North Dakota

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fishvik
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North Dakota

Post by fishvik » Mon Aug 01, 2011 7:09 am

Just got back from a trip to a hockey camp in North Dakota last week. Lots of water east of Bismark. The area we camped at along the Red River in Fargo last year was under water. It seemed that every creek and river were still flowing strong. It should be great waterfowl hunting this year and the western part of the state looked like there was plenty of grass cover and a good hopper population.

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GWPtyler
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Re: North Dakota

Post by GWPtyler » Mon Aug 01, 2011 7:41 am

Meh...gonna be mediocre at best :wink: :mrgreen:

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Wagonmaster
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Re: North Dakota

Post by Wagonmaster » Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:35 pm

Yes, I doubt that more water will equate to great waterfowl hunting. What seems to happen is that more water means the birds are more spread out on the prairie, because there are more potholes for them to use. It takes a few years of water to bring the population up, and the biggest impact out there is not water, but predators - racoons, skunks, etc. DU did some studies out there a few years ago, I don't recall the numbers any longer, but the predations was startling, somewhere in the 80-90% range of nests being destroyed.

Too much water at the wrong time in the spring will also bring the upland bird populations down.

Probably won't be a banner year.

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Hotpepper
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Re: North Dakota

Post by Hotpepper » Tue Aug 02, 2011 2:08 pm

The reports on duck numbers have been very high, teal are up almost 50%, John is correect but we have been having good duck numbers for several years. The season are set and limits are up in some specie.

The states have been sent the guidelines. The mississippi where I live shoud be pretty good, as many as 60 for hunting day

Thanks John for the info

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GWPtyler
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Re: North Dakota

Post by GWPtyler » Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:24 am

Yup...without a doubt the best waterfowl years are the dry ones directly following a wet cycle. Bird numbers still are high, but their ponds and sloughs for loafing are fewer, thus concentrating the numbers.

Last year was supposed to be a good year, but it was one of my toughest as far as ducks are concerned, namely because of all the water. You'd scout and scout for a good location, only to hunt it and have all the birds dump in to the pond directly next to you. Made for some frustrating hunts, I can tell you that!

fishvik
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Re: North Dakota

Post by fishvik » Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:44 pm

I guess being from the dry end of the world more water means more local waterfowl production and usually that means a good waterfowl season out here, because there are more locals and more areas for migrating birds to rest in an area of usually little water. At least that has been my experience out here. I can see however with the water eastern ND has while production may be up, those ducks are going to be dispersed all over the country side. And when they are bumped off one pothole or slough they will just fly to another.

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birddogsunlimited
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Re: North Dakota

Post by birddogsunlimited » Wed Aug 03, 2011 7:09 pm

been scouting areas half the places i ussually hunt you cant get to because of flooded roads or slews swollen in feilds so much crops couldnt get planted we had great hatch this year numbers are up 11% from last year according to www.flyways.us wich is great but more water means more places for the birds to spread out. we saw it last year just means we have to work alittle harder this year. ive locked down more property to hunt going to have to spend more time scouting and paying attention to whats planted were i think it will be a good sesson still just may take a little longer to get our limit but i dont have aproblem spending more time hunting.
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fishvik
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Re: North Dakota

Post by fishvik » Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:02 am

Birddogs and tyler, Talking to hunters while I was there, it sounds like most of you field hunt rather than set up on water. The explaination given to me for this was that this keeps the birds on specific bodies of water and keeps the birds around. If you hunted the water they would move because there are so many available loafing ponds. Is this the way you guys see it? Out here with very little water they would have to move a long way to find new water. In the late season this is what makes our big rivers such good hunting. The sloughs and ponds are frozen up and the ducks and geese have to come to the river for water and rest. Thats when a dog that can deal with current comes in handy so I do alot of training in water with a current.

