# Large number duck this year



## deafishunt (Feb 5, 2005)

I went to Aubudon Lake and scouted around lake and potholes and I couldn't count ducks cuz too many flocks flew around. I am so excited to gone hunting on Sept.24th. My wife and I will go honeymoon to waterfowl hunting together. Good luck to ya'all


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## quackattack (Sep 27, 2003)

Yesterday while we were out goose hunting, had a flock of about 30 woodies buzz right over us, could have hit them with my gun. Man that was sweet. Can't wait til the 24th :beer:


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## Quackkills9 (Oct 25, 2004)

Passed up over 200 mallards/woodies that came in our dekes when working on the flocks of geese that were comin' our way this weekend... Alot of ducks in distance or flew over us or whatever... I wonder how many ducks are killed in the early goose season?

deafishunt- got your im the other day when i was out.. ttyl


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## DeerScarer (Jul 23, 2005)

Thank you Quackkills9. I know first-hand how tough it is to take a pass on those out-of-season birds. But one of the saddest things I ever saw was a pretty little Bufflehead laying dead in the water because it was March and some snow-goose hunter had gotten sick of them buzzing around 20 feet from shore, but didn't have the balls to retrieve and eat the thing. :eyeroll:

Maybe it was a hooded merganser. I'm not really sure I can tell the difference - the Buffleheads are smaller right?


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

DeerScarer said:


> Maybe it was a hooded merganser. I'm not really sure I can tell the difference - the Buffleheads are smaller right?


Yes they are smaller. Either way it is a waste of a beautiful bird!


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## Quackkills9 (Oct 25, 2004)

youre right, sometimes its hard to pass em up but i have not shot any, but it sure is alot of fun when theyre buzzing through when i dont get that action during the real season. good luck to you guys on opener in ND next weekend.


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## Curtis (May 5, 2005)

dont know how anyone oculd have enough balls to shoto a duck out of season- Dont know if its having ballas, or having no respect.

Curtis


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## DeerScarer (Jul 23, 2005)

Well, the way I figured it, they didn't really think of getting caught til the gun went bang and maybe had the effect of fingers being snapped at the end of a hypnosis session.... I might be all wet on the question of adequate amounts of male organs. Maybe just no thought put into it til it was too late.

I'm pretty sure it was a bufflehead. Got a new book today with detailed pics.

Not to make too big a deal outta the thing, it was just sad is all. I still say the only respectable thing to do at that point would be, retreive it from the water, take it home, lovingly prepare it with the most elaborate, difficult recipe in the book and then eat it in solumn, contemplative silence. And maybe pass up a shot on the same bird the next time it was legal. "Repent and do penance," that sort of thing.

But to just leave it lay? IMO a true hunter doesn't do that sort of thing. :eyeroll:

-Dave


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

I still say the only respectable thing to do at that point would be, retreive it from the water, take it home, lovingly prepare it with the most elaborate, difficult recipe in the book and then eat it in solumn, contemplative silence.

I'm sure the Game Wardens would agree with you????


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## mvf24 (Sep 21, 2005)

I am in a group with a trip planned to the Hurdsfield area the weekend of October 7.

We look forward to this trip all year, and it's great to hear there's a lot of ducks around.

Anyone know how the water levels/duck numbers are specifically in the Hurdsfield area?


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I would say it's right on par with last year....close anyways.

Lots of ducks, but I'm not impressed with the mallard numbers.

My .02, I haven't been through there in a week or two.


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## pullthetrigger29 (Sep 23, 2005)

The last few years I have hunted in North Dakota i have had a bad turn out, bad weather and few ducks, but before that every year we would get our limit each of the four days we went out (for 6 guys lined up on one pothole i would say that isn't to shabby)! I am hoping for another year like those "Good Ol' Days," hope for the best. Good luck to all of you!


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

ha, all early goose season i have had mallards trying to sit down in the decoys, sitting up with blind doors open yelling at them "you just wait till the first feather ball, youll get yours"


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## Canada_Hunter (Mar 21, 2004)

here in Quebec theres ducks everywhere,i have never seen that many mallards around here.


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## Ryan_Todd (Apr 11, 2004)

i drove through the north central part of the state yesterday and saw tons of ducks and lots of geese. i also saw a flock of snows sitting in a field and some snows mixed in with some mallards on devils lake. i think it is going to be a good year.


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## DLT (Apr 14, 2003)

I can NOT find evidence of Director Hildebrand's statement that this will be a "banner year" for duck hunting in the state - - - at least not in the central area of the state (Carrington x Jamestown). After doing extensive upland hunting both East and West of Carrington, and also South towards Jamestown, I just plain do not see large duck numbers. Most of our small potholes are dry now and the larger ones I've observed are not holding that many ducks - - - especially not many mallards. If, as the Game & Fish is reporting, that the duck numbers are up - - - well, it must be in other areas of the state. Discussions with several other veteran duck hunters from this area resulted in the same conclusions. We are all wondering - - - where are all those ducks????


