# Snow Goose Migration Reports



## nodakoutdoors.com

*Missouri*

Swan Lake is reporting 125K. They're just finally starting to open up. A lot of large build ups in Ark. late last week and some are reporting them heading out today.

http://conservation.state.mo.us/hunt/wt ... ekly-snow/

*Kansas*

Kansas G&F is claiming some small pockets, but I've got to believe there's more in the state. A lot of hunters are reporting birds moving in and out daily, and some impressive bags have been taken.

http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/cgi-bin/hun ... i?region=1

*Nebraska*

I've read on the NE game and fish forum and a few others of some nice pockets around Lincoln spread out all the way to the SE tip. It appears they just moved in the past day or two. I even read a report of a few spotted as far north as Norfolk, and more and more out west around Kearney.

*Iowa*

A few small flocks spotted in the extreme SE and SW areas.

Weather report looks promising all the way up to SD for this week. I think MO, KS, and S. NE should be hot this weekend.

Eyes to the sky...


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## Dean Nelson

I will be headed down to NE on Wed to the area we hunted a few years back and will give you a report what I see when I get down there.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Thanks Dean,

I would assume that you're timing it about perfect for the front push. Let me know if you end up on the same pond again.


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## win4win

Just returned from 30 miles south of the Squaw Creek Refuge in NW Missouri. There were a few birds scattered around the area but no great concentrations that I could see. Mostly saw Canadas and one flock of Mallards. Largest group of snows I spotted numbered about 500 strong and were headed north with oxygen masks on. Heard another big flock in a field but couldnt get to them or get a look at them. Snow is melting fast heading north. Didnt hit a really good snowline until South Dakota (of course it was dark and kind of hard to tell)


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## Dean Nelson

Will do chris. I will be down there for the next few weeks so it should be fun and atleast it will be warm. :beer:


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## nodakoutdoors.com

A lot of action reported all over the southern half of Illinois.

Many reports of birds moving in an out, and this should have a big affect on the northern half of Missouri.

FYI


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## wheatleyNEB

I live 2 hours west of Kearney near Lake McConaughy. I have seen a couple pockets. Yesterday about 4000 birds and two days ago a couple hundred. I can't wait to fire away at them.


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## bigblackfoot

God damn it im going nuts. I was in Cabelas today looking at stuff i cant afford, and i almost bought some floaters but i was able to resist. I cant wait any longer to shoot at something.


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## Matt Jones

Lyle, you can always afford more dekes? You can afford going to the bar 6 nights a week but you can't afford to buy some floaters...weak.


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## GooseBuster3

How much where the floaters? If they are cheap buy'em and I'll pay you back.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Check out the latest snow maps:

http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/nsa/index.html

Also check out the "Average Snowpack Temp". Could be a lot of sheetwater going though NW Iowa towards SD. I wonder if some front flocks will push that high?

Forcast looks to cool off again after the weekend so it looks like it may stall for a bit then.


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## WhakGreenie03

all these snow maps are making me antsy. Thanks for the sleep deprivatoin chris! All i can think about it goose spreads and hearing double clucks before i go to bed. AHHH the power of Geese!


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## GooseBuster3

Double clucks??? Greenie, a snow goose doesnt make a double cluck. :wink:


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## wheatleyNEB

There are snows all over the place here. This is awesome. I am looking out of my office at work accross the field and there is about 2000 birds.
The wether here is 50 and 60 for the next couple of days so they might make it further north for you all.

Happy Hunting


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## gaddy getter

should we be hittin em in SD next weekend


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## BB

I drove out I-90 to Pierre from Mpls and saw one small flock of snows (60-70) about an hour NW of Mitchell. That was it....Just some mallards in the fields.
Oh yeah, I saw a single blue in the Cabelas parking lot pond.
So Dak had hardly any snow and it was supposed to be really warm today.


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## GooseBuster3

They gettin close boys!!!!!!! :beer:


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## d wiz

Talked to a farmer this morning down by Squaw and he has been seeing quite a few birds in his fields the past couple of days. While I was talking to him he told me there were birds flying all over the place. Squaw is reporting 162K in the area. Should be more by the end of Saturday. Heading down tomorrow. I'll give reports on Monday when I get back.


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## dblkluk

How's the snow situation in Southern Nodak boys? We need alot more warm days here! Hopefully we'll still be looking at a Nodak snowline.


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## 4CurlRedleg

Got a report from a truck driver/goose mental and he said there are ton of geese stacked up on the Kansas-Nebraska border this morning. 8)


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## BenelliBlaster

I thought I made my first snow goose sighting in the state today north of Forman. I had to double take but it turned out to be 10 swans flying around looking for a feed. Seems a little early for swans in the state but my eyes didn't deceive me  .

The fields are starting to get really bare and alot of the sloughs are starting to have some sheet water down here in Sargent County. If the weather stays like this I wouldn't be suprised if we have a few birds in the state by this time next week. :strapped:


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## goose133

they are showing up big time
so many geese so litttle time


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## goose133

thats better


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## GooseBuster3

Just got this report from waterfowler from a guy who lives in SD
"Heard that on the news last night that doppler radar picked up what they thought to be some clouds moving through which turned out to be flocks of snow geese. So they went out and filmed it. Approximetly around the Armor area. Does anyone know anything about these geese?".................................They might be canadas but who knows.


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## Madison

Nice pics Goose 133-

ALways nice to see someone whacking em and stacking em!!

Keep it reel
madison


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## Guest

Hey goose 133, did you decoys those birds?? If so, how'd they react to the tactics you used(Decoy or call shy at all?).


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## zdosch

Well if this was true I would ****ter me pants!!! I went onto the KSFY page and emailed the "pinpoint weather lab" stating this if it is true or not. I hope I'll get a reply within a few days if not tomorrow from them.....and then I'll post it up!

dosch


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Kind of hard to make estimates right now with so many conflicting reports all over the net. Many people are swearing the numbers are very high from Kearney to the basin...and a couple I've read around Norfolk.

All I know is, check out the forcast for SD, MO, NE and KS for the next couple days. Highs in the 50's with strong south winds. Everything is in place for some heavy movement....should be interesting. It's supposed to get a bit colder again next week, I'm not sure how much it'll slow down.

My guess is we could hear of some in SD this weekend, too early for considerable numbers though.

nice pic goose....I'm jealous!


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## WhakGreenie03

holly *^$% thats a lot of snows. Wish i was there.


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## WhakGreenie03

GB3 i meant Dark geese in on the double cluck. My bad.


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## goose133

find a field they are working the night before get permission throw out a few deek(200) and hammer em


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## GooseBuster3

Sd hotline said that the RWB was holding 1 million birds, thats a huge jump for just acouple days of nice weather.!


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Talked to Tracy N. down in NW MO. They've taken 412 birds the last 5 days, more juvies than ever. Very muddy conditions down there and the hunting is hard. He claims there's more birds there now than at any time last year. Wish I were there!!!


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## T Shot

Ladies and gentlemen, they be close... Just got off the phone with a buddy of mine from watertown. He heard the first snows fly over his house today. Kinda makes me wish I would have made the trek home this weekend. Nothing too exciting yet, but its a start. Will be interesting to see how it pans out this year.


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## duckslayer15

chris did he have alot of decoys? also was he calling alot or what how were they responding


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## Hit.Em

Did some driving around today south and east of Mitchell. Saw about a hundred or so Snow Geese east of Mitchell this morning and a few thousand Canadas along with a couple nice slized flocks of ducks.

Hopefully this warm SE wind will bring them up from the Water Basin right after this next storm passes.


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## Gooseman678

Has Anyone seen anything in southern/central Nd yet? when is your predictions they will be arriving up here?


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## Hit.Em

I just got back from a short drive this afternoon around Mitchell. Saw 8 flocks of geese but mostly all were dark. A few lights mixed in. All birds were high and flying due north.


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## GooseBuster3

This is from the Sd web page.
The snow goose status report from the Sand Lake NWR hotline posted earlier today triggered more field reports of scattered sitings. What has been received so far include, in addition to the siting of a flock of less than 100 observed flying over Lewis and Clark Lake, a siting of about 2,000 on the ground near Lake Whitewood in Kingsbury County, about 50 north of Lake Poinsett in Hamlin County, around 15 in Deuel County, about 60 snow geese mixed with some Canada geese flying over Buryanek Campground on Lake Francis Case, about 50 on Lake Sharpe 17 miles southeast of Pierre, and about 2,000 sitting Lake Oahe above the dam. It looks like conditions and timing are prime for a large movement of birds soon. As reported earlier, this will depend on weather this weekend and how long the birds stay in Nebraska. Depending on what happens over the weekend, a status report will be sent out next week as soon as notes of new movements are received.


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## GooseBuster3

Some more reports of guys seeing snows fly over Watertown, with 300-400 on the ground by Lake Thompson.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

It's not supposed to get as cold as expected next week, but it looks cold during the middle of next week. It's looking a lot warmer in cen. SD and into N. NE however. My guess is SD will see it's first significant push next weekend, and ND will see it's first real birds in a couple weeks....depending on the weather of course.

Be patient until the weather turns.

Eyes to the sky...


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## luckyonce

I guided a group yesterday in SW Iowa,most of the birds are still in Missouri,but alot of large flocks are flying North into Iowa to feed,then returing south for the nite.This is an ideal set up.We manged to take 63 birds and a couple of these guys are not even waterfowl hunters!I will be back at it Monday.Good Luck


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## Eric Fredrickson

A couple buddys and I plan on heading in central N Dakota in a couple weeks and were wondering if the snows will be around or if it is worth the trip.

Any info would be awesome

:beer:


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Snow map is changing:

http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/nsa/index.htm ... th=3&day=1

There's no way to determine right now when the birds will arrive in ND as I look at the 10 day forcast. It's going to get cold and a bit nasty at times.

What I find most interesting is in SD. There's no doubt that some scout flocks have made there way into SD since last Thurs. But so far nothing has been reported on the ground south of I-90. They have been reported on the ground on the eastside from Thompson Lake up to west of Watertown. As soon as the weather turns I'm wondering if we should make a trip down to an area in that flyway. If the front push mimics the scout flocks south of I-90 will kind of be a bust.

I don't expect a whole lot to change this week until Friday-Sunday.


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## Maverick

Really can't beat setting up 2,000 decoys and half falling a sleep and listening to the E-caller for about 6 hours.........looking to left is who....Madison and Hustad laughing at all the birds shucking at about 100 yds....priceless.......

Mav.....


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## Brad Anderson

There is quite a bit of sheetwater already. I hoping for some 0 degree weather and no snow. Still need to get my fish house off the lake.


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## d wiz

Hunted down by Squaw over the weekend. A lot of birds in the area. Flocks would lock and drop hard to around 50-60 yards and bug out. They really seemed to key in on the magnets and kites. 5 of us ended with 14 on Saturday. It took nearly double the amount of time as expected to set up due to the muddy mess we encountered. Cost us quite a few birds in the morning as we had geese committing while we only had half our spread out at best. Unusually slow in the afternoon. Saw very few flocks migrate during the day, but heard birds overhead constantly both Friday and Saturday nights after dark.

As we left Sunday most flocks on the ground were loafing in bean fields and not actively feeding in the corn.

I presume we will be back down in that area this coming weekend unless reports and contacts tell us to go elsewhere. I'm gonna have to scramble this week to get my spread back to white after the mud bath they all took over the weekend.


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## Madison

Hell yeah MAV!!!

Cant wait...

Man, what ya'll coookin on over there??

keepin it reeel
madison


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## Guest

I'll be in SoDak this Thursday through Sunday. Sounds like the birds might be moving. I suppose this last storm is making them edgy, wanting to push north but being stopped due to weather. Hopefully it'll warm up by Wed afternoon, get some sloppy fields and dirty decoys on Friday!!!


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## tsodak

I was down in Sargent, Richland, Marshall, and Brown counties all weekend, and man there is a ton of sheetwater in that country already. I think the water conditions may be ahead of what the clocks in the birds head says is appropriate though. Saw some blacks, but narry a SOB all weekend.

I did not expect to however.

Another 4 days like Saturday, and they would have been I bet though....


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## Guest

Hopefuly the sheetwater will hold. What's it look like for a snowline?


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## SOUTHERNBIRD

You guys should get some birds this week and weekend as our weather here is extremely nice! Mid 60's and a little rain. Our weather has the gobblers in the fields and we have seen some strutting already. Yesterday my buddies saw a big group of old birds together and several were strutting. They had no hens with them yet though. Guess they were getting the bluff on one another!


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## skyball

Where ya located SouthernBird?


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## SOUTHERNBIRD

West Tennessee. I keep up with the birds throughout Ark by way of some buddies. Hope yall smoke em and wish I could come help!!!


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## Maverick

So where do you think the bulck of the birds are at? I was painting decoys last night and was vizualizing them falling out of the sky! Or was that me falling off the roof, from the spray paint?

Mav...


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## SOUTHERNBIRD

I feel the bulk of them are passing through North Mizzou and on there way to you boys. Temps in the region are on the warm side for the next 7 days so oil your guns and get your stuff lined out I think yall are fixing to have some FUN!!!!! Got a buddy learning to fly helicopters in St. Louis and spoke to him today and warm and nice there as well! :sniper:


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## gandergrinder

Hey Mav,
I've only gotten a buzz from paint about four times this winter from painting deeks. Well one time I was actualy more than buzzed I think. I've come to the conclusion that there are better ways to get your kicks than huffing paint.

I think SD will get some birds this weekend but I think the big push will come around the 12 and 13 into SD.


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## GooseBuster3

GG call the SD hotline. :wink:


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## nodakoutdoors.com

The biggest report of snow geese in SD according to the SD hotline is just under 200 miles away from Fargo in E. Cen. SD. hmmmm...tempting if more push up that way this weekend.

Dean Nelson is one lucky guy as he's in the area of Nebraska with the most:



NE Game & Parks - SOUTH HALF said:


> Adams and Clay counties, several hundred thousand light geese and blue geese in the area, light hunting pressure with good success. Fillmore and Clay counties, lots of light geese in the area. Thayer, Nuckolls and Jefferson counties, some light geese in the area. Kearney, Buffalo and Adams counties, good numbers of light geese in the area, light pressure in Kearney County, moderate pressure in Adams County. Harlan County, Harlan County Reservoir, lake mostly open with a lot of light geese on the lake and on area ponds.
> 
> Seward County, water open and huntable at Straight Water WMA, Tamora WPA, Freeman WPA and Waco Basin WPA. Light geese began arriving in the area Monday, with about 5,000 light geese at Freeman WPA. Northern Lancaster County, many snow geese feeding in corn fields, success good, pressure light. Nemaha, Richardson, Pawnee and Gage counties, light geese have moved into the area, good success in western Pawnee and Gage counties, pressure light.





NE Game & Parks - NORTH HALF said:


> Dodge and Cumming counties, good numbers of snow geese in the Platte River Valley west of Fremont, light hunting pressure. Southern Butler and Colfax counties, some snow geese in the area.
> 
> Nance and Greeley counties, several thousand light geese moved in during the weekend.


SOURCE: Nebraska Game & Parks Commission


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## Guest

Anyone gonna try giving them a whack this weekend? The weather here today says Southern SD and Northern NE are gonna be cold, in the high 30's, low 40's. Is this true now? Where the birds that are south of ND 200 miles gonna go? :strapped:


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## skyball

Report from Cen. Nebraska today:



> All morning long I have been watching migrating geese head north over Grand Island. Some of the flocks stretch for miles. I do not know if these are birds that have been in Nebraska or if they are birds that are coming up from Kansas. The wind is out of the north but is not blowing very hard. All of the birds are high, way high. You boys in the northern part of the state should start seeing these birds shortly.


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## GooseBuster3

Or they are going to over fly Northern NEB and Southern SD. And end up in Central SD. Just like what they did last year.


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## zdosch

Common guys...you are just driving me crazy! I'm down in Aberdeen I have still yet to get the decoys out! If I was around this weekend I would definetely go out and check things out but I'm heading over to the Cities for my bday. Maybe I can find a good deal on some shells to shoot those SOBs! Make sure to post up with your findings if you head down south. Good luck!

thanks.....dosch


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## Guest

Last year I hunted north of the lewis and clark lake about 75 miles. Found a sweet looking pond holding thousands of SOB's. Anyways, watched all the geese fly right on bye. :******: Here I thought I was right on the X. Turns out they flew damn near to NoDak according to a few contacts I have there. No snowline to stop the little SOB's. Two weeks later we hunted a small pond covered with cans,snows, and a few blues. Bastards got up off the pond and went to the refuge located a few miles from our location. These were supposed to be young birds.
This year I have something to prove to these little punks. I'm going out with a vengence!!! :strapped:


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## Dave K.

A freind saw a small flock of about 75 SOB's near Sioux falls on Monday. He also saw another small flock near Worthington, MN on Tuesday.

He said there wasn't any snow and some open water and sheet water in those areas.

Not a bunch but atleast it gets the blood moving again!


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## Gooseman678

I am Hoping to get out around my home town by marion the week of march 13- 21. Anyone have any ideas if there will be snows in the central/southern part of Nd by then? lastyear was good the last week of march - 1st week of april...let me know


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Gooseman678 said:


> I am Hoping to get out around my home town by marion the week of march 13- 21. Anyone have any ideas if there will be snows in the central/southern part of Nd by then? lastyear was good the last week of march - 1st week of april...let me know


Nobody knows...only mother nature. There's just no possible way to look that far into the future at this point. But I would like to say yes.


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## Matt Jones

I'm hoping that week will be good myself...looks like UND and Moorhead have the same spring break. :beer:

I'm not sure yet if I'll be in SD or ND, we'll just have to keep checking on what the geese are doing and then adjust are plans accordingly. 8)


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## WhakGreenie03

how much does it cost to get setup with a NR spring goose license in SD?


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## nodakoutdoors.com

SD hotline is reporting trickles of geese as far north as Huron, SD. They also said over 2 million in the RW Basin in NE.


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## GooseBuster3

Im going, I cant take it anymore.


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## Matt Jones

WhakGreenie03 said:


> how much does it cost to get setup with a NR spring goose license in SD?


$45 and worth every penny when the geese are there. Dean is probably whacking and stacking right now...lucky SOB. :lol:


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## Guest

2 Million geese in the RWB??!!!  Man, imagine all the geese there!! Can't wait till they move north!! I'll be waiting. :sniper:


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## jbaincfl

How hard is it to obtain permission in SD? What are their trespass laws?


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## nodakoutdoors.com

You must get permission in SD, but I hear it's not too bad.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Not too much moved today, although I'm noticing more reports around Norfolk, NE. Looks like the migration will be in full swing next week.

I'm not going to doubt ND may see birds for the weekend of the 13th.


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## MnDiver

Chris is right about that you must get permission in SD... and most landowners are more than happy to let you on, the only trouble is FINDING the Landowners to ask.. Ran into some guys from ND that were hunting SD and found a HOT field and they couldn't track down the landowner, it wasn't posted so they went for it. Farmer came home and called the Warden, and the Warden didn't even hesitate to fine these guys.. The field wasn't even posted, they take their trespassing serious..

So, just a warning, if you don't have permission, Don't risk it... 
:wink:


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## brandtr

Can anyone give me some info on hunting snows around the Grand Forks area are there normally hunt able numbers in that area

THANK YOU


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## duckslayer15

were about to have some tornadic activity around the north ark and south missouri area...that should blow every speck of white out of the states and proabbly head north toward yall


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## duckslayer

:sniper:


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## T Shot

So how many of you boys are planning on being in SD over spring break...I know I will be.


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## GooseBuster3

We will probably be hunting in Nodak by spring break, aint nothing better then shooting the scout flocks over decoys!


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## T Shot

You're probably right, just got off the phone with a buddy back home, and he had his first visual of snows on the ground around Watertown. I don't know if I can wait another week. Its gonna be tough.


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## Guest

Next weekend I'll be there 3 days, weekend of 20th I'll be there for 5. Migration should be going full blast!!!


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## nodakoutdoors.com

T Shot said:


> I don't know if I can wait another week. Its gonna be tough.


Can't agree with ya more. This past week has gone sooooo slow and it'll only get worse before next week.


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## gandergrinder

The birds are piled in the basin. I think the next major buildup will be Sand Lake and Southern ND. Nest week around Wednesday there is gonna be some major bird movement.


