# NE SD snows



## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

Geese are starting to pile up in the NE SD area, tons around the Watertown area from what I am hearing. Talked to a buddy who said they got into them this pretty good this morning. Im still in Fargo, but tomorrow I will be back home chasing them around. Hopefully that NE wind they promise for the next week comes through to slow them down a little.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

It's just the strangest thing. I keep hearing about high flying snows going north...but everything must be stopping in N. SD. We were out all weekend in S. and SE ND and only saw only flock of 2-300 at about 3:30 on Sunday afternoon.

There is no snow to speak of and the small to medium sized sloughs are opening up, some completely.

I still can't believe we didn't get any scout flocks today?


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

All that I can say is, it might be over by this weekend, unless we get snow somewhere in the state. I cant believe we anly saw one flock!


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

Where where you at today Chis. My mother inlaw said she say snows feeding around the kulm and Jud area this morning, and say lots of flocks in the air until she got east of Valley City. I was working all weekend so I am only relaying what she had said this evening.


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## FACE (Mar 10, 2003)

I JUST GOT BACK FROM SD AND THE HUNTING WASNT THAT GREAT!
Started around Lake Andes, about 100 birds on the sheet water and tens of thousands flying hundreds and hundreds of yards high and not stopping anywhere soon. shot two aroun a small pothole by Armour,SD on Sat. afternoon. Drove up to Huron,SD and seen hundreds of thousands more still flying north so decided to work my way back towards MN on hiway 14,stopped in Lake preston where I duck hunt and thats where they were!!! :lol: shot two pass shooting and then worked a favorite pothole that I hunt ducks on (the honey hole!) for some reason small flocks wanted to land there :-? anyway without setting decoys I ended up getting nine more in about a half hour. then headed home. geese seemed to be stuck soth of the watertown area especialy around the Lake preston area but who knows for how long? about 6-8 inches of sheet water on large potholes.


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## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

That is strange Chris. Yesterday there were very few snows to speak of around the Watertown area according to my sources. Today they were thick and apparently not many south. They seem to be moving fast and I was sure that you guys would have gotten into some today. There seems to be alot of differing reports. So are there still geese in Nebraska? Are there two huge groups this year? All I know is that by tomorrow afternoon, I will know what it looks like around Watertown. North wind tonight and its cloudy, hopefully it slows down the migration some. I really hope its not a four day deal. By the way my buddies were west of Watertown


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

We were around the Tewakon area. Considering that we didn't see any on Saturday, we pretty much gave up on Sunday....than I came home and the Mississippi and Central Flyways were both on heavy migrate mode all heading for the northern end of SD. So I figured we'd be perfectly set. We picked up at 3:00 and had not seen any snows...not one??? We headed west a bit towards Forman to drop off the trailer and saw one flock...and it was headed south? We never saw the Oakes area today, so I wouldn't doubt if some moved up that corridor...and there's been a couple reports now of them moving out west of HW 281.

The timing this year is horrible. Southern ND is wide open in my opinion, there's plenty of water open where we were. I wonder if the weather this week will slow it down (conflicting forcasts), but I really don't know if they'll stop or not. It looks an awful like the migration of a couple years ago.

It's unfortunate to give it a weekend and not get a chance at one flock. :lame:


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

Just got back from SD as well and all I can say is WOW! The geese are really, really bookin' north! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the storm that's supposed to roll through on Wednesday will dump some snow and slow the SOB's down.


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

Can anyone see my picture or is everyone else getting the red 'X' too?


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

It's probably SDH. My guess is they don't allow exporting images from outside their site.

Post it on the Photo Gallery.


