Posted By:
jefbet03
Field Editor
11-17-2010 10:06
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Stumper, Thanks a lot for the great post. It is post like these that give us guys down south great insight as what to expect or hope for. Good luck to you guys up there. JB
Posted By:
stumper
Web Member
Sargent County 11-17-2010 00:29
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Just returned home from several days hunting the fields for mallards between Lidgerwood and Oakes and I must say these were probably the best conditions for hunting I have seen in my 10 years of hunting this area. The birds were very plentiful and limits were had by all over 3 great days of hunting. Mallards were mainly northern birds of good size, colorful plumage and heavy layers of fat. Birds responded pretty well to the dekes, though we found minimal spreads to be most effective. Migration appears to be close to peak, with birds holding in small cattail sloughs in very large concentrations. Hunted cut corn which was 90+% harvested. Numbers of snow geese and dark geese were very low in this area. I have never seen such large numbers of migrating teal and widgeon, which mainly flew after sunset and did not decoy at all. Several evenings as we picked up we stood in sheer amazement at the beauty of the sunsets which silhouetted thousands and thousands of birds streaming out to feed. Awesome sight and really was worth the price of admission!
If you are considering a hunt in this area I would say go now, with the cold snap approaching next week you should find excellent conditions and good success.
Be safe everyone and have a great Thanksgiving. We should all be grateful for this great sport we are so privileged to enjoy…
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
DL Basin 11-14-2010 19:13
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Temps at or below freezing all day makin glots of water hard. Good nunber of snow geese in the basin along with scattered Mallards. Divers on lake scattered but lots of fun chasing Goldeneyes. Cranes sky high migrating along with geese from the north. Weather could put a close on a tough season this week as temps are to say around or below freezing.
Posted By:
kobear
Web Member
Jamestown 11-13-2010 18:26
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Big groups of mallards scattered around ND. Lots of smaller dark geese most big canadians left. More snow geese around now. Divers numbers definitely declining with some bills and redheads still around. Lots of miles between flocks but some flocks were tremendous. Mallards often using huge flooded cattail swamps and flooded plowed fields. Tough going but worthwhile. Doing that late season land in the middle of the lake frustration, decoy shy.
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
11-12-2010 19:28
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Plenty of birds around. Most water that was hard opened up during the day
Posted By:
hannibal
Web Member
11-11-2010 20:07
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Rick, where are you at???? We are anxiously awaiting your reports down South. Anything to come? More to the North? I have been following you for some time on here and always appreciate your reports…..time for another????
By they way when I say I have been following you for a while don’t take that the wrong way…..I’m not stalking you :O
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
11-11-2010 19:09
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Interesting today while cleaning birds I heard a familar sound, cranes flying overhead. String after string heading south and made me wonder what is going on? Went out this evening and shot some Mallards and both drakes were just greening up. Beginning to wonder if the bunches of birds I am seeing is local birds bunched up and not migration? Also found some cans today
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
Devils Lake Basin 11-10-2010 09:54
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Lots of birds in the basin, scattered throughout. Only species I did NOT see today was canvasback and teal, rest are still around. Snow to north might bring more down. Birds sat in this morning as few left the roost to feed but plenty sitting on the water!
Posted By:
ilduckboy
Guest
Mercer/McClusky/Turtle Lake 11-08-2010 19:33
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Arrived in area 10/22 – stayed an extra week until yesterday 11/7 – didn’t get limit of ducks every day, but that was only due to poor shooting on our part. Weather ranged from blizzard – froze up to 60s. Had a GREAT TIME – hunted some PLOTS and some private that the landowners were more than gracious to allow us to hunt. Couldn’t believe the variety of ducks; mallards increased in numbers at the end of the hunt. You guys are really lucky to have such a great place to hunt – and we will most definitely return next year.
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
11-08-2010 15:05
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Nice post John!!