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

DLT said:


> I can NOT find evidence of Director Hildebrand's statement that this will be a "banner year" for duck hunting in the state - - - at least not in the central area of the state (Carrington x Jamestown). After doing extensive upland hunting both East and West of Carrington, and also South towards Jamestown, I just plain do not see large duck numbers. Most of our small potholes are dry now and the larger ones I've observed are not holding that many ducks - - - especially not many mallards. If, as the Game & Fish is reporting, that the duck numbers are up - - - well, it must be in other areas of the state. Discussions with several other veteran duck hunters from this area resulted in the same conclusions. We are all wondering - - - where are all those ducks????


I have been biting my tongue the last couple days with all these there is nothing here posts. Are you kidding me??? Dam I am all for keeping spots/towns secret but who do you guys really think your kidding with your "there is no water or ducks in this part of ND"??? You posting this is just as bad as saying there are ducks everywhere. You may fool a few idiots but your just hurting yourself posting crap because anyone with an IQ higher than 5 knows your blowing smoke. :eyeroll:


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## ripping the teal (Sep 22, 2005)

I totally agree with pork chop. Thank you


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## KYUSS (Aug 27, 2005)

Amen Brother Pork Chop :beer:


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## SiouxperDave25 (Oct 6, 2002)

PorkChop said:


> I have been biting my tongue the last couple days with all these there is nothing here posts. Are you kidding me??? Dam I am all for keeping spots/towns secret but who do you guys really think your kidding with your "there is no water or ducks in this part of ND"??? You posting this is just as bad as saying there are ducks everywhere. You may fool a few idiots but your just hurting yourself posting crap because anyone with an IQ higher than 5 knows your blowing smoke. :eyeroll:


 :beer: :beer: :beer:


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## theduckrancher (Sep 22, 2005)

WELL SAID!!!!!
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:   :beer:


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## gaddyshooter (Oct 12, 2003)

Well said PC. I guess they think that might make people try a different area. I don't think so. Man, I wish I could make it up there this year. I miss it already. A group of guys from my area are leaving in the next few days for the Lisbon area. Color me green. Good luck guys. Wack some and send the rest south.


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## amnnate8504 (Sep 26, 2005)

can neone help?Im from texas and duck hunted for awhile i came to north dakota to minot airforce base the only problem is i don't know where to go to get some ducks. people said there are alot of ducks r maybe they r just not in minot. i went the last 2 mornings and got three each day and i am grateful of that. just wondering though if nebody knows wher to go around north of minot that i can get some good hunting in. 1 more ? the ducks i got only came early in the morning barely daylight once it gets daylight at around 8:00am i don't even see ducks 5 miles away flying nebody know why.well thanx.


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

Just want to publicly apologize to DLT for singling out his post. I should have put what I posted and not quoted what he said. He PMd me and explained what he was going by which cleared things up. Anyway sorry DLT and thank you for the PM!


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## 4CurlRedleg (Aug 31, 2003)

Chris Hustad said:


> I would say it's right on par with last year....close anyways.Lots of ducks, but I'm not impressed with the mallard numbers.





DLT said:


> at least not in the central area of the state (Carrington x Jamestown). After doing extensive upland hunting both East and West of Carrington, and also South towards Jamestown, I just plain do not see large duck numbers. Most of our small potholes are dry now and the larger ones I've observed are not holding that many ducks - - - especially not many mallards. If, as the Game & Fish is reporting, that the duck numbers are up - - - well, it must be in other areas of the state.





PorkChop said:


> "there is no water or ducks in this part of ND"??? You may fool a few idiots but your just hurting yourself posting crap because anyone with an IQ higher than 5 knows your blowing smoke. :eyeroll:


Chopper-Chopper-Chopper!!! :eyeroll:

There must be some medication "WE" can take to get over our anxietys, myself included.

The numbers are what they are, to do the hunting I like it is a 100 miles from home for ducks. Period.
If you want teal or any other poop ducks they are all over. Mallards are not.

Last weekend we put 500+ miles on for a mallard hunt, in our own state. Believe you me, if they were closer to home I would not be behind the wheel that much. Which by the way, the hunt is one for the memory book! :wink:

Bring your wallet and gas card and keep in mind North for ducks good, South for ducks bad. OK?


