# OPENER!!



## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

IT IS FINALLY HERE!!!

One hour to go! Best of luck to all. Enjoy the day, be tolerant of others, be safe, shoot well, take the next generation and for goodness sake - HAVE FUN!

Let's hear some reports when you get in! Especially that SW and NW corner of the state, I hope the storm wasn't as bad on the birds as it has been sounding.

WAAAAAAAAAAHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I'm off to load up the truck!


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Good day, pleasent temps if a bit windy. Hit the field about 11am. Lots of hunters out and about and saw kids along which was refreshing. Heard a good number of shots. Also saw a number of Ask Before You Enter signs, a new PLOTS that was posted last year, and a fair bit of open land.  Someone has a heart!

Sam did pretty good for a pup. The pheasants pulled the "slide out the side" as usual and he would point and scoot, point and scoot. Worked out nicely, I could walk beside him. Bumped 5 hens, a rooster chick and I do mean chick and 2 colored roosters. Plus 2 grouse in cattails. Surprised there. Then my feet gave out and it was time for a cheese burger. Lots of corn and beans left to harvest in the area. Both roosters were beside a corn field but had soybeans in their crops.

Am going to send Bobm a shopping bag of cattail fuzz. He doesn't believe it can impair shooting.


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## fishunt (Jan 24, 2004)

great opener and got limited pheasants and saw soooo many canada geese mix with SNOW GEESE!!!! I took a pictures


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## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

Good and bad. The good was we had a good dayof hunting, we got our limit of 18 birds in the morning. My dog made some really nice points and we made some nice shots. We also had some pretty bad misses. On one of the nicer points my dog made my dad walked right up behind the dog, the bird flushed and flew back at my dad, he got so turned around trying to track that bird I thought he was a cork screw.

Now the bad. I have never seen this many people out in the field before in my life. I saw people because some of what I saw today was not hunting. We had three groups of trespassing. One of them was on one of our prime areas. I was so ****** when I pull up to one of our corn fields and there is a group of five guys walking it. They were a about a quarter of the way into it when we caught them. One of the guys was a friend of my college room mate and had hunted our place a couple of years ago and figured that it would just be ok to go a head and hunt. For some reason his truck looked familiar and when I saw the MN plate I just knew it was the same guy. He even had the guts last time he was out here to try and go behind the others guys and get permision. To be fair the other guys thought that they did have permision and were pretty ****** at him for trying to pull this and said that they were sorry a couple of times.

The next two idiots were even better. They saw a couple of birds in the ditch and bailed out after them. Little did they know was that we were only a couple hundred yards behind them. I let my brother handle these guys. But when we were done with our walk we walking back on the road here they come tearing down the road and instead of slowing down or moving over they held there line and just sprayed us with gravel and dust. I mean come on 6 guys and 3 dogs walking down a gravel road you would think that they would slow down or move over a little but, not these two idiots. Sorry for making this so long but I had to vent a little.

Over all we had a lot of fun but I just get tired of having to be a traffic cop out there when I just want to go hunting. I hope every body else had a good day of hunting.


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## zettler (Sep 7, 2002)

Just goes to show you, there are jerks in every state... :roll:


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## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

ND Decoy
It sounds like you did not call the wardon. You need to press charges on these guys. You do not even have to talk to them. Take a picture of there plates and them on your land and call the wardon, let them do there job. No one else will have to deal with them for a year. I have some land owner friends in the Ashley area that met with wardons this year becuase they are sick and tried of this cap and are not taking it anymore.


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## DonC (Oct 9, 2005)

Dick what do u mean by open land ?????????


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## goldhunter470 (Feb 25, 2005)

> Dick what do u mean by open land ?????????


I believe he means land that is private but not posted. I'm not sure about Idaho, but in ND if land is not posted as "no hunting", it is open to the general public.


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## DonC (Oct 9, 2005)

Thanks goldhunter. I thought that was what he was talking about just wanted to make sure. Thought I might being missing something.


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## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

Drakekiller,

Your right I didn't call the warden. I thought about it, and in the end I just decided not to. Maybe we should have. My biggest concern is pressing charges on some body and then all of a sudden the guy who rents our land has a bullet hole in one of the combines. About 10 years ago we had two cows shot.

Zettler,

Your also right there are jerks from every state. I will say this, we do have more trouble with out of state hunters than we do with locals. But we do have a good group of guys from MN, that come out to our place every year. We got to know them from hunting. They just asked for permision one day and we got to talking and became friends over the past 7-8 years. The one thing about the out of state guys is that most of them are a lot more thankful when you give them permision.


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## zettler (Sep 7, 2002)

I have been extremely lucky with people in ND. Most I have met from there have been extremely nice, overly hospitable and generous. To the best of my memory the primary ones I recall having isses with (but then so did everyone) were a family in McHenry County. I think many of the good ones - and there are many - from out-of-state are surprised when they finally meet ND residents. They are so use to beeing treated poorly and not being able to get permission that they are shocked when things go so well....just my 2 cents.

On the other hand, there are real game hogs and outlaws wherever you go! :sniper:

Either way, sorry to hear/read of your past experiences.


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Fantastic opener!!!

Got to hunt with my son and grandson (5 years old, no gun but what a trooper) both of my brothers, brother in law and some old friends. One full of memories for sure. Got our birds, blue sky, perfect temps, GREAT dogs! and a night sky full of stars around the fire pit!!!! Guys it don't get any better!!!!

Bob


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

Once again a great opener. Lots of birds and beautiful weather. 
The only thing that concerns me is the amount of winter habitat that was destroyed by the heavy wet snow in parts of the state. 
Many of the tall CRP fields and cattail sloughs have been flattened in our area. It could be tough winter for alot of the critters out there.


