ND Nov 3 – 7

Last week Heidi and I ventured to the Devils Lake area of ND to do some waterfowling. The forecasts looked good so we decided to bring PJ and my parents along in hopes we could get PJ out hunting with us. Unfortunately Ma Nature decided to snow AND rain on our plans.
We left Sat morning and drove in to a blizzard S of St Cloud and we had heard ND was getting 4-6 inches of snow Fri night Sat morning. Well we made it up there way later than we had hoped between the weather and traveling with an almost 4 year old we didn’t have much time to scout. We found an area with birds near a field we have hunted in the past so we opted to just hit that Sun morning. I am usually the one that has too much gear and is way over prepared….not this time. With the light snow years in the past several I haven’t needed snow covers for our layout blinds so we didn’t have any. If you ever wondered if white sheets will work….they DON’T. We had a few flocks of snows give us a look but once they got close they bailed.
By the time we decided to pick up dekes the field was already getting a little slimy under the snow and with warmer temps and rain on Monday our field hunting prospects didn’t look good.
Monday we switched to water and shot a limit of ducks in the afternoon…in a steady rain.
Tuesday hit us with winds about double what they were Monday and with a 12ft duck boat and no dog we decided to spend some time chatting with our land owner friends up there.
Wed morning we were greeted with mild S winds and mild temps so we hit the private lake for a morning hunt. There were a lot of bills and buffs on it Tues afternoon in the wind so we had kinda high hopes. Not sure what happened…the ducks were gone. We scratched out 1 goldeneye, 1 bill and a couple honkers which I called in to our diver dekes. The one swung by wide lookin and lookin as I was honkin away and peeled off but I kept after it and turned him around and he came in…the whole way you could see him lookin around like “I can hear’em but I can’t see’em” and with the bark of 2 xtremas we laid him to rest.

There were PILES of snow geese around and I was really bummed we couldn’t get out in the fields, farmers were getting tractors stuck so I figured the truck didn’t stand a chance.

Here are a few of the better pics we took.

The first 2 pics are the same flock….if you look at the cattails on the bottem left of the first one and then the bottom right of the second you can see where they overlap. Those pics were taken just seconds apart so that is 1 HUGE flock of snows.

It’s fun to see all those snows!! We were too early this year and am hoping someday to get my daughter up there to see those kinds of numbers.

Here are some ideas I’ve used in the past to hunt in whiteout and wet conditions.

1) Bring along a plastic sled per hunter. One long enough to lie down in. When it’s wet or melting, this can save your trip by lying in them in the fields. Then sheets DO work by just draping them over you.

2) I own several old, cheap white ponchos. Not plastic but just cheap, non-waterproof material. I’d hate to spend much $$ on something you use once every 3-5 years. One of them I’ve owned since high school. Search these things out when waterfowl gear goes on sale at years end.

3) Invest in some white facemasks, neck gators, etc.

Fields in ND generally don’t turn all white, even in the heaviest of storms and when geese feed they make quite a mess. So you don’t need to be 100% white. A poncho, a bedsheet, white facemask, and you’re good to go. Your camo boots and camo pants sticking out the bottom won’t deter them!!!

Just some ideas for the overprepared hunter, I’m always getting grief on the odds and ends I take out to ND!!

Eric

Well, even though the killing was down, sounds like a pretty cool trip.

Good suggestions Cougar!! I like the sleds idea.

Sun Morning the fields were completely snow covered unless they were corn stubble then you could see the stubble sticking up. Wheat, soybeans and other small grains were blanketed with snow so you needed to be completely white.

We did kick up areas in the field to make it look like the birds had cleared areas while feeding but the blinds kind of “popped” when you looked at them so I am sure the birds were seeing the same thing.

Live and learn….won’t be caught that unprepared again.

It was amazing to see all those bird. That cloud of birds gave me goose bumps(no pun intended ), that has only happened a couple other times while chasing waterfowl.

Another point about hunting in stubble I learned this year from my semi-professional hunting buddies in ND. They don’t use layout blinds, ever. The profile on those things is so big. 12-24″ with 18″ being average. In corn stubble that’s generally not a problem, but now that farmers are thrashing corn stubble to prepare for next seasons planting or if you are hunting traditional ND wheat fields, you are talking about 6-8″ of stubble, so a layout blind is adding at least 10″ to the landscape.

They just lay on the ground when dry, prop their heads on their shell bags, and cover with ghuillie (sp?) nets. Much lower profile.

I should take a picture of the sleds I have. They have a slightly curved up front, perfect for adding a small camo pillow, and will keep you dry and warmer than laying on frozen ground.

I too like the layout blinds as I have gotten older. They block wind, rain, and make concealment of face and other items easy. But their profile in ND stubble fields is makes them really stick out. If I see my sled in the garage today I’ll photo it for you.

ET

White Cover Up

Just after adding my last post, I get an email from Cabelas saying WF gear just went on sale. I found this cover up jacket for $24 and matching coverup pants for $23. I’m getting the white/grass look as I have been looking for something to shoot coyotes in this winter.

Double my pleasure and as I said above, don’t spend too much on this stuff you only use once in a while.

ET

I remember using the old school plastic snow sleds we would spray paint when growing up hunting that way….especially when the fields were complete slop since we really didn’t have very good waterproof clothes besides our waders…
Another tip of the “pre-pared” hunter if you have some extra TP in your truck or hunting bag that run along the top of stuble also will help to appear more in teh decoy spread

By the way great report!