# drought and non resident duck hunter



## tclark4140 (Aug 8, 2006)

i have been coming to n.d. for 8 years from iowa, and truely enjoy the people of n.d. as well as the hunt. we are not" meat hunters" but enjoy the hunt and everything that goes with it. we appreciate the opportunity that we get in your state. and we try and spend as much money as we can !! i guess my interest is, is how bad is the drought in the McClusky area. i have looked at the maps but if some one could help out with that 30 area i would appreciate it. I know some one will answer as the people from n.d. are very kind and helpfil thanks


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## NDTracer (Dec 15, 2005)

Good question but I can't help on that. However if you are to worried I can give you my name and address and you can just send me the money. I promise I would spend it in ND and I would even be willing to spend in a certain part if need be. :beer:


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

tclark4140
That region is very dry, Field Hunter posted up that when through there a mnth ago on business the area was one of the worst hit in the state. That does not mean that hunting can not be found, but that different efforts may have to be made to get into birds!

The reports from farmer friends in that area are a mirror of what FH stated, and if you have contacts in the area get in touch with them. They are on the ground and will be the best up to date info.

I passed through areas yesterday that it has been a month since I had been there. Wetlands I thought would make it to fall did not survive the month of July and no significant rains to change them has fallen, even though the areas have received over 2" of rain in the last couple weeks!


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

Two words....."VERY DRY". Large lake type wetlands remain but the potholes are pretty much gone. The ducks that are in that area will be on the move...where they move to will be beyond me. But with the amount of R and NR pressure on the birds we've seen in the last 10 years I'd say that the area will be devoid of ducks soon after opener and will shift to other areas.

I saw this happen in the last drought cycle...there were many large wetlands left in the areas we hunted and they held ducks early in the year. I remember driving around trying to find duks on the wetlands a week after opener and although we found water we just didn't find ducks.

I hope history doesn't repeat itself but I'm afraid it will...this year for sure and if we have another snowless winter with no Spring rains next year the situation will be like it was before the last wet cycle began. Many will stop huntng ND including many of the resident hunters.

It's THAT BAD in ND this year...I'm not kidding!


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## Eric Hustad (Feb 25, 2002)

It really is sad what has happened to the wetlands this year, but after so many years of wet weather we had to have one of these years eventually. The birds will be on the bigger water and this will probably be the fall where guys coming from out of state get frustrated and move on. I'm ticked because my twins are old enough where I have my wife's permission to get out more this fall and now the potholes are drying up. Oh well anytime to get out with friends/family and enjoy the outdoors is a good time.


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

Dry about covers it. Competition for the water & sloughs will be fierce.
Given the usual number of NR we see in the Lake Region and the lack of water, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see the local birds pressured off the available sloughs and run out of the area quickly...


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

tclark4140 said:


> i guess my interest is, is how bad is the drought in the McClusky area. i have looked at the maps but if some one could help out with that 30 area i would appreciate it. I know some one will answer as the people from n.d. are very kind and helpfil thanks


I was up there last weekend and will be going up there again tonight. Pretty much all the little sloughs are toast or within days of it. We have 90-degree temps forcasted all next week so things won't get better.

The big bodies of water are still there, but it's going to get hard getting acquainted to them being the only water around.


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## DUX2BU (Jun 30, 2006)

My first post on Nodak!! As a NR hoping to come out the week of 10/21 I of course am interested in the water conditions. Chris - how did it look when you went through the McKlusky area last week again? Any rain since then? We stay in Washburn and hunt to the north and to the east of town.


