# Thoughts on August Opener Now



## Goose Guy350 (Nov 29, 2004)

Well I'm curious to hear everyone opinion on the August 15th opener date now that everyone has had a day or two to chase the birds around, is it as bad as some people thought it would be or has everything gone smoothly? Has anyone seen any birds yet that couldn't fly or has anyone had any problems overheating dogs? I'm just really curious to hear everyone's thoughts on this. Thanks


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Personally I dont like it. I know they have it to move the geese off, but there were way to many roosts busted. The heat isn't bad, but patterning these birds sucks. Would I do it agian yes.


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

blhunter3 said:


> The heat isn't bad, but patterning these birds sucks. Would I do it agian yes.


agreed.


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## tlr (Feb 20, 2008)

This is the first time that I hunted geese in the early season. It was a lot of fun and we did get geese. Most of the geese that we shot were mature geese. A few were this years hatch but were feathered real good . They didn't decoy real well but I think that was because of all the old geese in the flocks that used our field.


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

It was hot!


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## snow123geese (Feb 3, 2008)

There was a lot of young birds and i didn't see any that couldn't fly. It was really hot in the evenings. One group of geese had a morning and a night field. The birds didn't decoy the greatest we only had one flock land in our dekes. But, it was a great time! We got 14 geese on the ground this weekend.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

Not a big fan either. The birds were really frustrating. It may have just been our luck, or maybe we just have to learn some new tricks, but I don't really recall hunting birds that have acted like this before.

Will I be out there if they start it early again next year? Yup.


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

diver_sniper said:


> The birds were really frustrating. It may have just been our luck, or maybe we just have to learn some new tricks, but I don't really recall hunting birds that have acted like this before.


i agree...we did a ton of scouting and didnt nail down anything great until last night, after pulling the plug on an evening hunt that should have been a slam dunk. i think the weather is affecting how the birds are feeding in the evenings. i think the big key is watching what the same birds do morning and evening before deciding how to hunt them.


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## fylling35 (Jun 15, 2007)

I thought that things went pretty well. We didn't see a single bird on friday night (they didn't come off the roost untill after dark) it was way to hot...I would have liked to be in the water.
We ended up with 2 on friday (bad field...took what was left over) and shot 9 (shoulda been our limit of 10) on Sunday morning.

I had been out watching birds all of last week...they were suprisingly pretty consistant...I was able to get a decent pattern on them. It was way to hot, but it was hunting


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

alot of the feeds we found were within 1/2 mile of the roost. I'm willing to bet those that did better found feeds that were a mile or better from the roost? which this early in the year is hard to come by.


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## Large munsterlander1 (Feb 11, 2008)

Way to Early. This early season is hurting us more then it is helping!


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## dogdexter1 (Sep 6, 2007)

Why was it to early?

The mosquitoes are worse in September, and when ya get done shooting before 7 it isn't even that hot out.


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## Large munsterlander1 (Feb 11, 2008)

dogdexter1 said:


> Why was it to early?
> 
> The mosquitoes are worse in September, and when ya get done shooting before 7 it isn't even that hot out.


Bugs and heat are not a problem. The problem lies in the harvest, there are not enough crops off yet to make hunting plausible. Yes we do finds field and yes we kill birds, but we are competeing with other hunters to get into these fields. So in turn the guys with no other options end up shooting the roost, just to kill sum geese. I feel that a later season (September) gives us more options for fields, choices of crops, and stubble or dirt. We are just educating the geese even more making it tougher later on when the conditions are actually ideal.

I belive that the Sept. 1 opening was the right time, just not the right rules. I think that 10 geese limit for 2 weeks would accomplish more than a longer season. Or try the snow goose style with no limits and unplugged guns. Obivoulsy something should be done or why esle opening the season 2 weeks earlier? Feel free to correct me if i am wrong, but this is how I look at.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

I agree, we are educating the birds. I think they should open the season the weekend of Labor Day. So people can hunt the whole weekend. Have larger limits, maybe extend the early season in some areas. Heat and bugs are not a problem. There is wat to much competition. Way to many busted roosts whichs screws up the people who put time in. It is going to be fun in `10-15 years to tell people I hunt geese in August. That is the only reason I went out, well besides getting away from my job.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Well we didnt have a competition problem in our area. Only saw one other group in our area and they wanted in our field saturday morning. But when you show up at shooting light, you can expect to be beat.

We had VERY LITTLE crop down however (it did increase over the course of the weekend). Which you would think would make finding birds easy, but not so, apparently. We saw very few birds. (I think alot in our area were still walking out of sloughs into standing crop areas). The few we did see, were small family groups. Birds that were flying out to feed seemed to not be patternable at all, they just went helter skelter every morning.

