# Kyle Blanchfield



## N2DUXS (Oct 5, 2004)

Does anyone know a Kyle Blanchfield in the Devils Lake area. I found out last night that he has leased some property west of town that I had previously hunted on (several years ago). I spoke with the farmer last night and he said he leased his property to Kyle who is a guide. The farmer said that Kyle might let us on if he wasn't going to be in the area and wasn't planning on hunting on his property. Our group is coming up next Friday and just wanted to see if someone knew Kyle and if there was a way to contact him. I just wanted to try to reach out to him before we headed up and introduce myself. Not looking to hire him as a guide because we freelance and I know how most of the residents feel about this topic.

I hope this doesn't get out of hand and this thread gets locked, but any help would be appreciated.

I'm not relying soley on this farmer for my trip as we have made some good friendships with several other farmers in the area, but the more permission I have, the merrier.

In all honesty, I don't really blame the farmer for leasing out his property as it is a nice little extra change in his pockets and I will still buy him a beer or two when I am in town.

Thanks for all your help.


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## dosch (May 20, 2003)

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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Kyle owns Woodland Resort on Devils Lake.


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## deacon (Sep 12, 2003)

If that is the case, no more staying at Woodland. :eyeroll:


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Kyle has been in business for many years and obviously for his clients to have consistent hunting nowadays he ties up the "good stuff". I wish I could pull up the old FBO site when Kyle told me he would never lease land and wouldn't have to b/c he has enough land in the family. But of course, that was about 6 years ago and things have changed.

There are complaints about their wide-scale leasing on the site every fall so I figured it'd only be a matter of time.


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## N2DUXS (Oct 5, 2004)

Sorry Chris....didn't want to start any trouble. Feel free to lock thread if you so desire...I already received the information I need. Thanks for all the help guys. Can't wait to get up there next Friday.


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

Give Kyle some credit. He is a good salesmen. Salesmen make money selling blue sky and he sold a lot of it.

One need only follow the interest to see where things will continue to go. As long as guides can make money by leasing land they will continue to do so. No matter what may come out of their mouth you know what is going to happen.

Follow the money. Why does Kyle let people on when he isn't hunting? Its good for the long term profitability of his business. Not out of the goodness of his heart. Everytime someone gets to hunt some land he has leased. They think to themselves. "He can't be a bad guy. He let us hunt one of his leases." Another person who won't get involved.

It's brilliant psychology but don't be fooled.


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## dosch (May 20, 2003)

> > Give Kyle some credit. He is a good salesmen. Salesmen make money selling blue sky and he sold a lot of it.
> >
> > One need only follow the interest to see where things will continue to go. As long as guides can make money by leasing land they will continue to do so. No matter what may come out of their mouth you know what is going to happen.
> >
> > ...


Excellent post GG I've seen the results first hand and that's exactly what was said by the people that hunted his lease.It's just too bad that when people get desperate they will do anything to shoot a duck.


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## N2DUXS (Oct 5, 2004)

So, your suggessting that I don't even bother calling him or hunting this guys land even if KB goes ahead and gives me permission?


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Truth is you will be hunting some good land if you do. You really don't need to though. If you are willing to put in the time there is enough stuff to find birds on, even in the locked up areas like Devils Lake. Might shoot a few less ducks but what the heck, if you are here for a few days, who cares???


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

Growing up in the DL area I knew of KB, I did not realize he was now a waterfowl guide; just big into Woodland Resort and fishing back in the early 80's, interesting.....


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## Booster (Sep 8, 2003)

I have been hunting around the DL area since I was a kid. It all started when I was a Freshman in High School when KB and the rest of the g/o started taking all of the land that I didn't even need permission for in the past. If you are in out of stater you should probably just pay him to hunt because if you plan on hunting around the DL area you are not going to get on to any land without his permission. He pretty much has everything tied up exspecially around the Leeds, Harlow area. Hope this helps.


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## gonefshn (Oct 22, 2003)

Kyle runs a good business and does what's needed. If you're guiding you can't afford hunt on land that isn't posted. On the fishingbuddy site a person listed a prime example of what happens when you hunt on unposted land. Another group set up in the same field and screwed it up for the person making the post. In the past when Kyle and them started they would often hunt on non-posted land. But soon learned that when you have three or more guys with you who are paying good money for a hunt and then getting to the field only to find someone got up earlier than you and beat you there doesn't look very good to your clients. I too hate to see all the land leased up. But it's happened in every other state and was just a matter of time before we started to see it too. At least Kyle and his crew share their income with the landowners. I don't think all guides in the DL area do this. And, don't be afraid to ask to hunt land he's posted. If they're not hunting it, he usually will let you. I don't think there's many others who'd lease land and then let a stranger hunt it. You have to give him some credit for that....


