# ND 09 Hunting Pressure (Poll)



## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

*During the ND 09 season, I was a:*​
NR who thought the pressure was high.1916.10%NR who thought the pressure was low.3832.20%R who thought the pressure was high.4941.53%R who thought the pressure was low.1210.17%


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

BE HONEST, and keep the BS out of this thread. Go to the Hot Topics for that.


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## gsehnter-bloms (Dec 16, 2007)

At some points the pressure was very high in the area that I hunt. I think it depends on what area your in.


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## Scott LeDuc (Aug 4, 2008)

Great idea Adam...


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## jblabsnduck (Mar 15, 2006)

We never here another shot from anyone in the area we hunt.
Lucky us I guess.


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## Colt (Oct 25, 2007)

I hunted both the first week and last of October. During the first week I found a field one evening that had birds. There were 3 trucks watching. 2 had NoDak plates, 1 had MN plates. I left that field and never went back. The entire first week I was there, I never ran into any other hunters and was never denied permission to hunt private land. We killed a ton of birds that week.

The second week that I went back, one morning we had to kick out 2 groups of NoDaks for tresspassing. 1 of which got their rig stuck in the field :roll: Other than that, the only other hunters we saw were driving the roads and wearing orange so I'm assuming they were pheasant hunting. Maybe 10 trucks for the week. It seems with the exception of a couple of MN plates, maybe 1 WI plate, the rest were NoDaks. I know the 2 trucks that were stuck in the muddy section lines that we helped yank out, had NoDak plates :roll: . During that week, we killed a ton of birds. We were never denied permission to hunt waterfowl, but 2 farmers did ask that we do not kill pheasants.

So in 14 days of hunting I only had 1 day that I encountered a problem with other hunters, and only one spot I wanted to hunt but passed on because of other hunters. That's it. I'd call that pretty pressure free and the hunting was AWESOME!


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## reelslick (Aug 24, 2007)

Hunted the 3rd week of october. I saw other trucks in the restuarant parking lot at lunch and dinner. We did not see any other hunters in the fields. We passed about 5 trucks all week while scounting. They all had orange on, assuming they were pheasant hunting.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

You should really open up this poll.

I am a resident who thought the pressure was just fine in my area. We had one NR hunt our roost but it wasn't posted so I guess we left that open. Pretty quiet season for pressure for us, which was perfectly fine by me.

To be fair, I did do most of my hunting in a high posted area and typically hunted those with permission to avoid morning conflicts. We had a resident group in one of the fields without permission, otherwise we never had a field conflict all season.

Every year pressure seems to shift around the state.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

I primarily stayed on posted land so I knew I wouldn't be bothered but every time I ventured off that land, the pressure was crazy. Whether the roosts got busted or being down winded. Next year I think I will only stay on posted stuff, no matter if there are more birds other place's, I don't like the headache.

On a side, note I did meet some real nice guys from MN and we hunted two days together and I showed them some other place's too look for birds.

Most of the pressure came from NR's but I did get downwinded by some residents.


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## averyghg (Oct 16, 2006)

Chris Hustad said:


> You should really open up this poll.
> 
> I am a resident who thought the pressure was just fine in my area. We had one NR hunt our roost but it wasn't posted so I guess we left that open. Pretty quiet season for pressure for us, which was perfectly fine by me.
> 
> ...


well i know where im gonna start hunting more then!!!!!! I have a solid feeling i know where you'll be come dec. and "that area" gets worse every year. Im scared to think what its gonna be like this year!


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

averyghg said:


> well i know where im gonna start hunting more then!!!!!! I have a solid feeling i know where you'll be come dec. and "that area" gets worse every year. Im scared to think what its gonna be like this year!


I never stated where I was hunting. And I'm only stated my observations.

And the late season hasn't changed. Lots of posted land and those who put in their time find places to hunt. I see no reason to be "scared", I mean come on, it's just hunting 3 geese.


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## averyghg (Oct 16, 2006)

Chris Hustad said:


> averyghg said:
> 
> 
> > well i know where im gonna start hunting more then!!!!!! I have a solid feeling i know where you'll be come dec. and "that area" gets worse every year. Im scared to think what its gonna be like this year!
> ...


This is probably one of the few things i will disagree with you on, late season HAS changed dramtically in the past three years. and im not saying its cause NRs because most are residents then but it has changed. There's a reason that SD received record numbers of birds early last year and it wasn't because of the weather.


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## slough (Oct 12, 2003)

Yeah, that brutal December we had in ND had nothing to do with the geese flying south...


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## averyghg (Oct 16, 2006)

slough said:


> Yeah, that brutal December we had in ND had nothing to do with the geese flying south...


well you obviously don't know what you're talking about, but thanks for trying....get out west much pal?