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

Sure was great to be back in the field! DJ , my dog also thought that it was great to have a bird in his mouth again. My son came back for the opener and brought a college roommate who was a "scissorbill" so we showed him how to act like a local on the "prarie ghetto!' He had not done much hunting for wild birds so when we first started out Sat. morning and the first bird got up he cranked off a shot and missed we had to explain to him that we don't shoot hens!!!! The next two birds were roosters and he dropped both of those and things went well after that! We were done in less than an hour so it was more like killing than hunting. The second day we got to hunt until noon as the birds were more scattered but that is what it is all about.. We got some great pictures for the memory book and if I wasn't old style with my Canon AE1 I would have some digital to show. It was great to get out again. Lots of posted land in the area. Plenty of cover and lots of crop yet to come off so the hunting will be good all season unless we get a "big one" like they had out north and west. DJ my 12 year old springer was a trooper and all the preseason conditioning I did with him payed off. He doesn't cover the ground like he used to but with all that field experience he isn't going to be out "foxed by the cocks" either. He has retrieved over 400 cocks in the last three years so he knows the business. The birds were hanging real tight so slow was the way to go anyway. Thanks again to the North Dakota landowners for the opportunity to enjoy and it will be a great year to be outdoors.


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## zettler (Sep 7, 2002)

DJRooster said:


> Thanks again to the North Dakota landowners for the opportunity to enjoy and it will be a great year to be outdoors.


That is great close to an excellent story!


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## mburgess (Aug 11, 2003)

Put in some miles and got five roosters this weekend. Hunted some stuff that has been productive the last few years and just wasn't moving the number of birds I expected? I maybe moved 5 hens over the weekend. Dog worked well, had a really nice retrieve that the rooster had a good 150-200 yard head start and high tailed it into some uncut corn. Took him a good 5-10 minutes but that persistant little Brit caught him in the corn and he ended up being supper last night. The one thing with my dog, if it is a blind retrieve sometimes I don't think he gives it a 100%, but if he sees a bird go down he is a persistant little bugger (the prey drive really kicks in). I sure love this time of the year!


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

One thing about hunting cocks is you can hunt the roost and never get in trouble. Suppose you could even bring a boat and nobody would care but you would probably hunting by yourself because people would be a little leary of you! Although, come to think of it you needed a boat to hunt Mallard Island but maybe it is no longer an island?


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

A great hunt this weekend, but I have never had to work so hard to get to the birds before! All the shelterbelts and cattails were drifted in, in some places as much as five feet. After the first half-mile down the first shelterbelt I was acutely aware that I am now in my fifties, and need to pace myself more carefully. The cockers were good, but kept getting high-centered in the drifts. I was laughing so hard watching Fat Max trying to get through a drift after a runner, that I nearly forgot to shoot the bird again. I feel pretty bad about giving the dogs haircuts two weeks ago, but with the way the weather has been the past few years, I thought I was doing them a favor. Sam wasn't really herself all weekend, probably from being wet all the time. She was sick a half dozen times last night after we got home, but is fine and eating well today. I guess the highlight would have to be watching Fat Max bust through slushy ice to make a water retrieve (with a whole lot of encouragement). I would never in a million years bet she would have got that one! We did find some dead birds and I would be willing to bet there will be lots more found if/when the snow melts. I'm really grateful for the opportunities that we have in ND and treasure every minute that I can spend hunting with my family. It really doesn't get any better than this. Burl


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## Jiffy (Apr 22, 2005)

4 guys, 2 dogs, 2 days of hunting and 24 pheasants. We were done in time to go back and have brunch both days. Heres the kicker.....we only saw 1 other group hunting/driving around for both days.

Damn I love my state.....oh yah, if you have not figured it out yet. We were not in Mott!!!!!! :lol:

There are TONS of birds out there guys!! All over the state. Just dont miss the ones you see...... :wink: Take care!!!


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

I got skunked...literaly! My Lil' Abby came on a point, which she does occasionally...Only this time her tail wasn't moving...I moved in and got a blast, so I gave it a blast...So we both got Tomato juice baths.(2nd year in a row) You should have seen the look I got from some ol' lady as I was dumping tomato juice on my yellow Lab at the V.C. car wash. But, I'm a 1/2 glass full kind of guy. 
As far as the birds go...We really had to work, but we managed to get our 6 birds(2 of us) both Saturday & Sunday...But with most of the crops up and all of the hunting pressure(unlike jiffy we had a ton & we weren't in Mott either) The birds seemed to get educated very quick. We also hunted Monday, with less pressure, but fewer birds as well. Only managed to get a few. Couldn't believe how smart the roosters were yesterday. We had them double-backing on us and flushing 100 yards in front of us. I think part of the problem was that I got a B- effort from my dog who was tuckered out and probably still smelling skunk and my hunting parter gave me a D effort as the walks in the cattails were catching up to him. Overall, Great weekend. Love this state! Can't wait for the late season. Need some Ice on those sloughs!


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Had a good hunt.Good numbers of birds,but smaller groups.No walking into a CRP field and seeing hundreds get up.Roosters were still not fully colored.They must have had a kill on the first hatch because of a wet cool June and July.Second hatch not as big.Almost all the roosters still showed some white feathers on the breast and quite a few were barely colored at all.

Birds sat very tight.Without my GWP we would have walked by a lot of them.


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

Opener was good I got out at 6:30 P.M. and had my birds by 7:00. I went out with 5 guy's on sun and my two dog's. On the way to our spot we were about 100 yards from where we were going to park and a nice 4x4 ran out and got a chevy bow tie embedded in it's side. That was a bad start to the day, but we ended with 15 nice roosters and a deer. I have got my limit all 4 day's of the season. I have gone out both yesterday and today and got my birds in an hour or less.


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