Who's going qucak quack hunting...I mean ducking hunting this weekend

[BBQBluesMan]

Took everything I had to get out of bed at 4am today. Hoping for duck stew for Sunday football! :;:rockit

 

[jdinny]

Sad part about this is were heading the opposite direction. Couple bills introduced last session wanted to increase NR to 3 weeks at 7 days and another bill at 3weeks by 5 days. I wrote and called all committee members and wrote the 2'sponsors of the bill. One from SE Marion area I beleive and one from minot. I can't remember his name one of you minot boys can help. But I told him of the concerns and all he wrote back was I was unaware of any concerns from residents. People flooded his email and it did little to nothing. The bill got shot down but we need to be pro active or it's a rich mans game very soon. I fortunately have 2 uncles that farm and commute to a small community along the river for work so have many private landowners connections but overall the hunting pressure is getting absolutely absurd. I Alos found out this sponsor from minot owns a reality company and has real estate in the area......Jesus I wonder why he sponsored the bill. We as residents are getting forgotten by " our local prostitutes" yes I said "prostitutes" because that's what you are when you sell yourself to the highest bidder. Way enough money around and they'll do anything. Anyone seriously know about proposing bills or writing one? I would be willing kt help start something to get a cap in place seriously!

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Dean Nelson you must know something about writing/proposing bills? You seem knowledgable about the state and local area and how that works? I'm wet behind the ears and only 30 so some experienced fellas could shine some knowledge on this?

 

[svnmag]

BBQ; I'd like to see the recipe for your duck stew.

 

[FightingSioux]

I had a few buddies not find a decent field scouting. I think the birds were nocturnal last night and stayed on the water in the evening. This morning we slayed a bunch of ducks and geese but it was not hot and heavy and we don't get out limit. I think I only saw 3 decent colors drakes all morning. Hopefully next weekend gets them back to normal

 

[dean nelson]

well if you don't want brown only one puddle duck looks good right now and they are the prettiest. To bad you can only shoot three so had to scratch out a few odd balls and a couple mallards that gave us the slip. We were on the water and set up well the moon was vary high and did not see or more so hear any movement of the birds and the ducks in our spot went out to feed right when they had been all week.




As for the Non res thing we fought the good fight back in the mid 2000's and got a 30,000 or what ever cap put in place for all of a year or two and then it all got washed away other then the new unit setup never to return. In the end I tend to see more crazy and dumb ass shit this weekend then I do when the boat parade arrives. Hell boys the guys in the boats next to us were taking down limits of walleyes well we blazed on ducks so I for one am not in a complaining mood. I've hunted many other states and what the worst days around here are most guys dream days down there.

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Have lived up here for a couple of years now, have wanted to come here to waterfowl hunt since the early 90s. Aside from marshes along Erie, Ohio isn't a waterfowler's dream state. Places to hunt are hard to get, and very crowded. I have hunted in southern Illinois and Louisana, plenty of places but the best are leased and unless you had 6 figures to play with you would never be considered. We are lucky it isn't that way here. I am a resident of this great state now but still have Ohio plates on the truck, hopefully the boy and I can find something out of the way on PLOTs, don't see us getting permission anywhere and don't want to compete with the 24' cargo trailer, 25 dozen full body decoy toting, more calls and bands around their necks than Mr. T, screaming like the quadriplegic cop from "Family Guy" everytime they shoot a bird crowd.

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Looks like you had a good hunt Dean. Even that smiling mallard can be good eats. Glad many of you guys can't cook or it would be even more crowded out there...

 

[dean nelson]

Duck hunt numbers were way down today and saw a fair number of high flying mallards and pintails that looked to be heading south and i'm guessing that's where most of the ducks we were hunting disappeared to aswell. Did also see one small flock of specks that were the first Arctic geese I've seen this fall.

 

[KDM]

Solo goose hunt this morning and scratched down 5. Which was a great plenty as all 5 were over 12 lbs. Ducks were scarce, but then again I wasn't scouting or hunting them. Was nice to get out and pull in some birds, but WAY WAY to hot to hang out much past 9 for this guy. Good Luck Fellas!!!

 

[Bed Wetter]

Got out around central ND, got permission from a very gracious landowner earlier in the week. Lots of dried up puddles but we were just after local browns. Jumped a couple puddles, dog was awesome. I pulled an impressive double on a couple fast moving teals and I'm glad there were witnesses. Skeet really showed it's dividends on Saturday. It's great when I do my job and the dog does her job but when we do it at the same time it's amazing.

 

[jdinny]

Dean, I understand we are way better off than most states I really do but if you can honestly day in the last 10 years you haven't noticed more people, pressure, competition for fields I guess I 100% completely disagree with you.