I agree with a shorter season (sept 1) and more liberal limits.

On a plus side found some awesome mallard feeds. Should be fun for the first week of regular season.


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## huntinND (May 1, 2008)

The geese were way to hard to pattern in my area. There are a lot of huge wheat fields that are being harvested and the geese would just randomly pick a field to feed in, and never in the same spot. They also wouldn't fly very far from where they were roosted. The flocks that did come wouldn't decoy well, just land by themselves in family groups. My area also has very few geese from what I have seen, I scouted all last week and wasted a tank of gas to find two flocks that I thought would be worth hunting. The geese that are around will be so educated in a couple weeks that it won't be worth hunting anymore. At least I can say February, June and July are the only months I haven't hunted geese (Snows and canadas).


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## northerngoosehunter (Mar 22, 2006)

Seems to me the ND GFP has a serious problem with the local Canada geese and are willing to do anything to eradicate them. In my opinion the ND GFP does far too much to please the landowners and far too little to please the hunters. Every spring they issue thousands of permits to landowners to destroy nests and keep breeding pairs off wetlands. I just don't understand it. Sure it is possible a farmer is going to loose yields off an acre or two where a breeding pair or molting group spends the summer, but one would think the hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidizes just might compensate for this minor damage.

Shooting geese before Sept seems futile to me. Now once these locals have been busted at their going to stop feeding in large groups (before they even really grouped up and large numbers could be harvested from one field), feed closer to roost, and be much more cautious for the rest of the year. If I was a hunter in ND I would contact my state congressmen and express my frustration for a Game and Fish that believes there sole purpose is too please the landowner and has little concern for the ND hunter.

Sorry if this offended anyone, just my opinion based on articles read on here and other various ND literatures.


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## ksfowler (Oct 4, 2007)

diver_sniper said:


> Not a big fan either. The birds were really frustrating. It may have just been our luck, or maybe we just have to learn some new tricks, but I don't really recall hunting birds that have acted like this before.
> 
> Will I be out there if they start it early again next year? Yup.


That is why it is called hunting not killing. :wink:


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## Goose Guy350 (Nov 29, 2004)

Well no matter how you look at it this is a large scale experiment that G&F is conducting to try and find a solution for the resident goose overpopulation, its too bad you guys had to be the guinea pigs but I don't think we'll see the results of this till next spring whether they be positive, negative or indifferent. Hopefully after they do some spring breeding pair counts they will have an idea if it worked or not and if it didn't a different approach will be taken. There are also side effects of this season and well will see what effect they have later on in the season. Anyway, enjoy getting to hunt in August, most of us have at least two weeks to wait and some of us are even working :beer:


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

northerngoosehunter said:


> Seems to me the ND GFP has a serious problem with the local Canada geese and are willing to do anything to eradicate them. In my opinion the ND GFP does far too much to please the landowners and far too little to please the hunters. Every spring they issue thousands of permits to landowners to destroy nests and keep breeding pairs off wetlands. I just don't understand it. Sure it is possible a farmer is going to loose yields off an acre or two where a breeding pair or molting group spends the summer, but one would think the hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidizes just might compensate for this minor damage.
> 
> Shooting geese before Sept seems futile to me. Now once these locals have been busted at their going to stop feeding in large groups (before they even really grouped up and large numbers could be harvested from one field), feed closer to roost, and be much more cautious for the rest of the year. If I was a hunter in ND I would contact my state congressmen and express my frustration for a Game and Fish that believes there sole purpose is too please the landowner and has little concern for the ND hunter.
> 
> Sorry if this offended anyone, just my opinion based on articles read on here and other various ND literatures.


I disagree,I commend the GNF for trying it.The USFW would have let them open the season on Aug 1 if they had wanted to.This is basically an experiment.I would guess they will be listening to people at the next round of Advisory meetings so if someone doesn't like it they should let them know.

They are trying to get as many opportunities for sportsman as they can.It is the same thing with the Sept antlerless season.An experiment to increase the harvest and provide more recreation.Their purpose isn't just to please landowners.

If this doesn't work ask them to increase the limits for that 2 week period.They can't allow guns w/o plugs.That is a federal law.


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

it may be a little too early yet, but I think I might have to say "I told you so" to alot of people on this site. by late sept these things are going to be tough.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Triple B said:


> it may be a little too early yet, but I think I might have to say "I told you so" to alot of people on this site. by late sept these things are going to be tough.


 :beer:

Im with ya on that one. Were just hurting our opportunity to get large numbers later, when the crops off, and the birds are bunched up.

