# Jamestown ICE II



## drillbit (Oct 16, 2006)

Anybody else have any input on ice conditions for the Jamestown area and west? I posted yesterday on this but the bulk of the replies were on hunter access/posting. I just don't want to drive the 1000 miles and be locked up and left hunting pheasants. Thanks for the help.


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

I guess the question you are looking for an answer to needs some clarifications...

What do you mean by ice conditions? What are you going to try and do ? "Ice conditions" could have several meanings...as guys around here often say that for ice fishing purposes in order to learn if they can walk or drive on it.

Are you wondering how thick the ice is on the small sloughs in order to put a duck boat in? How big of water are you planning on getting on? This time of year that is often what dictates the answer.

Do you realize this year about ND's water conditions?

Thanks for the add'l info as that will provide a much more concise response.

Regards

Ryan


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## drillbit (Oct 16, 2006)

By ice I mean is there going to be any open water by next Monday? From the forecasts it does not look good, except for the biggest impoundments, I imagine most all the water will be closed. I guess what I am driving at is will there be enough water in the form of liquid to get birds to stick around.

Yes, I do know that you guys are just a bit shy on water this year.... I'm worried because from where I sit, on the shore of Lake Erie near Cleveland, there are divers showing up here that usually don't come until late Nov.

Thanks for the help. I'd type more but I am down a finger due to an outboard accident and 1 hand typing is tough.


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

Anyone have some good thoughts for him?

I'll make a call tonight and find out if others don't reply in the next couple hours...

Ryan


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## northdakotakid (May 12, 2004)

my dad said that the small water is froze... large water is open. He expects it to remain cold the rest of the week, it warmed up today but is expected to cool way off again.

Believe it or not he probably got that from the weather channel. When you ask for polite answers ask polite questions.

Do not ask someone to do the work for you unless you are willing to hear silence. I know that people are very nice on this site but you will need to do some of it yourself. I would suggest that you meet some locals out there, buy them a beer and ask them about the weather. Come into the same spot every night to ahve a beer and a pizza and these guys will probably give you there number. Now that you have a relationship cultivate it just as you would someone where you are from. Now calll them in May and ask how the seeding is going....step two next fall before you come out call him!!!

I know that you wrote a simple question but it all goes back to building relationships ... anywhere you go... the office, the gym... the outdoors.


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## northdakotakid (May 12, 2004)

bump ... read and heed


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

as was mentioned in an earlier post...

Internet scouting here is not appreciated.

I will tell you this... I made that call ... my father told me that only large water is remaining open as of this moment...anything small and protected from the wind is freezing each night more and more.

This is an early winter scenario that ND sometimes goes thru... consequently everything is random and sporadic...

It's a crap shoot at best...

Ryan


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## Invector (Jan 13, 2006)

What areas of open water are big lakes only. If you wish to go hunt the Jamestown resivor go ahead...just be ready for the G&F to be giving you a visit and be prepared to be sitting in the fine facility of the local stutsman county jail for a while. In short form the Wing, Pingrie, Jamestown, Gackle area expect to see lots of ice and dryed sloughs. If you hunt out of a boat I would say leave it. Theres no water and no ducks but some divers and coots on the bigger waters. Northern Stutsman county I drove though on friday...about 80% of the lakes were iced. What was open had about 10% of it coverd in ice. Only one lake I seen was ice free and that was round lake. That area got hit very hard this summer by the lack of rain. I use to hunt the robinsin area alot but there is so little water that we did not see a duck till we got close to 281. Southern part of Stutman county has very little water also. Though there was a bit more rain down there it still did not help. Like I said in another post, mostly divers is what I seen (this was saterday). So last thing to say is about 85% of what was out there is now dry or iced up.


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## Old Hunter (Mar 8, 2002)

drillbit isnt asking about a specific location or where are the ducks are. He is just asking if everything is frozen. I think a little help from fellow hunters is in order here. Sunday and Monday,14&15 almost all of the water opened up. I was sweating while working in the rain. It was almost 60 and raining.The next 5 days will tell the story for you. If the temps dive into the low 20's and teens everything is going to freeze except the big water. Watch the weather reports for ND. PM me I will try to help.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Can't speak for the Jamestown area but I was NE of Devils lake this weekend and while most sheltered water had some ice it was just a light skim. It is cold but raining right now so I suspect that will help keep water somewhat open, along with the forcasted winds. Did not see a lot of birds though. The Canadas I saw were still in small family groups and ducks were sparse. A few here and there and I could not nail down any feeding spots. It seems to take some considerable luck to find birds in the field cause they don't seem to be moving in large groups from the water to fields. I followed a group of Canadas for 1 1/2 hrs watching them dip down over fields probably a dozen times before settling on one. Small groups were all over in the air for about 45 minutes but all seemed to be going to different spots.


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## BigDaddy (Mar 4, 2002)

I was out just west of Jamestown this last weekend and was amazed that the amount of ice out there. I had to break ice on the small slouch I hunted, some of which was at least a 1/4 inch thick. My morning hunt was relatively unsuccessful with very few birds in the area. Please note that I hunted this area a couple of weeks ago on the duck opener, and there were quite a few birds there.

I took a hike to a larger, deeper slough a few hundred yards away that I was certain would be open. I wanted to see if it was holding birds to make sure that there were at least birds in the area. When I poked my head over the hill, what did I see? The answer: Ice and no birds.

