# Back from Nodak :: good time as always



## prairie hunter (Mar 13, 2002)

Just returned from 5 days of waterfowl and upland bird hunting in North Dakota. 

Over those five days we saw only three nonresident vehicles in our area of hunting. None of these guys were serious threats to anyone's hunting. Damn FIBs. We saw about 4 ND vehicles on Saturday and 10 ND vehicles on Sunday. None during the week.

Opening day we got set up early. For the first time since 1983, another party actually edged onto our water decoy spread for about the first hour of hunting. Two guys tried to pass shoot our working birds. :******: They were within about 300 yards away. They moved on. We talked to them later, they were ND men. *Before anyone screams NRs taking ops away from residents - let me say that three of the six in our hunting party were ND residents including 2 boys. *I was a little surprised that these guys edged onto our spot. They parked next to two trucks (one with MN plates, the other ND plates). Anyone showing up might have thought two separate groups were already hunting out there.

Did really well on ducks (about 1/2 mallards). I did not shoot until the boys had the first shot or two. 8) Picked up some big geese later in the morning.

Next four days provided good hunting especially for ducks (about 60% mallards, rest were greys, wigeon, pintails, and teal) and sharptail grouse. Tuesday was unbelievable hunting in 30mph+ winds.

Only two complaints were :

1) found main mallard field (about 5-10K birds). Ducks were using posted land held by small time guide. They never hunted it because there were no geese in the field. Birds used that barley field every day from Friday to Wed. Water that these mallards were using was holding geese so we did not hunt them on the water either.

2) small Canada numbers lowest in 5 years. Shot a few, but nothing compared to what we did the past 3 years. Ducks made up for the missing geese though.

Finally, 
+) Comments on my use of a spinner will follow in another post.

+) Comments on hot topics - small town response to NR hunters to come on hot topics page later.


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

Great to see you had a good time! Too bad about the morons who tried to downwind you...what a bunch of tools. All I can say about idiots like that is, "GO BUY YOUR OWN DECOYS!!!!" :******:

Oh well, luckily it didn't ruin the hunt.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Nice to hear you had a good time.You are an example of why the Res. hunters here want to keep it this way and not get like every where else.I hunt with non-res all the time.My brother from MN. is coming to hunt with me tomorrow.


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## prairie hunter (Mar 13, 2002)

Yep, I love ND. As I have posted on this site before - I could move back in a heartbeat, but might lose the wife (MN girl) and kids. Hunting is now a smaller part of my life and outside interests compared to 10 years ago or more.

Most that have read my earlier posts (march) may know I grew up in ND. Was a young resident hunter for about 14 years and have now been a visiting NR for about the past 14 years. May bring a friend along, but most of my hunting is still with ND family.

Ken : the most sharptails that I have seen since 1992 or earlier. We often saw 50 - 100 birds in about 2 sections of good land (mixture of CRP, grain fields, and alfalfa). Most of the birds jumped up on us at 40+ yards, but we found enough to sit tight under a dog's point to provide a several meals.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Yeah...Iv'e seen a lot of sharps this year also.My GWP and I have been chasing them.It depends a lot on time of day and weather.Nice calm,sunny days from 9:00-3:00 are the best.I have seen some just about every time I am driving around looking for waterfowl.
I couldn't believe it when I got home from work yesterday and my daughter and her friends told me there were 6 pheasants in my garden.3 roosters and 3 hens.I've never seen pheasants around here except on the refuges.


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## prairie hunter (Mar 13, 2002)

Returned from my second trip to ND this fall. 

Headed out on icy and stormy Sunday, October 20. Saw quite a few vehicles that rolled on I-94 between Tower City and Jamestown. Heard no one was killed, but saw emergency crew cutting open 4x4 pick ups. Decoys scattered across the interstate.

Hunted with family. Stayed on the farm, ran chores, and hunted hard. A great time.

Field mallard hunting was great. Number of birds shot were dictated by our discretion and not opportunity.

Most ponds and lakes of northern ND were iced over. The mallards were keeping two nice ponds open. Certainly more comfortable for hunter and dog to hunt the barley than fight the ice. I also believe our decision kept the birds in the area - there were no other ponds nearby for the ducks to move to.

Pheasant hunted a day and one-half. Excellent dog work. Picked up enough birds, but seemed to have to hunt longer and harder to get them compared to last year. Cold and rarely saw the sun all week, this may have been the biggest factor.

Goose hunting was OK. The number of birds increased 10 fold from Sunday October 20 to Wednesday. Appears most young birds still in Canada based upon Chris' success in SK. We did excellent pass shooting.

Youngest nephew shot his first goose. Saw very few other hunters. One group from WI (see other post). Somewhat dissappointed that we did not see many hunters out on Thursday and Friday (ND teacher convention days). Guess many ND kids have to many other things to do.

ND is cold and ponds are iced over or very icy, but the migration in northern ND is there big time. Most geese I have seen in ND for a long time. Mallards everywhere. Wished I lived there or had another week.


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