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## GooseBuster3

Just read a report of a guy who shot some geese by Desmet SD. That is about 30 miles east of Huron.


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## T Shot

DeSmet is also right next to Lake Thompson, the first major holding area for the snows in East Central/NESD. When I hear they are piled up on Thompson, I know that I should really start getting after it around Watertown. Cuz from there they dont take long to go 30-40 miles north. I also hear that they are getting some snow down that way today as well. A couple of guys from Watertown are heading down around Mitchell this weekend to see if they can decoy a few. I'll keep posted as to what they find out if they go.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

SD just updated their Hotline.

With cooperation with the NE Game & Parks, they are estimating 3 million snow geese from Grand Island to Lexington NE...including the Rainwater Basin (and they say it hasn't peaked yet).

161K on Squaw Creek in NW MO with 250K in the surrounding area.

Not much has changed in SD. Still a few around the Missouri R to south of Mitchell and still those in Kingsbury County (Lake Thompson).


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Scouted S. ND for spots this morning. We saw a fair amount of small flocks of canadas from ludden to tewakon north to Alice.


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## GooseBuster3

Just looked at report of a guy who said he saw 20k flying over his house in Central Sodak........but some people cant estimate birds.


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## mallard

How were the roads?Where I worked at today the snow was blowing over the top of the road making for very tricky driving.Also got some info from another guy that travels allot about snow depth in different parts of the state.I also gave him a card to call me when he sees any snow goose build ups this spring.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

There were some areas down by the ND/SD border that were almost bare and 20 miles away there was a lot more snow (in fields that had stubble to hold it).

I don't think SD will have their birds for long this spring. By Wednesday there'll be sheetwater fields going up to I-94 in ND. If the birds have the opening they'll take it. From here it's up to the weather as always.


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## goose

hunter hot line was updated (south dakota) and it said the RWB was holding 3 million birds and this is NOT peak numbers. I need to be down there NOW.


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## Guest

You should check out the snow line map. S.D. has a line for the geese to follow straight to NoDak. Should be interesting to see if the geese take this route.


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## Nester

I get a lot of into off this site so I thought I'd give back.Alot of birds came into Sd yesterday.I drovea lot along the neb. border to north of I-90.Some stopped and other kept going.When the wind switched from the north it slowed down a bit but I dont know how far they pushed. Theres nothing to stop the birds here in SD so I dont know how long theyll stay.Weatherman is saying its going to get warm this week and south winds on tusday. I hope they all dont go over us.


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## Guest

Anyone else have really strong winds this Sunday??? Man, if SoDak had winds like we did the birds would never be leaving the state. I wonder if there'll be a massive buildup on Lake Andes, then Mitchell, then Sand Lake and off into NoDak, stopping on the snowline. You guys'll slaughter em then!!!  Wish I could be there if that takes place!!! :beer:


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## great white hype

Not much to brag about around the river.We were down there for sunup yesterday.Ended up heading north back home with the geese. Geese started touching down around Madison and bounced around alot towards Preston. We shot 14 pass shoooting,shoulda had more.We never got further north but I saw some heading that way.Birds going north all the way home around sundown.Were getting white and it ain't snowing! Time to take some school off! 

Lock and Load Sodak!


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## GooseBuster3

Southern part of Sodak wont get the geese. I will bet 75% ofthe birds will migrate into Madison Sd area and then head for to Southern ND.


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## J.D.

Still TONS of birds in Nebraska. Havent even shot many juvies yet so there must be alot more coming. :beer:


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## FACE

Just got back from Sodak with 27 for the weekend. If it weren't for the wind, I bet they would have made it to Sand Lake today! Like mentioned there is nothing to hold them there! Did not run into many hunters at all however, next weekend might be different!
Oh, and not to forget, with less than 100 career snow geese under my belt, bird number twenty six today just happened to be sporting some nice jewelry! My first banded snow!!!


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## Guest

Were you guys decoying them or pass shooting??


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## GOOSEBELLY

Does anyone know if SAND LAKE has any open water yet? plan on hunting this weekend dont have a clue where to go! Seems like people are seeing them scattered everywhere.Any info would be great thanx. :sniper: :withstupid:


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## Take.Em

Chased them on the eastern side of Mitchell yesterday, thousands and thousands of birds all moving NW. Each time I got into position to have some nice pass shooting and the birds ended up getting shot at from the road. They'd swirled and blow over me and I ended up getting one or two then I needed to pick up and find a new birds. Shot 7.

Good shooting!!


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## Tony Vandemore

Killed 96 over the weekend in NWMO and 90% were juvies and Ross's. Saw a fair amount of geese, but not a ton. The bulk is definately through this area. Small flocks of mainl juvies remain it looks like.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

FACE said:


> ...bird number twenty six today just happened to be sporting some nice jewelry! My first banded snow!!!


Congrats Face! :thumb:


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## GooseBuster3

Man you guya re killin me!!! I hope we start seeing scout flocks this up coming weekend! Keep on putting the wood to those white bastards!!


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## FACE

Not to show off and rub it in or anything............but,








It's the real deal!!


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## Matt Jones

Congrats on the band Face! Be sure to post up the info when you get it back. k:


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## Leo Porcello

Congrats! Hoping to score a few this spring season myself!!!


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## jbaincfl

Anyone think there will be a good number of birds in southern ND this weekend? I usually hunt between Kulm and Oakes.


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## gandergrinder

I think there will be a few but not big numbers yet. I would say if your a jump shooter SD will be good this weekend.


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## GooseBuster3

From the ND G&F...Looks like we could have seen birds Sat afterall Hustad and GanderGrinder.
March 8, 2004

Snow geese continue to accumulate in the Rainwater Basin in Nebraska, as numbers total 3 million and rising. South Dakota reported the first significant numbers of snow geese in the state last week. Sand Lake Refuge in northeastern South Dakota is reporting no activity and no open water. The first report of snow goose arrival in North Dakota happened over the weekend, as a handful of snows were observed flying in south central North Dakota. The weather forecast for this week has highs in the 40s and 50s, with lows in the 20s.

Last year, snow geese were in the state primarily the last week in March and first two weeks in April.


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## goose

SAND LAKE WILL HAVE BIRDS BY THIS WEEKEND today we went out to scatterwood lake wich is about 20 miles south and south west of aberdeen , geese were moving in heavy. we ended up wiht 5 snows. The whole lake is still froze up but there is alots of sheet water there was about 5-10 thousand sitting out on the ice. I think they might jsut sit out there even if there aint water.

Scout flocks should easily hit ND by the end of today if not tomorow.


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## gandergrinder

Yes. I cannot wait.


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## BenelliBlaster

I havn't seen anything yet today. Took a short trip around Havana, Forman and Oakes with no sightings. Saw a few scattered flocks of canadas. Fields are really opening up fast, and some sloughs already have some sheet water on them. The countdown is near!! :sniper:


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## zdosch

goose....is this who i think it is?......I was down by scatterwood to today and saw some snow geese. We only got one but should have had more, but lady luck wasn't with us today!

dosch


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## skyball

I saw a flock of 200 snows in ND a few minutes ago down by the border.


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## mallard

My buddies in SD are watching migrating snows right now!I am calling a farmer friend of mine tonight to see if there are any in his area yet.


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## goose

dosh this is reid we talked to you right by scatterwood. i was the one in the back beside jacob. lost of birds around there now.


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## Triple B

anyone familair with the jamestown and surrounding area? could you maybe give me a few places to start to look for snows, i'm new to hunting in southern ND, and could use some advice instead of stumbling around the countryside til i find geese, thanks


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## Guest

If you're like me you have some pavement pounding to do! :lol:


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## zdosch

reid, yeah man there's lots around......we should get out and decoy together sometime....bickel has some good land down there and hoffmans been talking about your dekes...i have 2 e-callers and some dekes....i think we could do some damage down there if we got all of our decoys together....

dosch


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Triple B said:


> anyone familair with the jamestown and surrounding area? could you maybe give me a few places to start to look for snows, i'm new to hunting in southern ND, and could use some advice instead of stumbling around the countryside til i find geese, thanks


The snowline is north of you. The birds will stall somewhere north of Carrington to the east and the west eventually.


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## nickle ditch

We've got more snow here then last year. I'm thinking its going to take some time to melt and that should hold some birds down south in nodak. It could be little better this spring for you guys.


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## Guest

Looking at the snowline map, SD's gonna get left behind like dust in the wind. NoDak, I think I just may have to dream about hunting your side of the fence. Man I can't wait till I'm a resident!!


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## skyball

Seen another 4to5 decent flocks flying around tonight around the ND/SD border.Heck they may stay but I didn't see any touch down.A lot of fields opened today,almost too fast.South winds should bring more tomorrow.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

National Weather Service forcast for Aberdeen tomorrow:



> Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high around 52. West southwest wind between 8 and 15 mph.


A more favorable wind than we've seen in awhile and more warm, sunny temps. Tomorrow should be a crazy migrating day.


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## davidmaas

There will be three of us from Fond Du Lac Wisconsin out there this weekend,staying for a week around Aberdeen.Where is the best place in the area to shoot snow geese.We'll be looking in the fields around sand hill I guess.Hope to all a great shoot and a safe trip. superdav
[[email protected]][email protected][/email]


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## Brad Anderson

I've heard about enough.

I'll post some reports, if I can get the dial up modem at the cabin working.


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## BenelliBlaster

There's nothing like waking up to the sound of honkers! Lots of dark geese moved in yesterday afternoon and evening. Lots of standing water in the fields and on sloughs. I'm willing to bet we have some flocks of snows on the ground by this afternoon.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

From the SD Game & Fish:



> March 8 -- Today's snow goose status report could be kept short and sweet by saying: they are everywhere!! Some examples of the snow goose blitz happening right now include a report that last Saturday a steady stream of geese were seen moving north between Omaha and Sioux Falls. Many flocks were seen on the ground about 15 miles south of Sioux Falls but then Sunday evening these geese seemed to be on the move northward. Another report indicated geese were flying to the west and northwest over Minnehaha County all day Saturday, Sunday and yet Monday morning. Some of these geese are probably the large flocks seen throughout Lake County, with most appearing to be in the Nunda and Winfred areas. Over the weekend light geese were seen all over Turner and Hutchinson counties. On Sunday, a number of small and large flocks were seen along Interstate 90 from Kimball to Mitchell. Sunday and Monday, large flocks estimated at tens of thousands were noted in Beadle County resting, feeding and flying, with Lake Byron being a focal point. Scattered bands of geese were observed in Kingsbury County near traditional areas of Lakes Thompson, Preston and Whitewood. Further north yet, huntable numbers of geese moved into Hamlin County Sunday and Monday, plenty of geese moved into Clark County as of Monday morning, and thousands of geese were reported being in the Doland to Redfield area of Spink County on Sunday, with some movement on north yet.


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## GooseBuster3

AHHH those white and blue bastards are going to get it right up the old bingo hole. :lol:....And the winning shot is..........


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## Leo Porcello

Not that it matters much for ND but I saw about 30 flocks of Canadas migrating north here in WI yesterday. I may have to cut this family visit short!


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## AR Snow Chaser

Get ready guys! I am new to your forum, but not new to snow goose hunting. We have had some great hunts this year over dekes, but the end is near. Birds are moving out, heading your way.


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## BenelliBlaster

My assumptions were correct. I have started to see a few scattered flocks of snow geese coming into the state. The weather stays like this it should be good huntin this weekend.


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## zdosch

Well you boys up in Nodak are really going to like this... tomorrow.. wednesday march 10th...north wind with gusts up to 40mph. That won't help much...

dosch


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## T Shot

Wow... if I were in Watertown today, I'd be chasing those little bastards all over the place right about now. But alas, I am stuck working on my project that is due tomorrow. Hopefully next week finds me in amongst them. I cant get ahold of any of my buddies from back home, more than likely I'll get a "ya shoulda been there" phone call sometime tonight. Good luck to everyone who is going out this weekend.


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## T Shot

Check that, just got the call. Apperently I will get the "you shoulda been there" call tomorrow, they got a hot spot lined up. God college sucks sometimes.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

:gag:


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## Pluckem

I have recieved 3 different reports of snow geese as far north as Bismarck already. One was last Friday and the other two were today and yesterday. Spring Break couldnt have come at a better time! The ramps on the river could be open any day now. Just need a plow to push the ice on the ramp out into the current. Might get out fishing over the break too.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

It looks like SD may get saved by the weekend (down to 8 degrees tomorrow night). Going to be strong north winds and cold mostly through the weekend. NWS isn't expecting Jamestown to get above freezing even on Sunday.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/forecasts/NDZ03 ... =Jamestown


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Well....anyways here's the ND G&F report:



> March 10, 2004
> 
> Small flocks of snow geese continue to be observed between Interstate 94 and the South Dakota border. Yesterday, 10,000 - 15,000 snow geese were observed north of Milnor along Highway 27 in Ransom County. A flock of 10,000 snow geese were also reported flying north in McIntosh County. There still is a substantial amount of snow on the ground in the northern portion of the state. The weather forecast has changed for the remainder of the week. A fast moving cold front will bring strong gusty northwest winds to central North Dakota through late afternoon. Highs for the rest of the week will be in the 30s and lows in the teens.


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## Triple B

Heard from friends at Valley city that a few groups of snows have been heard and seen, nothing big yet, but they are trickling in, with the forcast for cold and north winds, it could be a week or so before the big flocks start showing up


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## GooseBuster3

Naaa Im hunting this weekend there will be some more birdsthat will migrate in these North winds tomorrow and Fri


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## 870 XPRS

I'll be out and about for the next week and 1/2. Get out of school at 2 on thurs. Other classes were cancelled, boo yeah. Pretty hard to focus these last few days knowing that the storm is about to hit.


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## Flick

Guys just got off the phone with a buddy in GF, said he saw about 50 this morning, I was surprised I havent seen a goose here in Fargo. Hopefully they stay around until I get back from spring break the weekend after this. ****** I might be missing some action but eyes are biting on the Mississippi too.


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## eyehunter

They certainly won't be movin in this weather. Snowin in Bismarck now and a good stiff northwest wind.


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## duckslayer

:sniper:


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## Guest

Yeah, this weather is definately causing some major headaches for NoDak hunters. We had close to 2"of snow today with winds from the north at 40MPH's gusts.


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## Keith S.

SD should be holding more birds by the day. I hunted 60 miles south of Yankton this past weekend, and on Sat. witnessed a mass migration of snows. All weekend we watched snows fly north. My buddy tells me that he has seen birds flying all week too.


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## Guest

hey Keith, where's your buddy located? There's nothing in SoDak to hold the birds there, is there? According to the maps there isn't anyways, but I'm not there. i just want to know if there's a snowline.


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## Guest

Hey everyone, my friendand I are going to hunt Sodak this coming week, Wed.through Sun. Question is, anyone interested in joining us?? If so, let me know, it'd be good to finally meet some new hunters and see how they hunt snow geese. We'll have a spread of around 700, just need to find the last X before NoDak!!!


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## nodakoutdoors.com

From the Nebraska Game & Parks:



> Northeast
> 
> Light Goose Conservation Action: Stanton County, good numbers of light geese in the Wood Duck area of the Elkhorn River Valley between Stanton and Norfolk. Washington and Burt counties, Summit Lake, a few snow geese staging, light pressure with some success on decoying birds. Dodge and Cumming counties, some light geese in Platte Valley west of Fremont, beginning to move through to the west, little activity, slow success. Dixon County, large push of light geese moved through quickly, little hunting success.





> North-Central
> 
> Light Goose Conservation Action: Nance and Greeley counties, snow geese moving north.





> South-Central
> 
> Light Goose Conservation Action: Fillmore, Clay and Adams counties, good success on light geese, many birds in the area and Rainwater Basins. Kearney and Buffalo counties, good numbers of snow geese in eastern areas of the counties, good hunting pressure around Hastings area, some success. Harlan County Reservoir, many snow geese at the lake, hunting pressure light. Fillmore, Clay, Thayer, Nuckolls and Jefferson counties, some light geese in the area, light pressure with good success. Hall, Merrick and Hamilton counties, lots of light geese in the area, good success, mostly by sneaking up on the flocks in fields.





> Southeast
> 
> Light Goose Conservation Action: Seward and York counties, large numbers of light geese in Zone 1, all area basins hold good numbers of geese. Cass County, a few light geese moving through the in area, none staging. Northern Lancaster County, lots of snow geese, most passing through. Saunders and Butler counties, good numbers of light geese, some success. Southern Lancaster and Gage counties, light geese at maximum migration, good to fair success.


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## Keith S.

#1Waterfowler-here's a snowline map

http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/nsa/

My buddy lives in Norfolk. My bro goes to college in Yankton and he has been seeing birds as of last week. I'm not sure how far north they are, but they are there.


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## Take.Em

Hey there Chris:

I've been seeing numerious snows high over head and flying north / northwest most all week(not counting today). I scouted south of Mitchell today and drove about 100+ miles and never saw a snow.

I've got a few buddies flying into Sioux in the morning. At this time I'm planning on heading North toward the Redfield / Clark area and starting there. Might you have any suggestions as far as locations for us to look on Thur, Fri and Sat?

Thanks for any suggestions!!

Good shooting


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## Take.Em

Ummm....make that Sioux Falls!


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## sflem849

I talked to a handful of guys in the Britton, SD area and they said they started seeing the first "real" flocks of snows yesterday and Tuesday night they heard a few.
Going to be heading there the weekend of the 20th for spring break...now all we need is some luck and maybe a helping hand.

Cut 'em!!!


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## bigblackfoot

Well when i woke up today it was -4 with about 30 mph gusts out of the north. Unbelievable this state we live in. Just yesterday it was almost 40 and the day before 50. Well what geese where around are most likely back in SD. Which could be good for me. Sucks for you guys who are trying to make plans for this weekend though. Any i want to see some pictures from this weekend.[/b]


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Take.em,

I spoke with 3 different guys today from SD who are hunting. A fair amount of geese going back south with the cold weather and N wind. The birds are pretty spread out from Sioux Falls to Aberdeen. Tomorrow the birds will probably move north a bit with the warm temps and a possible S wind, but it's getting a little nasty for the weekend.

We're heading to Sodak tommorrow, as I think ND is a bust. We'll be targetting the E. Central part and we're getting our land access situated today.


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## J.D.

Hey Chris Im gonna be hunting Neb. this weekend but then might be in Sodak the middle of next week. You guys still gonna be around then? Its just gonna be me and 3 other guys - Ron Latschaw being one of them. Maybe we could at least meet up and have a beer. :beer:


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## J.D.

Oh yeah we would most likely be in the Redfield area since Ive got a bunch of land in that area from last year.


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## stolenbase

anyone seeing them at all in ND yet??? I wanna go! spring break and no school!  i need to get out. thanks, Nick and hell thats a lotta birds in that pick! nice shooting!


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## curty

FYI... From extreme S.E. N.D.... I put on about 65 miles yesterday and saw only Canadas, no snows yet that I have seen. today 10 degrees and the wind is screaming from the north ,north west.


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## Brad Anderson

I saw snows in SE ND yesterday. Some flocks were 3000+. Some on the ground, some in the air, some flying N/S/E/W. No real huntable numbers though.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

J.D. said:


> Hey Chris Im gonna be hunting Neb. this weekend but then might be in Sodak the middle of next week. You guys still gonna be around then? Its just gonna be me and 3 other guys - Ron Latschaw being one of them. Maybe we could at least meet up and have a beer. :beer:


Hey J.D. Ya I know we've been trying to hook up for 3 years now but again I'll have to pass. I'm moving to Bismarck next month and that pretty much gobbled up all my extra vacation time for this spring...so I'm stuck to being a weekend warrior.  If you want to hook up Friday afternoon (19th) and through the weekend I'm game!


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## GooseBuster3

SD here we come!!


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## Triple B

This weather isn't good news for all you guys wanting to get out this weekend. I think if you head to southern most part of the state you may find some birds, hopefully the birds will be around by next weekend, talked to my dad back in langdon, said there is still alot of snow up north, so hopefully it will stay long enough in the northern part of the state to hold the geese in ND for awhile, good luck to those going out this weekend.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

It looks good as far as weather for ND next week. Tomorrow's weather may bring another small push in for the weekend...but that weather doesn't look good for holding 'em.


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## T Shot

And the goose gods shine down upon me again, man next week should be fun.