Will there be more geese killed? Maybe, but I dont think it will amount to a hill of beans.

Most of the guys ive talked to got some shooting, but nothing to write home about.


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## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

> by late sept these things are going to be tough.


By late Sept. we will have new birds coming into the state by the hour, I dont think it will be that big of a deal.

Anyone else pumped for ducks to open, ducks were eating us up all weekend, those are the birds that are going to be educated by the end of this early season!


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

The funny thing is that those ducks are still safe for over a month. Doesn't that seem crazy?


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## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

speaking of ducks, I stumbled upon a banding site while scouting last night, there was ducks in the live trap, I hope they check it often. I know where the BP ballers will be opener morning. :beer:


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

While you guys were swattin' geese or mosquitos, I was getting jiggy with the Walleyes on Stump. I bet they tasted better too... :beer: Noticed a couple of things driving from Thompson to Stump...95 % or more of the grain fields are not harvested. Saw a total of 4 geese, there and back and I was driving during the peak times. I kept wondering, where are all these geese that we have to get rid of in August. I hope you guys save a few for us guys who like to hunt em' in October and beyond.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

goosehunternd said:


> > by late sept these things are going to be tough.
> 
> 
> By late Sept. we will have new birds coming into the state by the hour, I dont think it will be that big of a deal.


Thats not the point. The point is the RESIDENT birds, the ones we have the "problem" with will be much much smarter come late september. We dont care about the migrators. We're trying to reduce the populations of residents.


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## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

> Thats not the point. The point is the RESIDENT birds, the ones we have the "problem" with will be much much smarter come late september. We dont care about the migrators. We're trying to reduce the populations of residents.


Thats ND G&F's issue. obviously they know somthing we dont, I dont care if Im shooting local birds or migrators just as long as I am out. I will be out atleast 3 nights this week knocking down locals, I will be trying to do my part, there is nothing we can do to keep from "educating" the birds, the season is open and all we can do is go out and get after them, nobody can predict if they are going to be imposible to hunt come late Sept. I am guessing come Sept. things will come back around.


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## snow123geese (Feb 3, 2008)

goosehunternd said:


> Anyone else pumped for ducks to open


Ya i can't wait we had hundreds of ducks landing in our decoys. I am suprised they dont open an early duck season up because there is 50x more ducks around than geese.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

goosehunternd said:


> there is nothing we can do to keep from "educating" the birds, the season is open and all we can do is go out and get after them


Your absolutely right. But you can hunt at times to maximize potential harvest.

Its like coyote hunting. If you go out calling after a week of warm temps, the doggies arent hungry, and the likelihood of just educating em is higher. Now if you go out under more ideal conditions, like a week of subzero temps, you increase the chance of kills and decrease the chance of education.

Same thing here. Were just educating the birds we need to be killing later, when the likelihood for higher kill numbers is better.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

snow123geese said:


> goosehunternd said:
> 
> 
> > Anyone else pumped for ducks to open
> ...


Ducks don't mow off acres and acres of bean and wheat sprouts.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

diver_sniper said:


> snow123geese said:
> 
> 
> > goosehunternd said:
> ...


Plus, could you imagine trying to pick out drakes right now? Its gonna be hard enough when it does open.


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## fylling35 (Jun 15, 2007)

I think that different regions in North Dakota have verry different issues and very different hunting opportunities when it comes to the Resident Geese. I felt it went quite well here in SE ND.

Here they have a HUGE problem with them (hence the outa-staters being allowed down here).

A Pair of Geese with say, 4-8 youngins live in nice little slough in the middle of a bean field. They live there all spring and summer untill the youngins can fly and they start feeding in harvested fields. Take a walk out there and try to find a single bean within 100 yards of the slough. You won't find a single freaking bean!! Some larger sloughs with more than one hatch in them...no beans 200-250 yards from the slough. They are causing some major damage down here. Many of you might already know this but I thought I'd throw it in for dramatic effect.

Down here, 90% of the small grains were off before last week. With a lot more acres this year because of the prices. I felt that we were in a better position down here to kill birds this Aug than we were last year in Sept. Large numbers of birds were concentrated into fields that were available to them, they weren't spread out as much. This can and I am sure did, cause some friction between hunters and fields...but it helps out the guy who does his homework and gets permission.

