Headed to NoDak... got a ?

[dlk_1000]

Hey everybody,

My group and I are headed to the great state of north dakota on Mon. nov 2nd... Regardless of whether we shoot limits i'm sure we will have a blast. We have been going the first week in November for the last 3 years and we always seem to miss the heaviest of the migration which is fine because we never seem to run into a lot of other hunters... we like to keep our distance and the less competition the better. My question is how are the numbers looking and and if it was you where would you go. I know what some of you are thinking... (another internet scouter) and that is not what i am tryin to be. We will put on tousands of miles of scouting once we get there, I am just looking for a general starting area. I am not looking for specific locations just a general idea if we should head way up north or if there is some opportunities to the south, field conditions, etc...

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much...

good luck and safe hunting to all of you who carry on our rich heritage of waterfowl hunting and conservation.



Derek Kragenbring,
"Atwater DU Chair"

[Ben Cade]

Derek,

I think there is good hunting across most of the state, so I wouldn't be too worried about where to start. However, make sure you are prepared to deal with the wet field conditions. I would suggest you plan on hunting light and walking in for the most part. They have had a ton of rain and even if freeze up occurs before or during your trip, you are going to have a hard time driving even an ATV into some fields.

[dlk_1000]

we plan on carrying in for the most part... more work but hopefully worth the effort.. it usually is

[calling4life]

Supposed to be cold, you may hit the bulk of the migration right on the head.

If you want specks, assuming some are still around and pushing through, west of Devils is your best bet, otherwise, like always, Devils is kind of a big part of ND, so it isn't a bad idea to start there.

Just hunted in between Devils and Stump Saturday, exactly on the X, few thousand snows using the field, it was me and only 1 other guys, so, an easy hide situation. About 10 doz. T&Ts with about the same in sillosocks, a vortex, and we ended up shooting 2 out of the 3 pack of ducks that came in.

Not a single snow, they came over, worked a bit, had a couple singles that were within a pokes range, but never could get what we wanted.

Birds have been giving us fits this year for some reason, Mondays hunt didn't bring us much better luck, although it was mainly a canada and duck hunt.

If you do your scouting, finding a field with a few hundred honkers, thousand or so ducks and some snows shouldn't be out of reach. If it does get cold like I have heard, and the migration hits full swing, it should get messy real quick.

[Ryan Kleinschmidt]

I would suggest bringing a smaller otter type sled to pull gear in and out of the fields. The area I hunted last week, a high % of the fields were under or partly under water and thats where the bluk of the birds were. Walking in with a sled would have been much easier than carrying all the gear in and out.

[dlk_1000]

I would suggest bringing a smaller otter type sled to pull gear in and out of the fields. The area I hunted last week, a high % of the fields were under or partly under water and thats where the bluk of the birds were. Walking in with a sled would have been much easier than carrying all the gear in and out.

that is a great idea... i am definitely going to track down a sled before we leave...


thanks...

[Ielase]

I would suggest a 4 wheeler. We were there 3rd week of october and the fields were pretty wet then. If we didnt have the wheeler we wouldnt of gotten in alot of the spots we hunted. The sled is another great idea. We hunted the SSE part of ND and didnt catch the migration like we had hoped. I know of some guys who were in the same region just 2 weeks ago and they did very well. So you will probably be arriving at the perfect time.

[calling4life]

Yea, weather looks to be warmer then previous forecasts said, you may need a boat to get in the fields:D

[headhunter]

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/wxstory.php?site=fgf
Another washout fall

[Quackaddict9]

if you got mattracks, bring em! :D

[dlk_1000]

i tell ya... we just cant win with this weather... i just hope we can get in somewhere without being swallowed up by the mud...

[dlk_1000]

Well i didnt sleep last night... too antsy. any new reports on weather and migrations through the weekend?

thanks again guys,

Derek Kragenbring

[Jedro]

Me and my group is also headed up Friday we are going to start in the south east part of the state. Good luck to ya.

[dlk_1000]

i think we are headed north...

[nddeersticker]

Lots of geese in the state very mild weather, I'm in North Central ND just a reminder deer gun season starts on friday and its the law to wear blaze orange while hunting anything during this time.

[makin it rain]

Duck hunters going up to NoDak this weekend just are not planning for success.

I was up there last weekend and every person I talked to had no plans of letting anyone hunt on their land for the next two weeks. I believe one man told me that it was the most treasure holiday week of the year for most NoDaks.

Good luck to you though, bring your charm smile. There should be enough unposted land for you to run around on

[Chris Swanson]

Me and my group is also headed up Friday we are going to start in the south east part of the state. Good luck to ya.

that is a good place to start, yesterday I drove down to sioux falls and I drive threw south east nodak and I saw tons of honkers and mallards