# ROOSTS.



## BlakeHelmick (Oct 13, 2010)

THIS IS NOT A NON RESIDENT POST... just an issue i encountered when hunting a day in the past weekend. A few buddies and I were set up on a bean field, We were close enough to the roost to see the geese when they got off the water. As always, there were a bunch of guys that HAD to set up on the roost that had all these geese on it. After the guys unloaded their guns at some ducks, the geese were luckily far enough away on that roost to just swim to the middle. As the sun got a little higher the geese started to trickle off in our direction. the first 7 geese had done in perfect and we were 7 for 7. As it got later in the morning we could hear the geese getting louder, like a lot of them were going to leave to eat..

Minutes after we heard the geese, a 4 wheeler fired up and drove all the way around the slough. All the geese got up and flew the other direction. The guy later drove his ATV out to our field and asked us if he had scared any of the geese to us........ He must not have noticed that the first 7 came right in and more than likely, the others would have followed suit. Not picking on any water hunters, but isn't it kind of known to leave the roosts alone? i am honestly so tired of getting hunts ruined like this. They had ten guys surrounding the slough and shot 12 ducks.. must have seen a few thousand ducks on that roost the night before. Don't people want to sit in a nice dry ground blind and keep the ducks and geese around longer for everyone to hunt? :shake:


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Blake I sure understand.In my area we still have adequate water so 'roosts' may not be as important as in other areas but it hurts to have them busted nevertheless.And,it often is a res vs non-res issue,for good reason in some cases.Sunday we were hunting a picked corn field we had taken multiple limits of greenies and geese out of close to the roost.(one other res group was relying on that roost as well.)That morning 3 guys from a neighboring State set up on the roost and opened up 10 minutes pre legal hours.Sad but it sort of saved our greenie shoot.They all left and later returned in small groups with enuf visiting us to give us our limits.
Meanwhile the 3 guys continued to blast away.I couldn't resist and after we picked I went and spoke with them.Unlike us they were on the last day of their 3 day licenses,they had tried to get on 2 fields nearby first-including the one we hunted,and the roost landowner had given them permission so they went ahead.
Regretable but IMO understandable since they claimed they had no idea others were relying on the roost. (no excuse justifies the 10 minute early BS though!)


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## Myles J Flaten (Jan 31, 2008)

I had a roost busted on resident waterfowl opener this year awell, frusterating but I look at it this way. All waterfowl hunters are different. I hate to admit it but when I was growing up I was one of "those guys" who would drive around and see alot of birds on a body of water and would hunt or jump it. Back then I didnt know any better because that was what was taught to me. When you see blue platers rolling down the highways in ND with boats, try to remember that in minnesota most of thier hunting is done over water so most of them are going to do what they used to. Just MO


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## FowlTreatment2 (Apr 18, 2011)

I had this happen to me this past Sunday. Was out scouting near a roost for the field that they were going to and it happened to be a few hundred yards from the roost but the water was big enough that there really wasn't too much of a problem with scaring the geese off it. Got out there plenty early and as we were setting up 3 trucks showed up and sat on the road for a few hours watching. Later just as shooting hours started two trucks pulled up and 3 adults and a kid got out and proceeded down to the roost and sat around it. Once everything started to move they sky blasted anything in 120 yards of them! completely messed up our hunt. Luckily we still managed to get a couple birds but it was nothing near to what could have been. Oh and just to point out, I did see what their plates were as we left the field and they were nodak plates... Very disappointed in residents that have no consideration for other hunters that clearly beat them to the field, not to mention teaching their kid how to do the same thing..


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## CrazyWalsh81 (Nov 30, 2011)

Myles J Flaten said:


> try to remember that in minnesota most of thier hunting is done over water so most of them are going to do what they used to. Just MO


I grew up in the Minnesota way and still love to hunt water. Doing it right and nothing else matters. I hunted a goose roost for 3 days earlier this year, we just sat in the truck till the Geese left and packed our gear into the mud hole. Water in Northern Minnesota is all you are going to be able to hunt unless you can get in good with one of the few land owners, I'm not even going to talk about how hard fields are to find in the Central area.


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