We gotta remember that not every hunter shoots his limits of geese every time he go out...raising the limits in Sept would help...but it seems like a wash to me...4 weeks at 5 birds a person or 2 weeks of 10.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

goosehunternd said:


> > Thats not the point. The point is the RESIDENT birds, the ones we have the "problem" with will be much much smarter come late september. We dont care about the migrators. We're trying to reduce the populations of residents.
> 
> 
> Thats ND G&F's issue. obviously they know somthing we dont, I dont care if Im shooting local birds or migrators just as long as I am out. I will be out atleast 3 nights this week knocking down locals, I will be trying to do my part, there is nothing we can do to keep from "educating" the birds, the season is open and all we can do is go out and get after them, nobody can predict if they are going to be imposible to hunt come late Sept. I am guessing come Sept. things will come back around.


I am going to say by October 1st the only way to get under the big old locals then will be by jumping and a really windy day pass shoot if you're lucky. I agree though, season is open and to all the guys lucky enough to get after'em when they are dumb good for you. I msut have hunted the not so dumb ones on Sunday, since I watched them pile into the field Saturday night and feed into the dark, then in the morning go to a completely different field a few miles from the other. Oh well. Keep after them boys.


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## quackstacker (Feb 18, 2008)

barebackjack said:


> Thats not the point. The point is the RESIDENT birds, the ones we have the "problem" with will be much much smarter come late september. We dont care about the migrators. We're trying to reduce the populations of residents.


I disagree with your whole argument jack, Even as early as second of weekend of early season there is migration of non res birds into ND, MN, and SD. This limits your ability to target true resident geese. This August season will kill the most target birds by far when compared to a september season.

As for making them hard to kill, I hunt one or two roosts all early season long that consist of a couple hundred birds each, no problems getting them to decoy to the gun. Migrators make my job easier yet, as they make the other birds stupid again.

Just because you cant go out and kill them with 2 3/4 6's and flamblow shells don't mean they can't be killed.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

quackstacker said:


> barebackjack said:
> 
> 
> > Thats not the point. The point is the RESIDENT birds, the ones we have the "problem" with will be much much smarter come late september. We dont care about the migrators. We're trying to reduce the populations of residents.
> ...


Maybe I should just hunt with you then. My FFD's didn't do jack for me on Sunday. Or maybe I should dig out some of the old shells to test your theory.


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## SDwaterfowler (Mar 2, 2006)

quackstacker said:


> I disagree with your whole argument jack, Even as early as second of weekend of early season there is migration of non res birds into ND, MN, and SD. This limits your ability to target true resident geese. This August season will kill the most target birds by far when compared to a september season.


Those aren't migrators. They are residents that flew north to molt and are coming back.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

quackstacker said:


> barebackjack said:
> 
> 
> > Thats not the point. The point is the RESIDENT birds, the ones we have the "problem" with will be much much smarter come late september. We dont care about the migrators. We're trying to reduce the populations of residents.
> ...


Sorry I forgot to add that part about your ROOST PONDS. You cannot be in ND then, because roost ponds out here dont last a week once the season get into full swing, no matter how well they are protected, even if you own the land they're on. This fall is gonna be even worse since its alot more dry then it has been in Most areas of the state.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I wrote about our recap in my blog:

http://www.chrishustad.com/hunting-tips ... -recap.htm

Here is the gist of it:

1) The birds are still in the "family mentality" this time of year. Even though we found feeds of around 300 birds or more in a field, the family groups typically stayed to themselves. When watching a field, they wouldn't normally land into other family groups, but off to the sides or in another part of the field altogether.

2) There was still a lot of MIA birds in the areas I scouted. I went back to the scouting grounds I hunted since the beginning of the early season and the numbers were down dramatically. This may be because there was birds that still were unable to fly, or the nesting numbers were down in those areas.

3) There was very few small grain fields in these same areas, and they typically mostly consist of small grains. More corn and beans then ever before which wasn't surprising given the ethanol boom. Also, the majority of the fields still weren't harvested. However, the large rains that came earlier in the week didn't help speed up the harvest by any means.

4) The birds in the western part of the state seemed to be more ahead of those in the east. The geese were on the nest earlier and the birds appeared to act more like September 1st birds. By this I mean the feeds were more condensed and they were more in a flock mentality rather than a family group mentality.

My :2cents:


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## quackstacker (Feb 18, 2008)

Look at where Im from, says right there, we have a couple protected roosts that hold birds all early season long. We have hunted the birds 3, 4, 5 days in a row and have still managed to kill numbers of geese.

The molt birds aren't the birds ND is worried about, its the family groups that wipe out an acre or 2 of beans around each pond.

The birds killed this past weekend are the targeted birds. ND game knows this. You guys worry so much about educating birds, good hunters will still kill birds, it goes back to scouting, concealment, and more scouting.

Our FFD spread had little effect on Saturday as well, the birds just went to another field and we had no chance at them. Cold weather will help us all out, but by the time you start seeing larger flocks of geese in fields, dumb molt migrators will in, birds will be more paternable, and the shooting will still be good. The season is not lost yet.