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Re: North Dakota

Post by PntrRookie » Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:25 am

As far as pheasants go, this is from the PF site. http://www.pheasantsforever.org/page/1/ ... recast.jsp

North Dakota - Plenty of Birds, Plenty of Access
North Dakota forecast
Forecast: North Dakota was expected to check in around a 500,000 pheasant harvest last year, and exceeded that with a 650,000 bird take. And though crowing counts were down six percent this spring, overall nesting conditions improved by June across many parts of the state this spring and early summer, which should give NoDak pheasant hunters plenty of optimism heading into fall. Although more snow fell this winter as compared to last, pheasants pulled through very well and populations were stable as spring approached. There were snow showers into May this spring, but as pheasants prepared to sit on nests, conditions were good. With a wet spring and many rain showers, North Dakota greened up quickly. Rain and hail showers at the peak of the hatch likely washed out some nests and will tame numbers in the southeast part of the state, though there will be pockets of excellent habitat and birds. Results from North Dakota's annual August roadside survey notwithstanding, it looks like the southwest region of the state will retain its status as a perennial pheasant power, followed by the northwest region. The south-central and central regions will check in about the same as last year.

Season Dates: October 9 through January 2, 2011 Daily Bag Limit: 3 Possession Limit: 12 Field Notes: Habitat and hunting access will be under the microscope in North Dakota the next couple years. In 2011 and 2012, approximately 50 percent of the state's CRP acreage is slated to expire. Many of the 1 million P.L.O.T.S. (Private Land Open to Sportsmen) acres in the state are also enrolled in CRP, so CRP losses have the potential to negatively impact the amount of places to hunt.

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GWPtyler
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Re: North Dakota

Post by GWPtyler » Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:02 am

fishvik,
Regardless of your tactics, low water years can be excellent in both field and water simply because of the concentration of birds (much like your late season scenario). The one caveat is that these years also have a higher chance of roost busting, but that's kind of a given when water is scarce and people still largely hunt water for ducks.

PntrRookie,
I'm not sure where PF is getting it's info, but from what I've heard the pheasant numbers will be down (in some areas by a lot) except for the southwest corner of the state.

(Excerpt from a G&F article found at: http://www.gf.nd.gov/multimedia/news/20 ... 10616.html)

Pheasant Crowing Counts Completed

North Dakota’s spring pheasant crowing count survey revealed a 14 percent decrease statewide compared to last year, according to Stan Kohn, upland game management supervisor for the state Game and Fish Department.

The only area of the state showing an increase was the southwest, up 5 percent from 2010. The number of crows heard in the northwest was down 17 percent, while counts in the southeast were down 30 percent. In the northeast where there is less pheasant habitat, the counts fell 36 percent.

Kohn said severe winters, poor production and loss of Conservation Reserve Program acreage have contributed to the decline in crow count numbers for the third year in a row.

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PntrRookie
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Re: North Dakota

Post by PntrRookie » Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:20 am

GWPtyler wrote:PntrRookie, I'm not sure where PF is getting it's info, but from what I've heard the pheasant numbers will be down (in some areas by a lot) except for the southwest corner of the state.
Probably from their advertisers. :lol:

I would put more "weight" on the ND DNR site, either way our area looks OK... ;)

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mcbosco
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Re: North Dakota

Post by mcbosco » Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:26 am

The expansion of oil and gas drilling will devastate the bird population. The southwest portion is not where most of the drilling activity is. The big problem is the transportation of the oil from Williston southeats to the refineries in Minnesota. Hundreds of trucks barreling through that region.

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Re: North Dakota

Post by fishvik » Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:46 am

mcbosco wrote:The expansion of oil and gas drilling will devastate the bird population. The southwest portion is not where most of the drilling activity is. The big problem is the transportation of the oil from Williston southeats to the refineries in Minnesota. Hundreds of trucks barreling through that region.
Kind of off subject, but why would they transport to refineries in Minnesota, wouldn't Billings be alot closer?

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GWPtyler
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Re: North Dakota

Post by GWPtyler » Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:19 am

PntrRookie wrote:Probably from their advertisers. :lol:

I would put more "weight" on the ND DNR site, either way our area looks OK... ;)
True that!

Another thing to note is that they clearly state in the article that crowing counts do not necessarily reflect bird populations. But you have to admit that a 30 percent drop is substantial.

Then again, although a precipitous drop, what some may see as few birds still others will view as a bounty. It's all relative. I remember coming from Minnesota to hunt ducks in Nodak when I was in my teens. According to my uncles, we had a pretty slow weekend. But to a kid who was used to killing one bird per hunt if he was lucky, the dozen or so we got was more than I'd see in a season!

So will there be pheasants? Absolutely. But if you're used to closing your eyes, throwing a dart at the map and hunting the nearest cattail slough or CRP field and limiting on roosters, well, it might take a bit more work than that this year :wink:

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