# North Dakota First Timer



## Br-Okeduckclub (Sep 27, 2012)

Hello all;
I am getting ready for my first ever trip to ND. I am staying in McCluskey Oct 19-26 and would like any advice anyone has to offer on duck hunting - especially what not to do. I just bought a beavertail final attack sneak boat w/camo cover and I am bringing both floaters and field decoys. Does it matter which direction from McCluskey to start scouting? Is much of the private land posted? Any local guides? Thanks in advance.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Don't bust a roost.


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## waterfowl wingnut (Sep 19, 2009)

On BL's note, don't take your sneak boat and setup on a pond that has 5k birds on it. Scout in the evening and hunt fields in the mornings and I guarantee that you will be better off during your trip. If you find a good roost thats holding a ton of birds, you will probably get 2 or 3 good field hunts off those birds. If you take your boat and put it on that pond the first day, plan on spending more on gas to find new birds becuase they are going to peace out of that area. If you still have a limit to fill, find a loaf pond and setup for a early afternoon/evening hunt on the water.

Also, you are going to see posted land but dont get too discouraged since most farmers post it for pheasants and deer. Find the farmstead, ask for permission and be respectful of their land (close gates, fill in blind holes, etc.) and you will be alright for the next 10 trips.

Good luck and enjoy the trip.


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## ValleyHunter (Jun 19, 2012)

my advice...do whatever you gotta do to get as many birds as you can. Fill all your limits. Don't bother or care about people telling you not to bust roosts.


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## snowhunter23 (Mar 2, 2005)

ValleyHunter- Typical kid from litch....


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## NDhunter08 (Aug 28, 2010)

ValleyHunter said:


> my advice...do whatever you gotta do to get as many birds as you can. Fill all your limits. Don't bother or care about people telling you not to bust roosts.


 :shake:


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## shadowman (Mar 10, 2009)

ValleyHunter said:


> my advice...do whatever you gotta do to get as many birds as you can. Fill all your limits. Don't bother or care about people telling you not to bust roosts.


Dumb advice. Like someone said before, find a roost, don't bust it, and you can get a few solid hunts off of it. It will save you money, and you will shoot just as many birds. Go back to Twins Territory Valley boy. GO ORIOLES!


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## HugeBurrito2k6 (Oct 25, 2011)

If all the land is posted up bust that roost with all your might then laugh at everyone who is sitting in there posted fields. Who cares as long as you get your birds.


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## Br-Okeduckclub (Sep 27, 2012)

Thanks for the helpful replies. With the advice received and reading some of the other topics, I'm looking forward to a successful trip. Thanks especially to Chris Hustad, these forums are a better source of useful hunting tips than all other sources I've found combined.
Thanks again.


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## BB (Jan 14, 2004)

> If all the land is posted up bust that roost with all your might then laugh at everyone who is sitting in there posted fields. Who cares as long as you get your birds.


Great advice!
I have seen posted signs that say No Hunting for residents twice in our last 3 trips and I had never encountered one of these before. Who knows, maybe you will have some land to yourself because the farmer doesn't want res hunters on it.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

ValleyHunter said:


> my advice...do whatever you gotta do to get as many birds as you can. Fill all your limits. Don't bother or care about people telling you not to bust roosts.


 :shake:


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

blhunter3 said:


> Don't bust a roost.


Hunting water is the only way I like to duck hunt. You young little boys forget that at one time they didn't have anything but floating decoys. Roost Busting BS is more less made up by little boys who want everyone to hunt like they do.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Its possible to hunt water and not both the roost. I hunt water a few times a year. Just never the roost.


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## rooster_david (May 13, 2010)

As a NR, my advice is to respect and use common courtesy to farmers, land owners, and as well as the land. Asking for permission is part of the scouting. We typically find 5-6 solid spots everyday after we hunt and try to secure it for the following morning. If we get turned down, we say thank you anyways for your time and move on to the next location we have marked. Who knows, you could actually strike up a friendship with a landowner just by simply asking for permission to access his land.

We will be there from Oct 19-28th and I am ready, period!!!

Some of you may not find this comical but I do. Last year we were scouting and were by an area that we had marked the previous year from a landowner that we had met and stayed in touch with. We had found some birds on his land so I called and asked if it was fine if we hunted there. His reply was "I dont have any land in that area". I felt rude but I asked "are you sure", his reply to me was, "oh yeah I forgot Ive got 1,500 acres in that area. Man did we laugh. Who forgets that they own that much ground??