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## madule (Apr 23, 2008)

I thought it was kind of easy this past weekend. I think the key was keeping it simple. Doz to Doz and 1/2 decoys no dogs, one flag and minimal calling. We pulled in any birds we could see, and they came in with the wings out and the landing gear down. As for hunting comp. hardly anyone out on Friday in the area we were in which surprised me for in being in the two county area for nonresidents. But sat the weekend warriors showed up.
So all and all good times.

Just remember a bad day hunting is better than a good day at work. (Unless you are professional lap dance tester)


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

quackstacker said:


> Our FFD spread had little effect on Saturday


 Everyone knows FFD's are always irresistable to geese as far as they can see because THERE IS NO SHINE!!!!1


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

barebackjack said:


> goosehunternd said:
> 
> 
> > there is nothing we can do to keep from "educating" the birds, the season is open and all we can do is go out and get after them
> ...


ABSOFRICKINLUTELY! somebody else here gets it! this august season is not going to maximize the harvest. its like giving a suprise attack or ambush on someone and jumping out a little early. to maximize the harvest they need to be harvested at the best possible times, which in my mind was fine the way it was, bump the limit to 8 or 10 and watch the birds pile up. we've had plenty of opportunities from sept.1 to the 15th where we could have went over our 5 a piece bird limit. so far. .. we've had to scratch what we could to get close.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

That's my thought as well. What we shot this last weekend was 75% birds that were not from this years hatch. And it was far far fewer than we shot last year opening weekend. Why were we not getting into the yearlings? Because I don't believe that they are flying well enough to have the old ones fly them out to the fields yet, or at least not like they will in a couple of weeks. I've talked to a lot of people who have said they saw birds get up off the roost, fly around for a while either over the pond or over some fields, and then head straight back to the water. Most of the people telling me this seem so confused by it. It's simple though. The adult birds are taking the young birds out for a work out. They are putting some stress on those young muscles so that when it's time to travel 5+ miles to a field that isn't walking distance from the roost, they have enough endurance to make it there and back.

So while those young birds are still getting the hang of things, these old birds that we're actually getting to decoy are getting their first lessons of the season. And in a couple of weeks when all geese, young and old, are feeding in the fields, those young birds that we're supposed to be shooting are going to have big brother helping to lead them away from danger, because they've already been dealing with it for 2 weekends.

Maybe that's just the situation in my little stomping grounds, but I have a feeling that harvest numbers are not going to be as high as they would be if we were able to take 8-10 birds a person during a 2, maybe even 3 week season.

Another thing, those 2 counties that are supposed to be a main focus for this season, they border SD and MN. All those birds have to do is hop the border and they are in 1 of 2 state sized refuges until the end of the first week in September. It seems like more birds would be taken care of if it were a hard ambush when all birds are frequently patterning in the same fields rather than easing into the season and training the birds that we do get a crack at only to let them play body guard for the rest of them when they do finally start showing some consistency.

PS, I'm not bashing on the G&F's experiment. These are just the observations I've made so far.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

USAlx50 said:


> quackstacker said:
> 
> 
> > Our FFD spread had little effect on Saturday
> ...


You nailed that right on the head. I admit I am a sucker for them. I have a few dozen and they look nice, but I think they look just as good to hunters as they do to geese. Bring out the FOOTS next time. :sniper:


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## ND_duckman (Feb 17, 2006)

diver_sniper said:


> Why were we not getting into the yearlings? Because I don't believe that they are flying well enough to have the old ones fly them out to the fields yet, or at least not like they will in a couple of weeks.


How were you identifying the birds to tell the difference between young of the year and after hatch year birds? Just by size? Some of the early hatched birds can be confusing to tell the difference from and you may only be able to tell the difference by looking at the tail feathers. Also the area that you hunt in may not produce many geese to begin with and it may be mostly after hatch year birds in the area. There are lots of possible reasons why you may not have harvested many young of the year birds and it is probably not an easy obvious answer.



diver_sniper said:


> So while those young birds are still getting the hang of things, these old birds that we're actually getting to decoy are getting their first lessons of the season. And in a couple of weeks when all geese, young and old, are feeding in the fields, those young birds that we're supposed to be shooting are going to have big brother helping to lead them away from danger, because they've already been dealing with it for 2 weekends.


Why are you so worried about this year's birds&#8230;don't we want to harvest the older more experienced birds? The younger less experienced birds will still be around later on in the season for hunters to chase, if not here, then farther down their migration route.

