# Hunting the Roost



## kaczman (Aug 7, 2010)

We have hunted lots of fields this year for geese with great success. And we would like to try something new by hunting the roost. There is lots that sit in there. I am just curious if anyone else has done this before. I have got some comments from people saying if we go in there and chase them off while setting up our decoys that they won't come back. Need some feedback guys.

Thanks


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## onegun (May 10, 2010)

i would say your right. the majority of the birds will not come back. there will be some birds returning, but when you pull the trigger they will not be back. my question to you is Why would you want to hunt the roost and push all the birds away? no doubt it will be a good shoot but probally your last on those birds. it is really your call and your dicession. im sure there is plenty of guys that will comment or cut you down, but in the end it is hunting and there is no writin rule or law that says you cant hunt the roost. its just the courteous thing todo for hunters to keep the birds in the area. good luck


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## BigT (Feb 19, 2008)

I think hunting a known roost is a bad idea. You will prolly get a good hunt out of it, but then they will more than likely move on you. If you are looking for a water shoot, check for a loafing pond and get in and out quick. Shooting the roost is like eating the hen chicken, great meal, but you can survive on eggs and eat them longer. You can probably hunt these geese several times, changing your appearance of course, before they just bail. Good luck on whatever your decision is, but as I am sure you will find out most will support not hunting the roost. If you have to hunt the roost I would wait until they leave to feed, and then get in with as little equipment as possible. Shoot the first birds back, provided they dont all come back at once, and then get out of there without alerting the following groups. Or you could do it right and belly crawl up and spring over the edge and shoot wildly into the surprised geese, really make a pile..... oke:


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## wackemandstackem (Oct 4, 2010)

DON'T HUNT THE ROOST. If you hunt the roost then those birds are gone, and you won't be hunting there for a while until new birds move in. Ya you can shoot a few birds but why go in a bust up the roost when you can hunt them in the field. Leave the roost busting to NR. I know that there will be some comments on this but I am just stating the truth. Was back home hunting this weekend and what do ya know one of the roosts got busted up, so i called a buddy back home who is looking for birds for later this week and there is no birds on that roost anymore. Who knows when there will be new birds on there maybe could get lucky and with the cold weather there will be some shortly. I SUGGEST NOT HUNTING THE ROOST if you want to hunt birds in your area.


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## kaczman (Aug 7, 2010)

Hey thanks for the feedback guys! Never tried it before and I think I will take your guys advice and stay away.


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## honker85 (Mar 12, 2008)

wackemandstackem said:


> Leave the roost busting to NR. I know that there will be some comments on this but I am just stating the truth. .


The truth is that I have seen just as many residents do the same thing!!


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## wackemandstackem (Oct 4, 2010)

honker85 said:


> wackemandstackem said:
> 
> 
> > Leave the roost busting to NR. I know that there will be some comments on this but I am just stating the truth. .
> ...


ya but still not as often as a NR. no one that i know from my area or anyone that i hunt with would ever go bust up a major roost. its a different story if its a little slough in the middle of a field. thats not considered a roost. im not gonna get in another arguement on here about NR busting roosts i was in one a couple weeks ago and had enough of hearing stupid stuff from someone thinking they know what they are talking about. JUST BECAUSE NR ONLY ARE HERE FOR 7 OR 14 DAYS!!! what do they care if they screw up hunting in one area for a month they dont see it. ok im done

:rollin: LEAVE IT TO THE ROOSTBUSTERS oke:


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## chrisg (Mar 17, 2010)

As some have already said. Unless you have to do so, say if its going to freeze overnight, stay away from the roost as much as you can, and hunt locations around it. It will extend your opportunities in that area. OR you can go down whack the crap out of them and get your one and only hero shot and be done. YOUR CHOICE. :wink:


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## chrisg (Mar 17, 2010)

I also forgot to say that though its your choice, I personally wouldnt go anywhere near it, I know if I was hunting near you and saw you bust up a roost I would go ask you for an explanation on why you needed to do it.... Because you can isn't a good one either.