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## Guest

Damn T-Shot, for sure!!!  Whack em and stack em next week!!! :sniper:


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## nodakoutdoors.com

SD Game & Fish updated their phone line...but not their website yet:

(605) 885-6401


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## Guest

Looks like it'll be a good week in S.D. My friends and I are going to be running up and down the state this Wed through Sun chasing these SOB's. We'll be east of 281. If anyone see's a older tan Ford powerstroke with tons of stickers and a black, ghetto topper, flag me down and let's chat. I've already established where we'll be hunting and I'm sure I'll be running across a lot of you out there. Good luck and great hunting. :beer:


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## FACE

Hey guys!!!!!
Not to show off again but...................................








About bird number 68 of about 80 for this past thurs, fri. hunt, my buddy and I managed to pull in this double banded ross'!!!!!!!!!!
What do reward bands usually bring in? This one was $10.00.
Anyway exciting for us and the birds are moving north FAST!!!!!!!!!
We were hunting just north of Huron, Sd.


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## FACE

And by the way, I think we were hunting the tail end of the SD migration because of lots of juvies and ross' and mostly high flying northbound birds. Next weekend may be a bust!!!! We drove by several fields that had to have half a million birds in them on Friday north of highway 14.


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## gooseman14

chris do u know where the snow are i am a pretty big fan of snowgoose hunting my self.

Brian Beckley


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## Leo Porcello

FACE man you killing me!! Did the band say $10.00 did you have to call to find out? I thought most reward bands on geese were $100.00 however I know ducks can vary a lot in the amount of $$$ they bring in. I never have gotten a reward band yet but according to Miss Cleo my second one will be sporting one. Congrats. We may have to start calling you the Band Man!! :beer:


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## T Shot

Face,

If you were hunting the tail end of the migration, there has to be an absolute pile in about a 50x40 mile area in SD, cuz they certainly are not going far in this weather. Monday I will have first hand knowledge of how the migration is progressing. I don't know if I can handle two more days.


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## FACE

The band said $10.00. And the birds were really stacked up! Lots of fields and lakes around the James river north of Huron and south of Redfield were plum full of geese. Worked our way back towards Lake Preston to start heading home Sat morning and pass shot 24 more between the two of us. The flocks were getting a lot smaller with lots of ross' and juvies and less blues. Still lots of birds flying in the stratosphere heading north though so I don't know how long they will stay in east central SD. Maybe with the weather they might pile up at the border areas!


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## eagle7116

Hunted southeastern North Dakota all day Saturday - basically a scouting trip. Manages to sky blast two birds, but it was just a scouting trip. Strong NW winds are holding birds from going to far north. Snowline is solid from basically I-94 running east and west from the eastern edge (Fargo) to about Bismarck......things open up out to the west for them to head north. But as for the birds in the eastern part of the state - They are out showing up in very huntable numbers. They seem to be stacking along the N.D./S.D border. The farthest west I scouted was 10 miles west of Oakes.....huge push even the the NW Winds. Largest flock was between 13-15 K. Throughout the day in that area I found 15 fields with over 5 K geese in them each. Lots of 500 to a 1000 flock. Found a large flock just north of Verona and that must have been the tip of the sword....no other birds were spotted north of there. No birds in Lisbon area. Good areas in the immediate future are all of the following areas: Wyndmere, Milnor, Ligerwood, Gwinner......*the best areas being: Forman, Oakes, and Ludden (all straddle the N.D/S.D border).* Could literally see the skies full to the south across the border.

Sorry to those who like short and sweet reports.....I like details.

Note to North Dakota hunters:

With the current controversy with Minnesota let us try to take the higher road and remember the benifits out of state hunters bring. The bring $$$ to the state and these geese really need to be thinned out. Lets take a step back and remember small town North Dakota (like any other small state) receives a very generous shot in the arm for out-of-staters. Try to give them a nice welcome....show them some hospitality. It would be nice if North Dakota was remembered for something other than its cold weather........translated that mean there is nothing else in the state that was notable. :withstupid:

This next weekend should be a good shoot. With the guard troops back we now have more guns. I propose a new hunter sponsored program..... :wink: *Take A Reservist Hunting* :wink: .........Great sharing experience.....They can teach us how to really shoot and we can *thank them for all they sacrificed for us*. :sniper: :beer:

Good hunting.


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## KEN W

Eagle...thanks for the report...but please post the same message on one thread...otherwise you are using up extra space on the server...Thanks


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Just got back from SD. No wind Saturday morning and it's been heavy wind ever since...not windsock weather. We decoyed in N. Central SD. Lots of birds going N/NW, however we weren't that far from the ND/SD border. We thought it wouldn't get too cold and the winds at night would keep our pond open...which wasn't the case. After we found all our northwinds froze to the ice this morning we packed up at 9 a.m. to get to work on our 1500 socks that were in need of some TLC. We came home with 40 birds and lost too many cripples due to floating birds with the wind. The spot we found was one of the best water spots I've ever seen. It was half corn/half barley stubble and it was 1 ft. deep at the most (pretty big to boot). We had thousands of birds on us while setting up during the night.










We saw very few coming back in ND. My guess is that Sand Lake is stacked right now considering how many went over us and how few are in ND. Lots of birds going back south after dark.


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## GooseBuster3

Man it was great to shoot some birds again!!


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## dblkluk

Nice work guys!! :beer:


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## Leo Porcello

Nice work for the first go of the spring season. Wish I could have been there. I will be ready to go next weekend if anyone feels like going! Just unpacked my hunting clothes and Just 21 boxes of 10ga ammo so I am pretty much ready. Just have to get my ND license and my new HIP. Keep those pictures coming!


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## tsodak

Sounds like you need to have a guy along witha good white dog Chris. :lol: :beer:

Saw excellant numbers all through Dickey, Sargent, and Marshall counties Friday. Many large fileds near Britton Saturday coming off Renzehouzen and Sand Lake.

Good to hear guys are getting some. Hope I can take a few days off this week and take a whack at them.


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## Guest

Porkchop, 21 boxes of 10 gauge shells??  Sounds like someone's going to war!!!  :strapped:


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## J.D.

Hey Chris, were you able to drive in the fields this weekend? How wet is it?


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## nodakoutdoors.com

We dragged out Friday night (setup around midnight). The field was pretty dry and could've been driven on.

Sunday with the cold weather we were able to drive up to the slough without any ruts at all.


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## Runner

Did some hunting along the ND/SD border on Sunday (Central ND). Saw LOTS of Canadians and a respectable number of snows. Took about 10 shots but I'm pretty sure the only thing to reach them would be anti-aircraft guns. They seem to fly high and funnel straight down where it's safe. Decoys didn't seem to help much. Good luck to everyone.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

mallard called a few hours ago and claimed thousands was moving into ND. I imagine they'll feed and head back to roost on Sand Lake.


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## Tony Vandemore

86 bird day in MO over the weekend. Not many birds around, but the ones you see are kamikaze dirty juvies and snow teal. Probably didn't see a bunch bigger than 200.

C:\Documents and Settings\STAT0091\My Documents\My Pictures\Trailer.jpg


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## jbaincfl

I hunted between Ellendale and Oakes on Saturday and we saw thousands of birds in the air at all times for that entire stretch of road. Flock after flock streaming north. large flocks kept leap frogging north in the fields. Managed to pass shoot 5. Nothing by the Kulm area yet as there is still a fair amount of snow and no open water. Should be a good wekend coming up.


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## T Shot

Day one was a smash, we found this nice setup of a large corn field with sheet water on both ends, we snuck down in between the two bunches and pass shot the afternoon away. Good mixture of mature, juvies, and ross geese. There is still an absolute ton around Watertown, but they were really spread out. We are planning on decoying the field sometime this week, but its going to be tough as a relative died over the weekend and I will be spending most of tuesday and wednesday attending services. Oh well it felt reeeeeal good to get out again. Wish I would have remembered the camera.


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## DCOYNUT

Was out yesterday after class and saw between 7 to 8,000+. These sloppy snows were lingering 3 miles south of MILNOR. They would be great birds to deke but we just didn't have time. They feed south east of town about 4 miles and roost on a huge slough(not posted) 2 miles outta town. If you get into that path of flight there is great pass shooting. I would imagine that the decoying would be even better although you'd have to have a tennis racket to keep the Jumbo Canucks away.AHAH! Good luck and Stay in the SWARM!

DCOYNUT


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## mallard

Hunted monday evening and this morning with fair results(God it was good to get out hunting again!).Monday was sunny,no wind,and I set up in the only open water that I could find(mallards were keeping it open).I figured with a day like this I can at least get a nap out of it.With the windsocks draped over there stakes,looking more like a white towel hanging on a stick than a goose, I still had birds working the decoys,at least to within 70 yds :lol: .I limited my shots to 30 yds and ended up with 4.All were matures and could have shot many more if I would have taken Tyler shots(joke).With a good dog I wouldnt have held back(hey Doug can I borrow Rory next weekend? :lol: .I listened to the weather report last night and thought I was going to finally hammer them.Not.I ended up with 5 before the snow,more like ice pellets with a 20 mph wind shut every thing down.A flock 2 miles long also landed 1 mile away and sucked every bird to that field.Before the snow everything was coming from the north heading south looking like they were on a mission.First time I ver picked up windsocks and had to shake the snow out of them. mallard


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## nodakoutdoors.com

I got word that there's a lot of geese moving up the western corridor over by Strasburg. You Bismarck boys should get at 'em!


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## Ima870man

Saw several flocks of around 50 or so heading north over Bismarck today 03.17.04. This was around noon time. Yes they were snows, and the amount of blacks going over the last few days was unreal too. I hope my son and I will be able to get out some this weekend.

Remember -- If you do not have the time to do it right, how are you going to find time to do it over!

Ima870man


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## Ty

they are heading back south of Norfolk, NE. I think they hit that snow line just north of us and turned back around. its BACK ON for us! BWHAHAHA :sniper:


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## huntersmith44

I"m from Carrington. If any of you guys get up this way maybe we could hook up. I have never hunted snows in the spring before. I know the area east and west of carrington really well and know lots of farmers that would allow me to hunt on there land. I am only 15, but I have my license and a pickup and would be willing to do some scouting. The only decoys I have is a dozen snow shells and Canadian decoys which probably wouldn't help much. Email me if you are interested [email protected].


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## 870 XPRS

Started off as a bluebird day in the SE part of nd today, well today as in wednesday, i guess it's actually thursday now that i'm writing. Seemed to be a great day to decoy, plenty of birds migrating north. As we took the 2 hours to set out the 500 decoys, it decided to cloud over and start to rain, making it not such a nice day to decoy. Ended up pulling the dekes after 2 hours and washing for another 2 1/2 after the weather decided not to cooperate. The birds in the SE corridor are not migrating as fast as planned. Spring break started well as we shot 73 last saturday but haven't shot a bird since. From what I hear there are a lot coming up the missouri corridor but we have yet to see the push in the SE corner.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Yesterdays report from the SD Game & Fish:



> March 17 -- Not many reports have come in the past few days but there is indication that the bulk of the light geese are in the northern one-half of the state, with some trying to get into North Dakota but being held back by the snow cover there. There has been a lot of movement recently and is naturally still occurring. In general, most birds have been sited all the way from Codington and Day counties west to Faulk and Edmunds counties. The number at Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge has decreased from 450,000 a few days ago to 315,000 today. As weather fronts come through, especially those with snow, the birds are tending to move back and forth from south to north almost daily, making timely and accurate reporting difficult.


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## Bruce

Lots of geese flying high and heading west from my place NE SD minus one. Nothing going north.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Birds reported as far north as HW 200...along the snowline. Not much up there to hold them currently but that could change over the next week.


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## fishhook

Well i heard my first goose last night about midnight. I let my dog out and i could here some faint honks. They were very faint and there weren't many of them. I think they were canada's, but i could barely hear them. So at least something is as far north as Minot.


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## jbaincfl

Are you still seeing good numbers around Oakes and Ellendale? There were a ton there last Saturday and I plan on going out agian tomorrow.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

They're there but I keep hearing of large numbers west of HW 281 so I'm assuming a lot of birds are shifting further west. I'm sure the next 24 hours will be rough on the crew with more high winds (we just fixed the socks up from last weekends wind).

I'm about to jump on a plane to Ohio for the weekend, I'm sure they'll let me know how good it is.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

From the ND Game & Fish:



> March 18, 2004
> 
> Lead flocks of snow geese continue to make their way north in the state as a flock of at least 500 were observed early this afternoon feeding east of Washburn in southern McLean County. One biologist followed a large flock from LaMoure to Jamestown, with no sign of the birds stopping as they continued to fly north at a high elevation over Interstate 94. Numerous sightings continue to be reported in most southern counties, especially Dickey and Sargent. At least 40,000 were observed at Tewaukon last night, but were gone as of this morning. There is open water in the southern portion of the state, and snow continues to be on the ground in the northern portion. The snow line appears to be around Highway 200. The weather forecast has highs in the 40s and 50s through the weekend.


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## Travis

I just got back thursday from watertown SD snowgoose hunting, or watching if you want to call it that. Tons and Tons of birds. I have never seen so many birds in my life especially that could fly so high. We did terrible but to me it wasn't the number that we took but the first time I could ever see so many birds in one place(millions). Here in WI the only thing I ever see in the millions is snowflakes.HAHA This was my first time hunting snows and the only thing I learned is that you need about 1000 decoys,a louder ecaller than I have, and I also know what it looks like to have millions of birds fly over my head and I mean WAY over. Good luck to everyone else and I can't wait to hunt cans and ducks in the fall.


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## Niles Short

:evil: Have a fellow coming in from Kildeer to check on my pups. He called me at noon today and said there are geese everywhere from Valley to Jamestown. i cant go until Monday :evil: then it will be blue skies :eyeroll: Have fun without me


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## THE Snowman

Sorry this is so late. I drove South from Fargo yesterday, through Kindred, Milnor and then down to Oakes. Never saw a single bird until I was at Fullerton and all that I saw were high and heading North. I drove back up Highway 1 and from about Litchville North to I-94 there were large flocks all high and heading North/Northwest and all were on the West side of Hwy 1. I was back in Fargo at about 5:00 as I had a previous engagement. I never saw any birds on the ground nor did any of the flocks I saw look like they were interested in feeding. All were high and puttin on miles. Today had to help them out with the strong South winds and warm temps. I would concentrate my efforts North of I-94 between VC and Jamestown.


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## Dick Monson

Seems the migration has missed VC. 1 flock today headed straight west at noon. 1 flock last week.


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## Niles Short

THERE WILL BE ALOT OF GOOSE HUNTING LEFT DONT ALWAYS BELIEVE EVERY WRITTEN WORD - JUST LOOK FOR THEM, AND TRY TO RESTRAIN YOURSELF FROM HUNTING ON 'BLUBIRD' DAYS

IVE SHOT THEM ANYWHERE FROM MARCH 1ST TO T-SHIRT WEATHER - LOTS OF TIMES HAVE HEARD REPORTS 'ALL BIRDS ARE GONE' JUST TO HAVE THE BEST SHOOTS
IT TAKES WORK BUT WHEN U GET THEM U NAIL THEM


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## nodakoutdoors.com

The birds are limited in places to roost north of I-94, but they REALLY want to get up there. I've talked to a lot of people seeing just as many birds going back south as they are up north. They push as far north as possible, turn back south and feed...than head back to their roost.

If you have a roosting spot north of I-94 than you've found paydirt. The action _should_ heat up along HW200 this next week, but we have some more cold weather coming again which should stall them.

When in doubt...look around HW281 and west. A lot of birds and few hunters.


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## win4win

March 19, 2004

Now is the time to be spring snow goose hunting in North Dakota. A major movement of snow geese has occurred in the state. Birds are reported all the way from the South Dakota border up to New Town in Mountrail County. Large numbers have been reported around Gackle, Streeter, Jamestown, Kulm, McKenzie, Moffit and Hazelton. Birds have been pouring into the state all afternoon. There is a snow line at Highway 50 in the western part of the state, and between Highways 200 and 2 further east. Open water is still basically only in the southern portion of the state. The weather forecast has highs in the 30s and 40s for the weekend


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## Pluckem

Birds are everywhere. Almost every flock is headed NW or straight W. We saw quite a bit of hunting pressure. One field had 5 trucks surounding it and they were all different groups. Guys were lining the ditch and sitting in rock piles and I think the closest guy to the geese was about 300 yards out and no one was making a move. I think we have to go a little farther south and a little more east. Get away from Bismarck.


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## watrfowlr

Are any of the ponds or small lakes open south of 94? Are the fields really wet?


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Yes there's ponds open, but with lows in the single digits tonight I think that's over.

The crew ended up with 24 today, and gandergrinder got a neck collar. They said the birds decoyed pretty well with some tornadoes down into shooting range but with poor shooting. They hunted flooded corn with only 800 of the windsocks and half of the floaters (around 100).

Birds should stall for a couple days as the high tomorrow is below freezing. I've heard Sand Lake is absolutely loaded but no confirmation on bird numbers (only speculations).


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## watrfowlr

Chris is the crew hunting in the very southern part of ND? Do you know if the majority are heading back to sand at night or are some roosting in ND?


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## Capt. Kevin

supposivly over 1 million in sand lake area


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## curty

Talked to about ten groups of hunters in the south east. They are doing all right. They say quite a few birds in the area. Though some woke this morning to find thier spreads frozen to the ground.


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## Madison

Gander Grinder, post some of the pics of that collar!!

Oh yeah, "If its banded, I shot it!"

madison


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## Niles Short

Had to go to Hankinson yesterday to see Jay Leno. :wink: Managed to Talk my date into driving around a litle bit. Didnt have much time but found some fair numbers within 3 miles of the casino. Got a few 8) i looked real good in my hunting clothes-leather jacket, no cap (bald head) dress pants etc
the fields were fairly dry with just a few pockets of run off water


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## tsodak

This is fairly old info, but here it is. Friday was working in Gackle area, saw large numbers coming through all high and northbound. Nothing on the ground. Came back to Jamestown seeing the same thing all the way. Nothing on the ground, but many in the sky. Afternoon we headed to the inlaws in CLear Lake SD. Down 281 to Sandlake to Groton, and Watertown. Daughter and I climbed the towner at Sand Lake, Many hundred of thousands on the ice. No idea of specific numbers. Acres and acres is all I can say. Many in fields as well. Some hunters, nothing extreme. This was about 430 PM. Then about every 20 miles to Watertown there was a flock in the fields.

Would apear to me that we should hold good numbers of birds in a box from Highway 1 to 3 and Redfield to Highway 2 for the niext week.

I spend a lot of time on the road, and get some decent scouting in. If anyone is looking for a decoy hauler sometime this week, I might be able to trade some labor and info for a day over your dekes. Drop me a PM if you have any interest.

Tom


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## Gooseman678

Was hunting down in SE Nd this weekend. lots of birds untill this cold weather came on sunday(today). everything had ice on it again and birds disappeared. im guessing they went back to SD.


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## GooseBuster3

Well the birds couldnt have worked any better!! Only the poor shooting ****** us off. Jed nailed the necj collar, but if I would have had my gun out of the case it would have been all mine......Gandergrinder you lucky bastard!! Congrats!. We would have had two neck collars but he he didnt fall out of the sky, least to say that one had a really sore *** after we opened up om him.


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## Guest

Watrfwlr, you thinking about heading to NoDak? Just got back from Clark area inSoDak, ended up only shooting 23 I think, my friggin' e-caller went to hell Saturday night, only 3 days old!!! :******: Anyways, singles decoyed awesome with 2 e-callers and around 800 decoys in cornfields. Birds were hopping from field to field on Wednesday, by Sunday birds were flying high, not having any intention of coming down. Still good numbers West of Watertown as we were leaving, but they were all in really big groups.


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## Skilly62

Just got back from Watertown area. We got 32 snows and the last bird of the weekend had double leg bands. Pictures coming soon!!! We got almost all of our birds jump shooting and a few pass shooting. We probably saw 50,000 geese over the weekend. Awsome experience and we were happy to get some birds on our first spring hunt. :lol:


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## Guest

Man, you guys were everywhere.  We were the only crew out decoying these frickin things. Why doesn't anyone try decoying them around there?


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## T Shot

To answer your question #1 Waterfowler, there are toooo many guys jump shooting them in the spring. It gets really hard to find a spot to decoy when they get jumped whenever there is a buildup. That said, I know quite a few people who decoy them whenever they can, at least around Watertown.