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

There we go...I forgot about SDH. :roll:

Then again I also forgot about the photo gallery on here! I'll definitely have to remember to use in the future. Hopefully the near future!!! :beer:


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## FACE (Mar 10, 2003)

QUESTION FOR ANYBODY... MY WIFE WAS CHECKING OUT MY GEESE AND INSISTS SHE WANTS A SNOW AND BLUE TAXIDERMIED. NOW I HAVE ONE OF EACH THAT ARE QUITE LARGE AND NEAR PERFECT FEATHERS THAT ARE NOT SHOT UP BUT I WAS WONDERING... DO ALL SNOWS HAVE A TINGE OF ORANGE ON THEIR HEAD FEATHERS? I HAVE HUNTED FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS AND EVERY GOOSE I HAVE SHOT SEEMED TO HAVE SOME. I FIGURED THAT THEY SHOULD BE ALL WHITE!
THANKS IN ADVANCE.


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## Austin Bachmeier (Feb 27, 2002)

From what I've heard, most of the mature ones are stained from feeding in the fields and marshes down south.


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

The feathers aren't actually orange, but get dyed that way from feeding down south or on the tundra. Not all have it, about half of the birds we shot this past weekend didn't. As for mounting goes it's up to you. Some guys like it, some guys don't.


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## FACE (Mar 10, 2003)

hey guys thanks for the info, i guess if that is what i wild goose looks like then why not have an authentic looking mount?!!!! anyway hope you all have a successful hunt!!!! :beer: i was planning on one more trip later but the soonest i could get away from work is this coming friday and the way it sounds is that CANADA IS JUST TO FAR AWAY FOR ME JUST FOR SOME WHITE BIRDS!!! besides.... there is always trout fishing!


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## 870 XPRS (Mar 12, 2003)

Put on around 400 miles today scouting Northen SD and SE Nd and saw around 150 birds. Obviously birds are skeptical about heading north extremely fast. From what i've seen the past few days however, (not today, which would be sunday) the birds are getting high and flying north, but just heading back south a few hrs. later. All the birds i've seen have been roosting on frozen over ponds. The weather forecasts for the dakotas from the weather channel tend to point to birds migrating 3/4 of the way through monday and holding their position for at least a week until the conditions become more favorable. Historically in the spring the sob's haven't hit ND until the last week of march/ the first week of april. This is obviously due to the snowlines, but the snowline in ND is obviously at 94 at least or farther north by now. My trigger finger is getting really antsy. Birds better be in ND by tomorrow afternoon or i'm gonna go into a depression. haha :beer: Anyways, i'm on spring break right now, so i'll be putting on the miles tomorrow as well and will give you a KILL report hopefully.

870's forever


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

Friday Im headingout with Hustad, hopefully we can put out the huge spread we have been working on this spring. Im ready to put the smackdown on these snows. We found a sweat spot for the spread , can drive the trailer right up to the water hole. No lugging dekes for 300 yards. We will be high and dry with Snows fallin form the sky. Bring it on sky carp!!


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

Oh yeah NICE picture Jonesor!!!


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## bioman (Mar 1, 2002)

Face:

Matt is right, in the Pacific Flyway, you will rarely see any 'red' on the bird. Just so you know, the 'red' is actually iron that is in a reduced state. Without a lot of detail, soils saturated for long or very long periods of time will usually exhibit reducing conditions (hope you remember your chemistry). Under these conditions, ions of iron are transformed from a ferric valence state to a ferrous valence state. Or in simplistic terms, the 'red' color comes from the iron in the soil that is under anaerobic (no oxygen) conditions.

The sandhill crane is a classic example of this coloring. The bird is actually all grey (except for the eye patch), and during the breeding season, they cover their feathers in mud. As a result, the reduced iron from the soil 'stains' their feathers and produces the 'red' color. Hope this helps :beer:


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## FACE (Mar 10, 2003)

Just got back from SD and the birds are everywhere!!! Try from plankington to lake preston. thousands all over! just watch out for MN hunters...they are everywhere too!!!!
have fun :lol:


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## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

Well it was a fun week. We ended up gettin quite a few, and the cold and fog made them hang around longer than they wanted to. The fog made for some great mornings of shooting if you knew where the birds were. Its too bad that they are goin straight through ND. Good luck guys and hopefully you get a few days in.


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