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## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

Kyle is a good businessman....

He is not the only guide, he has at least two other guides working underneath him. Lets get one thing strait Kyle does not pay good money for most of the land he leases, some of the younger farmers that understand how much money he makes, and wont lease but charge him 200 bucks a hunt, but he is and has paid $150 a gun to hunt on someone elses private land. Most time he only pays when he hunts and its a minimal fee. He has the land tied up most of the year. He controls land from Devils Lake west to Rugby. Most of the land he leases he is not hunting, he is saving it for late in the year because he fears the ducks will get decoy shy because of the new limits. Those words came from Mike Schells mouth. He is bad for the sport and he is single handedly wrecking the hunting and the tourism industry in Devils Lake. The combination of birds moving out early and his posting of thousands of acres leaves very little places for anyone to hunt in Devils Lake anymore, even for the residents who know landowners. It is nearly impossible to outscout someone on friday night who has been driving around all week.

Maybe I shouldnt blame Kyle maybe I should blame all the people who have no desire to hunt and just want too shoot. I work for the farmer who farms half of the acres Kyle had originally leased. The landowner is very generous and if Kyle did not marry into the family, access to that land would be granted to anyone that asks. Kyle told him that if I or any of his boys ever wanted to go hunting we could go with him, maybe I should sell all my stuff and let Kyle do what he does best :lol:


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

KB has also chaired the ND Professional Guides and Outfitters Asc. Interesting that KB testifies before the legislature that there is plenty of good hunting ground available for hunters. Hunting pressure is not a problem according to him. And why lease if that's the case?  Sort of HPC in reverse.


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

Booster said:


> I have been hunting around the DL area since I was a kid. It all started when I was a Freshman in High School when KB and the rest of the g/o started taking all of the land that I didn't even need permission for in the past. If you are in out of stater you should probably just pay him to hunt because if you plan on hunting around the DL area you are not going to get on to any land without his permission. He pretty much has everything tied up exspecially around the Leeds, Harlow area. Hope this helps.


Booster,I am not sure if it is KB or other guides that have been posting land they have no right to post in the Leed's area.The local boys at the pub in Leeds were pretty steamed about that.


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

If KB "works" the land from DL to Rugby, that would not include the Leeds area, correct? Leeds is the opposite direction. I am not trying to be a smartass, I am just honestly trying to understand.


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

Dick, thats a very good way of looking at it. Very interesting

Mossy, I think you are thinking Lakota, Leeds is between DL and Rugby.


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

dblkluk
You read my backwards thinking mind, thanks for straightening my thinking out. :beer:


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Dick is absolutely correct once again.I have seen the DL people testify against a cap in Bismarck.G/O are all practicimg HPC.They don't let as many on as possible because that would be crazy.Yet they won't allow the state to practice the same exact thing on a larger scale.

As far as I'm concerned....they are nothing but modern day market hunters out only for themselves.


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## MRN (Apr 1, 2002)

water_swater said:


> maybe I should sell all my stuff and let Kyle do what he does best :lol:


Personally, I'd prefer to go hunting rather than have someone blow hot air up my butt, but to each their own.... 

M.


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## dosch (May 20, 2003)

So very true.....finally a good topic on Nodak it's been a while!


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## bioman (Mar 1, 2002)

From a story online:



> Market hunters could make a good living before bag limits by shipping the game birds by rail to distant urban restaurants where they were prized fare. Market hunters sometimes earned $1.25 per mallard pair and 15 to 50 cents for smaller ducks (more if they were plucked). In 1865, the first Illinois waterfowl season was established. In 1881, game was made the property of the state. Stories abound of huge takes of ducks by market hunters around 1900, such as the report of three market hunters taking 3,008 ducks in eight days near Bath, Illinois in 1901.


The highlighted sentence above is even more true today. If a market hunter is charging $150 per gun, then he can basically get $25 per bird for a six bird limit. I guess you can chalk up that increase to inflation.


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