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## FACE

Used to jump shoot myself but found out now that the best hunts now are to scout out fields that the birds want to be in that are nearly impossible to sneak and decoy there! The fields we decoyed this spring were the "X" and had people lining the ditches but could not get shots and the birds "dropped" right into us! One advantage of decoying is that you are in their spot before they get there! You always notice that when there are thousand of birds stacked somewhere already that there are tons of guys wasting their time surrounding the fields hoping someone does something to move the birds, and maybe dropping one or two. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: 
When we used to sneak birds we would try to find just the right situation to guarantee us at least a few birds, 20 minutes or less per flock, otherwise we would pass and move on....just too much work!! Not saying I would never jump birds again it's just a lot less wear and tear on a person and more enjoyable to suck them in and give 'em hell over dekes!
Our new routine now is to jump shoot birds on the first day of the hunt while scouting for fields to hunt the following days because it would be quite difficult to just show up and start decoying if you don't know where the birds want to be! Plus it is always nice to start out by bagging a few birds without having to setup a spread!


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## Take.Em

Face:

I'm fairly new to this Spring Goose deal. I am however getting hooked more by the day! I've jumped and pass shoot a few days this season but I'm always on my own. Not much success until the other day when I got myself into a solid location and pass shot 15.

Anyway, now deke's have gotten my attention and I was wondering what your spread consists of. As you said above, I've found snows on the same impossible fields day after day. Getting access to these fields isn't a problem so I think it's time to look into decoying them in.

Thanks for your help!


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## gandergrinder

Shooting was pretty good this weekend with Saturday being the best. The birds were migrating north against the hard wind and wanted to get on the ground pretty badly. We ended up with a good number of birds and could have had a few more but that is the way it goes sometimes.

We had the floaters out and that seemed to be what the birds keyed in on. I know how I am going to set up next time with the floaters and windsocks. I think the birds flared from the windsocks because the wind was so strong. Floaters downwind and windsocks running on the upwind side of the water packed tight next to the water and running upwind loosely into the field should be the trick for close range birds. The more dekes you have the more drawing power you have. I'm still a firm believer in the big windsock spreads to draw the birds. They can see you a long way away when they are really high and migrating.

I noticed many of the guys hunting decoys picked up by 10:00 and were driving around. We had the best action on migrators from 10:00 untill 2:00 with several 500 to 1000 bird tornados. Might as well stay in the dekes as usually everything is flying around then anyway.

Next weekend should be good in Nodak.


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## mallard

I did Ok this weend for running a tiny spread(I envy the nodak crew with the 1000+ custom decoy spread).I noticed that the large groups would work the deecs better than small flocks and singles.It seemed that a few would drop out of the big flocks once in a while.On saturday we setup in a flooded cornfield ,but unfortunately were out of the flight path,so we picked up and scouted and covered some ground.The hunting pressure south and west of Oaks was very intense.A large flock would land and within 20 minutes 2-5 vehicles would show up and jump them.I even seen 3 guys walking out towards a flock that were sitting on a hilltop in a barley field.Most of the birds were heading straight west and were not stopping any time soon.On the way back east we found a flight path and got permission to hunt a flooded corn field with 3 hours left of shooting time.As soon as the decs were set the flocks were all over us constantly and had a few geese come into range.Sunday there were fewer flocks and hunting was tough.I hope that the hunting pressure is not as bad in the next few weeks.It was terrible this weekend.


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## Pluckem

Going back up to school on Sunday I didnt see a snow east of Medina along I-94. Saw 3 different roosts and some larger groups in the air. Most were headed SE, a few were going SW.


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## duckslayer

:sniper:


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## tsodak

From Jamestown to Fargo to Hankinson to Forman today. Nothing along the interstate at all. Started to see birds westbound south of Hankinson, and by 200 when I stopped at Tewaukonthere were between 300 and 400000 on the ice. How can you guess. Good flocks feeding in the Forman area across the boarder into SD.

Saw a few hunters, but nothing like weekend pressure.

Tom


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## bobcat

Could some tell me a current report of the snow geese in the Brookings area and also around Wolsey or Redfield and south!!!!! thanks


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Report from the ND Game & Fish (I must note, however, that there are MUCH MORE staying than they're reporting):



> March 22, 2004
> 
> Snow geese continue to be reported throughout southern North Dakota, but colder weather the past two days caused wetlands to ice over, thus moving birds back and forth into South Dakota for much of the weekend. A large number of snow geese were observed this morning from Kulm to LaMoure. Thousands have also been reported in southern McIntosh County, but most of these birds were seen flying back into South Dakota. The snow line continues to be at Highway 50 in the western part of the state, and between Highways 200 and 2 further east. The weather forecast for this week has highs in the 50s.


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## Labsroc01

Hunted sunday north of the Oaks area with some luck. We ended up shooting 11 birds all shot by jumping them. My neighbor went back home to Mitchell, SD this weekend and said the snows geese were thick. Its just a matter of time until the MOTHER LOAD shows up. I would say by this weekend it should be awsome. I am still debating whether or not I should decoy this weekend, there seemed to be so much hunting pressure last weekend with guys jump shooting. I hope I will be able find birds concentrated in other areas this weekend other than the Teawauken and Oaks areas. It would be nice to get somewhat away from the competition, but I'm pretty sure it won't happen. Well good luck to all you hunters, the more snows we can harvest the better it will be for their future.


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## GooseBuster3

It should start slowing down, after the first push into the state people get sick of walking through the mud and working there *** off for a acouple geese.


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## Flick

I can't wait to get out there, looks like it should be a good weekend. I've never seen the spring hunt or seen thousands of snows so it should be a blast. Seeing more geese here at ndsu, no snows though. Goosebuster if you guys need one more person to set out deeks I'm there. I want to get in on a decoy hunt. I plan on being out all weekend either way, cant wait.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

ND Game & Fish Report. I should add that S. Central to Central ND is now holding quite a few as well.

March 23, 2004

Numbers continue to increase daily in North Dakota as more birds move out of South Dakota. Sand Lake Refuge in northeastern South Dakota is now reporting 500,000 snow geese on the refuge after having 700,000 on Friday. The bulk of the snow geese in North Dakota is currently found in the southeastern portion of the state. Tewaukon NWR is now holding up to 300,000. Many small flocks of 5,000 to 10,000 are looking to feed, with no sign of movement going north. Edges of sloughs are beginning to open, and sheet water is available. A biologist reporting from McIntosh County said not as many birds are being observed today as yesterday. Snow remains on the ground in the northern portion of the state. The high for today is expected to be in the mid 50s and tomorrow should reach the lower 60s.


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## eyehunter

Anyone been seein any snows by carrington and bowdon area yet. Plannin on going that direction this weekend. Any info would be great.


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## MRN

tsodak said:


> by 200 when I stopped at Tewaukonthere were between 300 and 400000 on the ice. How can you guess. Good flocks feeding in the Forman area across the boarder into SD.
> 
> Tom


Ya, I saw what they were calling 500,000 on the ice late last week. Then the next day it was 0 (when I was hunting) but they went somewhere other than ND. I would guess numbers based on acres covered - 10,000 per acre and they covered 50 acres on the lake?? Aren't you in the "bizness" now? Don't the state guys go "high-five" the federal guys?

M.


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## tsodak

Don't want to sound stupid MRN, but I dont follow your last two sentences. I stopped to visit with the guys at Tewaukon yesterday, and all I can say is I am glad I dont work there, I would get nothing done. There were acres and acres on the ice. Set up and started counting collars for a few minutes. Very cool.

Today I saw excellant numbers in the Forman area, and then a good flock around Jamestown as I came home. Unfortunately, I had to go to Wapheton and Fargo today, so I did not travel through the main areas where geese should be. But there were lots around Forman. I saw 6 flocks in 20 miles on the ground, with 2 of them having someone stalking them. Saw two places where a guy could have put the hurt on them. One spot they were feeding about 20 feet from a tree belt. If I wasn't working......

Looks to me from the weather forcast that the next 5 days should be great. Gotta go to Bismarck Thursday, but if someone is looking for a grunt with an eliminator on Friday....... :beer:


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## MRN

Tsodak,

you said - "How can you guess" - after the numbers. I offered a guess at how they guess then I remembered - you're one of "them wildlife guys" who should be telling us how it's done. I was guessing that while us amatures gaze from the road, you probably get to drive past the closed signs and park in the compound??? The guys there would probably tell you how they do it.

It sure was an amazing number of birds - someone could have made a great recording of snow goose sounds.

M.


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## Flick

That sounds awesome, I plan on hitting it on Thursday all day, we'll see how it goes, will definetely post on how I do, will just be jumping and pass shooting. Will tell all you decoyers where the biggest concentrations are. Good luck.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

I heard word of LOTS of high flyers going north over Jamestown to VC today from a pretty reliable source. I'm not sure where they stopped but it'll unveil soon enough.


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## tsodak

OK MRN, I am with you now. I hate to break it to you, but if there is a magic formula, I don't know it. Pretty much a SWAG on my part.

(My title says biologist, but I am just a well trained farmer with the coolest dang job on the planet..... I skipped the day at college when they did snow goose censusing..... :lol: :beer: )


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## tsodak

I was out of town during the portion of the day they normally high fly Chris, but I just heard from a bud about many birds on the ground in that Sutton Cooperstown Carrington area. Have not been that way at all, but it would make an interesting drive.

Tom


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## mikec

There are a ton of birds around the redfield, aberdeen area. probably a few less than there was on the weekend but still good huntable numbers. drove thru southern Nodak on the way home from sand lake on sunday and didnt see too much however it was between 100 and 4 so there isnt much to see anyhow.

had a good hunt over the weekend and killed 205 on the HSC big hunt. one banded bird and missed our chance at a collar.

lots and lots of birds and few hunters until the weekend and then still not many. saw maybe four different groups in 5 days.

not bad.

they should be pushing into nodak pretty hard as the wweather gets warmer.


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## muskat

I was out in the area Chris is talking about. There were a lot of high flyers, but there was also geese that stopped 15 miles or so north of the Interstate.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

In the last 16 hours I've had snows, canadas, swans and cranes fly over my place here in Fargo. A buddy just called and there's snows on the ground between Fargo and Grand Forks.

I think it's safe to say the snowline has opened up 100-150 miles to the north. It's supposed to get up to 60 the next 2 days and lows for the next 5 look to all be above freezing. Birds should start moving big time by the weekend.


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## GooseBuster3

At 1:30 Im getting out of class.....Bring on some more snow geese!!


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## KEN W

ND GNF report

Wednesday morning, March 24, 2004

Snow geese made their way into central North Dakota last night. Birds were observed in McLean, Sheridan, southern McHenry and Wells counties. The snow line is at Highway 200, but pockets of open fields are available north of 200, with sheet water in those open pockets. Large numbers of snow geese built up in south central and southeastern North Dakota yesterday. Tewaukon NWR reported 300,000 with many more in the area. Many small flocks of 5,000 to 10,000 were looking to feed. A major concentration was observed early yesterday afternoon in northern Barnes County. The high for today is expected to reach the 60s.

Won't be long and they will be up here.I have 4 days off this weekend to hunt...come on sun.


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## Eric Hustad

I saw my first flock of snows fly over the house last night. Am going to go jump shooting tomorrow and will post what I see.....


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## dosch

Birds were everywhere between GF and Fargo this morning. Tough to go to work but a welcome site.


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## brobones

Does anyone know if the snows have gotten as far north as Sask???  I sure hope so the season here opens up one week from tomorrow..Yahoo baby


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## GooseBuster3

I Wouldnt hold my breath.


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## Triple B

Went out over the weekend and saw very large flocks of probably up to 10-20,000 in the wyndmere, milnor area, is anyone else finding that these birds are very spooky? Had a hard time getting close to them, with that many eyes and the spookiness of the birds you really have to work your tail off, or get lucky to get a good amount of birds. Good luck with the rest of the season, only a few more to go, and its turkey time for me!!


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Birds moving north all day...

:jammin:

Eyes to the sky...


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## Eric Hustad

:withstupid:


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## Tony Vandemore

Triple B, no offense towards ****picking...but I would likely be a little punchy too if everywhere I land up and down the flyway somebody is coming down a fencerow or crawling down a road ditch...LOL


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## dblkluk

Heads up NW NoDak!!! I was on my way back to work a few minutes ago and seen a tornado getting up just south of Minot. Being the Goose pimp I am, I drove to check it out. While watching the feed 2 miles south of Minot, I watched thousands headin north high and fast. Nothing around here to stop them, so you boys around Kenmare and Bowbells, go Get em!! :sniper:


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## Bruce

First day in 2 weeks I haven't seen a snow. Had some over the farm last night and they roosted in the back pond. Tonight I'm going to decoy the pond and see what happens. Waiting for the juvies to show up.


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## tsodak

Took the kids fishing out on the pipe tonight, geese headed north, south, east, and west. Could hear a field off to the SW, but nothing major. Weekend looking better and better.....


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## goose_killer90

Went out hunting today around the carrington area jumped one flock of about 10,000 and another flock of about 5,000 many snows around. they seem to be staying in the area for awhile too.


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## dleier

I made a swing started running into huntable numbers north of Eckelson and havey numbers south of Wimbledon. A huge flock 2 west of Rogers at 1800

Partner said solid numbers from Yipsilanti upto Spirtwood from 1400-1900.

There aint nothin like the blare of flocks upon flocks of snows to shove winter out the door.

A few hunters around Wimbledon. blue sky+no wind=tuff sleddin.

and the beat goes on...


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## dblkluk

Made a quick run after work tonight south of Minot. Lots of birds around!! Tons of canadas with snows scattered throughout the area. They seem to be following the snowline to the northwest. Although, I saw lots of birds heading back south at dark. Should be good thru the weekend.


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## Niles Short

HELLO to everyone working today  Its 4 AM and i am heading out. farmer friend around Dazey said they just loaded up on his place late last evening. :sniper: Me and the old Wirehair are off and running.
We will think of you guys at work :burns:


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## wiscokid

Can"t stand reading the nodak news on snow goose hunting any more.Any one need a hunting partner? I live in northern wisconsin.Looking forward to coming to the great state of North Dakota.Going to get my nonresident hunting lic. today 3/25/04. wiscokid.


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## GooseBuster3

It issnt even worth jump shooting north of the interstate....IT WAY TO FLAT!! Say some guys come in from the north side of a flock when they could have set up in between the two flocks they jumped and could have pass shot them.....MORONS! But I will say south side 94 has ALOT more geese.


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## Labsroc01

The birds are here! Went out last night and had some good jump shooting by Kindred. Good thing I had my four legged hunting partner with to retrieve them birds in the mud rather than I.

It will be tough for many hunters to get around this weekend. Most fields and roads have become very muddy allowing for limited access. They are calling for rain today and Saturday which will only make things worst. This might shy some hunters away, since those who are in pursuit will most likely be a black ball of mud. Well good luck to all, it should be a good one!


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## sflem849

Just got back from a trip to Britton, SD. They were everywhere! I would estimate the numbers at about a jabillion. The only problem is shooting them...


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## djleye

A Jabillion!! That is about how I estimate geese too. :lol: :lol:


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## BenelliBlaster

My dad spotted the first snow geese flyin over Rugby yesterday afternoon. Still quite a bit of snow but the birds are pushin farther and farther north. I have been seeing a lot less birds around Sargent and Dickey county the past couple of days. Most birds are roosting around I-94.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Just wanted to let everyone know to tune into North Dakota Outdoors Live Saturday morning as I'll be calling in with live reports from the Nodak Crew's spread. Hopefully my cell phone will come in real good in the blind!










Here's where we'll be setup:










Should be fun!


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## GooseBuster3

Well Nodak crew 24 hours fom now we will be setting up the "Killer" spread!! HAHA I cant wait!


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## nodakoutdoors.com

BIG migration today and it's not slowing down as I'm typing this. Eric is out north of the interstate and is seeing non-stop trains high, heading straight north. Snow is melting rapidly and birds are taking advantage.


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## KEN W

It will continue tomorrow...SE winds 25 mph

Rain in the evening and at night.

NW winds on Sat.


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## gandergrinder

NW I love it. Makes the little buggers tired when they have to fly and keeps them low. Which means not so far down to my decoys.


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## duckyday

just got back from a little scouting trip...snow line seems to be at 200 in the eastern part of the state. Saw huntable numbers starting at cooperstown...drove west a little and headed south and there seem to be more birds. Lots of birds flying north, but would hit the snowline and head back and feed just to the south of it. Looks like it is shaping up to be a good weekend am leaaving tomorrow and will post again on sunday!!!


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## Niles Short

Had good shooting early when weather held out. Then scouted starting about 10Am. geese flying everwhere N-NW and high some leap frogging not stickiang around too much Highest concentration seen between Valley-Spirtwood to Dazy-Wimbleden headind NW. The field I set up in the morning had emtied out when i returned tripped on it. seen very little between Sybly and Fargo.


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## Brad Anderson

There are still plenty of birds down south. Today was proof.

First bird shot had a green necklace and a ankle braclet. It was a fully mature blue goose. I wish I would have been in the right place. Congrats troy!!!! :beer:

I already drank a couple for ya! Save me a picture, please!!


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## KEN W

Could be interesting up here tomorrow...

The weather service has issued flood warnings for NC No. Dak.

Heavy thunderstorms tonight,and with the ground frozen...it has to go somewhere....will be lots of sheetwater if they are right.

I'm out the door...headed south of Rugby somewhere.


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## Labsroc01

Had great luck once again last night. There seemed to be birds everywhere with very little hunting pressure. Lots of flooded fields west of Valley City with some birds holding and others on the move. Sounds like there are still plenty of birds holding down south around Teawauken. Hopefully they will keep on pushing north throughout the weekend. I also talked to a buddy in Rock Lake he has not seen any snow geese up there yet just Blacks. Good luck to everyone this weekend! :lol:


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## Eric Hustad

Scouted from Fargo all the to North of Jamestown yesterday. Most of the birds I saw were in big groups flying high. There was a huge flight west of Valley City that was booking it to the north. Saw some birds on the ground and tried sneaking a couple of fields with no luck, however it was the first time my son had been out hunting. He liked the gun and birds, hated the driving in the car. A person is really gone have to scout around and if you can get in a flyway with the weather tomorrow you'll hammer'em. Be careful with the weather tomorrow as I know how bad those fields can get. Happy Hunting.....


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## Flick

Was out yesterday and saw big numbers both on the ground and in the air, best numbers were about 20mi north on of 94 on hiway 1, forgot the name of the town. Towards evening there were clouds in every direction though. Me and a buddy got 5, probably could have gotten a couple more but it was our first time doing it. I agree with goosebuster it is too flat to do good jumping/sneaking, most flocks there was no possible way to get on them. I couldn't believe the amount of birds though, first time I'd seen them come back in the spring. Also saw an ton of specks, maybe thats common I dont know but there were a lot of them. Great day. Cant wait to get back out. good luck


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## Niles Short

Tont midnight. Chance for precipitation is 70%. . Breezy, with a southeast wind between 18 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. 
Saturday: Showers TSTORMS before noon, then a chance of showers. storms produce heavy rain. Chance for precipitation is 70%. Mostly cloudy, with a high around 53.  Breezy, with a SE wind 18 to 26 mph becoming NW. Winds could gust as high as *38 mph*.Saturday Night: Part cloudy, with a low near 32.  Nw wind between 11 and 18 mph. Sun: Partly cloudy, with a high around 53. Breezy north 9 to 12 mph increasing to between 21 and 24 mph.


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## KEN W

Well...I'm back from a trip south of here.Still heavy snow cover to just north of Harvey.Started seeing some birds north of of Harvey...not big groups...3-4,000 here and there.Went down Hwy 3 to about half way from Harvey to Hurdsfield.Lots of blacks and Mallards and pintails all over But...no real big numbers of snows.None in the air...all on the ground feeding.Tried a couple of sneaks,but couldn't get close enough.

Cold here today...only 30 and windy...if it doesn't warm up it will be snow here not rain.


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## buckseye

Hey guys...just came up 83 from Liberal KS yesterday, been gone a month but hasn't changed much here in Upham. We have snow and not much run off yet, the existing lakes and ponds are frozen.

Saw alot of birds along the way from Pierre to Lone Tree, mostly in the air tho at the time I went by.