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

4Curl you missed my point. I don't know why your giving me the shaking heads. If I read someone post that there is no ducks or water in a certain town that is the first place I head to. 9 times out of 10 the person is full of bull butter. That was my point. Most take it as a blatent lie. There have been some whopper posts on how this place or that place is bone dry. People are going to drive through these areas and find out the truth. You can look at a Topo map and see there is plenty of permanent water. Hopefully they don't take revenge out on the liars and post how many birds they are seeing. My whole opinion is that these posts should be ignored and I would have except they don't fool anybody (at least not me) and somebody has to step up to give the liars a clue (DLT not calling you a liar per our PMs). Maybe people should keep their traps shut altogether. That is what you all told me to do last year and I have. I don't post good or bad info. Just remember the bad info screws people over just like the good info does.

And why the hell would anyone with half a brain post that they drove around a certain area and saw too many flocks to count (read the original post). Whos hero you trying to be??? Even last year with all the stories I posted I never gave a town or area that I was hunting. However you can go through some of the guys that have been on this site from the beggining and they list towns they are hunting and hell there were even some exact fields listed.

And I have a question. If you can't tell hunting stories, you can't pass hunting info, can't give bird reports, you can't post pictures, and you can't do half a million other things on this website without being bashed what the hell is the point of NODAK OUTDOORS?


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Duck numbers in one area do not reflect the rest of the state.

Each county is unique, some dry, some wet, some prime, some not.

Some areas we can't find mallards and other areas we can't get away from them, and it can change in as little as 10 miles.

So I guess every opinion has some validity without having to dissect each one.


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## duckslayer (Oct 30, 2003)

Maybe this cooler weather will start a good push down this way. I know that within a week that the area i have scouted has received a blessing of 500-800 canadians(lots of cacklers). They are literally everywhere. 5 different feeds all from one roost i scouted last nite and they were all within 2 miles of each other. Lets hope the ducks build up. Have seen many fields full of them also, but like Chris said, it varys from area to area.


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## 4CurlRedleg (Aug 31, 2003)

PorkChop said:


> 4Curl you missed my point. I don't know why your giving me the shaking heads. If I read someone post that there is no ducks or water in a certain town that is the first place I head to. 9 times out of 10 the person is full of bull butter.


I knew where you were coming from, just can't take for granted that folks are pumping you full of cowpies. It is more like 3 out of 10, maybe it is just me, but I see more positive information from here than negative on any given day. One crappy comment and that is the one that will get all the recognition.



PorkChop said:


> And why the hell would anyone with half a brain post that they drove around a certain area and saw too many flocks to count (read the original post). Whos hero you trying to be???


Can't speak for the deaf kid, but some of the stuff he writes is pretty entertaining!



PorkChop said:


> And I have a question. If you can't tell hunting stories, you can't pass hunting info, can't give bird reports, you can't post pictures, and you can't do half a million other things on this website without being bashed what the hell is the point of NODAK OUTDOORS?


Telling an intriguing hunting story on here, like the one you posted with your kid, is one thing. A daily log of carnage is another, the g/o along with the hospitality industry do a good enough job of that.
I have yet too see anyone being admonished for passing along hunting tips of any sort. Even I have gave up some juicy tidbits here lately.
True, posting pics is touchy. My hi-horse tells me not to post carnage, the public can figure it out on their own without me showing them what it's like here. Tasteful pics of your dog or scenery or friends is what I like too see. Other top waterfowl websites have taken this approach also.
Chris posts nearly weekly the USFW migration reports, if any info beyond that is needed hire a guide. There are specific on all key areas in the report.
No one makes you come here, and you are only forced to leave if your naughty. All in all Chris does an excellent job here keeping the peace and sanity from all the different personalities that are to be dealt with.

P.S.-If your feeling afraid and alone maybe fishin'buddy is for you, because they are too. :lol: :lol:


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

4CurlRedleg said:


> [
> P.S.-If your feeling afraid and alone :


:lol: :rollin: Hardly


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## Quackkills9 (Oct 25, 2004)

> Can't speak for the deaf kid, but some of the stuff he writes is pretty entertaining!


Is that me? or deafishunt? Well I can show you some other deaf peoples writing and its alot worse than deafishunt's writing. Not a bad thing, people have weakness in things, and writing is number one weakness for most deaf people. Good Luck this weekend.


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

He was referring to DeafFishhunt.

I used to wonder why fishunt and deaffishunt typed the way they do but then of all things I saw on Law and Order how the Deaf don't have signs for certain words and that reflects in their typeing and each deaf person can be picked out by their style meaning if say fishunt was banned and came back as another user to cause problems he could be picked out by a professional.

I don't think 4curl was trying to be mean spirited. Even the nondeaf have their own typing styles! :wink:


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

BTW QK9 I would have never guess you were deaf by your typing. You do a very good job!


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## deafishunt (Feb 5, 2005)

Quackkills9 said:


> > Can't speak for the deaf kid, but some of the stuff he writes is pretty entertaining!
> 
> 
> Is that me? or deafishunt? Well I can show you some other deaf peoples writing and its alot worse than deafishunt's writing. Not a bad thing, people have weakness in things, and writing is number one weakness for most deaf people. Good Luck this weekend.


