NR's convo on ND duck hunting

Tell them to leave the boat at home. Unless their after divers, then hunt the bigger lakes, like Devils.

If you can't wade out for puddlers, your in too deep of a slough, and probably busting a roost. Much easier to hunt them in the fields anyway. Just lay their floaters in the field on the "X" and be their before daybreak, the ducks will be landing in their lap!

To each their own.  I hunted ducks for years, in the water, on land, etc. 

Can't say that I would ever agree with not encouraging someone to hunt over water.  They are waterfowl afterall.  If you really want to help the ducks move on from an area, take away their food.  I have many times seen waterfowl "roost" in a stubble field when the local water holes ice over.

So if they are in the stubble at night, should I put my decoys out in the fallow?

And let's not forget, they are migratory birds.  The early season ducks leave on their own accord even without heavy hunting pressure.  Just ask the wood duck and teal chasers as their numbers decrease quickly in the week or two ahead of duck season in ND.  The question is only one of if the northern ducks are going to eye your favorite waterhole as a layover, not a semi-permanent residence.

I would go over there to read the forum but i'd invite all the non res hunters to come over and blast those disgusting creatures. Filthy sky rats.

Never have I seen an animal with so many different parasites and they don't even taste good to boot. YUCK!

Stop the spread of ducks, use lead! J/K

  they way that thread looks, I don't think they'd have much luck field hunting for mergansers, woodys, and shovelers.  they should have a good time this year since there's no shortage of potholes or ducks.  I wish em luck...

I'm not in favor of this! STAY HOME NR's!

It's shooting fish in a barrel making fun of NR duck hunters.   Which of course isn't fair to cast a broad brush.   I was an NR hunter myself when I was in the Army so I have to keep that in mind.    But here's my favorite story.    I have some sloughs in my pasture and a bunch more around my place including a wildlife refuge about a mile south of my house, so ducks buzz around the place through the day.   One of my sloughs is right along the road into my house and the road ditch runs right up and through it.    Anyway, a couple years ago I coming home from work and stop at the mail box which is about one mile from the house.   I get my mail and start down he driveway home and here is this blazer with MN plates parked hastily on the side of the road.   So a go around it and don't see anyone, the blazer is parked about 200 yards from that slough along the road.     As I get closer to the slough I see a 40-50 yo guy dressed in the finest Cabela's apparel low crawling up to my slough, he's about half way there when I pass him.     Not wanting to screw up his "hunt"  I keep going and cruse by my slough.   When I do the only thing on it was one lone ruddy duck.    It was funny.   Here's a non-kid hunter who  that paid for a NR license; had a nice vehicle;  drove all the way out here, wearing a couple hundred bucks worth of  hunting cloths, one of those all camo shotguns, doing a 200 yard low crawl to get a shot a ruddy duck.     It struck me as hilarious....I thought about going to the house and getting my dogs and making the guy come and sit with me in my blind on another slough I have where the mallards and stuff hang out just to maybe show him an alternative to his hunting lifestyle......  

Allen Said:
 They are waterfowl afterall.  If you really want to help the ducks move on from an area, take away their food.  .

well you obviously haven't spent to much time in the field cause that is exactly the opposite of what occurs. You shoot a bird out of a field they go to another, you shoot a bird out of a roost (their only safe spot) you're 100x more likely to push them out of the area so they can find another safe spot.

There's no point of arguing about this because it's not rocket science, you just have to open your eyes and have to pay your dues logging hours scouting birds.

I mostly field hunt, but I do also hunt water being loafing ponds. If you think every body of water out there is a roost you are lost. Usually roosts are the bigger water holes in the area but not all the time. Obviously you scout and watch where the birds go at night, that's the roost. But there are plenty of other sloughs and potholes you can hunt. The birds usually feed in fields in the morning then hit loafing ponds are that. Then they will flip back and forth all day doing this. At night they will feed again and head to the roost. It just takes a little time in the field to see this. I agree don't hunt the roosts but that doesn't mean you can't hunt water.

I too have always been a "field" hunter.  I was always taught by my dad and my friends dad's that if you just hunt the fields and leave the water (the roost) alone the ducks will stay.  Being from the DL area we get to witness this every single fall.  We have all kinds of potholes and should have some AWESOME duck hunting each fall.  But, after the first couple weeks of unreal pressure, the ducks are pretty much gone or are sitting on the few roost areas no one else gets to hunt.  We then have to wait until the "northern" birds come much later in the season and also hope the weather holds up so they don't just fly by.  But, I also understand the other side and see why more and more people are hunting the water (roosts).  In ND the State owns the water.  So, no one gets to lease it or post it.  As more and more land gets leased and posted, more and more hunters not from the area or those from the area who don't know a landowner have less and less chance to hunt the fields.  It's a catch 22 that's going to pit residents against non-residents, landowners against both residents and non-residents, and field hunters against water hunters for some time to come.  I wish there was a good solution, but there really isnt'.  It's just one of those things that I see websites and people getting to argue about for a long time to come.

cimbo Said:

Allen Said:
 They are waterfowl afterall.  If you really want to help the ducks move on from an area, take away their food.  .

well you obviously haven't spent to much time in the field cause that is exactly the opposite of what occurs. You shoot a bird out of a field they go to another, you shoot a bird out of a roost (their only safe spot) you're 100x more likely to push them out of the area so they can find another safe spot.

There's no point of arguing about this because it's not rocket science, you just have to open your eyes and have to pay your dues logging hours scouting birds.

Actually Cimbo I don't agree with your comment either. I've shot ducks and geese out of the same field day after day and through the season. There was food to be had in the field and the birds didn't wise up to us taking a few limits each morning out of there. This has happened on several different fields and years. If you get setup early and get out of there early the birds will continue to come.