I think some people are writing this season off as unsuccessful in terms of birds harvested WAY too early. The season has been open for five days now&#8230;which is way too soon for the internet experts to be critiquing the season so harshly. It's called hunting for a reason.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

I personally didn't like the season a whole lot. Due to certain factors.

1. Places to hunt. There was a lot of competition for fields in some area's. Causing alot of roosts to be busted, down windingm drive through standing crops or windrows.

2. I just think it was too early. If they want to help get rid of birds have the season start the weekend of labor day weekend and have bigger bag limits.

I guess this was an experiment and it will serve its purpose there is no clear cut way to solve the bird problem.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

It's easy to tell young birds.They have notched tail feathers.Any older than 1 year have rounded smooth tail feathers.


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

ND_duckman said:


> I think some people are writing this season off as unsuccessful in terms of birds harvested WAY too early. The season has been open for five days now&#8230;which is way too soon for the internet experts to be critiquing the season so harshly. It's called hunting for a reason.


I agree. It is too early to tell. Personally, I am going to have to go with R. Kelly on this one and say that I don't see nothing wrong with a little bump and grind anytime of the year. :beer:


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## ND_duckman (Feb 17, 2006)

KEN W said:


> It's easy to tell young birds.They have notched tail feathers.Any older than 1 year have rounded smooth tail feathers.


Yes! But how many people know that...hopefully more people know that now!


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## quackstacker (Feb 18, 2008)

USAlx50 said:


> quackstacker said:
> 
> 
> > Our FFD spread had little effect on Saturday
> ...


LOL, I know that the geese HAVE to work, but the unpredictable nature of the birds we scouted made it impossible to know for sure where they would be. We got our roost busted in the AM and the birds we hunted that night never showed.

Lots of young birds in our bag this past weekend, a few adults but mostly juvies.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

ND_duckman said:


> How were you identifying the birds to tell the difference between young of the year and after hatch year birds? Just by size? Some of the early hatched birds can be confusing to tell the difference from and you may only be able to tell the difference by looking at the tail feathers.


We checked by looking at tail feathers and I assumed that the ones that were covered in pin feathers were probably young ones. The ones that didn't have a pin on them were probably old ones.



ND_duckman said:


> Also the area that you hunt in may not produce many geese to begin with


I don't like to give up where I'm at usually. But I was within the boundaries of Richland and Sargent counties. Plenty of birds.



ND_duckman said:


> Why are you so worried about this year's birds&#8230;don't we want to harvest the older more experienced birds? The younger less experienced birds will still be around later on in the season for hunters to chase, if not here, then farther down their migration route.


This is true, however I wouldn't be surprised if the northern parts of SD are flooded with birds on their opener. Those boys should have a good time.

I guess I have just always thought that we should be harvesting more young birds, as they are the ones that are probably more likely to come back the following year. The old birds we were shooting could have been 200 miles north a month ago for all we know.



ND_duckman said:


> I think some people are writing this season off as unsuccessful in terms of birds harvested WAY too early. The season has been open for five days now&#8230;which is way too soon for the internet experts to be critiquing the season so harshly. It's called hunting for a reason.


You're probably right. It is still early. But I really do wonder about what it's going to be like come the weeks of the normal early season. If it turns into what my theory has drawn out, I really don't think this extra time on the season is going to have as much impact as the G&F would like to see.


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

ND_duckman said:


> I think some people are writing this season off as unsuccessful in terms of birds harvested WAY too early. The season has been open for five days now&#8230;which is way too soon for the internet experts to be critiquing the season so harshly. It's called hunting for a reason.


yeah, you are probably right. i am nothing more than an internet critic. I've never actually even hunted. I hardly scout, and hunting the early season since its inaugurual year is nothing but hogwash. maybe the 3 years you've lived in ND since moving from the land of the lakes has given you some wisdom we here don't have, care to enlighten us?


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## ND_duckman (Feb 17, 2006)

I never called anyone out personally, I'm sorry if you seem to have taken offense at my comment about internet experts. I've been a resident for 6 years now&#8230;not 3.



Triple B said:


> maybe the 3 years you've lived in ND since moving from the land of the lakes has given you some wisdom we here don't have, care to enlighten us?


Of course I don't have any special wisdom that I get from being from MN. The point of my comment is that a lot of people on the site have negative views about the early Canada Goose season start date after the season has been open for 5 of the 31 days. I understand that people have their own opinions formed from their personal experiences and what they learn from other people, and of course that is OK. I am just trying to point out that in my opinion it is too early to say if the early start date was successful or unsuccessful.


