# when in Nodak



## Lardy (Oct 15, 2007)

Do as the north dakotans?

I guess its maybe best for me to realize that between states there are definitely different hunting cultures. Obviously being from MN I have never head of the concepts often brought up in this forum. I guess it's best to not worry about it when reading these debates when Im from an area that doesnt have all the same applications. I know this stuff has been exausted on here but I finaly figured I can understand it.

I suppose in SD/MN ill still be a boat toting roost busting fool, but out here I guess its a little more accepted, but by no means completely agreeable to some. I still think some of the stuff is a bit overkill but just like any cultural differences everyone has grown up to accept their own ways.

I guess im just sick of ticking other people off from these different "cultures" and I think a lot of people can use this idea as well.

Just a little insight I guess, dont want to stir anything up now or in the future I just hope this gives a different view on things.

Good hunting,

Lardy


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## jpallen14 (Nov 28, 2005)

Maybe its just me but nobody I hunt with or know in SD hunts or thinks its OK to hunt roost water. What do i know though?


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## MrSafety (Feb 22, 2005)

If you're in SD it's no different that in ND or MN.........hunt the roost and they're gone.......hunt the fields have 'em around for a while. I've hunted SD for 10 years in the fall and spring..........the boat has never been with and it's never been needed...........we did borrow the farmers boat once to catch walleyes! :wink:


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## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

jpallen14 said:


> Maybe its just me but nobody I hunt with or know in SD hunts or thinks its OK to hunt roost water. What do i know though?


 :withstupid:

It's just that Sodakoutdoors hasn't been invented yet.


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## Lardy (Oct 15, 2007)

I agree, I guess I stated it poorly. It's not looked real highly upon anywhere, it just seems that in Nodak its the 11th comandment, and it seems that it is not one of the top issues on local forums/hunting talk where I hunt.

I am trying to doing my part in SD especially to try and not hunt potential/questionable roost areas. Im not trying to say that just because youre not in ND means you can bust em, I just dont see it brought up as such a huge deal compared to this site.

This is just stating what I have seen/heard if you have heard other things elsewhere I guess I simply havent run across it yet.


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## Lardy (Oct 15, 2007)

I think any guy studying wildlife and fisheries in NoDak should do a graduate research project on roost busting. Maybe some scientific evidence would help persuade people to change their ways OR maybe its not as serious as some people think.

I have no clue myself id really be interested if someone did it though.


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## BB (Jan 14, 2004)

I wouldnt care what the research did say. what we have run into and just saw a few weeks ago was this:
we found fields with birds in them we took afternoons off to scout and try to stay dry. a few local outfitters have the fields tied up but with some of them being busted the last few years the landowners all have the same response, "ah, I think me and my kid are going to hunt that in the morning." We had that excuse two weeks ago....guess what, no one hunted it. His brother had the other good field but when I asked where I might find him, the guy really didn't want to tell me. after driving all over looking for the guy and calling his home #, farm line, and leaving a message with his wife with no call back, we found the birds roost and they were using a WPA. I have never hunted public in ND but we decided to anyway because we were out of options. so we shot the birds on a federally owned piece of land that i believe is bought with duck stamp money. Can you really blame us? we found three fields with ducks....one had an outfitter in it and the other two were owned by people who were not reachable or not allowing hunting. we're up there on vacation and to hunt and get some young dogs on birds. we would have preferred to set up 4 blinds a few robos and some fb mallards and had ducks coming into a field vs. walking into a mucky wpa but that wasnt possible. i know a crisp hundo would have put us on one of those fields but we don't want to go that route either.
We also own land next to a nwr and the outfitter in town is not real happy with us hunting our water that connects to the refuge. but on the other hand he has basically all of the fields tied up and from what I know, gives the landowners a cut of the fee if he takes clients on their land. So we should leave our sloughs that we have owned since the 70's and sit in our house and nap while your clients come up from florida and shoot at birds and the ones who make it can come back our water and rest while you start lining up fields for the next group to come in. 
i know all the landowners are not like this just like every guy from mn isn't there to bust every roost in the state. but when we run into situations like this, what should we do?


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

Lardy said:


> I agree, I guess I stated it poorly. It's not looked real highly upon anywhere, it just seems that in Nodak its the 11th comandment, and it seems that it is not one of the top issues on local forums/hunting talk where I hunt.


That's only because the guys who are hunting water are out shooting birds and too busy to be online to preach. :wink:

I get pizzed sometimes because I'll be hunting water waiting for birds to come back from the fields and some jerk will have busted the field. It sucks but I guess that's hunting.


