I have hunted a bunch of ND and SD for Pheasants, and never needed to pay High $$ fee's to find birds
having a dig is a HUGE help, I honestly wouldn't hunt out there without one, its very vast and a good dog will find you 100 times more than on foot
BUt its NOT impossible either!
all the main name places will be the most hunted places
MY advice is if you want to hunt public lands, is contact the local game warden in the area's you'd like to hunt
all of ND has pheasants
Around Belfield ND< and south of there on the western end of things, is a ton of public lands and I was seeing 500-2500+ a day
south of things on the ND border into SD is a lot of nice hunting too
Standing Rock Indian reservation, has a LOT of phesaants as well deer too
I have hunted about Oakes ND as well, and a few other places thru out ND over the yrs, and never ever had a issue finding pheasants on public lands
I have meet a LOT of nice locals and farmers that charged by word of mouth, maybe 50 bucks a season and or while I was there, a very nice guy with 15,000 acres once asked me if I minded paying $25.00 a season LOL
as if that was asking a lot!
, if you want a fancy lodge and room and 5 star cooking and folks kissing your butt, well, then open your wallet
if you want to do a self guided hunt, small town hotels will work, 99% allow dogs and cater to hunters with bird cleaning stations and all!
I tend to find houses to rent and stay for 2 weeks at a time, I like having extra room and the privacy
Last place I rented was a few yrs back, and was 35 bucks a day for a house on 2500 acres, that bordered a neighbors 20,000 acres and was down the road from a couple hundred thousand public acres(little Missouri National Grass land)
research if your friend when doing out of state hunts or DIY one's that is!!
the owner of this place a few yrs back was a very nice guy, not sure if he still runs it or not, but he was a DR in AZ and ran this in the Fall
offered lower end prices for very good land access, and has house's he can get for you to rent or , hotel like lodging!
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