WOW WOW WOW on all the pretty and interesting people we met, put a couple thousand miles on the bike. Havasu was a rat race 
_________________


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## goose killer

I am going out to hunt near enderline, ND this weekend. Has anybody seen any geese out in that area.


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## huntersmith44

There is getting to be quite a concentration near carrington. Didn't even have to go a 1/2 mile out of carrington to see the first flock on the ground tonight. To the north east was the greatest concentration that i saw. I've only did a couple of sneeks so far. And sat once trying to pass shoot. There isn't all that many hunters up here yet, but that could change with the weekend coming.


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## goose_killer90

Holy crap is there birds around carrington. went out North East and i couldnt beleive all the birds there was like 5 different fields with at least 10,000 in each field and birds were flying everywhere!!!!!


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## falconer_3

I'm looking to go out tommorow evening, but I haven't looked for birds in a week. I was just wondering where anyone has seen them around Bismarck, and how far north they are. Thanks


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## Niles Short

Hey 'goose killer90 are u deoying? is anybody else? are they in corn? do i need a jet ski to get at them? if u are decoying and want somebody to help move them i will set up in another field. planned on going to dazy tomorrow good 3's came in there today but give me a shot (shout) and convince to come further


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## goose_killer90

NO not decoying mostly just sneaking, i havent seen anyone out decoying yet but maybe tommorow will see someone. Mostly all of them ive seen have been in corn and most of the corn fields had about 4 inches of water in them. Are you going to be out this way tommorow?


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## lynxx69

Boys I am having fun I went out on thurs and came back today which is Sat.... I shot 63 geese in those three days man I had a blast.... I say forget about decoys just work a little bit to get the them.... oh and if your wondering there is a heck of a pile of geese by Carrington and by Fesseden I was by Fesseden all three days pretty much... Found a water hole that I shot 22 down in but only got 16 there is still 6 cripples out there is that pond but I had to get back so I couldn't look the next day..... On friday there was a huge advantage for me though there was fog and the geese couldn't see a person coming at them for sneaking.... I shot 12 on thurs....38 on fri and Saturday got cut short because of the fierce rain, but I Still got 13...


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## Niles Short

:homer: yes im coming think that is the place to be althogh will probrobly get stuborn and start in Dazy (who knows?) will be driving a blu jap toyota because my diesel (everyone said git rid off it) blew its 2nd engine in 2 years along with my old faithful Wirehair (cripple killer 8) ) anyway wave me down if u need help throwing some hot steel :sniper: or fetching some birds :lol: wish i could stay a couple of days but pups get shots tomorrow


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## mallard

I got back from hunting late last night and about all I can say is wow is it muddy!Roads are closed because of flooding,and secondary roads I doubt tractors can make it through.We got Dougs ATV stuck twice getting our equipment out of the field and were solidly covered with mud from head to toe.I feel sorry for Chris Hustads group.They have to walk out all of there decoys 3/4 of a mile.It seems as though the best mode of transportation in many areas is by canoe or boat.


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## goose_killer90

Was just out looking for some geese You werent kiding there is water everywhere!!! tons of geese out though too gonna need the waders today. im going back out in a couple hours tell ya guys how it goes


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## goose killer

I was out near the Alice/Enderlin area this weekend. There was geese around but it was hard to get a sneak on them. Managed to get 6 when I snuck up on them in the fog. Most of the geese were just flying straight threw.


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## smalls

ADVANTAGE: smalls

Took advantage of the beautiful weather saturday to slay some flying white fowl. Found two very large flocks feeding near the metropolis of dazey. In the fog cover we snuck to a slough in between the two flocks to pass shoot. Fog limited visibility to 25 yards or less at times. Many times we could hear birds flying directly above us (not high either) but could not see them. Other times birds looked like ghosts skulking through the fog before we opened up like iwo jima on their ***** and pummelled them from the sky. Our cannons rang like a fourth of july fireworks show. With no plugs in the guns, the elusive "quintuple" eluded us, but not for lack of trying. Mid-shoot we ran out of shells and my partner went back to the truck for more anti-aircraft artillery. Ingeniously, he took a load of birds with him. With his return the slaughter continued. Almost every flock that went between the groups of birds came directly over us a height I could have used rocks, teddy grahams and empty shell casings to kill them (and with our ammo running low, I though we might have to resort to that).

The fog lifted when the monsoon moved in just after noon. At which point the birds spooked as pickups stopped on the road and tried the 450 yard shotgun shoot. That was alright though, we already needed to make 3 trips back and forth to carry birds back to the pick-up. My legs are still jelly from walking through that soup with rubber waders being sucked off my feet with every step.

Post-goose shoot we cleaned birds and drank until we were piles of human excrement. Amateur dentistry was performed at the local tavern (he feels much better without his back molar now). :beer:

Until next year you freakin' snow geese!


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## Guest

lynxx69 said:


> Found a water hole that I shot 22 down in but only got 16 there is still 6 cripples out there is that pond but I had to get back so I couldn't look the next day......


Why in the heck would you loose that many birds?? Doesn't seem very sportsmanlike to shoot birds in an area you know you may not have a chance to retrieve them. Losing one bird isn't terrible, but 6??? :eyeroll:


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## KEN W

Just got back from hunting the Harvey-Fessenden area...lots of birds...We jumped and pass shot 12 for 2 of us...couldn't seem to get in the right place.Lots of birds moving north this morning until about 10:00.Then everything stayed on the ground with those 40-50 mph winds.About 4:00 everything started moving NW again...steady streams of birds...some flocks 3-4 miles long...all going NW toward Minot.

There is still 75-80% snow cover north of Rugby.All flocks headed NW following the snow line.My wife was in Minot today...she said there were lots of geese north of the air base...it looks like they willl go NW into Sask.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

We didn't hunt yesterday. Came over the hill to our spot and our spread was under water. YES, it was literally underwater. We got over 2" of rain and the runoff raised our sheetwater pond over 2 feet. Birds moving N everywhere but they were just as content with sitting as flying. It would've been an awesome day in the 'coys, but mother nature wasn't pulling for us.

I saw birds all the way home nonstop, and some decent flocks a few miles from Fargo.


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## fretch

Saw quite a few large flocks down 5-10 thousand down near the cooperstown area yesterday. Tried our chances at jump shooting but those smart little bastards did their best to land in the center of the corn fields with no cover or roads. Lots of birds in the area most seemed to be either feeding or heading west or northwest.


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## Matt Jones

#1Waterfowler said:


> Why in the heck would you loose that many birds?? Doesn't seem very sportsmanlike to shoot birds in an area you know you may not have a chance to retrieve them. Losing one bird isn't terrible, but 6??? :eyeroll:


Who cares? That's 6 that won't make it back to the tundra and that's the whole point of this season. Yes, you should try to retrieve every bird possible but look at the big picture.


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## Niles Short

The idea of the spring hunt was to diminish numbers of the snows and blues. There were many options, some included poisening. Under some protest the option to have hunters and sportsman to do this, was granted on a year by year bases. 
There is a obviously a difference between sportsman and hunters - a sportsman will be concerned in the manner or the outcome of his ethics in prusiant of the game, and the hunter with a gun and a license - just doesn't care. Adittudes like *"who cares"* just fuels the anti-hunting groups. I personally enjoy the privledge of the spring hunt, and cunduct myself as a sportsman as I would hunt any other species. It's a good thing (I hope) we (sportsman) are a majority-otherwise hunting will be something that will be taught in future history books


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## gandergrinder

I must respectfully disagree Jones. Yes it is a conservation season but there should be a level of respect for the game we pursue whether the outcome or goal is to remove birds or just to enjoy the sport.

I like to hunt and killing is part of it but theres nothing I hate more than crippled birds sitting and suffering. I guess I look at it this way. If I was an animal I would want my death to be quick and painless. So I try to do that. If that means some inconvenience to me well that is what I have to do. Justifying inhumane practices because it is a conservation season is bull.

I am not picking on Lynxx69. I'm just disagreeing with your justification Jones.


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## brobones

I totally argree with GG and Niles, that is just fuel for anti-hunters. Have some respect for the game you take and make every effort to retrieve the game. I know for a fact I would not hunt with anyone with attitude like that any more than once.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Let's keep this thread to reports gang. Please start another if you want to argue ethics. 

Here's from the ND Game & Fish today:



> March 29, 2004
> 
> Snow goose reports have been coming in from most areas of the state. Geese are being reported from north of Minot to the South Dakota border. Most of the geese are still in the central portion of the state in Sheridan, Wells, Eddy and Foster counties, and a major sighting was observed late yesterday afternoon between Tower City and Jamestown just south of Interstate 94. The temperature is expected to be in the 40s today and 50s Tuesday and Wednesday.


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## fishhook

i saw what i would estimate 2,000 sobs just south of minot on my way back from bismarck yesterday...wish i would have had the ol' shotgun along!!! So yes...there are geese up this far.


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## dosch

Hunted Hatton area sunday lots of birds in the area. Put a box thru the old 10 gun and didnt shoot a goose. Had my son with (3 yrs) and he didnt mind as long as were shootn its all good.


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## duckslayer15

Niles Short said:


> The idea of the spring hunt was to diminish numbers of the snows and blues. There were many options, some included poisening. Under some protest the option to have hunters and sportsman to do this, was granted on a year by year bases.
> There is a obviously a difference between sportsman and hunters - a sportsman will be concerned in the manner or the outcome of his ethics in prusiant of the game, and the hunter with a gun and a license - just doesn't care. Adittudes like *"who cares"* just fuels the anti-hunting groups. I personally enjoy the privledge of the spring hunt, and cunduct myself as a sportsman as I would hunt any other species. It's a good thing (I hope) we (sportsman) are a majority-otherwise hunting will be something that will be taught in future history books


well if your soo thoughtful and care about the birds soo much why dont you get your butt out there and retrieve those 6 birds?


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## Labsroc01

We hunted north of Carrington Friday night and ended up shooting 36 in the decoys. Ended up being rained out on Saturday, I wasn't about to sit in any decoys with my gun in the middle of a lightning storm. Worked my way back home mid-morning Saturday and ended up shooting 6 more around the Ashtubula area. The fog north of Valley City was so thick that I ended up walking to within 75 yards of some geese and still could not see them. I don't know how many I ended up jumping, but it sounded like the Mother Load. I just hope there will be birds in that area this coming Friday. There was a good number of birds feeding from Carrington east all the way to Casselton on Saturday. I also talked with a hunter from MN and he stated his buddy was currently hunting birds in Nebraska. Does anyone know if there are still good numbers holding south? It sure would be nice to sqeeze in another weekend of hunting somewhat close to home. :lol:


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## GooseBuster3

If you know what you are looking for you can shoot geese all the up unitl the season closes.


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## buckseye

duckslayer15.. :toofunny: 8)


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## T Shot

2 friends of mine shot 40 last saturday. If I do the math right, that makes a limit in SD. They were hunting straight west of Watertown. They shot over half their birds by 9:30, but then the rain started and it took them until about 3:00 to finish up. They said the birds worked as well as they have ever seen snows work. It also sounded like a fair amount were juvies, but they were all so dirty from hitting the sheetwater and mud that it made it difficult to identify. So as of Saturday, there was a fairly good amount left down south. I don't know of any more specifics than that though.


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## Guest

NoDak, what's your snowline look like? I looked at the map posted on page 2 of this topic and another, just wondering if the birds are flying west still? Good luck out there. :beer:


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## Bruce

Birds still flying in SD. Saw many flocks today.


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## Guest

Wish I could be there now with someone who knows the locatioon of the birds. Those SOB's would decoy like canadians I bet!!! Then toast for them!!! :lol: Damn, maybe I should go out this Fri-Sun. Think the birds are still gonna be around Sand Lake Fuge?


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## T Shot

My guess would be.....yes. If I hadn't planned a fishing trip to the Mizzou at Chamberlain, I would be after the snows. But it will feel really good to get out in the boat again. Good luck to everyone who is chasing them this weekend, I'll be after the elusive big mama walleye, to be released again after pics of course!!!


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## Guest

OUt in a boat this time of year? Must be nice.


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## Guest

Post some pics of the behemoth Walleye.


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## T Shot

Just a reminder that I clearly stated "elusive", and yes it will be nice. I will also keep posted as to snow movement during the week if I hear any more.


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## goose_killer90

Labsroc01, were you hunting in a corn field north of carrington right off the highway??


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## SiouxperDave25

Goodfella (Brad) and I got into some near Cooperstown on Saturday. The sky was filled with birds in every direction. I'd never seen anything quite like it.


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## Brad Anderson

Nice neck band. Got me a double leg band today.

There is no snow around period. First good S wind is going to leave nothing behind!!


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## Brad Anderson

Sorry chris, I gotta respond to the last page concerning "lost game".

I know exactly what Matt Jones is saying. I had 2 cripples today, running away from me in the deep mud. I ran as fast as I could, which was actually very slow. They gained ground on me until I ran out of both shells and energy. I wasn't about to go back to the truck, reload, then continue the mud marathon.

"who cares" is exactly how I felt after walking 1/4 of a mile in knee deep mud. Now if I had NOT made any attempt what so ever to retrieve the birds, there is a SERIOUS problem.


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## Labsroc01

Gooseslayer-90, we were about 8 mile north of Carrington off the highway. There must have been over a 100,000 birds roosting in that flooded corn! Are the numbers still pretty thick around that area? I sure would like make it up again this weekend, but I will probably end up hunting around Valley City. Hopefully I get lucky this weekend and add more tin to the lanyard. :lol:


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## Scraper

We hunted in sheetwater in a barley stubble field near Marion on Sunday. It felt more like a rice paddy. We set up 500 socks and rags and 5 dozen floaters. We shot 4, should have had more, Nate! I think that if we would have been ablt to drive out and set up the whole spread it would have been different, they really wanted to get in there, but just couldn't seem to close the deal.

Gotta love watching those big bull pintails all day!


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## DLT

Have been hunting the Northern Foster, Eddy and Wells county areas during the past week. The largest concentration of snow/blue geese that I have ever seen in this area at any other spring migration. Hunted SE of Fessenden (about 7 miles) late last afternoon and observed 20 to 30 flocks of feeding or milling geese in a 45 mile drive. Made the same route this morning around 9:30 to 10:30 and saw only *one* field of feeding geese and two other flocks looking. For the most part, the area "lost" the major portion of it's geese either last night or they picked up this morning. Still were quite a few large flocks at considerable altitude moving NW, but not milling or looking. For now, it appears the big concentration in Foster, Eddy, and Wells has moved out.


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## dosch

Just got back from the Northwood - Hatton area. Didn't see 1 snow same area was loaded on sunday.


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## buckseye

The sky dogs were barkin all day over JClark Salyer... :toofunny: . We still have too much snow for them two legged vermin. 8) Good Luck shootin them barkin SOB's :jammin:


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## goose_killer90

Yea there are still pletny of birds out by carrington,Labsroc01 I bet my and a buddy were in the same field you decoyed in it was pretty muddy but there were tons of birds. i dont think they were going anywhere to fast they have been there for the last 3 days


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## lynxx69

Well I am sorry that I did not get those six birds but I did make an attempt to get them beleive me and I must say that if and when u get that many birds down then come and say that... its not like I knew I was going to shoot 22 down what if I would have only shot 6 or 10 or 1 or none.... Thats the beauty of this hunt you never know the numbers you may end up with.... and last those birds are on the ground other predators will get them, they have to eat to... I just don't understand some people some time... I walked and made an effort beleive me....


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## duckslayer15

"Some people are harder to understand than a chior full of retards" - Larry the cable guy


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## nickle ditch

They've made it up to weyburn and from what i've read, as far north as regina.


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## Labsroc01

Nickle Ditch- Talked with a friend who had business in Regina yesterday. He said the birds were thick north of Minot and on up into Canada. The Juvies should be pushing on up by this weekend, I just hope the fields are not as bad as they were last weekend. Either way if you want them you have to go get'em!

Does anyone know how I can become a supporting member? I tried to sign up under the supporting member web page, but the website would not let me access the correct web page. I also tried to contact the website, but was not allowed to submit anything. Is anyone else having problems with this?


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## GooseBuster3

I say the juvies will show up next week, but the only probablem is finding them. And the jump shooters will be out of our hair!!!


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## Bruce

Juvies are arriving in the NE corner of SD. Great morning!


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Drove from Fargo to Bismarck and back today and didn't see one snow goose. Is it just me or did the ducks not come through or did I miss them? I swear I said this last year too...just not seeing that many yet.


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## duckslayer

:sniper:


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## KEN W

We saw mallards and pintails everywhere last weekend near Harvey.


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## Nodak Duke

I'd have to agree with you Chris... This is the second year in a row that I haven't been at all impressed with the numbers of spring migrators... Perhaps I just haven't been looking hard enough, but normally I remember four and five years ago where they were thick everywhere you looked.


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## Field Hunter

I traveled Central MN yesterday. Seems to be ducks everywhere in the Montevideo area. Lots of Mallards, Gadwalls, Green and Bluewing teal and Bluebills. Starting to see more now north of interstate 94.


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## Tony Vandemore

Chris, I was over at our club last night in MO and it was chock full of ducks. Lots of little ducks, most of the mallets and pintail left earlier this week...they are on there way up there....


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Glad to hear it.

The first 2 spring seasons, the ducks were THICK along the snowline. Some fields numbered tens of thousands and were everywhere there was corn and water. The past 3 years it's very spotty to say the least.

Must be another duck conspiracy. 8)


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## tb

I'm sure Tony Dean and Ron Schara could explain it to you. NOT.


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## KEN W

Went to Minot today...65 deg. there.Almost all the snow is now gone from around here.

Saw 4-5 smaller bunches of 3-5000 and one big bunch of 10-15,000.

I think most are now in Canada.


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## DLT

Talked with a Canadian friend this morning who lives between Moose Jaw and Regina, Saskatchewan. He spent Wednesday out ice fishing and said he started counting the huge flocks of snows/blues going over. He stopped counting around 85 flocks, but were still many moving north. He says their snow is about all gone and temperatures have been warm. Unless they get a lot of spring/summer rains, their water conditions are below average.


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## fishhook

Much for birds left around Minot? I may go hunting tommorrow morning for a while, try to find some ice left, or try the ol' long rod.....but i'd rather find some geese...any ideas. I haven't seen any fly over minot for a few days.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Considering how early the birds are getting up there, if they get to the tundra without any major weather it'll probably be another banner hatch.

Too early to tell though.


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## fishhook

Hey guys i know i've seen it and had it, but what is the game and fish telephone number to get their spring migration report...thanks.


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## robb1121

Thinking about heading to ND this weekend to set up for some juvies. Any tips on where to go? Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.


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## gandergrinder

The big push is gone and I have heard no reports of juvies yet. Its gonna be tough this weekend.

Talked to a guy who was out this morning. No wind and high skies means no decoying birds. They cam off the roost and went straight up, then went out to the field and went straight down. No pass shooting and impossible to jump.


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## bigblackfoot

There isnt much for geese left in the state. With this warm weather most of the geese have pushed through. You might be wasting your time.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

fishhook said:


> Hey guys i know i've seen it and had it, but what is the game and fish telephone number to get their spring migration report...thanks.


701-328-3697


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## fishhook

danka......but it's drizzling here now, looks like rain (2 wheel drive pickup....i really need to change that) and i just got a call from day care....sick kid....looks like i'll be staying home....again....thats ok i guess...looking at the reports it doesn't look real promissing anyway :eyeroll:


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## SiouxperDave25

Drove from GF to Devils Lake and back today and saw two pretty good sized flocks on the ground. One was a mile west of Doyon and the other was east of DL by Haybale Bay.


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## Bruce

First day I haven't seen a snow. Drove from watertown north to the border and west to home. Nothing....


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## GooseBuster3

We found some birds tonight, heading out bright and early in the morn!! HAHAHA I love snow hunting!


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## GooseBuster3

15 this morning over the dekes, had no wind right away when the birds lifted but mid morning when the wind picked up the birds work the spread pretty good.


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## win4win

Shot down 15 on Friday and 5 this morning over decoys.

Friday morning we got out late and did okay with a small spread and no wind. This morning we had a group of 20k to 30k birds the next field over so it was hard for our little spread to compete. We got alot of quick looks but those high passes didnt offer us many shots. Once those birds got up and out we were able to better decoy a couple flocks. I think we shot out the last of the large flocks in South Central ND. Saw a couple hundred thousand way up high and headed north early, didnt find any birds in the afternoon so it was time to head home and regroup for my trip next weekend to Minot.