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

The Sodak season opens on the 6th of Sept I believe. There should be plenty of un-educated birds down there. 8)


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

ND_duckman said:


> I think some people are writing this season off as unsuccessful in terms of birds harvested WAY too early. The season has been open for five days now&#8230;which is way too soon for the internet experts to be critiquing the season so harshly. It's called hunting for a reason.


I'd have to agree


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## snow123geese (Feb 3, 2008)

ND_duckman said:


> I never called anyone out personally, I'm sorry if you seem to have taken offense at my comment about internet experts. I've been a resident for 6 years now&#8230;not 3.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I agree 100% with you duckman. It isn't even a week into the season yet and people are already putting the season down. C'mon guys give it some time, things may change.


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

I have never seen so many guys get upset about having the opertunity to kill a few more geese every year. I had sweat running down my crack all weekend too and the birds were tuff, but it was better then sitting on the couch waiting for the season to start! :withstupid:


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

shooteminthelips said:


> I have never seen so many guys get upset about having the opertunity to kill a few more geese every year. I had sweat running down my crack all weekend too and the birds were tuff, but it was better then sitting on the couch waiting for the season to start! :withstupid:


I'll definitely say that the hunter in me couldn't agree more with that.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

For me it was frusterating what happend out there to my group.

The thing that bothers me was the driving on the swathed fields. I personally didnt see any but talking to grandpa and about 6-9 of his friends (yes landowners and farmers) and they are problems with people in their swaths.

From some of the pictures the ND Game and Wildlife should just increase the bird limit and maybe push the shooting hours to a half hour after sunset.


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

ND_duckman said:


> I think some people are writing this season off as unsuccessful in terms of birds harvested WAY too early. The season has been open for five days now&#8230;which is way too soon for the internet experts to be critiquing the season so harshly. It's called hunting for a reason.


I guess my opinion would be is if the season has been a slow start but getting better as we get closure to 1 Sep, they should have left it the same and raised the limits for maximum harvest of these pesty birds.


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

I haven't even been out yet, but so far I like the framework only because it affords me another week of hunting at the end of the season. :wink:


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

dblkluk said:


> I haven't even been out yet, but so far I like the framework only because it affords me another week of hunting at the end of the season. :wink:


True that Myre! :beer:


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## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

Shooteminthelips I cant agree more, extra hunting is extra hunting. The game and fish listened to farmers and hunters, then went out of their way to try and accomodate everyone, and we're still complaining. I had a guy who rarely lets people hunt (bow hunting) smile and tell me to shoot the hell out of those black bast#$. If it was closer to bow season no chance I'd get out there. They don't decoy perfect, were shooting all the adults, juvies can't fly, its too early they're not grouping up, they arent leaving the water its too hot. Waaaa waaaa waaaaa, if you don't want to hunt don't. "We'd shoot more if limits were higher", you guys are the hardcore the people capable of that, most aren't. Most people are happy with a goose, my simple teacher math says more days to hunt = more hunters in the field = a larger goose harvest. I realize I am probably the idiot on this site especially before all the non residents pound it looking for places to hunt, but just shut your mouth, unless you run into a game and fish person, then you say thank you for trying to accomodate hunters, especially you guys out west who can hunt all day, and get two weeks when you actually have geese.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

water_swater said:


> Shooteminthelips I cant agree more, extra hunting is extra hunting. The game and fish listened to farmers and hunters, then went out of their way to try and accomodate everyone, and we're still complaining. I had a guy who rarely lets people hunt (bow hunting) smile and tell me to shoot the hell out of those black bast#$. If it was closer to bow season no chance I'd get out there. They don't decoy perfect, were shooting all the adults, juvies can't fly, its too early they're not grouping up, they arent leaving the water its too hot. Waaaa waaaa waaaaa, if you don't want to hunt don't. "We'd shoot more if limits were higher", you guys are the hardcore the people capable of that, most aren't. Most people are happy with a goose, my simple teacher math says more days to hunt = more hunters in the field = a larger goose harvest. I realize I am probably the idiot on this site especially before all the non residents pound it looking for places to hunt, but just shut your mouth, unless you run into a game and fish person, then you say thank you for trying to accomodate hunters, especially you guys out west who can hunt all day, and get two weeks when you actually have geese.


Absolutely right on the money. :beer:


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

Well this has been our most successful 6 days of early season so far as a group. But we have put on over a couple thousand miles and have been trying to adapt. I think it has been a blast this far. Like others have said we've got in with two farmers that never let us on solely for the reason that while we were talking to them a hundred honks were sitting in their swaths eating their money.


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## bornlucky (Jul 24, 2007)

Well I have a perspective that may raise the hair on the back of some of you guys. But don't get excited, I don't mean to offend anyone with my opinion.