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## Neck Collar (Sep 19, 2006)

BB, I couldn't agree more.

It's two totally differnt things when hunting MN vs. ND
Growing up in central MN i was raised to hunt waterfowl over water. Now hunting the last several years in ND has tought me to stay off the water whenever possible.
However, trying to adopt this hunting style of only hunting fields is Damn-near impossible in MN. I cannot even give a rough estimate how many times i've asked permission and gotten a reply somewhere along the lines of: " No i think my nephew is coming out this weekend to hunt it" or "No, we hunt it ourselves" or my personal favorite "We don't allow hunting becuase we think it's unethical and cruel to the birds".... Nine times out of ten when given one of the first two excuses, nobody ends up hunting that field.

I'm not sure what makes most farmers against hunting like that. I can completely understand where they are coming from if maybe in the past they had some dumba$$ go in there and do something stupid. But if they just don't want hunters i don't understand.


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

BB,
Hunt like you did.Its still 'water'fowling.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Lardy said:


> it just seems that in Nodak its the 11th comandment, and it seems that it is not one of the top issues on local forums/hunting talk where I hunt.


Well, when SD has the same number of NR waterfowlers come through that we do (ND), than perhaps youll see it there as the "11th commandment" as well.


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

BB said:


> what should we do?


Hunt, that's why you're here right?

Don't feel guilty...you didn't break any laws.

Remember, ethics are personal. If it's within the scope of the law someone might not agree with you but it really comes down to how you feel about it.

I would have shot the WPA too and loved every minute of it.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Matt Jones said:


> Lardy said:
> 
> 
> > I agree, I guess I stated it poorly. It's not looked real highly upon anywhere, it just seems that in Nodak its the 11th comandment, and it seems that it is not one of the top issues on local forums/hunting talk where I hunt.
> ...


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## Neck Collar (Sep 19, 2006)

Agreed!!


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## BB (Jan 14, 2004)

'I get pizzed sometimes because I'll be hunting water waiting for birds to come back from the fields and some jerk will have busted the field. It sucks but I guess that's hunting.'

Thats pretty good. we did hunt on a guided deal down in oklahoma a few years back and we hunted water all the time. it was sheetwater and a river we hunted. the birds would pile into bean fields and we asked the outfitter why they didn't hunt fields. as odd as it sounded he said there were only a few food sources for them and they had birds all winter. we were down in a river valley that has nice fields but a mile or two a way it was like desert. we never shot into big bunches and mostly shot single drake mallards vs shooting into big bunches that were working the bean fields. although it is a very different scenario than hunting up here, he must have been right because those guys would shoot greenhead limits all season long. most of you have probably seen barney calef hunting with this outfitter on some of his videos. I know zinks crew filmed down there but i don't know if it ever made their videos and haydels filmed there a week before we were there.


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## flockstalker (Oct 17, 2008)

you can get great hunting by spending time scouting and alot of it. by scouting you watch the birds habits and where they land. let the birds get comfortable in a field for a couple days watching them then go out and hunt the field. that way they stay in around amd still have their roost. thats something we do in MN where there is not alot of birds but you still got the local ones and a few migrators


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

BB said:


> I wouldnt care what the research did say. what we have run into and just saw a few weeks ago was this:
> we found fields with birds in them we took afternoons off to scout and try to stay dry. a few local outfitters have the fields tied up but with some of them being busted the last few years the landowners all have the same response, "ah, I think me and my kid are going to hunt that in the morning." We had that excuse two weeks ago....guess what, no one hunted it. His brother had the other good field but when I asked where I might find him, the guy really didn't want to tell me. after driving all over looking for the guy and calling his home #, farm line, and leaving a message with his wife with no call back, we found the birds roost and they were using a WPA. I have never hunted public in ND but we decided to anyway because we were out of options. so we shot the birds on a federally owned piece of land that i believe is bought with duck stamp money. Can you really blame us? we found three fields with ducks....one had an outfitter in it and the other two were owned by people who were not reachable or not allowing hunting. we're up there on vacation and to hunt and get some young dogs on birds. we would have preferred to set up 4 blinds a few robos and some fb mallards and had ducks coming into a field vs. walking into a mucky wpa but that wasnt possible. i know a crisp hundo would have put us on one of those fields but we don't want to go that route either.
> We also own land next to a nwr and the outfitter in town is not real happy with us hunting our water that connects to the refuge. but on the other hand he has basically all of the fields tied up and from what I know, gives the landowners a cut of the fee if he takes clients on their land. So we should leave our sloughs that we have owned since the 70's and sit in our house and nap while your clients come up from florida and shoot at birds and the ones who make it can come back our water and rest while you start lining up fields for the next group to come in.
> i know all the landowners are not like this just like every guy from mn isn't there to bust every roost in the state. but when we run into situations like this, what should we do?


