespass. You may know this already but I thought Id state it just in case.

The BLM land can be ok, there are not that many bird on the river this year. You could probaly shoot a couple birds most any morning there, but I wouldnt look for limits.

As far as pheasants go, there are lots of wild birds around here. The ranch I got permission to hunt is all wild birds and they took 130 roosters off it this year. Hart and I shot 6 in less than an hour. Getting permission is almost impossible though. I have been doing predator control for this property for 5 years and this is the first year I was "invited" to shoot birds.
 
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