Thanks Quackkill9!! I am good on English sentence execpt US of president language. I use America Sign Language to communciate with another people. You don't know how then it will be big problem with signs. its example " deaf people have weakness to write sentence. :wink: :wink:


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Chris and 4Curl are absolutly right about the concentrations of ducks. Some areas are concentrated with Gads, some Mallies and some a mixed bag. scouting is the only way you will ever know what is where.

That being said does everyone understand and know how to scout for waterfowl?

Bob


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## 4CurlRedleg (Aug 31, 2003)

deafishunt said:


> " deaf people have weakness to write sentence. :wink: :wink:


I can understand your sentences just fine, it is your humor that I find amusing!! :wink:

I know folks who supposedly have all their faculties that do way worse than you deaf fellars when it comes to communicating. Propst to you all!! :beer:

Good point Bob, anyone want to go school for scouting? It will only take gas money and I'll show ya'. :lol:


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

Let's see now, Hmmm Scouting? is that where you drive to the first big piece of wateryou find, where you can not put a boat into and stand by shore and shoot everything that goes by? Oh and no dog to retrieve them either and of course for the loon crap on the bottom, you can not go and get them yourself.

Sorry everyone I could not pass it up, we see alot of that while we are up there. Usually you only need a pretty good set of bino's and a clean windsheild to find the birds, ask Porkchop about my scouting, he said that for an out of state water swater I did'nt do to bad last fall but that he had located a field that would have put mine to shame. We had a blast anyway and managed to shoot a few birds( when I was'nt calling, as I am not very good. The real pro on the call is P.C.) Even on a bad year scouting is not too difficult, unless you are in someway visually impared. Why would any one actually need lessons? Just tell them to open their eyes and look out the window!!

Good luck hunting


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

A real pro on the call? That is the funniest thing I have heard in a long time.


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## Quackkills9 (Oct 25, 2004)

Porkchop, I have been going to public schools for all my life except I went to Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf in Faribault, MN for my senior year and played hockey for the Faribault High School, didnt like the coaches here in Bemidji and thought it would be fun to try the deaf school and it was pretty cool and I learned alot. I am raised in a hearing family with all my family signing to communicate with me but I speak to them, so ive taken some speech throughout my life and I am pretty clear for a deaf person. I can read lips, hear a little bit (gunshots, trains/train horn/ alot sounds... but like music, I cant understand what theyre saying but can hear/feel the bass) I wear 1 hearing aid to hear a bit but w/o it, I cant. But MAN!!! alot deaf people i went to school with, oh boy their english was so LOUSY compared to mine except there were some Hard of Hearing people at the school too and they were normally good writers. But yeah my english doesnt make it sound like I'm deaf, you and everyone else should see how Deaf people communicate, they dont sign every word like Im typing, its pretty amazing.. so the only thing I lack in is American Sign Language (ASL), I'm more english because I sign pretty much every word while others use 90-100% hardcore ASL but yeah 4curl is right, i find it funny how some deaf people write but no offense though, its normal. Well now that more people might recognize that Im deaf haha, hope you have a great weekend and bang a few birds! good luck! :beer:


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## Killdeer (Sep 27, 2005)

I can't help but laugh at these posts a bit...
not in jest, but just amused.

Trying living in MN.

You guys talk about mallards and where to find them like we talk about walleyes and were to fish them.

At least you have a decent number of ducks...I think we have a couple dozen in the entire state!...... unless their habitat was destroyed by carp, walleye fingerlings, minnow ponds, or yet another suburban development. :wink:


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

Quackkills9 said:


> hope you have a great weekend and bang a few birds! good luck! :beer:


Well unfortunetly or maybe fortunetly I head to work on Saturday till Tues so no hunting for me. I can't complain as I have been off all week chasing the birds and will be off most of next week as well. If you get out I hope get into them and make some great memories. I think your the one that posted about your cousin wanting to shoot more birds than a legal limit???? If so it seems like you have a good head on your shoulders and should find someone new to hunt with. Its not worth getting caught and the birds deserve better. Once again good luck! :beer:


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## Quackkills9 (Oct 25, 2004)

yeah that was me who posted about my cousin just going out and wanting to kill a bunch... But I wont give up, I am trying to teach him but like I said I will tell him before the hunt if he does something illegal or over the limit I will TIP him and then call it quits. I like hunting with him but sometimes his actions are not right, and when he complains to me about not getting covered up early in the AM when geese are honking on the water and they dont fly til 30 mins later and wants me to cover up when ducks are coming in and I told him we're not hunting ducks... but yeah you can get the idea of how he is... no need to cover up when geese are in distance, i normally cover up when theyre in maybe 100 yd range or so and always shot a few.. but end of discussion here.. new topic, or back to the orginial topic.. have a great weekend.


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