# Early season Honks



## taykem (Nov 28, 2013)

Is it just me or are the honkers a little more scarce this year than last year?


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

taykem said:


> Is it just me or are the honkers a little more scarce this year than last year?


It's because they're hunted early when still in family flocks. They're much warier now than later one.

If we'd wait to open the season until Sept. 1, as was always the case, you'd see a lot more big piles of honkers.

But we're educating them at the worst time possible, so of course they're going to be more difficult to hunt. Want an easier time? Hold off until Sept. 1 when they're more flocked up and actually LOOKING to join other birds...not avoid them.


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

doesn't help that farmers and the egg drillers had a good season already.

I'm done scouting until we get a wave of molt migrators to push in.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Something changed this year...at least in my area. The 2 local lakes have held 1000-1500 geese the last few summers. I've always had trouble finding birds on the ground this time of year but so far the most I have seen on the lakes is about 50 and I have yet to see a bird in the air as opposed to seeing them all the time the past few years. I think the nests got flooded here and am wondering if they went north to re-nest. They have never done that before but after having to re-nest the last 3-4 years maybe they had enough................


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## gooses (Aug 24, 2015)

I agree with DuckSlayer. Hunters will have more success in September when the molters are moving and birds want to group up. That has been my experience anyways.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

The rains in May and the cold weather at the same time, killed a lot of young ones. I travel a lot for work. North Dakota-Canada border, to Southern Minnesota, and Southern South Dakota. The hatches from what I have seen driving and in the field, was horrible. Some area's seemed to do alright, where other area's you were hard pressed to hard more then two goslings.

Combine that with a 15 bird a day limit, that really hurt numbers of birds.

Yesterday I went out scouting in an area where typically there isn't a ton of birds, but also not a lot of hunters. I talked to two other people out scouting and combined we all saw 29 birds. Typically in that area for this time of year, I would see about 150-200 birds. One landowner I talked to today, said that a lot of birds got shot on opener. Before opener he was seeing around 200 birds a day. Now its down to 5-75.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

> One landowner I talked to today, said that a lot of birds got shot on opener. Before opener he was seeing around 200 birds a day. Now its down to 5-75.


remember.... this is the goal of the "early" goose season. to knock down the local goose population so the crops don't get damaged.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

I know that, but we are going to have the same thing as what happened to the deer. Over hunt them, a few bad springs, and then boom less hunting. The early season is a good thing to have and should be managed a little bit better. When we get to the point of not enough birds to hunt in the early season, there will be a lot of people ******.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

> When we get to the point of not enough birds to hunt in the early season, there will be a lot of people ticked.


This is where people loose sight of what the goal of the whole early goose season really is..... a tool to cut down on the local population that is damaging crops. And if this is what people are seeing is the decreasing number of local geese. * Then that management strategy is a huge success and show how hunting is doing what it is supposed to do!*

Also if you get rid of the early goose season.... maybe it will help with the regular season with some more birds sticking around? Think of the mild pressure that the ducks are getting by seeing decoy spreads and not being able to feed where they want because of a decoy spread is there. They see this from August 15th - September 15th.... Then the regular season starts 11 days later.

Just some food for thought on this.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Oh I agree that the strategy for the early season is working. But I also would like to see the early season limit lowered and have it either start were its at and stop 2 or 3 weeks before the regular season is opened or have it start September 1. I enjoy hunting the early season, I just don't want it to get back to only be able to hunt Canada's in the regular season and have a very low limit.


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

blhunter3 said:


> Oh I agree that the strategy for the early season is working. But I also would like to see the early season limit lowered and have it either start were its at and stop 2 or 3 weeks before the regular season is opened or have it start September 1. I enjoy hunting the early season, I just don't want it to get back to only be able to hunt Canada's in the regular season and have a very low limit.


Odd opinion considering you have been very vocal about crop damage caused by resident geese.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

the professor said:


> blhunter3 said:
> 
> 
> > Oh I agree that the strategy for the early season is working. But I also would like to see the early season limit lowered and have it either start were its at and stop 2 or 3 weeks before the regular season is opened or have it start September 1. I enjoy hunting the early season, I just don't want it to get back to only be able to hunt Canada's in the regular season and have a very low limit.
> ...