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## jblabsnduck (Mar 15, 2006)

wackemandstackem said:


> DON'T HUNT THE ROOST. If you hunt the roost then those birds are gone, and you won't be hunting there for a while until new birds move in. Ya you can shoot a few birds but why go in a bust up the roost when you can hunt them in the field. Leave the roost busting to NR. I know that there will be some comments on this but I am just stating the truth. Was back home hunting this weekend and what do ya know one of the roosts got busted up, so i called a buddy back home who is looking for birds for later this week and there is no birds on that roost anymore. Who knows when there will be new birds on there maybe could get lucky and with the cold weather there will be some shortly. I SUGGEST NOT HUNTING THE ROOST if you want to hunt birds in your area.


So all of us NR bust roost.
What a D-bag.
Why not just say leave the roost busting to the idots?????

Nothing like starting a Res Vs.NR debate AGAIN. :eyeroll: :eyeroll: :eyeroll: :eyeroll:

Truth is STUPID people bust roost not just NR.


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## nobes (Oct 12, 2010)

I'm a non res and i don't bust the roost. I would have to say more res bust roosts, the ones with jobs anyway. I may be here 14 days, but why would i want to scout everyday.........You hunt you're 2 days in a row sat, sun. If you haven't noticed ducks and geese migrate.....
I think some of you, not all, but some assume the birds "should come here" ........Well that North wind and Full Moon might have busted your Roost. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, happend to us 1 day last year (res plates). The birds moved about a mile away and continued to use the field. 
I say stop Bit^^ing about your lack of shooting and get out there and hunt. Honestly....why would people drive there to ND and jump shoot? 
Thats what the res do.


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## Nick Roehl (Mar 7, 2002)

I was out all week duck/goose hunting from Gackle to Wahpeton. I saw roost busting all over the place and they all had WI or MN plates, and that's the hard truth. I also set up on a slough you can't see from the road, which was 1/2 mile off the road. We set up water decoys and some field decoys in the cut bean field right behind us. We parked the truck and trailer up by the road. Needless to say about 45 mins into our hunt we had some cheeseheads drive right up to our decoys in their truck and sit there. They were driving around the bean field up to small sloughs, getting out and jumping them. 
Unfortunately this is nothing new. I see it all season. 90% NR's.


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## huntinND (May 1, 2008)

:eyeroll:


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## Honkerhornet (Sep 13, 2006)

this forum sucks


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## blja0601 (Aug 9, 2007)

Wingmaster,i myself am a NR form Mn but i must agree with you on the jumping ponds,DUMBEST THING EVER. Where and why would people want to do that. Sure when i was like 12 it was fun, i mean anything for another duck but now being 22 i find it stupidest thing a hunter can do (in the fall). Put your time in and scout and set up a spread in the morning instead of waiting til sun up and then driving around and jumping ponds for a few ducks here and there, Not to mention all the ones you loose or cripple ( dog or not you loose birds when you jump). Sorry had to vent ,had a similar story from some other NR's last weekend and ****** me off to beat hell :******: NR or resident jumping ponds is dumb, but that's just my opinion.


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## sdgoosehunter16 (Sep 22, 2009)

all i can say is go out and do some scouting like the rest of us...if you do push those birds off the roost you might as well hang it up until the migratory birds start to come through...not only would you be ruining it for yourself but you would be ruining it for others...if there is anything that alot of hunters hate more than when someone does something as stupid as pushing the birds out of the area...SCOUT, FIND WHERE THEY FEED, GET PERMISSION AND KILL THE BIRDS AS THEY COME FROM THE ROOST.... :shake:


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## nobes (Oct 12, 2010)

I can honestly say i've never seen a nr bust a roost, only res. I've also never seen a non-res ditch whore, like res do. So that being said, looks like res hunters have to start blaming their own for busting. :bop: You're 90% just got crushed. Thats the hard truth!


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## NDhunter08 (Aug 28, 2010)

nobes said:


> I can honestly say i've never seen a nr bust a roost, only res. I've also never seen a non-res ditch whore, like res do. So that being said, looks like res hunters have to start blaming their own for busting. :bop: You're 90% just got crushed. Thats the hard truth!


Well I can honestly say you havent been hunting much in ND then.


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

This topic always cracks me up. You don't like roost busting that is fine, but I am guessing that most of you must not be old enoughor just don't remember there were once nothing but floaters. Ya, I hunt the field at times, but I also like the water. Is it illegal, no, do you have a say, no. The water was about the only way waterfowl was hunted years ago and sometimes its fun to relive those times. There something about the water that makes it more interesting to some people. Both R and NR do it and to claim only one group does makes you look like an idiot.