Jerry, Dan (Hoggr), Jeff, Matt, Todd (front) was great to hunt with you guys Friday! Hunted with Jerry and Bryan (Remer) today didnt get a group pic.


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## goose killer

What town where you guys by when you shot those geese.


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## win4win

We were hunting between Cooperstown and Finley. Saw a whole bunch of ducks especially pintails and mallards and even more specs and quite a few tundra swans this weekend. If there was a spring spec season we could have killed about 400 this weekend without blinking an eye.


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## robb1121

Went out saturday morning with low expectations and doubts of seeing birds since reports on here claimed birds were gone. Things soon changed as we came across a flock of 30-40,000 birds around 7:30 am about 35 miles east of Oakes. Later on went towards Oakes and about 5 miles east came across a lake with about 100,00 snows and blues. Tried to decoy later in the evening with not much luck as a field near with about 30k attracted the birds away from us. All in all three of us got 12 birds and saw many birds. We were happy as we expected to go out for the day, drive around, then drive home.

One question... Why was everyone on the sight here reporting no or few birds throughout the week? Farmers we talked to said the birds were around all week. Kinda hard to miss almost 200,000 geese in a 30 mile radius. Well it was a fun season and hope everyone else enjoyed it as well!


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## GooseBuster3

Cause I bet it was maybe around 20,000 total not 200,000.


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## snowflake

depends on where you're at.We had 1000's in the area where we were at and more blowing in daily on s-se winds. of course the birds that were there on sat. & sun. had pretty much moved out due to weather change& wind direction favorable to migration. :2cents:


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## robb1121

GooseBuster3,

I'm not necesarrily the best at judging amounts of birds, but im going off what the game warden there said, as well as the other numerous experienced hunters there. i saw the birds and sorry i didnt have a camera to take a picture, then i could show you....but then if i had a camera there probably wouldnt have been birds either. I was hunting the first migration and the large group on the water this weekend was as big as some of the larger of the first groups. Not trying to anger or upset anyone, i was just happy there were so many birds!


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## GooseBuster3

Wasnt trying to ruff any eathers, but ALOT of people over estimate birds in the spring. Couple weeks back we talked to some guys in the gas staion in Gwinner, and they said they saw a field with 50,000-60,000 birds, well I have only seen that many in a field at one time Canada when they completley covered 1 1/2 sections from raod to road. Well as we drove past the flock early it was only around 15,000


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## mallard

Robb,Why dont you do like I do.In the country It is pretty easy to figure the length of a mile because in many areas the roads are in 1 mile grids.If you tell some of the more experienced goosers that you seen a flock 1/4 mile X 3/4 mile they will get a better understanding about what kind of numbers you are talking about.Of course you could count there eyes and divide by two :lol: .


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Nice pic win4win. The first thing I noticed was hoggr's big grin.

Drove from Bismarck and back this weekend and only saw a small flock going north on Friday by Jamestown and a couple thousand on the ground west of Jamestown this afternoon. Canadas are paired up all over every slough...looking good. 8)

No need to attack anyone's posts. A report is what it is and is in the eye of the beholder. All reports can be taken with a grain of salt but combine many and you'll get a better generalization.


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## dblkluk

As for the reports, which this page is for, I drove to Bottineau Sat AM. Lots of birds between Kramer and Bottineau. Near Gardena. I drove back through tonight and almost all were gone, Gotta love that strong south wind and full moon!! :eyeroll:


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## KEN W

Went to Fargo on Friday...birds all over north of Rugby...Came back yesterday...all gone.There was still a nice bucnh at Churches Ferry yesterday.


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## Matt Jones

PJ and I put on 400 miles scouting yesterday all over north of DL and saw 4 flocks on the ground. 2 were sizable, 10K+. Overall for the amount of ground we covered I was dissapointed in the amount of geese we saw.


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## wykee5

I was hunting with Robb 1121 this weekend, and while it was his first year hunting, I have hunted spring snows almost every season. We came out not expecting to see much and ran into just the opposite. The rist flock of birds we encoutered were spread out over a section and a half. I would have put it at 3o to 40 thousand, give or take, as it is difficult to guestimate at how many birds were in a bunch. It was, however, one of the bigger buches I have ever seen.
That was east of Oaks, 30 or so miles. The flock we ran into just east of Oakes just blew the mind with how many birds it was. It covered the better portion of a lake, and when concentrated, was probably over a mile long by a half mile wide, solid geese, packed side by side. I would have put the numbers at 60+ thousand, which a few other guys aggreed upon. It was simply the most birds I have ever seen. The warden we talked to said there was a bigger bunch a few miles over, which he thought to be 150-200 thousand birds in the same place at the same time, which was a different buch then we were looking at. Locals in both places told us the birds had been there 3-5 days. Almost all birds we killed (the darn jumpsoooters that we are) were juvies. 
So for whatever its worth, we went home sat. night, and the little white birdies were still there, with the main bunch being just north east of Oaks by only a couple of miles. So go em', now that us jumpshooters are out of your hair, because the birds are still there in good numbers if you are on them.
Jed


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## Drakekiller

Robb1121 and others who point out spots
My option is you should not give specific directions to spots. How would you like it if you took a day off of work, scouted all day found a pile of birds, lined up a hunt for the next day just to find out someone posted directions to your spot on the web. Just because you are not going to hunt that spot does not mean someone else is not. Say you found a roost holding a bunch of juvies that you could work over a few days and some Robb1121 posts it on this thread" a mile west and six south" what do you think will happen. Please use general areas if you must or PM someone.


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## win4win

Drakekiller said:


> Robb1121 and others who point out spots
> My option is you should not give specific directions to spots.


Aww cmon just give the GPS coordinates to the honey hole!  :roll:


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## Bruce

There are still a few birds in So dak. Less 2


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Game & Fish Report for today:



> April 7, 2004
> 
> Sightings of snow geese have not been reported to the Game and Fish Department since the weekend. There still does appear to be some flocks of geese moving through the state, but much of the geese are now into Canada. Unless weather conditions move birds back into the state, or a significant sighting occurs, this will be the last update this spring.


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## wykee5

Drakekiller, 
I hear ya to some extent, but on the other hand, I like to shoot snowgeese, as do the rest of you. While it is aweful convenient to take a day off work to find the geese, for others, it is not that easy. If you live in these areas where the geese migrate through, that's great, I wish I did. But when you are driving three to five hours to get to geese, it is quite helpful to get within a few miles of the birds, especially when there are virtually no birds in the air, as all are sitting. That is not assuring the birds are going to be in that exact field, but there are a lot of fields out there. 
I can't argue with e-mailing someone or sending them a pm, but if I send you an email, and say "Hey, I am driving out from MN on Sat. am, leaving about three. Could you tell me exactly where the birds are at?" I am not so sure that I am gonna get a response, as it doesn't seem like there are a lot of Minnesota fans out there, other than the local cafes and hotel owners. I gave a good indication of where the birds were at, because we really didn't see much for people hunting them, the locals said they had been there 3-5 days, and I would appreciate it if someone did the same for me.
So next time, which will most likely be next year, although a nice canadian blizzard would be welcome in my book, I will send out an email request, and see what I get for a response, because I can't aruge with you that it would suck if somebody busted your honey-hole on the internet. But at the same time, we all like to shoot geese, and if my post gets people into an area with birds and makes for a more enjoyable goose hunting trip for them, I really see no wrong in that. For those of you lucky enough to live closer to the snow migration then we do, I hope the rest of your season treats you well, and that you may find little white birdies falling out of the sky like Minnesotans flocking across the border. Good luck, and go get 'em.
Jed


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## gandergrinder

I don't think there are alot of guys on here that hate Sotas, Sodaks or Sconsins or any non-resident but in order for you to get PM's and E-mails from local guys on bird locations there has to be some level of trust.

There are out of state guys that I tell bird locations to but I know that they are not going to go on the internet and post it or tell everyone they know.

We hunt with Sotas alot. I hunted with 4 this Spring alone. One I hadn't even met before the day we hunted together except for some PM's on this site. He is a good guy too, but I kind of had to get to "know" him a little before I was willing to hunt with him.

Get to know a few guys and you would be suprised what can happen.


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## Brad Anderson

Reciprocity. Gotta have something to offer, otherwise........


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## Nodak Duke

My whole train of thought is if you have time enough to hunt 'em, you sure as heck have time enough to scout them... :roll:

Good luck to everyone still shagging the snows... It's getting time for me to pick up the turkey calls.


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## Dave K.

Has anyone been scouting much lately? I'm hoping to find something for the weekend? if someone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. 
My girlfriend stumbled upon a spot NW of Fargo an hour or so which I figured was swans, but then she described a blue goose, " what kind of goose has a white head and a dark body?" and that gave me hope. If they are SOB's I hope the wind keeps right where they are.

Good Luck


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## GooseBuster3

They will be gone by tomorrow night now.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

If they're still here by the weekend they probably won't move with some colder weather and precip forcasted.


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## Leo Porcello

I have been in Mohall area for the past two days and have not seen or heard a snow.

As far as giving specific directions well from what I learned this year all I may do is send a PM or to may put a basic area. I ain't posting roads or intersections and if I do it will be in the member section. I think there are too many lurkers getting free info. All I know is that I put a lot of 500 mile plus days in just to have areas ruined by people who thought they could walk across and open field and be invisible. It is no wonder to me why the birds are so antsy. As soon as they land some yahoo is running across a field. Dam buy some decoys, put birds to bed and set up there the next morning. Probably get more that way than trying to be the invisible man. :huh:


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## wykee5

I apologize guys for being too specific in my posts as to where we found geese. It was by no means my intent to anger anyone. Like I said before, I didn't mean to give away anybodies honeyhole. I also understand you have to put on miles to find the geese. Over the course of three weekends, we put on close to 2000 miles if not more.

I am also not under the belief that us Sotas are hated, but it can be a touchy subject. More than once we have been stared down as our MN truck drove by a truck with Nodak plates. We were also denied permition to hunt a farmers land as a result of our state suing your state. I have no problem if a farmer doesn't want us to hunt his land, but being told no for that reason is a real bummer. We have nothing to do with some stupid politician taking a swing at you guys, and believe me, we are trying to stop the nonsense before it gets any farther then it already has. So you can see where the feeling comes from. But in the future, I will tone down the specifics of my posts, as most everybody on the site seems to get along pretty well, and as hunters, I think that is the way it should be, on the internet and in the field. 
So have a good weekend guys on any geese left, as its high time for me to be chasin steelhead on the north shore.
Jed


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## Guest

PC, my friend came up with a saying: Hunt ducks not trucks!!! Too bad everyone doesn't use this saying. I would hate to havemy hunt ruined by other's setting up next to me. My friends had a hot field early season geese 2 years ago, some guy sets up a dozen silo's 100 yards away and shoots a goose out of a passing flock that was heading straight into my friends spread. Pretty sad! :******:


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## buckseye

WOW 30,491 views on this subject, noboby needs to wonder if anyone is interested in snow goose hunting in NoDak country. 8)


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## KEN W

Your'e right Buckseye...this has to be the most looked at snow goose reporting page on the net.Especially since WF requires membership to see more than 3 posts.


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## Leo Porcello

Thats my whole point there are tons of people viewing. Trust me I love to help others out and if someone sends me a PM or something I will try to help out the best I can. Hell I even put my hotel phone number down. I mean I maybe be crazy but I posted that I saw a ton of birds in Mohall and wouldn't you know the next day Stoeger and I go there to put the birds to bed and there are 5 to 8 trucks driving around scaring the birds almost completely out of there. I even found a pile of 17 or so in a ditch. Don't get me wrong I know these birds are smart but I think if some put a little more effort into decoying them they would probably get more because the birds would not be forced to move north so fast. Who knows maybe I am just crazy.


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## GooseBuster3

Thats the reason why I never post my hunting spots. :wink:


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## Guest

I'd have to say I totally agree. THis year we went out on a Wednesday, there were no hunters. Birds were landing next to fencerows, roads, treelines, almost anything! By Sunday there were hunters everywhere and the birds were in huge flocks landing in the middle of sections, definitely got smarter and more cautious.


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## Leo Porcello

Yep I thought it would be okay to post the general area. But I thought wrong. Big lesson learned!!!


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## Kooshnitz

Yeah, anyways about the Reports around Grand Forks?....


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## Drakekiller

WKee5 and Rob1121
It's not always "awful convenient to take off a day of work to find the geese."For a lot of people it is the opposite, and for some these days are precious and few and far between. I had one of these "covenient" days a couple of weeks ago. So without someone on the web telling me where birds where, I went out HUNTING for some geese. After seven hours of scouting and thinking I was on a wild goose chase, I finally found what I was searching for. Do you guys out there know that feeling? By 3 o'clock I had my decoys set and ended up getting some geese. By hard work, experience, and a little luck I had a great day of HUNTING that I earned. Yes, "we all like to shoot geese" and a lot of us like the HUNTING part too. Please consider what I have said it might make your next outing "more enjoyable."


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## kody

1asdffasdfs


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## tb

Drakekiller, I absolutely know that feeling, of scouting for hours and hours. NoDak is a big place when you are on a wild goose chase. But, with lots of miles and now after five years, the basic flyways are becoming more definite each spring. It's apparent that there basic areas that the geese are attracted to year after year. Those are the spots where the scouting begins.


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## mallard

Chop,The invisible sneakers you are refering to may be the bozos that try to drive the geese over there buddies.I guess it ocassionaly works,but makes the birds paranoid as hell.To the hunters looking for goose info,there arnt that many around right now.What is here are scattered and you have to put the windshield time in to find them.I just had my oil changed 3 weeks ago and am due for another one right now.Speaking for myself,I enjoy scouting almost as much as I do hunting.The anticipation after driving all day and finding the jackpot is a major part of why I love hunting.To those expecting all day migration action,try a trip north of the boarder.


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## Bruce

I'm still seeing birds in NE SD. Not very many but did manage to shoot 3 on Wednesday. Today I thought I would take them after lunch but they left. Tonight saw maybe a dozen or so fly over the farm. I'm having a ball!!


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## duckslayer

:sniper:


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## GooseBuster3

Put on 280 miles tonight, is there something wrong with me or what? :wink:


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## KEN W

Man...with the price of gas going up...you guys must have deep pockets.


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## GooseBuster3

Nahhh I just work to get by so I can pay truck payments, gas, and shotgun shells. :lol:


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## dblkluk

> Man...with the price of gas going up...you guys must have deep pockets.


Nah Just priorities in the right place.  Seriously, I just skip the Pugsley sandwich and the candy bars at the gas station and that will usually make up for it. 
Gotta pay to play!


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## Guest

At least you're out there! All the hard driving pay off for you GB3?
Speaking of driving all over hell, anyone else out there run a diesel besides me? I get anywhere from 15-20 mpg, depends on how heavy my foot feels. Adding a 70 horse chip and a lot of other doodads really helped too! 8)


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## Leo Porcello

Well still in Mohall. A little snow fell last night. Don't think it is that cold but have watched several big Vs of canadas and specks heading back south. Anyone know if Canada got bad weather. No snows spotted yet but my eyes are to the sky!


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## HuNtErDaRkAnGeL

WOULD ANYONE CARE TELL ME A LITTLE NORTH FROM MINOT AREA, ARE SNOW GEESE STILL THERE? SO I CAN GOES ON MY FIRST HUNTING THIS WEEKEND :lol: THANKS


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## KEN W

You guys need a wife to reign you in a little bit. 

By the way...Pork Chop...you drove by some this morning...saw a flock of a couple thousand on the ground north of ForFar on my way to Minot.

Still some lesser's and specks around also.


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## nickle ditch

Chop, we got a dusting of snow last night. Just enough that i had to sweep off the deck. Hi's around 6c down here and around the same up the province. 
Had specks and cranes flying over the house yesterday.


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## Acemallard

Went out this morning 3 of us got 33 in about 2 hours. There are still birds around in southern part of the state but ya gotta put on alot of miles. Was the best snow goose hunt I have been on in the spring. I also got a band and will post later when I get the info.

Get down boys here they come!
"TAKE EM"


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## Bruce

The geese just don't want to leave SD. I'm still seeing birds. Not many but enough to make me try to ambush them in the morning. Lots of fun.


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## GooseBuster3

35 birds today, big flocks decoyed well with 4, 1000 bird flocks down to 20 yards.


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## dleva

GooseBuster3,
Sounds like a good hunt. Just curious if most of the birds were juvies and rosses or if you are still getting a fair number of adults.


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## Decoyer

Nice work tyler. Wish I could have been there.


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## gandergrinder

Just what we said happened. I always miss the big grinds. Oh well. Glad you guys are getting into them. Next weekend its on again.


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## Elly2211

Pretty much all of them were juives that we shot


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## mallard

20 yards?More like 10 feet for some of them.It was more like field hunting mallards than goose hunting.We could have really put the hurt on them if we could shoot worth a darn in the morning.


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## Elly2211

you know they are close when they got their feet out.


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## Chris Benson

The snow geese are finally making their way up north to Manitoba. Went out this past weekend and got a few shots, but nothing major. We were just pass shooting them, don't have the proper equipment to decoy them.

One of the birds I knocked down had a band, first band I ever got! Also while waiting for the geese to return to a lake,the flights of ducks coming back to the lake lasted at least 45 minutes of contuinal flight. Had every ducks species fly over our head. When old timers talk about the "good old days", this is what they were talking about!

Also saw a flock of snows that must have been 2-3 miles long and it was just thick with birds. Couldn't even guess the numbers.


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## dosch

Lake Region still holding good amount of birds. Ducks,specs,snows all buzzing above a guy makes for a stress relieving day.


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## Brad Anderson

A couple of hours pass shooting by my ma's place. Wish I would have been there all day.


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## win4win

Congrats on the jewelry! :beer:


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## Acemallard

The band I got on Sat. was for a bird banded in Manitoba,Canada in July of 99'.

Get down boys here they come!
'TAKE EM"


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## MnDiver

Around 28 sob's ain't making it to the Tundra this year, Had some birds decoy well, which is a first for me 

Looks like the last trip for myself, managed a few birds this year and learned alot about the spring hunting... Definitely plenty of birds to be had yet, so good luck


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## GooseBuster3

Nice Job, Brad!! Congrats :beer:


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## Bruce

Saw 2 good bunches this evening come by while I was tilling. shot 2. I'm still going


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## Guest

Anyone interested in hooking up for a weekend shoot?


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## Niles Short

:lol: nice job on the geese brad---noticed the skies were preety blue in the picture - sunglasses and suntan oil nothing wrong with that 8) . whereabouts north south or central??


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## Guest

I'm thinking of decoying West of Fargo if birds are still around. I have around 400 rags, silo's and a few fullbodies w/ covers(18). Also have blinds, but no e-callers anymore, both of mine took dumps on me while hunting. :roll:


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## Brad Anderson

Central. I hadn't seen geese like this year in quite some time. Its hard to decide, walleye fishing or goose hunting. Why can't I figure out how to do both at once??


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## Kooshnitz

how did yo all do hunting this weekend for easter??

Curt


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## wykee5

Been awhile since I've been online, but it seems like my apology for being too specific in my post didn't quite satisfy the need for others to whine and insult people who might do things a bit differently then they do.
Drakekiller, for you to imply that I don't HUNT for birds is simply ridiculous. Do you even read posts before you sound off with your infinte wisdom? We normally put on a few thousand miles each spring hunting snows, the same as everyone else. And when you do find them, just thick with more birds in an area then you thought could posibly exist, it does feel great, I know the feeling. But what you are implying, with our lack of HUNTING, is simply wrong. So while it may make you feel good to insult that lazy half-hunter from Minnesota, there is really no truth in it, so it would be appreciated if you would refrain from it in the future.
As far as enjoying ourselves, once again, I can't relate. Birds or not, I have never had a bad hunting trip to your state, and we had a great time every time I was out, so I am not quite sure what you are getting at.
Mallard, as far as hunting technique go, we have a limited spread which given the hunting conditions when we were out, was most ineffective whether in feeding fields or over sheet water. At times, we found it more productive for my bozo dad to drive the geese over me and my bozo cousin. This was effective to the tune of 40 some geese. And moreover, it was fun. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Maybe different then the way you primarily hunt, but so what? I don't judge you for hunting the way you do. Some day I hope to have a sizeable spread, and find myself a member of the snowgoose hunting elite, much like yourself, although when I get there, I sincerely hope I haven't picked up the judgmental attitude along the way.
Sorry for having started this bickerfest, but my whole point was in our original posts that it was frustrating to be told that it wasn't worth out time and not to bother coming out because the geese were gone, which we found to be entirely not the case, through driving around, scouting, and HUNTING. 
So with that out of the way, I hope, It was a good season, and as goosebuster three says "didn't mean to ruffle any feathers" for that truly was not my intent.