Case of having your cake and eating it too...

Sort of like years ago with the landowners that refused to allow hunters to take deer from their property, but then would complain to G&F about the damage come winter from too many dear.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Keep in mind that the Early Canada season is a BONUS...... It was never intended to be permanent........It's an opportunity to be taken advantage of while it is there....... The reason for the high limits in early season is to reduce the specific subspecies that comprise the local population... The reason limits are dropped during the regular season, even though many of those local birds will hang around till freeze up, is to limit overharvest of many of the migrating subspecies. If the regular season limit gets cut back it will be because of low migrator numbers not low numbers of locals..........
When I was young very few geese nested in ND. I was glad to see them come back but I also understand the concern of farmers. If the birds did not "flock up " the damage would be spread out enough that it wouldn't be a major concern and we probably wouldn't even have an early season, but they do and we do. I hunt a bit of everything so for guys like me the early goose season helps to compensate for the loss of some deer hunting. In this state you have to take advantage of any extra opportunities that come. Deer numbers are down BUT I took advantage of doing more deer hunting when numbers where up so I don't feel too cheated. Canada goose numbers were up the last few years so I jumped on that. When sharptail numbers where up before the CRP was lost I did more of that. As long as you don't limit yourself their is always something around to hunt........


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Duckslayer100 said:


> the professor said:
> 
> 
> > blhunter3 said:
> ...


That was when there was a lot of birds. This year there wasn't much. Even my cousins that would loose a lot of acres to geese for years, went from 150-200 breeding pairs down to around 50 this spring.

I understand its a bonus season and it was never meant to be permanent. But I am just worried that they are going to manage it like the deer. Shoot shoot shoot, holy crap the deer herd dwindled down to nothing, reduce licenses like a mother effer.


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## Buck25 (Mar 27, 2008)

Duckslayer100 said:


> taykem said:
> 
> 
> > Is it just me or are the honkers a little more scarce this year than last year?
> ...


Very well said. The august season is for the farmers... not for the hunters. Hunting would be 10 times better if we waited until september. Its funny how 95% of hunters don't realize this.

I am not saying i necessarily oppose the august season from that stand point. I would rather have hunters shoot them then farmers and have game and fish use my license fees to drill eggs.

But purely from a hunters standpoint we would be MUCH better off with the season opening in september.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

While I have some success in August, birds really don't seem to get active and visible until September.

FWIW I was just told that the farmers around our local lakes put up so much of a stink that the USFW came in this year and transplanted raccoons around the lake during nesting season. But I'm not sure if that is the truth or not because the duck population didn't seem to take a hit...................


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

If that is true they put the raccoons around..... Some trappers will be mighty happy later this fall. Or I would advise them about the "transplants". :beer:


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

dakotashooter2 said:


> While I have some success in August, birds really don't seem to get active and visible until September.
> 
> FWIW I was just told that the farmers around our local lakes put up so much of a stink that the USFW came in this year and transplanted raccoons around the lake during nesting season. But I'm not sure if that is the truth or not because the duck population didn't seem to take a hit...................


They would oil & drill every goose egg in the township long before they would ever bring in additional animals that don't discriminate between canada goose, duck, upland bird, or song bird nests.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

the professor said:


> dakotashooter2 said:
> 
> 
> > While I have some success in August, birds really don't seem to get active and visible until September.
> ...


That is my thought..... besides there are already plenty of raccoons already in that area......


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## taykem (Nov 28, 2013)

I agree the early season is for the farmer and I would much rather see a few guys have pictures of great hunts than a farmer who shoots them with a rifle because they are causing damage. I am speaking just from my personal experience, it was a damn good early season for me last year with little trouble finding big flocks and fields. I was more wondering if the bird numbers are down or if all the wheat fields around giving them more places to hide. The way it's going has me wondering if I am a curse!!! If i'm scouting no fields/birds are to be found, but if i'm out of the picture there is plenty of success.


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