# ND early goose



## Sd snow goose killer (Jan 20, 2007)

just wondering if its goin to start up again on the 15th of august, it was a pretty good time last year except for the heat.


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## Van Wey (Jul 15, 2005)

I sure hope not!!!!


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## hammerhead (Dec 22, 2004)

Van Wey said:


> I sure hope not!!!!


 X2


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## gator_getter (Sep 7, 2008)

I was at one of the NDGF Advisory board meetings this spring and it sounds like it is going to happen again.

The farmer's at the meeting had no complaints and the only negative comment was access to land.


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

I don't see why they wouldn't.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

Get ready to bust some roosts. :eyeroll: Crops will not be harvested by August 15th in most of ND. Hell crops are just being planted now. I cant believe the farmers are just going to let guys into unharvested fields to get the honkers out. I think the August season will be a bust myself, but for those who do it, have at it, I personally enjoy the little bit of summer we do have. Besides September season is early enough. I really like it when the actual season comes and some of these HARDCORE hunters are whining about the geese not decoying.... I wouldnt decoy either if my a$$ git handed to me for 3 months already


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## ducksgeeselabs (May 7, 2009)

There will be next to nothing harvested at that time. Sept 1st will be a stretch this year.

Good luck.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

After doing the opener last year for 3 days, and even with crops off...I'm not sure I'm going to do it again. The heat is annoying and so is waiting until darn near sundown on warm evenings for the birds to fly off. And there isn't much feet down action in most feeds with the birds not grouped up yet. So a lot of times you're either short stopped or you're settling for over flying birds.

Another week or two of running crankbaits won't be all that bad.


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## Andrew Bremseth (Aug 1, 2007)

I had a good time doing it last year and will probably do it again this year. Things all went well and finding birds to hunt really wasnt a problem. Just sucks that our roost got busted by a resident at the crack of dawn. :lol: :beer:


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## tikkat3 (Jun 27, 2006)

...A resident of Minnesota!  :beer: or was it wisconsin?


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## Brad from ND (Jan 23, 2007)

I didn't find anything to hunt opening weekend last year, but by the second weekend it was game on. I didn't mind the heat last year. It was too dang windy to get overly hot.


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## snow123geese (Feb 3, 2008)

I'll definitely be out there again this year (if im not working). We had no problem finding birds last year and I didn't even mind the heat or mosquitoes. And we didn't have to many troubles decoying them in the late season either.


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## gator_getter (Sep 7, 2008)

Take a trip down to Sargent and Richland Counties in southeastern ND. Chat with the soybean producers and find out the destruction the local geese are doing to the emerging soybeans around the sloughs. You may quickly find yourself a place to hunt in August.

And yes, more than likely the wheat will be harvested by the 15th in those counties, unless its extremely wet in August and delays the harvest.


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## Andrew Bremseth (Aug 1, 2007)

tikkat3 said:


> ...A resident of Minnesota!  :beer: or was it wisconsin?


Good ol' Nodak'er :beer:


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

Even if crops are off, I'm also not so sure I'll be out there. It's kind of conflicting because it's my favorite season of the year, but adding those extra two weeks actually seemed like more of a buzz kill than anything else. The birds acted so different, there's still too much day light, and it really throws a wrench in the gears of the college guys trying to get settled back in at school.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

snow123geese said:


> I'll definitely be out there again this year (if im not working). We had no problem finding birds last year and I didn't even mind the heat or mosquitoes. And we didn't have to many troubles decoying them in the late season either.


\

I would suppose not for a future Avery Pro staffer like yourself. :koolaid:


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

Goose hunting in August sucks.


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## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

gator_getter said:


> Take a trip down to Sargent and Richland Counties in southeastern ND. Chat with the soybean producers and find out the destruction the local geese are doing to the emerging soybeans around the sloughs. You may quickly find yourself a place to hunt


So true. You can add new crop alfalfa to that list too.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

Matt Jones said:


> Goose hunting in August sucks.


I agree, maybe we should go out in June and run the goslings down with bats. Oh well Im not going to tell someone they stupid for doing it, have at them, then you can go brag you shot 300 honkers in the early season and give yourself a big old pat on the back, and then you can post up a bunch of hero shots, its just not for me anymore. 10 years ago, I would have been out everyday I could but now I get out once or twice in the early season and thats plenty of honkers until the regular season, to each his own, I just dont like hunting geese when its 90. Who knows, ,maybe we wont even get that hot this summer. :beer:


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

gator_getter said:


> Take a trip down to Sargent and Richland Counties in southeastern ND. Chat with the soybean producers and find out the destruction the local geese are doing to the emerging soybeans around the sloughs. You may quickly find yourself a place to hunt in August.


Hell, why wait until August. Go buy an SKS and lots of ammo...they're cheap. The farmers will probably let you jump in and drive around with them and shoot nesting pairs with them all April. Then once goslings hatch you can switch to a plain-old 10-22. I talked to one farmer by DL who told me they herded all the geese and goslings onto a slough and surrounded from different angles and shot all day...the final count was over 400 he said. Just one account from the dozens I've heard.

I love how the G&F will try to throw the book at a hunter for shooting 'a' illegal bird...yet they turn a blind eye to the overly blatant poaching farmers do. Talk about a double standard.

I'd bet there's more illegal geese shot in one week in the spring by farmers in this state than there are shot nationwide by hunters.