Most everything in the area was frozen up, even some of the bigger sloughs. The only things not frozen were the real, real big sloughs (called "lakes" out here in ND). I doubt that many of these opened up this week due to the cold weather.


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## drillbit (Oct 16, 2006)

Thanks for the help for those who did.

I really don't understand how so many people on hunting sites are so eager to jump on people. All I wanted to know was how much of the water was iced. And what conditions to expect. I did not as a question about where to hunt or even bird numbers generally.

It amazes me how much people want to be preachy. I've visited this site for a long time under another name but I lost my pw so had to create another. Never before did I run into hostility. Oh well.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

I was south of Jamestown 40-50 miles this weekend and it is NOT froze...With all the rain we have had on Tuesday, even the small sloughs will be open...Colder temps thurs-sund could freeze the small sloughs again, but there will be birds around!


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## USSapper (Sep 26, 2005)

Ok, just went out this morning in all the rain/sleet/snow and everything was open-everything-towards 1:00 the temp started dropping so more than likely they will freeze again during the night then open up during the day

Lindberg


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## stearns24 (Oct 17, 2006)

DRILLBIT

I'm not sure what that dudes problem was either. You were asking a general question before driving 1000 miles. I wouldnt want to make that drive not knowing if the water was froze or open either. I live 85 miles southeast of jamestown right on the ND/SD border and nothing is froze right now. Last weekend there was a VERY light skim of ice but it would melt off by mid afternoon. We hunt fields 95% of the time so the ice didnt bother us at all. We had some very good early season hunting last weekend, both honkers and mallards.

I will be more than happy to keep you informed about weather conditions!


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## Gooseguy10 (Oct 10, 2006)

I am rather new to this site but it is amazing how many people get mad over such small stuff. Maybe they weren't hugged enough as a kid or something or maybe its a power issue...who knows....then again, who cares!! In any event if you don't like what the topic of the post is, whether it be internet scouting or locations, then don't reply. No one is forcing you to do so.

Drill Bit......I hope you have a good time in ND, it is truly worth the drive.


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## Invector (Jan 13, 2006)

Actually Drill your problem was asking if there was ice out on the ponds or not then coming on again and stating the same queston again. It is as you do not beleave those who are saying its dry and froze. You can expect people who read these postings to get a bit edgy when someone keeps asking is it iced when many times over it has been said it is iced.

I will say today we had snow. Nothing stuck but its a bit colder out there agian and windy. The wind might have helped brake up some of the opend spots but our lows are supost to be in the mid 20's and hight for the rest of the week being in the 30's. If you go to weather.com and put in 58401 for the zip code we can get a good weather report...better then some places I've been to. I head out west this week for some phesent hunting and have heard that snow is on the ground out there right now. But the weather report shows some warming out to the bismark area so that snow will melt. As far as asking about west of jamestown we might need to know how far west your going.


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## drillbit (Oct 16, 2006)

Thanks again for the info. It's awful tough to guess what's going on from Ohio based on the weather reports only.

I am just planning to hunt mostly west of jamestown.

I reposted my topic because if you read the original post, it turned into a thread about a completely different topic.

Again, thanks for all the help.


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

Drill

In case you missed it on the other forum...

Here is the image from the weather cam in Bismarck:










In case it gets dark by the time you see this...here is the pic from 5PM Tuesday evening CST

[siteimg]5276[/siteimg]

Regards

Ryan


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## drillbit (Oct 16, 2006)

Thanks for the pics!


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## 4CurlRedleg (Aug 31, 2003)

R y a n said:


> as was mentioned in an earlier post...
> 
> Internet scouting here is not appreciated.
> 
> Ryan


 :-?


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## Joltin_Joe (Oct 11, 2005)

Drillbit,

beware of la costa nostra di il prateria.

They have been known to conduct hits for less.


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## hunterboy (Dec 5, 2004)

amen to that joe!!!


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## USSapper (Sep 26, 2005)

Joltin_Joe said:


> Drillbit,
> 
> beware of la costa nostra di il prateria.
> 
> They have been known to conduct hits for less.


I googled that and still couldnt figure out what that meant


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

Drillbit for the most part the water in the southern half of the state has reopened. Some areas are holding good numbers of birds and others are almost void! I have talked with guys out hunting and also the farmers in the area as I am planning to head out late this week for a few days of hunting.

The forecast is for cold and that tells me that much of the water will once again ice over except for the large bodies and even those will be frozen to some extent in the sheltered areas.

To tell you if birds are going to be around is anyones guess. Mixed reports are coming in all across the region and I expect this to continue. Scouting is going to be important and flexibility also. Most of the guys hunting wetlands are reporting slow activity with field hunting being the most productive. With the temps dropping birds will be feeding longer both morning and night. Flights returning to water roosting areas are most likely going to be later in the morning. If I was hunting water this weekend if open I would not hurry to set up. 8 am to noon would be the times I would look at the smaller open wetlands. Temps will be rising and some sun pushing through. This helps keep ice of the decoys.

Not sure if this info helps or not, but keep in mind that ducks will be congregated most likely and ducks and geese attract more ducks and geese if birds are migrating. You help yourself and other hunters in the area by leaving those roosts alone and allowing them to help retain and hold birds in the area you are hunting.

You also will be coming in on the back side of the Teachers convention weekend. Starting Thur both ND and MN have no school and it is typically the busiest weekend afield for hunters chasing ducks and geese. This will also affect bird numbers.

So the call is yours to make. Forecast is for cold and pressure will be high.


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