# # of non res hunters?



## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

What are the numbers of non res guys your seeing, the boat parade looked as usual friday and saturday but I did not hear that many shots or see that many hunters, there is still many ducks sitting on the little sloughs unmolested? What are you guys seeing?


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

Logan County was a Zoo.......


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Heard maybe 3 gunshots all weekend.


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## Nick Roehl (Mar 7, 2002)

Minn. and Wisc. hunters all over where I hunt. Fricken circus.


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## g/o (Jul 13, 2004)

very disapointed only observed maybe a 1/2 dozen N/R hunters is all. The number of waterfowl hunters are way down in my area.


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## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

Seems like less than usual, its hard to get on around DL so maybe thats why, but there is always a point in which its rediculous I wonder when that will be, I'm guessing 3rd weekend in Oct, teachers weekend. That weekend was unreal last year.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Pressure shifts around too. Some years I'll hunt an area all season without seeing many...the next year it's so bad we leave completely. When a group feels crowded, they move to another. Often many groups in that area move at once, etc. etc. etc.

Anywho, my 2 cents.


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## always_outdoors (Dec 17, 2002)

Buddy in Logan County says they are overloaded. Mn and Wic plates everywhere. Had 22 vehicles stop at the farm on Friday night. Said his steak got cold.

I hunted around DL Saturday and there were plenty of guys out and about. We had plan A, plan B, and plan C and all 3 spots were taken before us. Even left at 5am, but hey that is why they call it "hunting".

Sunday I was down in the Maddock area. Figured I could get away from the commotion here in DL. Plenty of NR's hunting and quite a few residents as well. Very quite from 1pm until 5pm. I was putting deer stands up and never heard a shot after lunch.

I noticed ducks were not sitting in ponds next to the roads and anytime you came by one the ducks were quick to get out. I am not a road hunter or pond jumper, but I like to watch wildlife and try and identify birds by naked eye before putting the binocs up.


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## Eric Hustad (Feb 25, 2002)

Only saw one group and didn't hear any shooting from a few of the places we were hunting......


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## Dave Owens (Nov 11, 2002)

Hunter numbers were down for both residents and non-residents in the area we hunted. Even the 2 bars in town were relativly quiet. Saw only a couple of rigs pulling trailers. Most ponds next to the roads had ducks sitting on them. Vitually all land in the area we hunt is posted and may be a factor along with the price of gas. The posting is the tightest I have seen but the area we hunt is traditionally heavily posted.

The duck numbers are huntable but we never saw a flock of geese on the ground all weekend and we were in traditionally a very goosy area. Crane numbers are down significantly from 2 weeks ago.


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

We saw three other trucks hunting all weekend. 3 trucks from WISCONSIN. Hate to say it but they hunted the roost that we have been shooting birds off of every weekend since the begining of early season. It made it this far, I consider us lucky to get in 15 or so hunts off of it.

It was just funny, because I was telling my buddies as we drove up to it that there will probably be someone on it. I should have bet some deeks on it.

We slept in the field in the trailer. No way someone id beating us to the field!!

We did well inspite of the set back. They went to a smaller roost 3 miles off a gravel road!!!! :lol:


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## FlashBoomSplash (Aug 26, 2005)

The last 3 years have been pretty good around my area but not this year I saw more trucks than ever. I saw a group of guys setting up on a roost Sat. morning and I told them to get out of there before the screw it up for every body. But I was nice and I let them hunt with me in a field. But it is just a joke this year I was thinking about packing it in and trying to hunt something else like grouse or deer. Its just to hard for me I love those ducks.


