Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:10 pm
Just got back an hour ago. I fought a blizzard and very icy roads from Webster SD to Marshall MN. It was some of the worst driving conditions that I have ever experienced.
Well, after a day and a half of it, Geese One, Chuck Zero! I didn't even fire a shot. I hunted near the Groton SD area, where we hunted the past few years. Very few "local birds." I was anticipating a good migration push yesterday with the 50 degree weather, but that didn't happen the way that I wanted to either. Last night at 6:30, there were several large, honey-combed flocks of migrators flying up in the stratosphere. I couldn't tell if they were adults, juvies, or both. I could hear them, but couldn't identify them.
That part of SD is very dry. They received very little snow this season and hardly any rain. Traditional sheet water places were dry as a bone. I hunted in a corn field, with two sheet water ponds in it. That still wasn't enough to draw what birds there were into my spread. Another group of hunters with even a larger spread as set up about 1 1/2 miles to the south of me. I didn't see a bird in their area or hear a shot either. It was still all good anyway.
p.s. Most weather predictions for that area were way off with their predicted wind speed. What was predicted as 10-20 mph wind, turned out to be gale force winds. I initially put up several flyers and some Real Wings, but took them down shortly afterward. Too much wind!
" God is great, beer is good, and people are just frickin crazy!."