I am pushing 50 and have hunted in ND since I was 7 years old. I remember when just seeing a giant Canada became the talk around the dinner table. And I can still remember shooting my first Canada goose. I was 12 years old and shot a Remington 870 16 ga. That was something else back then. I hunted this weekend with a guy in his 30's, another in his 50's, and a guy in his mid 80's. The guy who is 86 can't lay on the ground and refuses to sit in a hay bale blind, so he goes down on one knee and remains motionless.

This group hunted Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. I couldn't go Saturday morning due to my job, so I hunted Saturday evening by myself.

For those of you young guys reading this, you need to understand that the older you get the less you care about how many birds you kill when you go hunting. It is way more about the hunt. On Friday morning, we younger guys passed on a couple flocks just out courtesy letting them get into better shooting position for our hunting partners. When no one shot at them, the 86 year old dad came over and chewed us out and put us on "probation." Now that was funny.

The point is that we had a tremendous hunt bringing those birds into the decoys even though we didn't shoot.

On the other hand, my teenage son went out Saturday with his hunting buddies and they lit up the sky. They had their limit in 30 minutes.

I understand that the G & F want the numbers reduced. But I could care less. What I do care about is that I got to share a field with my hunting buddies and an 86 year old man that I respect very much. I hope I can still hunt when I am 86.

Thank God and our friends in the military that we all had the privelege of hunting last weekend.

And by the way, those fresh goose breasts were terrific Sunday night on the grill with a glass of red wine.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

bornlucky said:


> For those of you young guys reading this, you need to understand that the older you get the less you care about how many birds you kill when you go hunting. It is way more about the hunt.


As much as I agree with your "its more about the hunt than the kill", and I do agree. It kind of defeats the purpose of the early season, which is to kill some of the resident "problem" birds.

And water_swater.....I can say this because I know you and know youll just give it right back....but your simple teacher math is exactly that, pretty simple.
Longer season doesnt exactly equate to more hunters and more birds killed. Not if conditions during said longer season are not condusive to killing lots of birds, like they are now. All we're doing is educating said birds, so they'll be even HARDER to kill when conditions are better, i.e. more patternable, grouped up better, etc etc.

As far as a hunting season, im grateful for it, its nice to be able to just hunt. But as far as accomplishing the objective of increasing the harvest, I think its an experiment thats failing and going to hurt us in the long run.


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

bornlucky said:


> I understand that the G & F want the numbers reduced. But I could care less. What I do care about is that I got to share a field with my hunting buddies and an 86 year old man that I respect very much. I hope I can still hunt when I am 86.
> 
> Thank God and our friends in the military that we all had the privelege of hunting last weekend.
> 
> .


Great post...


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

honestly, for my first early season trip to north dakota; i thought it went rather well. i hunted with quackstacker, as well as a few others, and we had our fair share of good shoots and dissapointment. one thing that surpised me was the lack of pressure. i was surprised to see birds in the same unposted fields for 3 feeds without being hunted. and supposedly we were in the high pressure area. maybe we were lucky in that regard, but i only saw 2 other decoy spreads while scouting, and there were no other occupants at our motel. the birds were typical early season birds; they did some stupid predictable stuff, then straight up made us look stupid. thats the game i guess, but im happy with our results. good luck to those of you who get to continue through this early season, i wish i could have put in more time up there thats for sure!


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## possumfoot (Nov 7, 2006)

KEN W said:


> northerngoosehunter said:
> 
> 
> > Seems to me the ND GFP has a serious problem with the local Canada geese and are willing to do anything to eradicate them. In my opinion the ND GFP does far too much to please the landowners and far too little to please the hunters. Every spring they issue thousands of permits to landowners to destroy nests and keep breeding pairs off wetlands. I just don't understand it. Sure it is possible a farmer is going to loose yields off an acre or two where a breeding pair or molting group spends the summer, but one would think the hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidizes just might compensate for this minor damage.
> ...


Connecticut allows a 15 bird limit and unplugged guns.
That comes from a reliable source. AND we whooped the geese for 6 days. Just got home this am from ND.. easiest hunting I have ever had.
No plug and 15 bird limit, we still could have limited out. could have killed 90% of the birds w/ a 20Ga. and 6 shot. they were close and feet down..


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## Large munsterlander1 (Feb 11, 2008)

Leo Porcello said:


> ND_duckman said:
> 
> 
> > I think some people are writing this season off as unsuccessful in terms of birds harvested WAY too early. The season has been open for five days now&#8230;which is way too soon for the internet experts to be critiquing the season so harshly. It's called hunting for a reason.
> ...


Leo you stole the words right out of my mouth!


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