As some of you know I am a big supporter of St Judes Childrens Hospital and fish in the St Judes Bass tournament in Wabasha Mn every year. And this year in March I was able to team up with the one and only Chris Winchester aka Catdaddy and put together a St jude’s benefit dinner at Gopher Hills golf course in Miesville. Everyone had a wonderful time,and if memory serves we raised about $11,000.00 for St Judes. One of the silent auction items was a 5 day guided pheasant hunt donated by Chris in Ashley ND. Ashley is right smack dab in the middle of some incredible pheasant country so I knew the winner would not be disapointed. Chris and I would like to personally thank Dean Truax aka Trubass for his generous bid of $600.00 to win the hunt.
Fast forward to November 29th with the roster set at Dean, his two sons David and Tom, and guides Paul, Rod and myself we were off to North Dakota to chase some sly late season ringnecks.
Day one greeted us with temps in the single digits and a stiff wind out of the west. brrrr. Premium clothing is a must in these conditions and we were ready.
North dakota allows for hunting at day break and we hit the field shortly befor 8am and right out of the gate birds were flying everywhere. The boys were chomping at the bit for Dad to hurry up and get ready to go. Forty yards into the first push a nice rooster escaped with his life as Tommy tried to make a tough crossing shot but was unable to connect. Birds continued to pop just out of range untill Rods shorthair "trigger" froze to point. This rooster would not be so lucky as David crushed him with what ended up being the longest shot of the trip, so with a nice retrieve from Trigger we were on the board. Dean and Tommy soon followed David’s lead and added the weight of a nice rooster to their vests as well.
The days went on and the birds kept hitting the dirt. You could never let your guard down cause you never knew when the next bird would flush. Late season birds are my favorite because they are the wise ones, the survivors, the best of the best, and based on how many flushed just out of gun range there are a lot of smart roosters in North Dakota. Your mission is to find the roosters who try to out think you by running instead of taking to the air. Our advantage was the awesome dogs we have, who never EVER say die. Trigger, Madison,Zoie and even little Shadow showed alot of heart during a tough 5 day hunt vacuming mile after mile of cover for any and all bird scent.
All in all we had a wonderful hunt shooting 54 roosters total and missing plenty too. Once again I would like to thank Dean and the boys for comming out and chasing roosters in N.D. with us.
On a side note we will be having another benefit for St Judes this spring it is a wonderfull cause to support and I hope to see you all there.
a few more pics
Great pics, it sounds like your a late season addicted like me, I love that shot of the bird on top of the hill.
Congrats to Dean and the rest of your group there Corey!
Thanks for the update and man I have to hunt in ND again next year.
It has been way to long! 
Hey Corey thanks for the great time in ND. I had alot of fun, I am sure we all did.
We are difently going to have to do that again next year. Thanks to my dad and to you on what you guys did for a good cause. We all had alot on fun, seen many birds, deer and three yotedaddies. 
Great report Corey!
And kudos to you and the others that volunteer their time and money for this great cause! 
NICE! TNT I am glad you had a great trip and welcome to the website. There are a lot of great people and a wealth of info on here for you. Heck maybe your dad could even learn how to shoot if he tried. Anyhow guys thanks for taking the trip and donating to St Judes. I will be donating a trip again this year including both Guides and lodging for a group of four people. Chris Winchester
Awesome report!!! The blood is flowing now. I’ll be back out to chase ND roosters on Friday.
Can’t beat those wise late season birds. I’ve got the bug so bad that I already have our first few walks planned out pending wind and snow conditions. 