----------



## duckslayer

:sniper:


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## muskat

I made a trip along HWy 2 yesterday morning and saw two roosts of about 5,000 just from the highway. They were west of Devils Lake. I also saw a few small flocks east of devils lake, but nothing on the ground.


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## mallard

I have 200 windsocks,also a small spread.It is just my opinion,no one elses.I just hate the goose drives.Nothing wrong with a ledgitimate sneak when you can find one,and pass shooting is allot of fun and very productive.The goose drives make them very paranoid,and push them out of the area quickly.


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## Guest

Yeah, I agree that pushing the birds really makes them jumpy. I just love decoying out in the fields.


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## wykee5

No arguments with you there guys. Every time the birds get jumped they are going to be a little more spooky. Whether this affects how they decoy, that I am not sure. But on the same token, every time a flock gets shot at over decoys, the rest of the flock (if any got away of course) is going to be that much more cautious over decoys the next time. Whether the two are related is a good question. I know with ducks, it is nice if flocks are getting bumped around, it puts more birds in the air, and birds in the air decoy a lot better than birds sitting on the water. Not sure if the same holds true for snows or not.


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## gandergrinder

Snows are harder to hunt when guys are out jumping but that is something that is always going to happen so there is really no point in arguing or worrying about it.

Part of the reason I like the spring so much is the fact that I don't really have to worry about finding a feed field and compete with other hunters. I just want to be in the flight path of migrators. It really doesn't matter what the jumpers are doing because they can't shoot birds from about 10:00 untill 4:00 anyway because everything is up and flying north on most days. You can't downwind my decoys hunting migrators and odds are guys aren't going to set up decoys next to me because they usually don't have any or if they do they know to leave you alone and find there own place. Which means hassle, stress free hunting. The very reason I like to hunt.

Granted some days you will outshoot the decoy guys jumping and sneaking but over the long haul the decoy guys usually shoot more birds.

I have nothing against guys who jump and sneak snows because it takes lots of money to put together a spread that will get you on birds. The other thing is that even if you have enough money to get enough decoys it still doesn't mean your gonna shoot birds. You still have to know where to put them. Hunting snows over dekes is like playing chess. Its all about experience and strategy and thats why I like it so much.

If you like to jump don't worry about it, don't let anyone ruffle your feathers.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

To each their own...

We all have limited time in the field, enjoy it the way you like to.


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## lynxx69

gandergrinder said:


> Granted some days you will outshoot the decoy guys jumping and sneaking but over the long haul the decoy guys usually shoot more birds.


I would disagree with that statement only because of the reports I have seen on here with decoy hunting. I know there is always the exception were some people are just better at certain things than others just like some poepl are better decoyers or jump shooters than some.... But I think if you get the jump shooters verse the Decoys at least now days the jump shooters win, only because the birds are in large numbers and they are concentrated which means very often you shoot more than one bird per shot.. I guess I have never hunted over a spread so I can't knock it, but I saw many reports on her saying they got 5 birds and were super happy now I would be super mad. I guess this is just my side of the story...


----------



## Kooshnitz

Hey,
Well typically I am a HUGE diver hunter. Thats just how I was raised. So that is what I like to do. But in the off season, you do what ya goota do.

"whatever floats your boat"

Go for it!

Curt


----------



## buckseye

In the old days we had better luck in our decoys if people were out keeping the birds in the air. As a matter of fact many times a large flock of geese would land a mile or two away, one of us would have to go jump them so they would come over our dekes. The combination of jumping and decoying is what worked best for us. 8)

But there is nothing better than being between two real flocks and pass shooting, my best is 16 geese with 25 shells.


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## GooseBuster3

Who cares.. :eyeroll: :eyeroll: Just shoot as many as you can. Why ***** about it?


----------



## mngooser

I prefer to decoy birds. There is nothing like it, right MNdiver?

However, when the sun is shining and there is no wind. I go to other methods, which include: pass shooting, sneaking, cowing, throwing rocks, kicking dirt and screaming obscenities at these birds. 

I don't criticize anyone for any legal method they use to harvest spring snows.

Important thing is to have fun and be safe!


----------



## MnDiver

That's right hard to beat sitting in the Decs loading the old shotgun as fast as U can.. :lol:


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## snowflake

why sit in decoys w/one gun?I usuall have at least two and sometimes three w/me loaded to the gills,I've been caught before not being able to load up fast enough.Try it you'll like it!!!


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## mngooser

What is the law in ND? Can you have more than one loaded shotgun with you in the blind?


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## Kooshnitz

Hey,
Anyone know how them birds are doing west of fargo and grand forks? Typically atound jamestown and north to Devils Lake??

THANKS!

CURT


----------



## GooseBuster3

You will be better off if you go north of Highway 2


----------



## Bruce

I think I have killed the last of the migraters shot 2 today.


----------



## Leo Porcello

Ken,

This is kind of a late reply but was that flock you spotted just on the north side of the railroad tracks? If so I hunted them on Saturday morning. I got 3 and my father in law got 1. We definetly should have shot 10 to 15 birds. Birds were cupped and committed. Just one of those days I could not hit.

I am in Bowbells area right now and have seen some passing buy.


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## KEN W

They were on the East side of the hwy...just north of the ForFar elevator.


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## Leo Porcello

I was on the east side. Not sure of the ForFar elevator (although I know I have seen that somewhere). I was right up from the tracks. Don't want to post the road of course!


----------



## jolle

Well northern boys, I got big news. I actually saw 4 snows on a small lake here in central MO just a few hours ago while fishing. They were hanging right in with some blue wings and coots. I walked to within about 50 yards of them and they were just standing there watching. Here they come :lol: :lol:


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## Guest

What, sure they were'nt seagulls waiting for popcorn to be thrown at them?? :lol:


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## tsodak

I was down in McIntosh county working all day Thursday and I saw 4 flocks of a couple hundred birds each scattered here and there. I put on LOTS of miles though, and only saw one really huntable situation. It is not over though....

Tom


----------



## duckyday

Finally got into a good one today!!! Shot 52 with couple of buddies in central North Dakota. There were a ton of birds in this area...just had to put on a few miles to find them. The farmer said he hasn't seen anyone chase them for a week and a half. Can't go tomorrow, but will definitly be out this week.

Also got my first banded blue today!!!


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## Kooshnitz

Yeah,
Went out today for first time. Drove down from Grand Forks toward Fargo and then out west towards jamestown and north to Devils Lake then east back to Gf. Just made a loop and hit most of the back trails. Saw lots of birds around western Devils Lake. Does anyone know if one can hunt the White geese over water there on DL. Saw about 2-3 thousands nexting there? Thanks!

Curt


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## GooseBuster3

Our group shot 114 on Saturday! Have to scout alot!!


----------



## Gooseman678

goosebuster: 
around where did you shot a 114? thats alot of those SOB'S!!
nice work though :beer:


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## Kooshnitz

WHAT?


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## GooseBuster3

Pictures are here.
http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/members/ph ... php?t=5444


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## northernwaterfowl

Had a great hunt today. I was out with a friend and we had some great shooting. By far the best decoying day of the spring. We ended up with 71 for the day with just two shooters. Heck, I shot over three boxes of shells today. It has been several years since I have gotten to shoot that much in a day. It was nice to not be out with clients for once.

We were hunting right by Bowbells today. I would guess that there were only about 1000 to 1200 snows on the slough this morning, but they kept coming back in groups of 1 to 30 all day long with one big group at the end. I landed four flocks of snows today. That was fun to see. I have seen two other groups of snows in the area the past two days too with one flock with over 10,000. I might try them tomorrow. Good luck to you hunters in Canada.

Hey Pork Chop. Are you still in this area? How did you do?

Todd Siemers


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Picking up the scraps left behind by the migration. VERY hit and miss but worth it when you find them. We took 154 birds this weekend, 115 of them were off of one roost of around 700 birds. They would come out in small groups...come in feet down, get blasted......go back to the roost and it was like a reboot as they'd come back again dumber than the last time. EVERYTHING committed and most of our shots were between 5-18 yards.

We were in S. ND.


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## dblkluk

Still birds within 30 miles of Minot. Went out to tonight to check on some birds I found on Saturday. Still there. The landowner really wants them out. They ate up 40 acres of winter wheat in the last couple days. Going after them tommorow night. Should be good! Put in the miles and you will find birds! :beer:


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## torf

North of Devils lake i saw more geese than i ever expected after reading reports. Scattered small flocks and on very big flock took off from a field in the distance and it looked like smoke rising, can't estimate numbers but it was in 6 to 8 thousand give or take. I figured this time of year why bring the shotgun on a fishing trip? I won't make that misake again.


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## snowflake

Are there any so.of 94?My nephew wants to get into them one more time,and it's a long ways to drive for us.Anybody interested in hookin-up this wknd. shoot me a line !


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## GooseBuster3

I would but then again you support the Minn lawsuit.So that would be a no. :eyeroll:


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## GooseBuster3

By the way Dblekluck, give them hell.!


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## jbaincfl

I know a lot of people in Minnesota and none of the hunters support the lawsuit. The only people supporting it is the rich people with land in ND. All of the freelances I know are apposed to it as it will just make the ND landowner mad at out of staters and then they will post all of the land. Sure the Out of Staters would be able to hunt the entire season but they would have no land to hunt on.

Another note. The only people with enough vacation and money to go out to ND for more than 2 weeks are these "rich folk".


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## snowflake

GB3-I don't support the Mn. lawsuit as you stated!! look at what I've said about that frivolous deal.I just dont like being slandered because I live in Mn.,and DAMN PROUD OF THAT FACT!!!So lets put the b.s. aside and act like adults,and mebbe we can have some fun killin' a bunch of them little white bastards!!!The only hunting I do in N.D. is for snows,so all the rest of the critters out there are safe from me.


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## gandergrinder

Snowflake wrote


> Why should it get ugly?They own land in N.D.,let them hunt it!!Like I said in another area,I only hunt snowgeese in N.D.,because I have the best deer,duck, and walley fishing anyone can ask for 15 min. from my front door!If these two guys feel they have to join in on this lawsuit in order to assure they can hunt their own land so-be-it!I put up with all kinds of nr fishermen every year and a hell of alot of them own land here,including N.D.'ers,but you don't hear me pissin&moanin' about them ,and they dont have closed days to fish,only one method is closed and that is northern pike spearing ,which isn't fishing anyway!!!I do believe res. having their own little playground to themselves in N.D.,is probably in jeapordy, not from nr. lawsuits,but from your own elected officials looking for the almighty dollar.Money talks,and b#llsh*t walks!!!


I don't think you understand. If you want hook up with the local boys I think you better come at it from a different direction. With us its not about the money. Its all about what kind of person you are and what kind of line of bull**** you can throw at us.

We put up with guys all fall setting up next to us, downwinding us, jumping roosts and all the other crap. Yet we still hunt with guys from other places. Why, because we want to share it with people.

Ask all the guys that hunted with us this season how much we asked them for to help pay for all the gas, decoys, blinds, and other equipment we bought and they benefitted from. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We hunt with guys because they like to hunt and understand what we are trying to protect and preserve. Conservation ethics and understanding of what constitutes quality outdoors expierience is what we look for first and foremost in people we hunt with.

Could we start a guide service? We already have one, but it doesn't take money from people. Payment to me is watching someone have fun and enjoying a good expierience in the outdoors. No amount of money can buy or sell that. Money in my eyes, does not give you exclusive entitlement to the outdoors.

You say you don't support the lawsuit but by your own admission you don't support the ability of states to manage there own resources. Thats what this lawsuit ultimately comes down to.

If your not into wildlife being managed outside the constraints of money and politics than its unlikely we will ever share a field together.


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## GooseBuster3

As of now he never will. And snowflake you know what the sad thing is? Well if we never would have shot the 114 birds you would have never brought this up. It it kinda seemed like a win win situtation for you, until you ran your mouth in the other forum.


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## snowflake

Had the two former N.D. guys moved to any other state than Mn.,would it make that much of a difference?Far as me supporting the lawsuit,I'll put it plain and simple;I enjoy the outdoors and appreciate the opportunities to enjoy it like anyone else and abide bythe laws of every state I hunt in and accept those laws for what they are.As a sportsman in N.D.,you should be concerned about preserving what you have,but ultimately it's going to boil down to who can ,or worse yet,who can't afford to enjoy these things.The mere fact I felt those two fellas should be allowed to hunt their own land did,by no means,dictate the fact I was in support of the lawsuit,only their right to hunt their own land.If they don't like the laws the way they are set-up in N.D. that is their right,but it is not their right to try and manipulate the system for their gain.As far as you guys getting hosed by unscrupulous hunters,don't feel alone,but it was'nt me.Also I always pay my own way,buy my own gas,have my own decoys,buy my own shells,clean my own geese,bring my own dog,clean my own gun,and enjoy taking my 16yr. old nephew ,and my 13yr. old grand-daughter,along with to enjoy and experience what their parents do'nt have time,or sense to do.And Gander,I've shared the field with alot of locals in N.D.,and had alot of fun doing itfor the last fourty yrs. or so,so if you don't want to hunt w/me it's no sweat off my b#@ls!!


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## GooseBuster3

Hey Yellowsnowflake can you read the the top of the thread" Snow goose reports". We really dont care about you and who ever else you hunt with and what you pay for. This is only for the reports, and the guys Who acutally hunt the birds!! And also this is not for getting a free hunting trip on either. I hunt with guys on here you will actually do some homework before they come to ND. Its not like a free for all.


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## snowflake

well I didn't mean to piss is anybody's oatmeal,but if you think i'm gonna sit by and be **** on for you'r personal pleasure you better get a handle on it bud 'cause homey don't play that.as far as a free trip goes,hell I thought I'd be doin a couple of you wannabe snowgoose shooters a favor and show ya how the big boys play,but I'll be go-to hell if I'd waste my time after some of the **** said lateley.So with that said,I'll be packin the trailer and heading your way!!


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## duckslayer

:sniper:


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## GooseBuster3

:lol: :lol:


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## Guest

Time will tell, but you think it's not possible to have a second shoot like "The crews"? Friggin birds sound retarded to me, why not throw your shells at them! Almost sounds like early season can's!!!


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## Blake Hermel

snowflake

Have you hunted Snow this spring?


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## gandergrinder

Let's just put it to rest guys. Nothing good will come of this. It really doesn't matter who's doing what, shooting birds or swingin the biggest whatever. Get up, go hunting, have fun and leave it at that. Different strokes for different folks.


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## snowflake

Been out twice.Not too good first time because of rain &lightning,but we tried.Came home sun. nite and turned right around and went back on mon. afternoon,stayed till thurs and ended up w/137 for our trouble.My nephew was a snowgoose virgin,and thouroughly enjoyed himself,sore shoulder and all!!!


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## Blake Hermel

That sounds pretty good. :beer:


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## Guest

DDDAAAMMMNNN!!! Not too bad a shoot at all!!! Here's a question for you all though, What you do with all the meat???


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## duckyday

Just got back from our shoot today...not a bad day ended up with 62!!! That makes 114 for the last 2 days. lots of birds still around i hope they stick around until saturday so i can do a little BLAST & CAST. Good luck to everyone on the rest of the year!!!


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## dblkluk

Just got back from cleaning birds boys! Hunted N Central Nodak. Two guys, 1 hour 15 minutes, 64 birds!!
Truly the best decoy hunt I have had, and thats alot of em. We hunted an area that had maybe 1000 snows tonight. Between our field and the roost was like a revolving door. Get shot at, head back to the water and try it all over again in 5 minutes. If I didn't know better, It was like hunting an area with 200k birds. Most birds were taken feet down and backpeddling. Decoyed many groups of 100 or more birds. Looking forward to more action this weekend!!


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## snowflake

Most of the meat I put in the smoker,and it's waaaay good that way.the rest gets made into jerkey ,Brats mixed w/deer meat and pork,or grilled after soaking in marinade overnight.


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## gandergrinder

Nice work guys.


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## GooseBuster3

Nice work man!!!! :beer: Aint nothing better then pounding them cuppedup and wanting to die!


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## nodakoutdoors.com

dblkluk said:


> Between our field and the roost was like a revolving door. Get shot at, head back to the water and try it all over again in 5 minutes. If I didn't know better, It was like hunting an area with 200k birds. Most birds were taken feet down and backpeddling. Decoyed many groups of 100 or more birds. Looking forward to more action this weekend!!


Nice...! It's kind of weird to put into perspective how many birds you're hunting. You'd think it'd be over quick but the birds JUST WANT THE MAIN FIELD, nothing else.

Well done!


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## Maverick

Nice work DBLKLUCK. Sounds like the birds we had this weekend! Webfoot posse strikes again. You gotta love those Juevies....As for all my meat, it is made into jerky. The best way to get rid of it!

Oh yah and ~SNOWFLAKE~ or big dog should I say. Did you take any pic's?Would like to see the carniage of 137.

mav....


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## Guest

Nice pic Dblkluk, how many did you guys miss?? Only took an hour and 15 minutes? Sweet job, way to whack em and stack em!!! :beer:


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## dblkluk

> Nice pic Dblkluk, how many did you guys miss??


Not many. Its tough to miss when they hang out front at 15 yards!
Of course you can't kill everyone that comes in! A gun will only hold so many shells!!


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## GooseBuster3

Not if you put the an extention that will 8, 3 1/2in BB's in your gun...Thats when you see flocks mowed down!


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## MCMANN

or 11 3in #2s like my gun holds total metldown  my shoulder anyways

mike


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## dblkluk

Yeah GB, but then my arm would have actually fallen off instead of swelling to ten times its normal size.  I was even shooting left handed for the last few flocks. But I'm feelin' good today! Ready to whack em again this weekend!! :lol:


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## GooseBuster3

Sore shoulder?? Man I shot 2 1/2 boxes of 3.5's last sat night. My shoulder never was sore the next morning... You wusssy. :lol:


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## 870 XPRS

Flew from fargo out to bismarck today. West of jamestown I spotted about 1/2 dozen flocks, the biggest being probably 1K.


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## Guest

Geez GB3, sounds like you think you're superman. :lol:


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## Leo Porcello

I put two boxes through the old 10 and I was fine but I am a little porkier than DBLKLUK :beer: Don't worry DBLKLUK I got your back. Better to stop early then to get shooters shoulder. I just wish I could get into one of those high number days. It would be the cherry on a already exciting first spring snow goose season!!


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## dblkluk

Wussy huh?? We ain't that far from each other.. how's about we find out how tough a feller you are!! bwahhahaa. :beer: I don't care what you say, those P.O.S Novas kick like crazy!!


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## GooseBuster3

You are starting to sound like moron Fanatic from the Fuge!! LOL


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## Guest

No crap those Nova's kick your ***, 2 X's as much as my Wimpy Super X 2!!!! I almost feel for ya Dblkluk!!!  Had my shoulder black and blue from the damb thing, but guess I must be a *****, huh GB3??? :lol: Probably not!!! :eyeroll:


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## Guest

How about we get back on track w/ bird migration, the reason why this forum is here. :x


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## snowflake

I'm sure ya wont get much for bird migrations on this string,seems more like a bragging board or something!!Maybe just a private chat area for the "Crew"or "Possie",who or what the **** ever all that is about.Are these wannabe gangstas as well as wannabe snowgoose shooters?Who gives a goddamn if your noodle arms fall off :eyeroll: Just in case somebody wants to use this space for which it's intended,are there any shootable numbers ofbirds along the I-94 corridor?Please pm me any information you might have reguarding this matter.Will keep it strictly on the C.Q.!!!!


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## Guest

According to the residents there are "birds every 45 minutes of travel" cruising down the high-way!!!


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## dblkluk

This ones for you "flakie"  
Put on a couple hundred miles today from Minot to Bottineau and back. Saw a few birds in the area we hunted Tuesday but not huntable numbers. Heading out again tommorow, They're out there I just have to find them!!


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## Leo Porcello

> Are these wannabe gangstas as well as wannabe snowgoose shooters?


