Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
ND 09-23-2011 14:34
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It will mark the first in 20 some years I will not be after waterfowl opening day, as Shadow is fighting for his life and I owe it to him to be right at his side as he would be for me!
If I have not got to your messages, sorry and please shoot me another one as I have been in Wisconsin and will get after them next week. Take care and hug those hounds.
Posted By:
callmaster64
Web Member
ND 09-22-2011 20:18
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Just checking to see how the waterfowl season is lookin to the north. Hopefully coming up the 1st or 2nd week in october. Hope you all have a great season. Sent you a pm pluckaduck
Posted By:
webmaster
root
ND 09-20-2011 14:26
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RS —
Try areas between Goodrich and Rugby. We found quite a bit of field opportunity there on our last trip.
If you have an afternoon to blow, by all means take in some upland hunting at Lone Tree Wildlife Management Area — more acres to walk than you could walk in an entire season and birds were plentiful — just be careful of the dogs and porcupines in some of the tree lines with old brush piles.
Posted By:
rsweers02
Guest
nh 09-19-2011 11:52
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We are coming up again for fourth year in a row to the jamestown area. Mainly we have done nothing but pothole hunt with about a dozen decoys and have done quite well. This year I would like to try something different. IE field hunting, bigger water hunting… any suggestions anyone??? We historically have stayed right in jamestown and traveled west to hunt. Not sure if there is maybe a better direction to go to field hunt or not.
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
North Central ND 09-15-2011 10:12
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Cooler temps have killed mosquitos for now. Birds are all over the place, good numbers of cranes and even snow geese have showed up. Harvest is going well and should continue.
I will reserve information for fellow waterfowler.com people in hopes to bring some action to this site. If you are heading this way and want some help, shoot me a PM and I will do my best. I have been and plan on being out and about every day hunting or scouting so will have information for this sites users.
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
rugby and north 08-30-2011 21:07
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Conditions are looking very good right now. Wheat is coming off and water is holding off. There are many trails that are rough due to theater this spring but that are dry. Lots of birds all over. First cranes have arrived west of bottineau. First cool snap coming this weekend. Mosquitos are bad!
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
07-25-2011 08:52
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Heading back to ND today, will be working on a house about 10 miles south of Manitoba. Hope to have this ready for school as well as hunting this fall. Anyone out that way, shoot me a message and let me know. My house is always open to honest, ethical hard working hunters!
Posted By:
Drake Slayer
Web Member
06-15-2011 11:39
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Best of luck to you, Rick…..
Hopefully you’ll be rewarded for your sacrafice in the way of many days of greenhead limits!!!!
Take Care, and when it’s convenient, keep us posted…..you are our “eyes to the north”.
Steve
Posted By:
Rick-Nelson
Field Editor
Bismarck, ND 06-13-2011 22:21
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Thanks to my good friend John for that post on my situation. Here is an update as of June 13, 2011.
The entire Missouri River basin from Ft. Peck, MT to St. Louis is extremely wet. All the Missouri River reservoir are full, and I mean full in the engineering sense of the word, which isn’t a good thing. Releases from Garrison Dam in ND will be 150,000 cfs by Friday and normal for this time of year is about 25,000 cfs. Many parts of Bismarck are flooded and the COE is telling us to expect these high flows through August. I am betting it will be longer.
So far my end of town is dry thanks to some hastily constructed dikes courtesy of the COE. They are built to the 150,000 cfs level but I am also betting that in a few weeks the COE will announce they need to go higher to protect the integrity of the dam. When that happens, there is a high probability that south Bismarck will be flooded.
The river has not reached these levels or flows since 1952, the year before the gates were closed on Garrison Dam. Three wet years in a row, 140-180% of normal snowpack in the mountains of MT and record rains this spring have pushed the entire MR river dam system to its capacity. Snowmelt is just starting and heavy rains continue to fall in the upper basin.
North Dakota is wet all over and it isn’t just the Missouri River that is flooding. The City of Minot evacuated 10,000 people living near the Souris River a couple weeks ago and just when the started returning to their homes the river rose to flood stage again.
There are miles of roads washed out or under water throughout the state and hundreds of people are being flooded. Hundreds more are negatively impacted by the flood even though they haven’t received water, yet.
Every wetland in the state is full. I don’t think we had this much water during the wet period of the 1990s and that decade was very wet. The long range forecast for the next month is below or near normal temperatures but above normal precipitation.
Whether my part of Bismarck remains dry is yet to be seen. Many families in Bismark and Mandan as well as people living along the river who are several miles from it are being flooded. A good friend evacuated his home last week and can only reach it by boat. So far his house is dry but it is surrounded on all sides by the Missouri River.
The river is doing some amazing things. There are parts of the channel in the Bismarck area that were 10 feet deep prior to these high flows. USGS estimates now indicate these same areas have experienced channel scouring and are now 60-80 ft deep. Bank erosion is occurring at a phenomenal rate, check out Youtube and search for Missouri River eats an evergreen for one example.
When the water finally recedes, and who knows when that will be, the river is going to be significantly different. For the first time in the history of the Garrison Dam, the COE has opened the spillway gates to try to get as much water out as possible. The incredible force of nearly 150,000 cfs is reshaping the river and its flood plain.
I am still here, but don’t know for how long. Best of luck to everyone who is being or will be impacted by this historic flood.
Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor
N. Dakota 05-25-2011 12:13
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Got an e-mail from my good friend Rick Nelson one of your VFE in N. Dakota.Hunted with Rick a few years ago at his invite.Great guy.In his e-mail he said he would be off the net till ?His home is near the center of Bismarck,and he states in his e-mail he and his family moving everything they can out of their house due to flooding from the Missouri River.He figures in the next week or so,he will have lost his home,had purchased flood insurance,but it does not go into effect till 2nd week of June.He states at this point he does not know what he and his wife will do,for they will be homeless when the water comes.This flooding will have a severe affect on the entire Missouri River basin along with the duck hatch in this duck factory state.Keep Rick in your prayers.
