Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor
North Dakota 10-04-2012 16:30
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Have been to your state on one occasion for waterfowl hunt,it was a great week. What I have been reading and talking to a good friend in Bismarck,the oil wells business will soon put an end to the beauty of your state. The western part of N. Dakota from reading articles on the drilling sounds like the old west.I know you are proud people,am I am not one to butt into other people’s business,but I find it hard to stand by and see a great state destroyed all for money.I would think your state legislators could bring some order to the destruction taking place in the western part of your great state.Just my two cents.
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
ND 10-04-2012 07:01
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As I write, ND is getting a early Fall winter storm. I recall a while back when this happened. Far too early for freeze up but may be a huge blessing for hunters? The year this happened we struggled for a couple of days until we figured it out and then it was good as gold until Lock out near the 15th of November.
I will be going from Wisconsin to ND around Halloween time and have room for a guy or 2 or a couple could travel along. Will be out there for a couple of weeks or so, if you want to come and hunt, let me know, Magoo and I are always looking for people to hunt with!!
Posted By:
Golden_Finn
Web Member
East Central North Dakota 10-03-2012 15:37
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Considering the forecast promised a full moon and average temperatures for a warm summer day as well as my father reminding me of the forecast, again and again, I presupposed the weekend might offer a bit adversity beforehand, so Finn and I hunted at a very leisurely pace this past weekend. To be honest, I did not actually hunt until Sunday morning even though I scouted Friday and Saturday. I set up in a soybean field where four to five hundred geese fed the previous evening. With the exception of a lone drake mallard harvested five minutes after shooting time, the birds slept in, and as a result, Finn and I napped. Around nine, the birds took flight and arrived at the soybean field. From flocks of couple birds to fifty birds, they decoyed beautifully. Unfortunately, I did not have any puddle ducks (other than the single, hungry drake) or snow geese give my spread a glance.
I do not believe the water conditions deterred many non-residents from enjoying another opener. I witnessed more than a handful of non-residents scouting and hunting. I also heard a fair amount of gunfire late in the morning, from eight to ten.
I have hunted in the same, general region since the age of nine, and I do not recall a September where I’ve had to scout so hard for a field overflowing with Canadians. It is a little disappointing and discouraging driving to my favorite roosts to find vacant, feces-less, featherless shores and wide open, unoccupied water that normally held hundreds if not thousands of birds for me to stalk in to the fields from late August to early November. Perhaps, the early goose season limit of fifteen disrupted this norm. Another argument might be made in regards to the current drought, and as a consequence, the birds travelled elsewhere.
However, I sense a change in the winds. Today, it is a disgustingly beautiful fall day offering solid cloud cover, breezy winds, light rain, and a low of thirty-one degrees. Within the next twenty-four hours, forecasters speculate one to three inches of snow. Thankfully, this friendly cold front will slow the well ahead of schedule harvest and force many migratory birds south.
I am very anxious to get out this weekend and will post soon.
Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member
North Dakota 10-01-2012 19:38
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
Hunted North Dakota over the past weekend for my 17th straight year. Left Central Minnesota on Thursday evening and arrived to our destination late that night.
Awoke Friday morning well before daylight and off we were to scout. Put on over 400 miles on Friday and found a few decent fields that birds were hitting.
Conditions couldn’t have been worse with a full moon upon us and temps in the 80’s.
Setup on Saturday in a harvested field. Put out 100 full body Canadians, 25 snows, and 24 full body ducks.
As shooting ours came we viewed a few small flocks of teal screaming through, however very few shots fired in our area (less than 10 barrages) and little bird activity whitnessed. At 9:00am we did not have a single bird decoy (I assume because they were feeding the night before when we watched 5k bird in this field).
At 9:10am, the first flock of 50 mallards came in and 3 of us dropped 3 birds. Not great shooting……
A few additional flocks worked us and we ended the morning with 12 birds. Good decoying, but not many birds viewed.
That evening we scouted and saw a bit more activity, but the weather must not have had them wanting to hit the fields too hard.
With things being the way they were we chose to setup on a remote slough in the middle of a section. After carrying layout blinds and decoys into our hunting area we were ready to go with minutes to spare.
A bit more activity at first light had us with two drake mallards right away. However, a lull occurred until late morning. For a 20 minute period we had good numbers of birds working us and ended the day with 15. Mostly Mallards, Pins, and a few teal.
The prairie is a special place in the Fall and over the years I have been through everything from washed out roads, not being able to get a truck in the field to setup decoys as well as some dry years. However, this is the worst that I can remember as far as water conditions.
I would estimate that nearly 50% of the ponds that were in the state of ND last year are now dry and this has farmers in every county burning cattails and tilling up this land. There were times when I felt I was in a Middle East war movie scene as you could count 20+ fires going in every direction that you looked.
The deer hunting harvest is going to be near a record high as there will be no place for them to hide.
I also wonder how many of those ponds will return in future wet years as farmers were also making drainage runs to the ditches nearby.