Anyways, good luck on your trip. You will have a blast.


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## Myles J Flaten (Jan 31, 2008)

HugeBurrito2k6 said:


> If all the land is posted up bust that roost with all your might then laugh at everyone who is sitting in there posted fields. Who cares as long as you get your birds.


Are you being serious or instigating?


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## TakeThatDrake (Aug 22, 2010)

I remember when you could get some useful information from this site. That's obviously a thing of the past. I hate when people roost bust as well. There is nothing worse than setting up decoys for an hour, brushing in blinds, just getting settled into your layout blind and you hear that ominous whine of a boat motor heading straight towards a group of resting birds that you scouted for the last 3 days. Instead of trying to teach and inform people how to get the best and most opportunities out of a duck season, I see people get blasted on this website. I've got news for ya... that's not gonna help any. It has nothing to do with which state you reside in either. We are all hunters and we are all on the same team. The other 90% of the world hunts ducks out of a boat over water. You're always gonna see the parade of duck boats. Let's use this website to educate rather than bash every NR that asks for advice. It will pay off in the long run...


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

TakeThatDrake said:


> I remember when you could get some useful information from this site. That's obviously a thing of the past. I hate when people roost bust as well. There is nothing worse than setting up decoys for an hour, brushing in blinds, just getting settled into your layout blind and you hear that ominous whine of a boat motor heading straight towards a group of resting birds that you scouted for the last 3 days. Instead of trying to teach and inform people how to get the best and most opportunities out of a duck season, I see people get blasted on this website. I've got news for ya... that's not gonna help any. It has nothing to do with which state you reside in either. We are all hunters and we are all on the same team. The other 90% of the world hunts ducks out of a boat over water. You're always gonna see the parade of duck boats. Let's use this website to educate rather than bash every NR that asks for advice. It will pay off in the long run...


I'll remain with the "Roost Busting" is BS. Please show me the scientific data that proves your Roost Busting theory. The way you guys talk you would think duck hunting was near nothing back in the day eveyone hunted the water and there was no such thing as a field duck decoy. And no you don't always have to have a boat to do so. In fact I don't use a boat, but I almost always hunt water. For those who like to hunt the water, hunt the way that makes you happy. There is no law stating you can't and their THEORY is just that. "TakeThatDrake" your education you claim about duch hunting is no education just a personal belief on how to hunt. If that is how you enjoy hunting by all means have fun and good luck. For those out of state hunters who like their boats and hunt the water good luck to you also.


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## TakeThatDrake (Aug 22, 2010)

Roost busting is BS??? You obviously havnt scouted ducks very often. I have seen multiple times, a large group of ducks that have been congregating for days, if not a week or more get pushed out by hunting pressure. I'm fine with people hunting water, I hunt water all the time too. Roost busting is when you try to setup/hunt right where(or close enough to spook) a large group of resting birds on the water. You don't need scientific evidence, it's common sense. If there is a large group of birds (500+) that have been resting in the same spot on the shoreline for multiple days, if you take a boat to that location, setup and start shooting. You scare the ducks out of that area. Late season I have seen groups of thousands of birds pick up and fly south(how far it's hard to tell, I've tracked some birds that are leaving several miles). I'm not implying that they are heading south all the time, either way you are disrupting their feeding/resting pattern and they leave! A lot of times messing up hunting opportunities for people that have been scouting those birds for days. At the same time giving other hunters opportunities, but eventually after getting bounced around enough the ducks leave. If your intention is to give people in South Dakota better hunting, by all means pressure the ducks as much as you want. But to think "roost busting" doesn't happen, in other words hunting pressure doesn't effect ducks, your simply an idiot. Of course people have the right to hunt however and where ever they want. Just don't try and setup exactly where the birds are resting... You'll give everybody more hunting opportunities.


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## matt29 (Feb 13, 2009)

Well put takethatdrake. Its especially true when you live/hunt in an area that most birds i am scouting are less than 15 miles from the border already. They dont have to move far to be gone for the season. Dont get me wrong. Im not one of those people that jumps all over someones back the minute they use the word water in a sentence. I occasionally hunt water too, but as stated above it benefits everybody if you can find a way to hunt birds with out disrupting their roosting locations. I think that concept may be hard to grasp for NRs (and i dont want this to turn into a res/nonres thread. I know res bust roosts too) because they are typically not here long enough at one time to see the changes brought on by hunting pressure. Some of them probably know and dont care as long as they get theirs for the five days they are here.


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