Yeah, but if everyone hunted the fields and no one hunted the water, people would be complaining about that too.

Fox Island Outfitter Said:

cimbo Said:

Allen Said:
 They are waterfowl afterall.  If you really want to help the ducks move on from an area, take away their food.  .

well you obviously haven't spent to much time in the field cause that is exactly the opposite of what occurs. You shoot a bird out of a field they go to another, you shoot a bird out of a roost (their only safe spot) you're 100x more likely to push them out of the area so they can find another safe spot.

There's no point of arguing about this because it's not rocket science, you just have to open your eyes and have to pay your dues logging hours scouting birds.

Actually Cimbo I don't agree with your comment either. I've shot ducks and geese out of the same field day after day and through the season. There was food to be had in the field and the birds didn't wise up to us taking a few limits each morning out of there. This has happened on several different fields and years. If you get setup early and get out of there early the birds will continue to come.

okay let me clarify something......my comment was geared toward the fact if you bust roosts you're more oped to get birds to move out of an area NOT hunting the same field. i think that was just interpeted the wrong way. The point was you CAN hunt the same field numerous times and still have birds coming back because the birds can always go back to their roost at night and feel safe. Example:  We just shot a limit of geese this morning out of a field (done 30 minutes after legal shooting) and got the hell out of there cause we plan to hunt the same field the next weekend as more birds were coming off and landing in the other end of the field. Now if we went and hunted the water they were sitting on instead of the field I can GUARANTEE those birds would not be in that same area the next week.  That was the point behind my post

Hunt the ducks anyway you want but keep scaring them South.

I think a better question is why do we allow as many hunters afield as we do... classic North Dakota Game and Fish Policy.... having two units for the entire state with open enrollment... great idea...

How does South Dakota do it again... that's right they limit the numbers of out of state hunters... and they have some of the best duck hunting in the country.

But why would we want to manage a resource?? it worked on Elk right? It worked on Antelope... it is working on bow hunting in the badlands...

With all of the mineral revenues coming in wouldn't it be a good time to take the wildlife revenues arguement off the table for the Game and Fish and start to actively manage game populations... with a far less focus on revenues???

marauder29 Said:
I think a better question is why do we allow as many hunters afield as we do... classic North Dakota Game and Fish Policy.... having two units for the entire state with open enrollment... great idea...

How does South Dakota do it again... that's right they limit the numbers of out of state hunters... and they have some of the best duck hunting in the country.

But why would we want to manage a resource?? it worked on Elk right? It worked on Antelope... it is working on bow hunting in the badlands...

With all of the mineral revenues coming in wouldn't it be a good time to take the wildlife revenues arguement off the table for the Game and Fish and start to actively manage game populations... with a far less focus on revenues???

You must not be aware that because of all the NR's that come into this state our small towns are being saved. NR's are the only thing keeping small town nd alive!
(hence sarcasim)

we could find the most rich gold and diamond mines in the county and it still would not bring in enough money for them to consider limiting non-residents. some of these officials don't realize hunting is the ONLY thing that keeps us born and raised here to stay here, you take that away and you'll lose a lot of the young residents, besides family why would any young person want to live here?

Ducks are a federal migrating bird,not just a ND bird. If you think less NR is good fine that is just that many more to kill when they get to the Stuttgrat Ar. area.  Send them South and shoot less of them up North.

mauserG33-40 Said:
Ducks are a federal migrating bird,not just a ND bird. If you think less NR is good fine that is just that many more to kill when they get to the Stuttgrat Ar. area.  Send them South and shoot less of them up North.

You're right. Less non res hunters means less birds being shot, which means the birds sticking around ND longer!!! I like this idea.

BringingTheRain Said:

mauserG33-40 Said:
Ducks are a federal migrating bird,not just a ND bird. If you think less NR is good fine that is just that many more to kill when they get to the Stuttgrat Ar. area.  Send them South and shoot less of them up North.

You're right. Less non res hunters means less birds being shot, which means the birds sticking around ND longer!!! I like this idea.

Have you heard anything about an early week long cold front coming into the Dakotas?   Send them South!!

cimbo Said:

Allen Said:
 They are waterfowl afterall.  If you really want to help the ducks move on from an area, take away their food.  .

well you obviously haven't spent to much time in the field cause that is exactly the opposite of what occurs. You shoot a bird out of a field they go to another, you shoot a bird out of a roost (their only safe spot) you're 100x more likely to push them out of the area so they can find another safe spot.

There's no point of arguing about this because it's not rocket science, you just have to open your eyes and have to pay your dues logging hours scouting birds.

The only thing in your statement I agree with is "it's not rocket science".  You are correct, migrating ducks will continue to migrate even if you don't shoot them out of the "roost".

And while a part of me is inclined to engage you on the amount of time I have in the field, I will just hold off until you come up with some science to back your anecdotal statements. 

Some of my waterfowl observations:
In wet years, shooting a roost is less detrimental than in drought years. Sometimes the loafing ponds end up turning into a roost. More water means less distance to find a new roost. However, if blown off every bit of water they will leave early.
More and more people decoying may actually have a detrimental effect. Waterfowl start looking spreads over a little more cautiously after running across several where hunters were not concealed, shot too early, etc.
On a clear day, I hope someone is shooting at some ducks on the water or they may not be moving much.
Weather is more apt to move the woodies and teal south than hunters.
I would support a cap on NR's if based on science and not a number picked out of a hat. Wet years with more public land could support more than drought years with less public land.
JMHO.