# Dose of reality and a ?



## itchy (Aug 15, 2006)

Just got back from our 7 day trip to ND for duck hunting. Wow! Seeing the drought conditions was an eye opener. Potholes that were dried up and some big bodies of water that we knew of were gone, unbelievable. Potholes that were left, that normally held ducks, didn't.

Saw maybe 10% of the ducks we normally see where we go. When scouting prior years we would see multiple flocks of 500+ ducks to follow, this year saw a few groups of 30-50. Saw lots of geese. Found one pothole with 500+ mallards on it, followed them to field they were using to feed, set up there the next day, most came in just prior to shooting time. It took some will power to watch the only decent group fly away. Had 2 hens decoy perfectly, landed 4 feet in front of my blind. It was really tempting to set up on that pothole the next day, but we left it alone. Maybe somebody else will have better luck.

Found one posted field with lots of geese, asked for permission, when I told him we field hunted he said yes. He told me everyday, he would see a truck at the end of the drive watching the birds pour in, and nobody asked for permission (he posts it for deer hunting). Glad I asked!

Everyday we put birds (geese) to bed and set up where they had been the day before. Everyday the dang wind changed and we didn't have the same number show up, if at all. It was frustrating, to say the least.

We still booked our rental house for next year :-?

My question is: 
This is the first time he hunted when the moon was full. It seemed that the birds were out feeding all night by the moonlight and not going out in the morning. Has anyone else experienced this? Or was it just the wind change everyday. When the cold front moved in (along with cloud cover) we limited out.


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

Yes it seemed like the birds were feeding at night with the full moon. More than normal. Your not a lone in finding a field full and in the morning they are no shows. Its been a strange season but still very enjoyable!


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

Yeah no kidding you are not alone! The little geese typically will do it more often then the big geese. I really hate it when you set up in a field for a afternoon shoot and ducks dont come to the until after shooting light.


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## duckslayer (Oct 30, 2003)

We set up in a corn field this morning that had about 700 or so ducks that we seen and about 500 snows with a few canadas. Never even got a shot at a duck this morning. Hardly even seen any. Ended up shooting 14 snows and a few sharpy's though.


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## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

you seem to blame the lack of ducks on the lack of water, most residents expecially this one will tell you there were thousands of ducks everywhere up to the middle/end of oct. I can honestly say that I saw no more than half the ducks the friday night before the NR opener than I saw scouting the samer ares during the youth season, its odd still roosting water, PLENTY of feed, hailed out fields, but way less ducks.


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## Zekeland (Oct 6, 2005)

I would have to say the north front moved new & old birds right through your area. We lost a ton of birds last week during the front. Some of those winds were howling more than 60 km/hr. I would guess a lot of them hit the high road and took advantage of the free ride!!!!!

Over half of the water is frozen up here!!


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## SJB (Jul 2, 2003)

My son and I just returned from ND. We saw the same thing. The corn fields are between knee and waist high. The sunflowers nomally six to eight feet tall were about four feet on an average. The drought took a toll on the farmers no doubt. We saw about 20% of the ducks from previous years. There is much less roosting water. I am not a person who would discourage anyone but that was the reality. Incidentally, we logged about 800 miles of scouting in the seven days we were there.


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

water_swater said:


> you seem to blame the lack of ducks on the lack of water, most residents expecially this one will tell you there were thousands of ducks everywhere up to the middle/end of oct. I can honestly say that I saw no more than half the ducks the friday night before the NR opener than I saw scouting the samer ares during the youth season, its odd still roosting water, PLENTY of feed, hailed out fields, but way less ducks.


Did you mean Sept instead of Oct?

I saw the same in MB 2-3 weeks ago, not near the #s of ducks as normally seen. I believe they transmigrated to better water conditions.

MN has seen one of the best 1st 2 weeks of the season in mnay years. Fair to great reports throughout the State. Boys I think they headed East. And others like in CA, maybe headed north and east to where water was more abundant.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

> Everyday we put birds (geese) to bed and set up where they had been the day before. Everyday the dang wind changed and we didn't have the same number show up, if at all. It was frustrating, to say the least.


I have notice increasingly more occassions when the geese are feeding in different field mornings and evenings. Hunt the evening spot in the morning or mornig spot in the evening and you may be out of luck.


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