If it was my crop and $$$ at stake, would I do it? Yeah, probably...so I won't shift too much of the blame on the farmers. I blame the G&F. They are sitting on $25 million and what they offer in depredation payments is a friggin' joke. They need to up the payments, get rid of the permits and start enforcing the law.


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

we had a farmer outright tell us 3 or 4 times that his 45-70 was an absolute goose killing machine that summer. :eyeroll:

i had a great time hunting in north dakota during the august opener; it was an interesting but very successfull trip. i would love to have the oppertunity to do it again...wether or not i can actually commit to an august trip this year remains to be seen...


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

There will be crops off in time for the season. If the ND Game and Fish wants to reduce the goose population they need to raise the limit in the early season.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

the professor said:


> we had a farmer outright tell us 3 or 4 times that his 45-70 was an absolute goose killing machine that summer. :eyeroll:


That must have been expensive. :eyeroll:


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## Van Wey (Jul 15, 2005)

I agree Matt Jones.......


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

Here's another vote for Sept 1st. Opening in August was wrong on several levels. Sept 1st-15th is just about perfect.

NDGF, are you reading this these opinions?....


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## ndwaterfowler (May 22, 2005)

Van Wey said:


> I agree Matt Jones.......


Ditto. :beer:


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## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

Love it or hate Ill be out there, we shot over 150 birds last august. For those that think the heat sucks you gotta find a better field so your out of there by 9 or sooner its that simple. And its not that tough to find huntable numbers in the begining of august, I watched a group of 300 for two weeks before the season started, as far as crops there should be some harvested, what did get planted is coming along good, the birds were in flax fields last aug. And if I hunt flax this aug it deff. Won't be the first time


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

I think alot of the problems with birds not being grouped up at that time is regional. I know some areas had em bunched up some, some didn't. Ours didn't. We didn't see a group of geese bigger than a couple dozen till the first week of September. I also think the banging on them prevented them from grouping up some. We also had a difficult time finding fields to hunt.

I think they'd kill more geese if they'd hold off till Sep 1st, and up the daily bag to 8 or 10 and increase possession.

It doesn't matter this year. Im gonna lay in the soybeans and whack em with my bow this year.


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## ND_duckman (Feb 17, 2006)

I hunted them early last year with mixed success and I would love to do it again this year. Our group had found large pockets of birds to hunt (100+), the only problem was having them come to the same field that they were in the evening before. The hunts were fun and memorable, one of the guys we hunted with got to have his black lab get his first canada goose retrieve.

I think it's interesting how having this early season brings up such mixed emotions within people. I would take sitting in the decoys over sitting at the lake any day!


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

ND_duckman said:


> I think it's interesting how having this early season brings up such mixed emotions within people. I would take sitting in the decoys over sitting at the lake any day!


 :thumb: .....or a day at the office, or a day on the couch, or a day in the bar,ect.

Big flippin deal if you can't kill a limit of birds everyday in August like in September. Enjoy the experience.

Personally, I thought it was tough going. But I kept after it, and had fun doing so. Also got quite a bit of deer scouting done while scouting for geese. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone.


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

I have said it before. But I have never seen such a bunch of Sally's, get so upset about having the opertunity to hunt more.. :eyeroll:


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

shooteminthelips said:


> I have said it before. But I have never seen such a bunch of Sally's, get so upset about having the opertunity to hunt more.. :eyeroll:


:rollin:


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## I'm with Diver (Apr 7, 2008)

Personally, I guess I prefer decoying birds and that didn't happen too often in August. It seemed like once September hit birds started to act like "normal" early season canads. 
Birds were tough in August. It was hard to find a field with more then a couple family groups in it. Let alone find a field with birds in it that wasn't adjacent to the roost. 
I would have to agree with barebackjack, in that more geese would be killed if the season opened Sept. 1 and the daily limit was increased to 8 with a higher possession limit.


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## ND_duckman (Feb 17, 2006)

shooteminthelips said:


> I have said it before. But I have never seen such a bunch of Sally's, get so upset about having the opertunity to hunt more.. :eyeroll:


 :lol:


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## ATA BOY (Feb 14, 2007)

cgreeny said:


> Get ready to bust some roosts. :eyeroll: Crops will not be harvested by August 15th in most of ND. Hell crops are just being planted now. I cant believe the farmers are just going to let guys into unharvested fields to get the honkers out. I think the August season will be a bust myself, but for those who do it, have at it, I personally enjoy the little bit of summer we do have. Besides September season is early enough. I really like it when the actual season comes and some of these HARDCORE hunters are whining about the geese not decoying.... I wouldnt decoy either if my a$$ git handed to me for 3 months already


Best post in a long time about a summer goose season. I wish they would do away with it all together. In South Dakota the farmers who are doing the most complaining won't let a guy hunt anyway. The summer season sure does make some people great hunters though!


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

Considering some of last years corn fields are just now being cut down or tilled under and many are still just sitting, there is a good possibility that we may be hunting corn on August 15th.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

goosebusters said:


> Considering some of last years corn fields are just now being cut down or tilled under and many are still just sitting, there is a good possibility that we may be hunting corn on August 15th.


I ask how that wouldnt be considered a baited field then? When they cut the corn down or bushhog in the fall its considered baited? Some of the crops out this way are coming up after finally we are getting some summer weather, but the corn out here has a long ways to go, if the old saying goes: knee high by July, it needs to grow NOW....


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