# The Fabulous Forty - Lake Alice



## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

Someone wrote a post the other day about Lake Alice.

Back in the old days ('70s), when I used to hunt around that area, there was a myth (at least I thought it was a myth), that when they created the federal wildlife refuge at Lake Alice, the prior landowner kept 40 acres out in the middle of the refuge for himself for life. The myth was that those forty acres were pretty hot for snow goose hunting pretty much all the time. It was called the Fabulous Forty.

Has anyone else ever heard of the Fabulous Forty? I'd love to hear some stories.


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

C'mon man. Over 200 looks and no reply. Somebody else must have heard about the Fabulous 40. Am I that friggin' old?


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## DakotaDog72 (Sep 27, 2005)

Nope, never heard of it

(you asked for a reply)


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

Actually my grandfather used to hunt with the guy that owned it. They would just pass shoot snows. Killed quite a few. He still tells stories of hunting out there.


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

Glad to hear that it was true. So, are the 40 acres part of the refuge now?


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

I am not sure if the 40 acres is part of the refuge or not. I believe that it could possibilly be under water. :huh:


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

Yes, I too know of it and wouldn't be surprised if it is under water! I also remember when Lake Alice was dry and being farmed and then there was a 6 inch+ rain along with a wet summer and that filled up Lake Alice along with Long Lake by Mylo, and Island lake by Wolford(Nanson). This would have been back in the 60's.


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## suitcase (Apr 21, 2007)

about the fabulous 40 that was mentioned. it existed and i hunted on it with my dad and uncle. my uncle was a good friend with the owner, john elsberger.sometime in the 1960's he made a deal with the game and fish dept. i hunted there every year until sometime in the 1980's. i think he was pressured to make it part of preserve. he strickly controlled access to it and i believe he made a few bucks each year, but we had free access to it with his permission. it was a wonderful place to hunt, great cover and you would limit out most every time. we would wait for the big honkers. i remember my dad getting two 15 pounders out of one flock. i think i might still have pictures of some hunts. maybe i can scan them and post a few pictures of the area. in that time period the alice/dry lake area was great place to hunt. many fond memories. i flew back from california most every year and took many boxes of birds home. my dad hunted past his 70th year and was source of many tall tales about hunting in the 30's- 50's. i have picture of about 20 honkers hanging on poles with my great uncles; taken in the 1930's. all birds in the picture appear to be over 15-16 pounds, giant birds.


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## Ridge Nelson (Jan 19, 2006)

I'd like to have a 40 in the middle of Squaw


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

suitcase said:


> about the fabulous 40 that was mentioned. it existed and i hunted on it with my dad and uncle.


Suitcase, thanks for the great post. I remember spotting out in the Lake Alice area back in the '70s and thinking, "Man, I wish I knew the guy that owned that 40 acre thing." I'd love to hear more stories.

For those of you that would rather have 40 acres somewhere else, remember, the midcontinent snow goose population hasn't always been 7 million geese. Back in the day when it was more like 1 million geese, Lake Alice was the place. I mean, it was the place.


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## NDNorm (Mar 23, 2006)

Seems like half of my young life was spent around there, never hunted the 40 but all around the area, oh the memories, would close your eyes at night and lay there still hearing the noise of geese before you fell asleep, seen clouds of geese rise up off the water at sunrise and block out view to the sun on the horizon.


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## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

A little off topic...but I bet nearly everyone who has hunted a while can think of an area like this, and they always had a cheesy name. For us, it was the "forbidden field" northwest of town a bit. It was always full of geese and was never hunted. I'd like to believe that over the years and with the population explosion of honkers, it probably isn't forbidden anymore. Haven't checked it lately though. It actually may be underwater now that I think of it. I think there were more than a few areas like this back in the day when there were few geese around.


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## Joltin_Joe (Oct 11, 2005)

All this talk of the duck hunter's utopia reminds me of the webmaster's Dead End Slough:

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/deadendslough.php

Great article.


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