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## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

To those of you who claim to have no pressure in your area be thankful, talk to your chamber of commerce and ask them to place ads all over MN and WI on every outdoor TV show to come to your town see how fast it sucks. See if the city can loan somebody some money to build a lodge and hire 7 guides and make sure they lock up about half of the good land. Then there are those people who can't afford a guide who will hear about how good the hunting is who will also come and hunt everything else. Being this is there vacation they will hunt all week blasting every good spot they can get access too. I'm completely agree there are places to hunt in ND lower in pressure. Colt if I was you I would just keep quiet and appreciate the quietness and just tell everyone you go to Devils Lake, the land of more hunters than Ducks!


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## slough (Oct 12, 2003)

Averyghg,

I'm not going to turn this thread into an argument, but yes I live in Bismarck and goose hunt plenty. I don't doubt that pressure had something to do with geese going south but that December was about as harsh a month as can be...we got what 30-40" of snow and a couple nasty blizzards, plus very cold temps, heck most of the river froze all the way up to the tailrace in the latter part of the month. Just my opinion that the weather had more to do with the geese leaving but to each his own...


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## averyghg (Oct 16, 2006)

well since you are trying to keep this civil i will as well. I don't doubt we had a harsh winter but ealrier there was still a lot of water open. Some fields had a lot of snow and some not so much. Im comparing last year to previous, and last year had an astronomical increase in pressured fields. We were not as fortunate to hunt during the week as much like most noncollege residents. But we did get a chance every now and then. On a Wed MORNING we sat on a group of 300 or so honkers, 3 other groups showed up to the same field we were in on a freaking wed morning. 2 groups ended up sitting into the field right next to us and another in the same. That was quite ridiculous for a wed morning, when the birds were still coming off early, and on only 300 birds. I could go on with stories but i will leave it at that. three years ago we would rarely see hunters on the weekend and now its tough to even get on the fields we used to always hunt. I gues it is what it is.........


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I'm not looking for an argument either and I have seen more pressure in recent years. But I agree with slough, I think weather had 99% to do with the birds leaving the state last year. Kind of hard for the birds to eat with 2 feet of snow above the food.

I don't stress the late season. I just like to work birds and leave the other stuff at home.


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## gaddyshooter (Oct 12, 2003)

So three other groups showed up and set up in other fields in the area? I assume that you had scouted and felt that the field you were in was the best possible choice, correct? So what if it was only 300 geese. Sounds like plenty of geese for all four groups to get some shooting.


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## justund223 (Aug 28, 2006)

gaddyshooter said:


> So three other groups showed up and set up in other fields in the area? I assume that you had scouted and felt that the field you were in was the best possible choice, correct? So what if it was only 300 geese. Sounds like plenty of geese for all four groups to get some shooting.


That is the difference between residents and non residents, just look at the poll. Pressure is all perception residents and non residents look at same situation differently. Have been both and am currently a non resident. The area I hunted when I lived there had a ton more pressure then in the past.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

justund223 said:


> gaddyshooter said:
> 
> 
> > So three other groups showed up and set up in other fields in the area? I assume that you had scouted and felt that the field you were in was the best possible choice, correct? So what if it was only 300 geese. Sounds like plenty of geese for all four groups to get some shooting.
> ...


I dont know, id say 34% of NRs that voted thought the pressure was high as pretty significant.


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## snowbus (Mar 7, 2007)

B.D.B. said:


> That is exactly what we thought when we were in Sask and they all left. They stuck it out through the colder weather and after it turned warm (50 F) they started to move out?!?! It seems as though they are moving with the length of day this year as opposed to weather pushing them. Definately was not pressure that pushed them out of SK because we didn't see another hunter for 5 days.


I quoted a post from the Snow Goose Forums. I quote this since it is an observation about a migratory bird that migrates due to weather, not pressure.


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## Dave Owens (Nov 11, 2002)

Pressure was heavy this year around our farm and the surrounding area we hunt. Shots were heard in many directions most mornings and plenty of rigs scouting in the evenings.

Was a more traditional ( 1970's ) season though. In my area the snows arrived in high numbers in early Oct and peaked between the 18th and 24th. The geese were pulling out by Oct 27th and it was real thin after that.

Might have been the bust hatch, lack of harvested corn, high amount of bean fields or the wet fields. All I do know is there was much better numbers 25 - 50 miles south in late Oct.


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## just ducky (Apr 27, 2005)

I'm a NR who did not vote because you didn't offer my answer...the pressure was the same as past years. Honestly, we saw no more or less pressure.


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