Duck Hunters Could Be Shoulder to Shoulder

[Nershi]

nodak will be a zoo for sure. Ive been going to DL for 16 years now the posting of land from 04 til now is incredible and Im betting it will be even more this fall. Outfitters have taken control of that area. Once guys show up and see that 95% of the land in that area is Posted hopefully they move on. I foresee a bunch of guys camping out the night before in a field or slough to make certain they get one good hunt in Im sure there will be many scuffles, and probably 50 no trespassing tickets handed out in that area opening weekend as well. With that said birds will be moving nonstop!

Gonna be a wild one, only 6 more weeks

That sounds awesome!

[Drunk_Dynasty]

The competition for field in the Dakota could be interesting this fall. Like someone said, guys sleeping in the spreads.

I can’t believe I’ve reached an age where that sounds so miserable and a complete waste of time for a limit of ducks/geese.


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[maplelakeduckslayer]

I had buddies spend the night in blinds one time...in a private field lol...early season none the less...skeeters galore. Whyyyy

[get-n-birdy]

I had buddies spend the night in blinds one time...in a private field lol...early season none the less...skeeters galore. Whyyyy

Why not?

[Nershi]

Anybody head to ND yet? If so, how was it? Had a buddy out there on opener that did very well. Said pressure seemed normal.

The last time I went to ND several years ago I said I wouldn't be back, for hunting anyways. Covid changed that. I love getting out to the prairie to hunt and with Canada closed I decided to reach out to a buddy who has family that farms in ND and they said they will hold their land for us. Hopefully their land holds some birds. It is in pothole country but I have never been to the area. If nothing else we can hide from the army of hunters that are supposed to be out there this year. Just booked for late October. We wanted to go later but they'll be hunting ditch donkeys (most likely out of their trucks) and don't want us on their land during the season.

I may head south to hunt in the desert in January too. Probably wait for scouting reports from my buddy to make the final call on that.

As for MN, I can't say I have seen more pressure than other years. Still high as usual but not unusually high. I'm far from the metro so maybe that has something to do with it. What is everyone elses take on hunter numbers this year?

I did see a ton of grouse hunters out last weekend. It is a lot easier to decide to start hunting upland than picking up duck hunting.

[9manfan]

Numbers down here seem to be down but the farmers are all going non stop with this weather so I'm sure that could be a factor in it as well, could actually be a good pheasant opener this year....

The southern split might actually benefit us this year as well..................

[randywatson]

was out for NR opener. DL area. heard tons of shooting from the big lake. Didn't see many trucks driving around the evening before opener. with all the posted land this didnt really surprise me. opener people will always do well. unmolested young birds. we hunted a field opening day 2 short on a limit of mallards and 4 geese. not sure why we shot the geese. was probably pure boredom and they are so easy to call to out there. found out we were 300 yrds from the transition slough that day so we hunted that the next morning done by 830 with our 15 mallards. Fun hunt.

my buddy is out there now. said this is the worst he has seen it for pressure since going there for 15 years. everyone was expecting it. need the weather to change in canada in the next 15 days. im going back up to DL oct 23rd. hopefully some more divers show up.. bluebills were thick up there. sucks can only shoot 1 each.

[Fish Felon]

hopefully some more divers show up.. bluebills were thick up there. sucks can only shoot 1 each.

Devils Lake bluebills are sea ducks and inedible. I've tried many, many times. There's nothing you can do with them a very heavy pork mixed sausage might make something edible for a dog.

[Quack]

People have different tasters and that’s ok

Ive never had devil’s lake bluebills but I’ve had very few fresh bluebills I didn’t like. Throw em in the freezer and all bets are off. I’ll never freeze another bluebill in my life.


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[Fish Felon]

Ugh, bluebills are nasty. They eat too much animal matter....freshwater shrimp, mussels, snails and other mollusks. It's weird how close a ringbil is to them in just about everything except taste....ringbill is fantastic.

Are these 'Sota bluebills? Eating rice?

A snow goose in the fall fresh off the tundra is nasty. I see why people turn their noses up to them.

In the spring though, different story. I think spring snows are delicious. The ones that have been feeding on corn for the past five months and have an inch of fat to where when you drop one from up high they split open and leak lard on the ground. Those ones are good.

Point being, it doesn't take that long for a bird's taste to be affected by a change to their diet. I'm guessing the ones you speak of are rice eaters. DL ones are scud and snail eaters = Nasty