Early goose

jdinny · Aug 11, 2016

Who been out and got fields lined up? Since Mondays the opener I won't be joining the fun this year and actually haven't scouted a mile yet as I fear all the good feeds will be shot up and we will be starting over anyhow by next wknd.

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In my travels I have seen a few fields with maybe 50-60 birds but nothing what I would consider a good solid feed.

Walleye_Chaser · Aug 11, 2016

I don't remember early goose opener ever being on a Monday does anyone else? I won't be able to scout until later next week hopefully will be able to pick up a few! ;:;banghead

jdinny · Aug 11, 2016

It's been a Thursday before.
3geese if you don't find a feed I would rip lips on any lake! Seems like the walleys are jumping in boats

Walleye_Chaser · Aug 11, 2016

jdinny said:
It's been a Thursday before.
3geese if you don't find a feed I would rip lips on any lake! Seems like the walleys are jumping in boats

Good point!

Duckslayer100 · Aug 11, 2016

If I go, it'll be closer to the end of the early season.

tikkalover · Aug 11, 2016

Harvested pea fields!!:;:rockit Nuff said!!;:;boozer

jdinny · Aug 11, 2016

tikkalover said:
Harvested pea fields!!:;:rockit Nuff said!!;:;boozer

the 2 feeds i have located are peas...but again i havent scouted a mile so my views are dog shit at best. i travel 2-3 days a week. north of bismarck and dont leave pavement so take my views with a grain of salt.

3 geese van hook would be a perfect spot for you then. fish are going nuts.

jdinny · Aug 12, 2016

dean, no contribution to the thread. figured you would have some fields lined up?

you must be enjoying fishing like the rest of us or have a doozy of a field lined u for opening day?#$%^&>

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trip you as well nothing from you diehards? Thumbs Up

Birdsnwalleyes · Aug 12, 2016

Seems crazy to be thinking about geese already. I wish we had a early season in MT! But then I'd be torn between hunting & fishing. Good luck to to those of you that get something lined up, shoot their beaks off!

Trip McNeely · Aug 12, 2016

fuck early season, just another season the blue-platers and sconis have trashed. add in the fact that this year both sd and minn arent having an august season and you have a recipe for an extra huge shit-show in nd. after opening day everything will be shot up and finding fields worth hunting will be far and few between for 3 weeks or so. maybe im just getting old or maybe i dont like dealing with the bullshit anymore but id rather drive 60 miles and put a boat into a lake i cant be denied to access and pound some eyes. i miss the early days when no one hunted early season and the limit was 5. a guy could actually relax then. now its a joke

1850reata · Aug 12, 2016

Drove from Bismarck to Belcourt early this morning and saw 2 fields from the hwy with over 200 and a few of the 50-60 bird fields in the usual areas. Too warm still it's beer drinkin and fishin weather yet.

Migrator Man · Aug 13, 2016

Trip McNeely said:
fuck early season, just another season the blue-platers and sconis have trashed. add in the fact that this year both sd and minn arent having an august season and you have a recipe for an extra huge shit-show in nd. after opening day everything will be shot up and finding fields worth hunting will be far and few between for 3 weeks or so. maybe im just getting old or maybe i dont like dealing with the bullshit anymore but id rather drive 60 miles and put a boat into a lake i cant be denied to access and pound some eyes. i miss the early days when no one hunted early season and the limit was 5. a guy could actually relax then. now its a joke

The game and fish really screwed the pooch on that decision. Even waterfowl hunting is turning into a rich man sport where a lot of land is getting leased by guides and out of state hunters. All the legislature sees is $$$$$$$ . We will soon be Texas if we keep this up.

Trip McNeely · Aug 13, 2016

we are well on our way.

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they think if we have more hunters out itll translate into more birds killed. it doesnt work that way with local geese. it takes the birds 2-3 weeks to build into a huntable field until the opener. in 2 days every field in the state is blown up sending small groups of 20-50 theoughout the county. most small groups get a pass because its not worth hunting. save for the sconis who set up on 35 geese and bust them up further. after all they are happy killing 2 geese, which is great but becomes counter-productive to the overall mission of the august season. u wanna kill local geese they need to sit and rest in a field for at least a week. numbers build to 300 plus. you pick the right day and take 8 of your friends and lay the wood to them. problem is u cant find untouched flocks anymore with all these nr"s pounding every group of 50 all week. when the limit turned to 15 i told my brother this is the worst thing they could do. too much pressure decreases hunter success rates to a point where u cant line fields up for big shoots anymore. same goes for spring snows on the back end. if u dont hunt them someone else will. that mentality will never get u a 200 plus day. u gotta hunt the right birds on the right day and sometimes having huge shoots means backing off a field and not hunting it until its primed.

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one of my most memorable hunts was a field of 120 or so that started at about 30 birds. every day a few more birds found the field and it grew that way til it hit about 120 so a week or so. they were comfy as hell in that field. went in with 4 guns and took out 60. so we took out half a local flock because we sat on this field until it was looking good. nowadays a nr would hunt it at 40 birds. maybe kill 15 and educate and scatter the rest. i wish our gnf was more active politically when it comes to harvest techniques becausr they let our legislators who only see money dictate how they manage.

Migrator Man · Aug 14, 2016

That does make sense. I have not seen any mega early season feeds for a few years. I'm lucky to find 100 birds in a field for one hunt in the early season. I do notice an increase in hunters too which may the reason. One night I was scouting casually and saw 5 groups of hunters in a 3 mile radius

zoops · Aug 14, 2016

Just ran into 2 trucks full from Illinois at a rest stop in MN who said they were heading up for early season.

jdinny · Aug 14, 2016

zoops said:
Just ran into 2 trucks full from Illinois at a rest stop in MN who said they were heading up for early season.

looking at the weather this guy will be in the boat next wknd unless one of the 2-3 landowners I know well will save a feed for me which he usually does but at this point he don't have many geese using them.

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se wind at 4-8mph tomorrow morning. theres gonna be some frustrating decoying condtions

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there gonna be fair few groups who curb stomp the first group or 2 and then wont see another bird come to the field. nothing worse a dead calm morning for these local canadas

Trip McNeely · Aug 14, 2016

especially when they are roosting within 300 yards

Migrator Man · Aug 15, 2016

Drove by two of the closer feeds this morning. Two groups set up in the same field! Not out of staters thank goodness.

Good news is the smaller feed didn't have hunters and birds were already even in the field. We will see if I can beat out the afternoon hunters to that field

Trip McNeely · Aug 15, 2016

90 this afternoon. be prepared for a late quick flight or possibly fewer birds coming out. if they are coming from the same roost as the birds that got hunted that may either screw up your birds pattern or you may get those birds tonight too. depends which birds start leaving the roost first tonight. may see some "hot laps" taling place by wandering confused birds too. good luck let us know how u do

Migrator Man · Aug 15, 2016

Got to the field at 4:30 and the birds were already in it! Good thing they didn't spook even with my truck half way in the field. Will have to try a morning hunt on these birds. They seem to fly much earlier than other flocks

Early goose

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