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## nobes (Oct 12, 2010)

I actually hunt nd a fair amount, and yes I have seen roost busters, the plates read ND. Res hunters say us. NRs say you. Lets face it they are out there, don't ASSume it is all nr, when you know it isn't.


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## Save Hens (Mar 15, 2008)

if ya want the geese to stay in the area dont hunt the roost, pretty simple...and im a blue plater myself!! I was out in ND this past week and we were hunting a corn field that was holding about 2000 snows, blues, cacks and a mallards all together. but whata know some WS cheese dicks decide to row their 10ft jon boat just before light...and we all know what happens next.. we still had a good shoot that morning but the snows and cacks jumped town


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## huntingtim08 (Sep 17, 2004)

Ok I didnt want to get in on this but whatever I guess....What I have seen in my area this year and well I guess all the years ive been hunting is NR busting roots and its especially bad this year. We usually (in my group) usually have 2-3 scouters and on opening day of NR all three of us had seen a roost getting busted, I had seen 3 and they werent decoying, I mean the roosts I had watch for birds had at least 500 geese and 1000 ducks been hunting these birds all year (and when I mean 1000 ducks I mean mallards) these guys whitch had NR plates were jumping these roosts which made me even more :******: whats the fun or point of getting 3 shots off and than the birds are gone, and now these roosts havnt had barely any birds on it since because the next NR hunter drives by and does the same thing (I have seen it done) but what can you do about it. So it just depends what one person sees and the other. Im sure there are R out there that do the same thing in different areas I just havnt seen it around mine. Just do your scouting and fine a loafing area (not a roost) or just hunt a field and you will be able to hunt the birts the 14 days you can hunt in this fine state. :beer:


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## bigbear13 (Sep 16, 2009)

Roost bust = one and done


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## Andy Weber (Nov 18, 2009)

NDhunter08 said:


> nobes said:
> 
> 
> > I can honestly say i've never seen a nr bust a roost, only res. I've also never seen a non-res ditch whore, like res do. So that being said, looks like res hunters have to start blaming their own for busting. :bop: You're 90% just got crushed. Thats the hard truth!
> ...


HAHAH ah so TRUE. Or South dakota!


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## beard (Mar 27, 2008)

A roost,as many of you call it, is just a motel for birds. if they leave one, they will just find another one that will create opportunities for you fellow hunters. get over yourselves, please.


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## nobes (Oct 12, 2010)

I hunt sd too, the problem there is all the ditch shooting, not so much roost busting....If you hunt an X field, people sit in the ditches and sky bust. And o yes mostly res hunters. :roll:


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## dsm16428 (Feb 19, 2009)

Man, sometimes when I log on here, I somehow forget that we are all adults, and that we would never stoop to mudslinging and general bashing of our brother...and sister hunters for the sake of our pride and selfishness! oke: Christ, it's like watching a bunch of 4th graders argue over who put the cooties on the teetertotter seat. Grow up a little guys. You are doing nothing but making hunters sound like idiots...selfish idiots who are never wrong or too stupid too know when they are wrong. This day and age, an ethical hunter would try to avoid busting a roost at all cost to keep his X's as full as possible for as long as possible. What some poorly informed idiot ...from out of state or not does to bust a roost is simply that, a poorly informed hunter...or just plain lazy and guess what...I see an awful lot of poorly informed or lazy resident hunters in my own state that would bust a roost without a seconds thought about it. What that tells me is that they are not educated on what it takes to keep birds around. I live in an area that holds about 330,000 resident birds, but even though they might not migrate, it doesn't mean they won't high tail it for the horizon if their roosts get busted one too many times. To claim that its all non-residents or residents that bust roosts in purely ignorant. I try to educate every new hunter I meet on how to be as fair and ethical as possible, and I have run into some adults that simply had no clue that they were even hunting a roost but after talking to them, you could see the "ah ha" light come on and then the questions poored out of them. Of course some people are beyond help but what are you gonna do? It's still illegal to kill stupid people. :wink: My advise is this; Why badmouth when you can educate. The smarter we are as a whole (hunters), the better and stronger we will be in the long run. But still...try to grow up just a little bit there fellas huh? :shake:


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