I hunted Eastern/Northeastern Montana a year ago for upland and you don't need a guide if you are a decent hunter willing to do some research. Montana has private ranches that participate in a program that pays them to allow hunters on their land and there is lots of public land. I hunted in early September, so I did not hunt pheasants. Early September is best for Huns and Sharptails as they get more skittish as the season progresses. Last year was poor for Sharptails, because of a long drought. I understand this year was good. Sharptails like certain kinds of places, the Huns seem to be where you find them. I'd call the Montana biologists in the Northeast parts of Montana, they were pretty helpful. Oh, and you need a good pointer, the more the better, lots and lots of land to cover. It seems like some of the locals don't like out of state hunters camping out in trailers and hunting the whole season in one place. All the people I met were super nice. Cheers. Bill