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## tclark4140 (Aug 8, 2006)

i guess only the licences sold will tell the whole story, we have been up the last 10 years, and have made alot of friends through this time. approx 15 of us wont be making the trip this year from iowa and talking to friens from ill. they to decided not to come. (i know this hurts all of the locals feelings) but we decided to go diver hunting in n minn. Another frien from minn who was in n.d this past weekend, was shocked at the lack of hunters in the field as well at the restraunts/bars. the story according to them is that they spoke with law inforcement2 out of three days and also got the impression that the nr were down noticably. we're going to miss the nd hunt but hope the diver hunt goes well. sounds like fun


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## averyghg (Oct 16, 2006)

i skipped the weekend cause i didn't want to put up with all the crap that we deal with every year. I hated not going out but its nice not having that sour taste in my mouth


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Im with ya avery, skipped this weekend too, went bowhunting. Devils Lake area sounded like downtown Fallujah on a saturday night.

If their not here now, theyll be here later....the NR's that is.


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## shae1986 (Sep 28, 2006)

Was out NW of Bismarck this weekend and didn't see any nonres hunting plates around, all were ND, except for ours :lol:


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## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

Any changes guys, I'm from the DL area, I am seeing a huge reduction in hunters, but there are few birds, this is by far the worst hunting I have had. I drove for 120 miles friday night and didnt see a duck in a field, I think I saw 5 in the air all night. There were some snows but nothing huntable.


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

You probably drove the exact same 120 miles of gravel as every other blue plate, it is extremely difficult to find resident birds in a field that is easily accessible at this point in the season. Either concentrate on some migrators or you need to start looking in some other areas.


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## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

where I live there's posters everywhere, and hunters everywhere, there's only so much access you drive where you can hunt, thanks for implying your a better scouter than me though. We hunted canada for the last four days and saw more hunters in the drive from the border home than we did in the entire four days in CA, and no I didnt drive the same 120 miles every night socuting in CA.


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

WOW Logan county was terrible this weekend. It was worse this weekend, than opener!!!! It would be nice if people spreadout !!!!!!


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

Maverick said:


> WOW Logan county was terrible this weekend. It was worse this weekend, than opener!!!! It would be nice if people spreadout !!!!!!


I have a feeling they _*were*_ spread out... Problem is more guys are coming every year and ruining the experience for the long time local. There is only so many roosting waters, available crop fields, and potential hunting spots. We've reached a point of oversaturation....

It will only get worse until the residents get on the same page and start an iniative to set a hard cap.

If only northern ND saw that much pressure, we'd have the entire state on board.

Ryan


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## dosch (May 20, 2003)

> If only northern ND saw that much pressure, we'd have the entire state on board.


It prolly does!!


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## always_outdoors (Dec 17, 2002)

I was in Logan County over the weekend. It was like "shock and awe" there. I even visited the local taverns and they said this was by far the hardest they have been hit.

Saw mostly upland hunters chasing the pheasant. Not many ducks around. Saw one flock of snows coming back up north.

I don't think it was all NR's though. Saw lots of ND plates running around. Lots of road hunters in the mornings (I was staying at a farm) and posters didn't seem to stop them.


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

dosch said:


> > If only northern ND saw that much pressure, we'd have the entire state on board.
> 
> 
> It prolly does!!


Trust me, it DOES!


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## itchy (Aug 15, 2006)

I understand your frustrations with pressure, but you are not alone. In Rochester most fields (and those just on the line) are leased by guide services. It is very difficult to find a spot to goose hunt. We are lucky in that we know a few land owners that won't lease their land, but for the most part, fields are not available. At least in ND we can spot birds in the field and hunt them. This is not a possbility in Rochester. These same GS lease land in N Mn as well.


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

We covered a big area of central ND.Hunter numbers were huge and landowner tolerance is going down hill. One landowner said he recieves 6 calls a day on average for hunting permission. 
All of the roosts I have found over the years were jumped this weekend.
Saturday evening I threw in the towel and went home. It just wasnt worth the hassel.


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## dosch (May 20, 2003)

> Saturday evening I threw in the towel and went home. It just wasnt worth the hassel.


Exactly what some friends in the DL are saying too!! It's not supposed to be a stressful event but that's what it has become.