What was a lush waterfowl paradise only a year ago, looks like Southern Minnesota today. Everything plowed up to the side of the gravel roads, very little grass in the ditches or sloughs, and very few ponds. Burn your plots map from last year, because it won’t even be close as far as existing ponds.
Remaining optimistic lets me believe that this is just a cycle on the prairie that is necessary to keep the wetlands as productive as they are, however with the high grain prices in the market today, I fear that the good old days of North Dakota may be slipping away from us.
If you are heading west in the coming weeks, leave your boat at home. Most ponds have less than a foot of water in them (this includes good sized ones 5+ acres). You will find birds here and there, but that ones that are around right now are getting educated.
Hit me a private message if you want additional specifics and best of luck to all of you.
Posted By:
mallarddux
Web Member
10-01-2012 09:23
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hey all – hope all is well up north! planning to head up in a few weeks for our annual trip – any current updates. hunting east central part of the state. thanks.
Posted By:
Golden_Finn
Web Member
East Central North Dakota 09-24-2012 21:44
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
One ought to be very enthusiastic concerning a young autumn upon us. I certainly enjoyed another North Dakotan waterfowl season opener. I brought my eleven-month-old Golden Retriever along for his first taste of an uncontrolled hunting experience. Even though he refused to retrieve the Greater Canadian Geese, Finnegan performed very well, and I am glad to have his company.
The weather this past weekend offered a low temperature in the high 20’s. I surely do not mind a little assistance from Mother Nature to force the birds in to the fields.
Unfortunately, the water conditions in the region hold at very poor to poor levels. Perhaps, this is the year for the water-hunters to evolve, leave the johnboats as well as the waders in the garage, and find success in the fields. I would be more than happy to show a couple Minnesotans or non-residents how to hunt waterfowl in a field as long as I receive a promise in return not to shoot-up the roosts. I will apologize for creating a stereotype and categorizing, but I have to be frank from one Minnesotan to another.
Moving forward… The farmers have harvested a strong majority of the soybean fields. From time to time, you will witness a cornfield or three partially or completely harvested.
I believe the Canadian and Mallard numbers for this time of year are roughly average.
I look forward to another fantastic season as well as more cackling and chatter on the blog.
Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member
DRY DRY DRY 09-08-2012 07:40
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Wanted to send you a quick report from driving over 1000 miles yesterday from MN to ND to visit a few customers and scout.
Overall, ponds are extremely dry with many of them gone all together. This drought year will allow the prairies to re-charge once we move into another wet cycle. A neccesary evil.
The best number of birds I viewed was around the Jamestown area. Also seemed to be the best water levels. However, these water levels are still very low and the duck numbers viewed were nothing to write home about.
Our traditional hunting areas that I scouted have nearly zero ponds around. Almost all of the shallow ponds/ Lakes (Some of these fairly large) that hold roosting birds that we field hunt for are completely dry.
Where there is water you will find a few pockets of ducks sitting on mud flats, but overall I was very dissapointed with the lack of puddle ducks and the high number of coots throughout the entire state. If you are a coot hunter…. you will have a great time.
I have been going to ND for the last 17 years and this is the most dismal I have personally whitnessed at this time of year.
With good scouting, I’m sure we will be able to find a hunt or 2 and in some cases probably do ok, however I am guessing overall many hunters will struggle and pressure will be very high where there is water.
Sorry for the dismal outlook, but that is what I viewed yesterday. It is weird that the brood index was so high this summer, yet so few ducks whitnessed. I am thinking a combination of the early goose season that opens on Aug 15 along with the combination of the drought has driven many ducks North into Canada or East to Minnesota for the late summer months where there is much more water, but that is a non-scientific theory.
What is everyone else seeing?
Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member
ND 09-02-2012 21:29
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
Very Dry throughout most of ND and conditions are not improving. Lots of mud flats starting to show and many potholes are completely dry. The crop Harvest is ahead of schedule – although much of the corn is being chopped due to the drought.
Ducks have already seen 1000’s of decoy spreads due to the Early Goose Season and pressure has increased this year due to more counties being open to Non-Residents. I have talked to many MN & SD hunters that have been out there every weekend chasing geese since 8.15. Many of these MN hunters sadly do not stay off the water either. I try to educate, but they just don’t get it. This weekend will also host Youth Waterfowl day, so the ducks will get another barrage of pressure.
In my opinion, all of these early “special seasons” really take away from the success of the regular season. I wish they would go to more liberal limits and simply have one season that everyone can get excited for.
Shoot me a PM if you want more information.
Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor
N. Dakota 09-01-2012 11:58
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Hello,anyone home?Would be nice hear from someone on water and crop conditions in the prime state for ducks and geese.Hard to make decisions for anyone that might be thinking on a hunt in N. Dakota.
Posted By:
mallarddux
Web Member
Valley City area 08-28-2012 13:28
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hey all – hope things are well up north, very dry here in the midwest. any updates yet on water conditions across the state – let us know any info you can, heading up in a few months for the annual trip. thank you.