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## Habitat Hugger (Jan 19, 2005)

I just completed a 430+ bike ride through some of the best duck hunting areas in ND and noticed that just about every slough was either dry or just a skim of water or green slime surrounded by a 100 yard mud flat. I can't recall seeing any ducklings at all and only a few older ducks. Can't recall even one clutch of mud hens either. The only good news is that I got the anecdotal impression that cormorants seemed to be down, too. Interestingly, I did see a single blue goose on an almost dry slough east of Audubon, presumably a cripple that couldn't make it north. Surprised me that an eagle or something hadn't turned him into lunch before then. 
So our ducks will be spotty at best, at least in the areas I rode. Further north and east where they got some rain might be better. But there are few ducks in the areas I hunt.
We rode through the Audubon, east to north of Turtle Lake, overnighted in Mclusky, then over to Steele, all areas I have hunted heavily in the past. Things were bad, extremely dry, as dry as I can remember even back in the dry 90's. 
Although I have nothing against non residents at all, were I a non resident duck hunter or a resident who takes vacation to hunt for a week or so I'd reschedule my plans for a hunt somewhere else, unless I wanted to primarily hunt snow geese, as ducks will be pretty well non existent at least in the areas I rode through. Personally, if I wanted to hunt mainly snow geese I'd go to Saskatchewan and "get em while they are fresh" and uneducated, and where there is almost no posted land. Everyone complains about the border and guns, etc. but don't believe it! It's easy to take guns up there, just costs a fee, but I hear they are ultimately planning to drop that and all the registration stuff, too.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

DUX2BU said:


> Chris - how did it look when you went through the McKlusky area last week again? Any rain since then?


It's hard to keep track of the rains as what I've seen won't be cured with a rainfall or two. I did pretty much the same route as Habitat Hugger and he summarized it pretty good.

This area is just not what you'll be used to if you've hunted out here before. As always, Devils Lake is wet again and if I planned my vacation for ducks I'd go where the water is.

My :2cents:


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## Hunter_58346 (May 22, 2003)

Chris, Devils Lake is wet again? If you consider the 3-5" that some areas got over the weekend I guess it is but the 1/2" we had gotten prior to that kind of dried things up a bit. From Starkweather to Lakota seems to have gotten the most of it. As a whole though the Devils Lake area was as dry as it has been in 10 years.


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## northdakotakid (May 12, 2004)

For those not familiar with how the rains work here in NoDak... if we are dry all summer... fall rains provide little if any relief because the water table is so far parched. We would need three or four huge rains.. I mean monster rains and moderate temps to lend a hand. THe thing you also need to take itno consideration is the quality of nesting and brooding grounds. If there is not much water and all of the "game" is concentrated, even with a good hatch earlier, the predators ahve a field day.

It will be interesting as to how the fall plays out... but the plus and negative is that the birds will be concentrated also.. so the good will be great and the average will be bad.


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## Habitat Hugger (Jan 19, 2005)

Just pulled in from a road trip through Minot to Rugby, then Mitegoshe to Peace Garden in Turtle mountains by bike, then back to Rugby and home to Bismarck today.
Even in the areas on ND that had rain a lot of the wetlands are dry or almost so. I sure got the impression that there were not many ducks on even the occasional pond with water. Saw only some blue wings, gadwalls and only a few mallards. Things are sure dry! Seemed to be more Canadas than anything else, but few ducks. Chances of finding a body of water that a duck boat could be launched would be pretty rare, at least in the areas I travelled through.


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## tclark4140 (Aug 8, 2006)

in watching the weather channel this weekend, it appeared some rains fell in n.d. any rain totals from the central part or anywhere? in n. central iowa we had 5 over 5 inches, and have flood warnings. i wish you guys could of gotten part of this


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

NC Nodak didn't get a drop.We did have some frost on Friday morning.


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## tclark4140 (Aug 8, 2006)

wow that doesnt sound good, the weather channell is usually pretty reliable. i think they said it was suppose to be 80 there today.


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## Habitat Hugger (Jan 19, 2005)

Just pulled in from a trip from Bis to Minneapolis through Aberdeen SD and northern SD and back through SE ND to Bismarck.
Seemed to be all kinds of ducks throughout northern SD over past the Minnesota state line, and through SE ND for a bit west of the Minnesota border (50 - 75 miles or so) then few ducks the rest of the way to Bismarck, even though there were at least a few sloughs with what looked like adequate water to me. I got the very subjective impression (from driving the highways) that more ducks were in the SE part of ND with lots in the Lake country of SD from Aberdeen east. 
Saw a surprising number of pheasants in ND, unlike during the spring and summer. Guess they didn't all cook with the heat and drought, like the country SW of BIS-MAN.


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