I think their pictures and knowledge level speaks for itself. I would not pass up a day in the field with any of those "wannabes"!!! Do like DBLKLUK says. Put on some miles. Hell I drove all the way from Alaska to WI and back to ND which equates to 6000 miles or so and the next day I was driving around scouting. You want birds hop in your car and earn them. Everyone wants a PM ohh please tell me where the birds are. I have been pretty nice and given a few towns and has bit me right in my little American Butt. And truthfully Snowflake with the tone of your posts I hope no one PMs you. Bad attitudes are the last thing we need in the field. uke:


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## Brad Anderson

Yeah, I think porkchop spelled it out perfectly. With a bad attitude NOBODY is going to help you out.

I've been fishing hard for the last month and know where there are tons of birds. And the ones you see every 45 minutes on the hwy, look again. They are seagulls.


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## Leo Porcello

Hait to admit it but the seagulls fooled me once.  I really hurt the break pads that day!


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## administrator

Let's keep the *language* and attitudes in check guys. I've received some complaints and I have to agree, please find a proper way to post without all the cussing.

It's snow goose reports, let's please keep it that way until the season ends.

Thanks for your cooperation.


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## Guest

Another half hour and I'll be on my way out there!!!  I'll post when I get back if we have success!!! See ya in the field. 8)


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## GooseBuster3

Found some more birds tonight, it might be a repeat of last weekend!! Will post up when I get back!


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## snowflake

I may have a bad attitude& definately have annymosities that I'm about To relieve myself of in N.D.Yes the dreaded N.R. is on the way again to shoot more of your birds,and I might add,am bringing more dreaded N.R.'s w/me.  Thanks to those that did pm me w/info,mebbe I'll see ya out there!!!!!


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## gandergrinder

Just talked to the boys out hunting. They had 60 on the ground and were staying for the evening shoot. They only found one field after driving all over SE ND. Most of the birds we hunted last weekend were gone and maybe only 1000 were in the field they were hunting today.

GB3 said the birds were working real well with lots of feet down action.


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## Guest

Too bad they lost 10 un the big lake.


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## snowflake

I'm curious ,but I'll bet the farm,if a N.R. posted that he/she/they,wasted 10 birds by not retreiving them,The self-righteous NoDak Pack would be all up into their but over that.I say,pick the garbage out of your own ditch before trying to dirty anyone elses.AH-SO!!!


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## gandergrinder

How do you know we already haven't? The world keeps moving outside the walls of this website you know.


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## dblkluk

Put on lots of miles this weekend in northern Nodak. 1100 to be exact, a few birds here and there. Not much for numbers though. We hunted yesterday, and ended up with 14, not bad considering how few birds we seen. I think I'm hanging it up for the year, maybe. :wink:

Hey snowflake.. how was the hunt this weekend??


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## GooseBuster3

Yeah how was hunting? :eyeroll: :eyeroll: I should have called MNgooser and MNdiver to tell them exactly where we hunted. But I didnt hunt sunday morning.....in other words you are at the bottom of the **** pile Snowflake.


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## KEN W

Saw a flock of about 2,000 headed for Manitoba... go over the car this morning couldn't find the buggers over the weekend...wonder where they came from.


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## Dave K.

It was too bad we lost 10 birds on the big lake but there was definetly an effort to pick them up. 
Hey Snowflake, did you know there was three NR's hunting with GB3 on saturday. I haven't got any hell about losing birds either.


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## bigblackfoot

Snowflake


> I'm curious ,but I'll bet the farm,if a N.R. posted that he/she/they,wasted 10 birds by not retreiving them,The self-righteous NoDak Pack would be all up into their but over that.I say,pick the garbage out of your own ditch before trying to dirty anyone elses.AH-SO!!!.


Why dont you back off man. Im not sure what exactly it is that you have up your rectum, but it must suck going through life in your shoes.


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## Acemallard

He is just jealous that we shoot a bunch of SoBs and he never gets any. Says he does but we have yet to see any pics btw my nephew and his cousin(sota boy) went to the same feild on Sun and shot another 20 outa there till somone busted the feed across the water. Snowflake I think U are the Snow goose wanabe. Post the pics or shut thee mouth! Hey DaveK nice hunting with you sota boys. You 3 are welcome in my spread anytime just holler when ya wana hook up.

HARDCORE WATERFOWLER!


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## 870 XPRS

WOW!!!!

Views: 37667
Replies: 529

That is a lot of action. :jammin: :jammin:


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## GooseBuster3

And the reports aint done yet. :wink:


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## Maverick

Damn DBLKLUK you put some serious miles on!!!I wonder if Flakie put that many miles on? Probably not, but he will tell you he did! Anyways..... Keep Chris sane out there....He tends to like his drives in the country!

Mav...


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## Leo Porcello

KLUKer is a driving fool. That dude was on about 5 hours of sleep for a couple of days. I definetly benefitted from it on Sunday morning (even if I was only shooting warning shots). Thanks DBLKLUK again for the morning hunt!


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## administrator

administrator said:


> Let's keep the *language* and attitudes in check guys. I've received some complaints and I have to agree, please find a proper way to post without all the cussing.
> 
> It's snow goose reports, let's please keep it that way until the season ends.
> 
> Thanks for your cooperation.


Enough guys, I'm serious. Work out your issues on the pm's and don't bring it here.

It's been a great spring, let's not end it on this type of note.


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## dblkluk

No problem Chopper!! It was a good time. Nice job in the afternoon!!

Yeah my Tahoe breathed a sigh of relief when we hit the driveway Saturday night!


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## Ryan_Todd

I was really upset about losing those ten birds also, but we did do our best to get them. unless he's perfect, i'm sure snowflake has lost some birds too.

thanks again GB3 for the great hunt. when my nitro arrives i'll let you know so we can do some mn bassin. thanks again :lol:


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## Ryan_Todd

i drove by sand lake NWR on monday and saw about thirty birds right on the ditch bank next to the lake. if i would have swerved my truck i could have taken out a bunch. they even let me stop and take a picture of them. i think they were probably all cripples because none of them flew, they just waddled into the water and sat there. in any case they are safe there.


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## Guest

What was it that you didn't understand about the comment the Administrator said?? PM him if you need to, everyone's taken their shot at snowflake. To bad he doesn't post some of his pics I've seen, then maybe you'd all shut up, and grow up. Everyone loses birds, everyone has a opinion about how many is too many.

Anyways, sorry about that, anyone heading out for one more weekend of it? :beer:


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## snowflake

I would love to post a ton of pics,buy I can't figure out how to go about it!Got my bro-in-law coming over to help.Meanwhile,Chris asked me to be nice and not stir up anything.I will comply w/that,as long as everyone else does!Got a problem w/me,that's what the p.m. is for.Wanna smear my good name ,let's meet for coffee.So,one more time,anybody have any info as to where some healthy birds are?


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## Leo Porcello

Drove from Minot to Wisconsin Rapids WI on Monday and did not see a snow goose.


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## lynxx69

bigblackfoot said:


> Snowflake
> 
> 
> 
> I'm curious ,but I'll bet the farm,if a N.R. posted that he/she/they,wasted 10 birds by not retreiving them,The self-righteous NoDak Pack would be all up into their but over that.I say,pick the garbage out of your own ditch before trying to dirty anyone elses.AH-SO!!!.
> 
> 
> 
> Why dont you back off man. Im not sure what exactly it is that you have up your rectum, but it must suck going through life in your shoes.
Click to expand...

I think you need to calm down because I am a NR hunter and I lost 6 birds and gave an effort and I still got harped on about it... So you check whats up your rectum... The fact is that Nodak do jump on Nr about losing birds. just look back in the march 25-29 or whatever and you will see there big shot.


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## Leo Porcello

yaaawwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Anybody got some snow goose migration info?????


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## Brad Anderson

Blah blah blah. Come on.


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## Guest

I'm sure someone will have some info on birds after the weekend's over. This is the end of the end boys!!!


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## gandergrinder

Lynxx, 
Go back and read that post and see who commented. It wasn't the nodak boys. Jones is the only one and myself from Nodak who comment and Jones doesn't say anythink bad and I only say that I don't like Jones' justification.

Hustad and Madison are out today. Talked to him last night and he said he found about 500 birds for this morning.


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## GooseBuster3

Bwaahahahahaha.


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## Guest

They near DL?? I'm sure the birds we found are still around loafing. I hope they're on em'!!! :beer: :sniper:


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## Canada_Hunter

Hey GB3 and gander,what do you do with all the meat??


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## Brad Anderson

Those goose sticks sure are tasty after a couple beverages.


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## gandergrinder

My dad owns a meat processing place and I have goose sticks made, basically a beef stick with goose, summer sausage sometimes, and also dried goose, just like dried beef.

We usually make several batches throughout the season as we usually try to get at least 50 pounds together for a batch. This usually isn't to hard if I have all the guys bring in there stuff when I have it done.

We give them to friends, landowners, and local people in the bars where we hunt. They usually don't last long. This is the best way to do it in my opinion.

I also have several people that I try to get cleaned birds to now and again. Last time I got lefse and from another lady I got a bunch of Christmas cookies.

Mainly goose sticks as the bunch I run with enjoys beer which usually means a lot of packages will get eaten during a weekend.

As for migration reports. Talked to Hustad about 10 minutes ago. Him, Madison, Maverick, Mn Diver, and I think MNgooser shot 36 this morning.


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## Guest

Must be nice!!! :x


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## KEN W

Went out this morning by myself...had a pretty decent field with about 5,000 small Canadas and 1,000 or so snows...managed to get 5.With no wind they just didn't decoy quite right.Could have shot a bunch of Canadas.


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## mngooser

Nope, I wasn't with that bunch. I would have gone. Thanks for the call MNdiver. 

I was busy netting suckers today. I got them in the brine right now.

I would love to shoot some snows in May, don't know if it will happen or not. Somebody twist my arm.


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## MnDiver

Mngooser, Sorry man went Fri. morning... Figured for sure that U had to work, should of called I guess. It was kinda of a last minute trip, talked to Hustad thurs. night and decided to head out for a morning shoot.

It was well worth the drive, with 36 birds on the ground in a little over an hour or so.. It was a great way to end the season.

Thanks again to Hustad, Maverick, and Madison it was a pleasure.

How did U guys do Sat???


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## mngooser

How tough is it for me to quit my job. I've only been there 7 yrs. I could find employment somewhere else. We are talking about decoying snows here.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Friday as everyone said, was a good time. Boy have we pounded this roost to death, with around 200 birds taken the past couple weeks.

Left to right, Myself, Nick, MN Diver, Maverick and Madison










We had 3 roosts scouted for Saturday, and we had a hard time picking which one to hunt. We decided on one, and we hunted with the landowner... it was a good time. They were going to push the birds off the roost this weekend anyways as the geese were eating up their pasture and seeded fields. He basically asked us to cure his goose problem, and that's the task we like to take on.










Sunday we ended back to roost #1. The geese were feeding between 2 corn fields and a winter wheat field. There was 6 of us and we split between the 2 cornfields. Sure enough, the geese all ended up in the wheat field but not before our spread took 22 and the other took 3.

That's it for me for the year. Kind of tough actually, as there's still plenty left.










Not a bad spring 2004! The crew averaged over 30 birds/day over the spread and we met a lot of new friends.


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## Nodak Duke

Cool pics, Chris... Thanks for sharing.


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## mallard

Chris,I shot 9 more out of that field last night.The grain field is getting destroyed by the geese,about 20 acres so far.Time to put the hunting gear away and pull the boat out of storage. mallard


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## GooseBuster3

Yep it was a GREAT spring!! Hunted with some really great guys and we pounded them. Hustad I totaled the birds and we got 410 snows over the past couple months here!! Summer parting will start next weekend!!! Its going to be tough not hunting for the next couple months!


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## djleye

Another hearty thank you to a great group of guys. I had a blast this spring. Can't tell you what a great group of guys I enjoyed hunting with the last few weeks. GB3, GG, Mav, Huey, Mallard, Blake, Duxnbux, Madison. Thanks again. Like Chris said....."I need to wet a line". There has to be crappies going somewhere and walleyes soon to follow!!!!


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## dblkluk

Nice job guys!! What a way to wrap up a season!


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## gandergrinder

Got the data back finally on my neck band I shot in March . Banded in July of 1998 as an adult 10 miles south of some town I can't pronounce or remember currently, in the Northwest Territory. It was a female and at least 6 and a half years old. I wonder how many miles she logged and how many decoy spreads she saw in her day? Makes a guy wonder sometimes what wild places a goose has seen in there life.


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## djleye

Jed....You mean she was 6 1/2 when you shot her right?? Otherwise that would put her at over 12 years old. I know there are geese that old but that is gettin up there.


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## gandergrinder

Yea 6.5 when shot. Who really knows how old that bird was since it was banded as an adult. I'm kinda suprised the neck collar lasted that long. It was cracked and starting to fade. The leg band was not all that worn either.


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## GooseBuster3

The neckcollar will crack when you shoot at it twice GG... :roll: :lol: :lol:


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## gandergrinder

Better twice than not at all. :lol:


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## GooseBuster3

It would have been one shot...if you know what I mean. :wink:


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## mallard

I have seen bands that were so worn that the bird banding lab had to chemichly (sp) treat them just to get the numbers off of them.If I remember right,the oldest snow from a band return was 18+ years old. The spring season was fun,even though I didnt scout like I did last year(the cost of gas in combination with driving a dodge ram hit my wallet to hard).I am not complaining though.I didnt shoot as many as I did last year(I am kind of glad that I did'nt),but all of the geese I did get this spring were over decoys :beer: .There is nothing like having 500-1000 birds feet down and 20-30 yards out like the hunt Tyler and myself were on earlier.Or the 70 bird shoot when you could hardley reload fast enough.Thanks for inviting along an old guy, like myself ,on the nodak crew hunts. mallard


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Awww Dean, it's much older than that!!! It's hard to believe that some birds flying around were born in the 70's. 



> Following is a list of longevity records for waterfowl based on band recoveries. The number following each species represents the number of years and months; for example, the record for a mallard is 26 years and 4 months. These are all minimal longevities because bands wear out, fall off, and in some instances there aren't large enough sample sizes to give better longevity records.
> 
> This info can be found at the Bird Banding Lab website which is accessible through a link on www.centralflyway.org, where there's all sorts of other neat info and where I was asked to encourage you to visit.
> 
> Common Merganser 13-05
> Red-breasted Merganser 5-05
> Hooded Merganser 11-03
> Mallard 26-04
> Hawaiian Duck 3-08
> Laysan Duck 11-10
> American Black Duck 26-05
> Mexican Duck 5-06
> Mottled Duck 13-05
> Gadwall 19-06
> Eurasian Wigeon 8-07
> American Wigeon 20-11
> American Green-winged Teal 20-03
> Blue-winged Teal 22-04
> Cinnamon Teal 12-11
> Northern Shoveler 18-07
> Northern Pintail 22-03
> Wood Duck 22-06
> Redhead 22-07
> Canvasback 29-06
> Greater Scaup 18-04
> Lesser Scaup 18-04
> Ring-necked Duck 20-05
> Common Goldeneye 15-05
> Barrow's Goldeneye 15-04
> Bufflehead 18-08
> Oldsquaw 15-07
> Harlequin Duck 10-05
> Steller's Eider 23-00
> Common Eider 22-05
> King Eider 18-11
> White-winged Scoter 15-07
> Surf Scoter 7-11
> Ruddy Duck 13-07
> Lesser Snow Goose (white) 26-07
> Lesser Snow Goose (blue) 25-06
> Ross' Goose 22-06
> Greater White-fronted Goose 25-06
> Canada Goose (all races) 28-05
> Atlantic Brant 21-07
> Black Brant 28-06
> Hawaiian Goose 17-09
> Emperor Goose 10-04
> Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 8-02
> Fulvous Whistling-Duck 6-06
> Mute Swan 26-09
> Whistling Swan 25-04
> Trumpeter Swan 23-10


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## FACE

Hey GG...

Congrats on the old bird!!!
You say the Northwest Territories? Go figure!!! :huh: 
Just kidding!!!!!
The double banded ross' and the blue goose that we got were tagged there too.
Anyone with sob's banded elsewhere?


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## mallard

Well I did remember it was 18+ years :lol: (kind of like a channel 11 weather forcast:winds from 5-35).I remember when a guy brought in a snow with a very worn band, that he had to send in so the lab could get the numbers. That one was 17  .Have you had a chance to wet a line in the river yet?


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## honkerhntr

Jim jones told me that two yrs ago in Canada during the fall season, the killed a snow that was 23plus yrs old at the time the shot it. Take it for what you will but that is a old bird.


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## Madison

definatley a kick *** season!!

ONly 4 months to go boys!!

keep it reeel
madison


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## northernwaterfowl

We shot some old birds the first year that e-callers were made legal in the spring. I was guiding down in Nebraska and that spring we shot 2 snows that were old. One was 21 and the other was 23 and we could not read the numbers on that band, it was also double banded with a plastic leg collar, which was almost ready to fall off. I remember the ages because I was the same age as that old goose when we shot it. It is amazing that they live that long. It is no wonder that snows are so tough to hunt. Think about how many decoy spreads, hunters, and etc. they have seen when they get hunted hard for over 8 months a year.

We still have snow geese in the Bowbells area. I saw several hundred last night while I was out shed hunting.

I also saw an albino hen mallard paired up with a big drake the other day. That is the first albino mallard that I have ever seen. The damn thing was sitting on the gravel road that I was coming down. I will be chasing that bird come opening day!

Todd Siemers


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## Leo Porcello

All I am seeing in Bowbells is Seagulls but I am confined to one spot!


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## Guest

I also have seen an albino hen this year. Interesting!!


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## northernwaterfowl

There aren't any by the missile site that you are at Pork Chop, I farm right next to it. The birds are up by the Canadian border. My buddy that guides for me in the fall said that they have been there for three weeks now. No one has hunted them yet. I am going to run up there right now and check them out again. It might be a morning slaughter!


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## Leo Porcello

Oh sure just rub it in!! :beer: Were you driving a tractor out there today on the east side of the site? Good luck if you go!


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## Guest

I hope you shoot the hell out of them if you go!!! Post up if you do, keep the blood flowing!!! :beer:


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## Take.Em

Chris, here's to ya! :beer: Just wanted to say thank...the site has been awesome this season and a huge help for newbies such as myself.

I hope this site is up and running strong for the fall and then again leading the way into Spring 2005.

Bob


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Thanks Bob, I appreciate the kind words.

Amazing it's been viewed over 40,000 times!  Looks like a lot of people find it useful.

The site will only get better, and rest assured it'll be going strong this fall.

The next time I take out the snow decs, I'll be in Saskatchewan....can't wait!


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## Guest

Yeah, by next year 2/3's of the waterfowling community will be chasing snows in the spring!!! Imagine what that'll do for you guys worried about N/R's!!! :lol:


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## GooseBuster3

It wont worry one bit cause 3/4 of the gyus you come to Nd when the big push is on are all ditch whoring and pass shooting. While we site out in our dekes we can relax cause nobody can try messing with your set p. plus who else runs over 1300 northwinds and ALOT of floaters in Nd? And for the juvies they are a ***** to find, and people could drive days on end and not find any birds. So you ask us if we will be worried I dont think so. :wink:


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## mallard

Well I said I was hanging it up for the year,but,....I had to go just one more time :lol: .Last night I shot 15 with most shots at 15-20 yards They decoyed really well,and the wind muffled the noise from the shots.As a result the geese were not spooked and kept comming.Decided to stay over night and hunt the AM.The geese were spooky and with light winds the birds on the roost could hear the shots.I managed 2 and called it a day.I also talked to the landowner and he said he was experiencing crop loss in his grain fields due to the geese.


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## Maverick

You hit that one on the nose GB3!


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## GooseBuster3

Well the season is done.......Its going to be along 4 months boys!


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## djleye

It ain't the same....but that's what fishing is for!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## mallard

Tyler will be chasing the girls this summer anyways.Do the feds have a date that the conservation season must be closed by?I dont see why we have an opening date as early as we do.By the way DJ the snows are still down there.


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## mallard

Snows are still there guys.I cant believe they are still hanging around.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

Odd morning, I saw 2 flocks of 100 snows each fly over me on my way out west by Hobart...and a flock of around 100 on the ground west of Jamestown. :huh:


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