Sounds like you went to the DL area. Why didn't you ask on here for better spots around there?

/sarcasm


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## BB (Jan 14, 2004)

i wasnt even close to DL and hunted an area relatives and friends have been hunting for 3 decades. It is starting to look like DL. 
The one thing we agreed on was at least the people in DL put up Fee hunting only signs or ask for $75/per gun. At least in those situations they are not beating around the bush asking for money or telling you a lie to your face.


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## Lardy (Oct 15, 2007)

Regarding what bareback said about hunter #'s and the story of the oklahoma hunt. Its like what I said in my first post. Different areas have hunters that practice different hunting methods.


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## Lardy (Oct 15, 2007)

I guess they have an article on here talking about the same thing, surprised I missed it.

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


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

BB said:


> i wasnt even close to DL and hunted an area relatives and friends have been hunting for 3 decades. It is starting to look like DL.
> The one thing we agreed on was at least the people in DL put up Fee hunting only signs or ask for $75/per gun. At least in those situations they are not beating around the bush asking for money or telling you a lie to your face.


Just a question... You guys don't bring campers down to your spot you own, that is right inbetween plots and that NWR? Do you?


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

I look at it with the same attitude as Bowhunting.

If I go set up my stand in there bedding area what am I going to do? They are going to move out of the area as I will bust them up... However, if I pattern them really really well, and there is a huge buck that I want I may set a stand up in there when they are put feeding, and go in there one time when everything is exactly right and stick him.... However doing this I know I will disturb them a ton, and I will have to make it right on the one time!

The point I am getting at... Yeah, you can hunt a roost.... but you better A shoot your birds when they come back in small groups, leave your decoys out and get the He ll otta there before you mess up the others, or just leave it alonE!


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

hunt4P&Y said:


> I look at it with the same attitude as Bowhunting.
> 
> If I go set up my stand in there bedding area what am I going to do? They are going to move out of the area as I will bust them up... However, if I pattern them really really well, and there is a huge buck that I want I may set a stand up in there when they are put feeding, and go in there one time when everything is exactly right and stick him.... However doing this I know I will disturb them a ton, and I will have to make it right on the one time!
> 
> The point I am getting at... Yeah, you can hunt a roost.... but you better A shoot your birds when they come back in small groups, leave your decoys out and get the He ll otta there before you mess up the others, or just leave it alonE!


He is 100% right. I did that this year, but we spent more then a week patterning the birds. the only bad thing was the accidently spooked out the pelicans. :eyeroll: :eyeroll:


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## Dunk221999 (Sep 11, 2002)

I second the problem with land access in MN. I hate putting on waders or sitting in a cold duck boat, however it can be very tough to gain access on fields. Because of this, every piece of public ground gets blasted every weekend and many times during the week. As everyone on this site knows, that doesn't help keep birds around.

MN needs to get a P.L.O.T.S. type program that focuses on both field and other wetlands access to try and spread out the hunters. Hunter density in the western part of the state is rediculous.

Post up- let me hear your thoughts.


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

Programs like this are great. The thing I don't understand is how the roads, and land sections work! It is confusing! When I hunted in Minn, I started walking till I got to a road, and later found out I had crossed like 4 different peoples land... WTF!


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## WingedShooter7 (Oct 28, 2005)

T Shot said:


> jpallen14 said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe its just me but nobody I hunt with or know in SD hunts or thinks its OK to hunt roost water. What do i know though?
> ...


http://www.southdakota-outdoors.com/


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## BB (Jan 14, 2004)

no we don't have a camper near plots, but a farmhouse near a nwr


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

BB said:


> no we don't have a camper near plots, but a farmhouse near a nwr


Ohh SOunded alot like a group I ran into this weekend.

Actually pulled one of there trucks out of a slough that one of them thought he could get through.... Liquid Courage. :eyeroll:


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

If I owned land with water and G/O leased up all the land around it......I would hunt it and tell the G/O exactly why.

It is this reason the our GNF does not want more rest areas.


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## rwinter (Apr 30, 2008)

Busting the roost is my favorite. There's so many ducks! And you can really pick out the hens..... :stirpot:


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## fubar (Mar 10, 2008)

must be from minnesota.....if you were a northdakotan you would only shoot reward band drake mallards with the sun at your back oke:


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