# They're back



## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Went for a drive to look at duck sloughs last night.Saw a flock of 54 snows and blues in a barley field.There were 34 adults and 20 young ones.That's almost 40% young.If this is any indication of the hatch...there should be lots of young ones,and great hunting.

I'll find out more next week as I am heading for a week in Saskatchewan on Saturday.


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

Man that is early to be seeing snows and blues. I really need to get all of my decoys put back together now. I love hunting those birds.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Not only is that early for snows, that's REALLY early for juvies to be making that far of a flight south???

Maybe these didn't go all the way up to the tundra to nest??? I know it does happen occasionally.


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## Decoyer (Mar 2, 2002)

Maybe it will be ND's year, those guys going to Sask are gonna get screwed. :wink: 

Oh well wishful thinking I guess.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

I think the food shortage on the tundra is causing them to move south earlier.
They must have come from the eastern arctic as there were more blues than snows,and they had the most young.


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

The eastern part of the state always recieves more blues than snows, last year while hunting up by DL there was a 65% blue to white phase snow ratio. ITs kinda wierd to see an entire flock with blues and not much white.


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## nickle ditch (Aug 26, 2002)

For three nights in a row last week, i heard snows flying over the house about midnight. The first night, i couldn't believe my ears. I thought it was way to early in the year, but i heard them the next two nights.


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## Beneliboy (Sep 10, 2003)

I know that around the Quills they have harvested most of the crops that didn't burn out. I'm wondering if the dry summer coupled with an earlier than average harvest may move the birds south a bit earlier if thats the case it may actually be North Dakotas year. :beer:


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

Ken,Do you remember when the refuges up there would hold good numbers of snows by opening day?I had friends that would go up there opening weekend every year in the 80s.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

The first small flocks always show up around opening of grouse season.By the last week in Sept there was always a major migration into this area.The Clark Salyer vicinity always held 100-150,000 by opening day.
Hunting pressure the first weekend would usually push some back north.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

My old neighbor just got back from hunting up around Hudson Bay. They did real well, but where they were the juvies hadn't come down yet. With that being said, they didn't appear to be on an early migration. But than again, the tundra is a big place. 

Don't be jinxing our Saskatchewan trip Zach....go find wood! :bop:


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## Dean Nelson (Mar 3, 2002)

Well I hearing that there are larg numbers coming down all over. Most of the guys in Canada are saying they are running way ahead and there are already birds in se SK. I don't know how far they will go but here is hoping for the days of old! :beer: The people working the breeding grounds had said that the birds were were a couple weeks ahead and that they would head south early and it looks like they were right.


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

I saw a flock of about 100 snows yesterday and 2 single snow geese with flocks of canadas this weekend.


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