Honkers

[Account Deleted]

Last weekend we shot our first bird around 9. We shot our last bird around 1. During the “late” season, which I generally call any time after deer season, they will usually only come off once a day. Could be at first light (rare) or could be 4 in the afternoon. And it can vary day to day. I just plan for an all day thing. Bring the Coleman stove and pack a lunch.

 

[Fritz the Cat]

This morning we got in the field a little before 8:00 AM. They were flying around in the dark. We were busted the whole time setting up. I hate when birds keep circling around with no intention of committing and then sucking more flights into the mix.

Things finally settled down and newcomers were more cooperative.

 

[walleyeman_1875]

Drove by Cleveland Slough this morning to see maybe around 75 honkers and a couple hundred ducks. I spoke to a farmer later in the day east of Jamestown and he said there's been years in the past decade or so where large numbers of honkers and ducks stayed all winter.

 

[dean nelson]

Probably, but they are not coming off right at first light. Especially if you are hunting fields, 4-5+ miles from the lake. With our minimal spread, 2 dozen, we will probably get to the field right around first light instead of setting up in the dark. Warm bed for a couple extra hours beats a cold blind if the birds aren't going to move until 9am.

Late season it's all about the temp. If it's warm they may come off like they do in October but if it's cold they will hang out on the water sometimes past noon. When it's super cold out I use to set the decoys up around 10 or so then drive down to the river and sit in the nice warm truck and watch the roost. We would sit there till the first couple waves would head out then take off and race them back to the spread often just beating the birds there. Sure we might miss a wave or two but especially back when the limit was three it really didn't matter because you were going to limit out it was just the amount of frostbite that was yet to be determined.



If you have a chance just watch this cam in the morning since the feeding flight south of Bismarck has been going right by it so it will give a good idea when they are rolling.

http://www.kfyrtv.com/content/ipcams/372218242.html

 

[Ragnar]

Dean, thanks for the link. Was watching the camera and a big group came by at 10:20 am. Is this Camera on Mary College Hill? I think it is and I think that little school on the bottom center is where I went to Elementary School... It was called Lincoln back then but I think the Bismarck yuppies changed its name. Nice to see some geese as I sit down here on the gulf coast.

 

[Lungdeflator]

At work down by Van Hook this morning they came into a field around 10am. Probably 2 miles from the lake. Similar conditions tomorrow, so probably get to the field around first light.

 

[snowkiller]

Honks r getting tougher to decoy,but got 2 man limit sat and sun.Need some fresh birds and they should be coming by this weekend. COLD

 

[Lungdeflator]

We got a 2 man limit saturday. They were very cautious in the morning hours. Early afternoon was better though, we went 3/3 and 3/5 to get our last 6. A couple amateurs with a small spread and terrible sounding calls haha.

 

[dean nelson]

Can't say I've seen a whole lot of this in Bismarck before.

 

[Account Deleted]

Snows have been doing some funny things these last few years.

 

[bravo]

Snows have been doing some funny things these last few years.

Thats for sure. Last fall I didn’t get my first snow until Thanksgiving, and my first spring snow in early March. This summer I saw what looked to breeding snows in two different areas. Can’t be positive if there were actually chicks, but seeing small “family” groups of snows in June / July is unusual. A buddy I went to college with (biologist) said there were small groups that spent summers around Langdon. I wonder if they are just figuring out they don’t have to fly across the entire continent.

 

[Bullsnake]

there are thousands of snows around fort yates right now, got 3 yesterday

 

[Rowdie]

there are thousands of snows around fort yates right now, got 3 yesterday

Do you know where all those honkers went that were sitting by the causeway?

 

[snowkiller]

Geese decoyed very nice over christmas weekend.Lots of migrating birds on sat.Lots of snows migrating too.

 

[snowkiller]

Well going scouting about noon and going to give them hell the last 2 days.Going to be COLD:;:thumbsup

 

[dean nelson]

I used to be that crazy but having decoys shatter into pieces when a goose fell on them due to cold is definitely not something I miss! Good luck let us know how it goes.:;:cheers

 

[Fritz the Cat]

Well going scouting about noon and going to give them hell the last 2 days.Going to be COLD:;:thumbsup

The river from the Garrison Dam to Washburn is loaded with dark geese. But with this cold, not much wind and lots of sun, they are not flying much. Especially before noon or will maybe start after 3:00 PM. A few came out and they decoyed very well. Three of us got 13 between 3:30 and sundown.

I had so many clothes on at first I had trouble getting the lay out blind door closed.

I think today was my last hurrah. Thursday and Friday are the last days of the season and both promise more of the same cold and late day geese. But.....it is 9:30 PM and snowing a bit right now. If it is snowing in the morning, geese seem to like to fly in miserable conditions and maybe will decide to get out of bed early? I'm sleeping in.

 

[ifish4iz]

Please remind me again why we are not able to hunt these late birds until sunset every day? Have discussed the matter with the powers that be at NDGF, with no real plausible explanations. Basically, once it gets bitter cold like it has been, the season turns into a 3 day per week deal.

 

[Trip McNeely]

Please remind me again why we are not able to hunt these late birds until sunset every day? Have discussed the matter with the powers that be at NDGF, with no real plausible explanations. Basically, once it gets bitter cold like it has been, the season turns into a 3 day per week deal.

because guides would start tying things up. not alot of incentive to hunt if there is uncertainty of flight times. ill take the modest 3 days a week over nothing at all. plus the late birds would get wise like the early flight birds do towards years end. less pressured less hunted afternoon birds make waiting for the flight worth it.

 

[ifish4iz]

With that line of thinking, we should close all hunting for deer and birds during the week, so as not to educate them. Believe me, as a 8-5 weekday working stiff, the closing at 2 pm on M, T, TH and F does not impact me at all. However, I do not think that it is fair to those that don't have typical schedules. Plus, if a guy chooses to take a few days off over the holidays to chase birds, really sucks when they start flying when it's time to pick up the decoys.

What is really going to be frustrating is when they do their mid-winter waterfowl survey and find 100k plus waterfowl yet in the late season zone and season will be closed for weeks. This year obviously shows that cold temps don't push the birds out near as much as significant snowfall (like last year), which limits their ability to feed. This is much more of a late season waterfowl year than last years anomaly was.