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

SE nodak was tough. there were vehicles in anything not posted and most posted fields.

on a side note, I was very upset at some guys when i was driving home thursday afternoon. 4 hunters had asked one of my friends to hunt, he granted them permission. They proceded to park just off the of the road and disrupt the corn hauling operation back and forth from the field. They also had a guy walking on the county road.

Take it from me, it is not a good idea to park on the shoulder that is frequented by farm traffic. It is very disruptive and also dangerous for a truck with a full load to pull onto the shoulder. Do the courteous thing. If you are driving pull over or pull of the road if you can. If you are hunting PULL YOUR VEHICLE OFF THE ROAD! I goes along way in geting permission from landowners.


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

mallard said:


> We covered a big area of central ND.Hunter numbers were huge and landowner tolerance is going down hill. One landowner said he recieves 6 calls a day on average for hunting permission.
> All of the roosts I have found over the years were jumped this weekend.
> Saturday evening I threw in the towel and went home. It just wasnt worth the hassel.


Over the weekend a news story was posted that was the beginning of the end for hunting as we know it.

This pressure combined with this new approach to leasing land quickly and easily will lock everyone out within 2 years.

Go read it here:

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/vie ... p?p=348813

Ryan


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Good post Ryan, although I didnt need to read that article to tell you thats whats going to happen.

Some people need an eye opener to the drastic nature of this dilema.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

> At least in ND we can spot birds in the field and hunt them.


For Now!!!!!! :eyeroll:


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

I posted this in another thread also

When the PLOTS program started Governor Hoeven's original goal was to get one million acres enrolled into the program. Now that this goal has been reached where do we go from here? I like the idea of an access stamp but we already have/had a program in ND that with a little tweaking could be a great way to unite rural and urban hunters instead of constantly pitting them against each other.

Community PLOTS.

The program was developed by the legislature as a means of increasing hunter opportunity by involving communities, local sportsmen and landowners into a pact to open land and pay the landowner more than the current going rate for regular PLOTS land. The community and local sportsmen were required to raise funds and secure landowners willing to enter the program and the funds were matched by NDGF. So if the going rate for PLOTS land is three bucks an acre they had the ability to raise enough funds to pay twice that and more if they worked hard enough at it. At the onset of the program I was pretty excited about the possibilities and was willing to work with a community to raise funds in Fargo that could be given to the community as a donation toward the project. I was basically told to "butt out" because that was not the intent of the program. The intent was to get local businesses to take ownership and donate the money. IMO it was a failed effort from the start and only one "community PLOTS" parcel was established, I think spite had something to do with it.

Now let's look at the program with an Urban/Rural cooperative.

Sportsmen from urban/rural areas and sportsmen's clubs throughout the state could work with community leaders to raise funds from business leaders in the metro areas as well as local communities. If the target is $8.00 per acre to give to the landowner the total funds required to pay a landowner for 640 acres of land access with habitat would be $5,120.00 split that between urban and rural and the fundraising becomes a little more feasible compared to trying to get the same amount from 3, 4 or 5 businesses in a small rural community. Now incorporate a fund matching payment from the NDGF and there is a real possibility of paying a landowner $10.00 or more for good accessible land with the landowner being able to at least get enough money to help with or even pay the taxes on the land. The stipulation of no special opportunity to use the land for those donating would have to be a platform in the program and IMO it should be open to residents and nonresidents, if funds were raised by NR's willing to engage in the program.

Just a little food for thought.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Bob, Is that something your group coudl spearhead or is that more than they could take on politically speaking????


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

I'm kickin it around with a few of the guys. It is gonna be an uphill battle. NDGF has said many times that they do not want PLOTS to be the only source of access and I am afraid they may look at this in that light. They (NDGF) stress the importance of asking permission from landowners and I agree it is very important. I just feel this has a lot of potential on several levels.

Take Care

Bob


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