I guess as as a life long resident we can say " it is what it is" and he'll hope you get lucky and draw "blind 42" cuz that's the good then great don't do a dam thing. Or if you have a boat load of money, land and want to lease then great.

But of we want to prevent what happened to MN, WI and all the other states than we should prolly do something.

ask any NR why they come here and the answer is access!!!!! MN is the national leader in Canada geese harvest all the time but why do they all come over here.....access.

Im not complaining but I don't want to hear you complain ever again ( like 1 months ago early season opener) about pressure I don't want to hear from you if you think ND has it right.

again I have plenty of land I really do but a 90 mile trip one way to places is a bit excessive for kids and of you wants any kids to be able to hunt every weekend like we did when we were younger shit better stop going in the direction it is. That is my point.

glad you had a good opener, I've never targeted woodies before on water or in a bar.... Haha

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Nodak buckeye, what you left ohio for the crowded places oublic land 6 figure leases is what I want to prevent up here. Please do nothing and it will end up that way that's all I'm saying. Again as a life long resident I can tell you it if getting worse every year. Period . Don't beleive me, think I'm a little bitch, whining, them do nothing and watch it go to shit. Period!

 

[BBQBluesMan]

Didn't find a good field so hunted aqua instead. Scratched out a two man limit of various ducks. Fun hunt and I got my wish for a craving of stew today.

BBQ; I'd like to see the recipe for your duck stew.

If there is ever an excuse to cook duck well done, this is it. I do a variation of this recipe from Hank Shaw. Pretty standard stew recipe, and the mushrooms add great flavor. The sour cream also gives it a nice flavor, almost stroganoff like, which I do fancy. Some day I will make real duck broth. Hank has some great wild game recipes on his website http://honest-food.net/ - Check it out if you enjoy cooking wild game sans a crockpot and some sort of cream of shit soup;:;rofl.

Link to recipe- http://honest-food.net/2012/01/10/snow-geese-lords-of-the-air/

My variation:

I used duck breast instead of goose legs for this recipe. Took about two hours to get fork tender.
I added two bay leafs because my Grandmother would have told me Im a fool for not adding bay leafs to a stew
Potatoes instead of celery root-
Baby Portabellas - because it is difficult to get any good mushrooms around North Dakota. Would love to use morrells or the like
Added a bit of merlot before adding beef stock, adds good flavor.
Other than that pretty much followed recipe. Enjoy

 

[You]

Me and one other had an epic opener. First shot at 7:05 limit by 8:13. Dog performed well. Same spot today, 3 people, only 2 ducks! Left at 9:15. Was Weird. Greatful for Saturday none the less! Today was a gad and hen mallard. Saturday was 7 blue teal, 2 green, 1 gad, 1 hen woody, 4 hen mallard, 1 drake mallard. No spoonies!

and my 'secret' to making ANY shit shoveler taste great is deep score both sides every half inch, opposite directions so you don't cut through, soy sauce and green Mrs. Dash (aka garlic herb), agitate until no soy sauce puddles, wrap in bacon, grill on low. Move to upper rack for a bit after the bacon is smoked/crisped up a bit. It tends to eat like a flavorful fill it mig nong.........method remains untested on coots, those slippery base tards always frickn disappear on me right before we pack up. Mysterious bird they are!

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Ended up not going, daughter's volleyball game was postponed so the whole crew went to the boy's football game. No biggie since we really didn't want to sit out in the heat anyway. So went to Sportsman's "warehouse" bought a decoy bag, looked at dekes, shotguns, youth rifles and such then to Culvers for some burgers and custard. Bought my duck stamp and the girl said it would be mailed to me. Thought it had to be signed so I guess I won't go until I get it, or does the signed license showing the duck stamp was bought work until then? Headed out in am for some sharptails, anyone have any hints for a newb without a dog?

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BBQBluesman- stew looks good!

 

[Bed Wetter]

Going to kick around some marsh in the morning. If I can score some mallards I may try some fancy "skin on" recipes. For the local brown birds: duck makes better fajitas than beef.

 

[dean nelson]

Dean, I understand we are way better off than most states I really do but if you can honestly day in the last 10 years you haven't noticed more people, pressure, competition for fields I guess I 100% completely disagree with you.

I guess as as a life long resident we can say " it is what it is" and he'll hope you get lucky and draw "blind 42" cuz that's the good then great don't do a dam thing. Or if you have a boat load of money, land and want to lease then great.

But of we want to prevent what happened to MN, WI and all the other states than we should prolly do something.

ask any NR why they come here and the answer is access!!!!! MN is the national leader in Canada geese harvest all the time but why do they all come over here.....access.

Im not complaining but I don't want to hear you complain ever again ( like 1 months ago early season opener) about pressure I don't want to hear from you if you think ND has it right.

again I have plenty of land I really do but a 90 mile trip one way to places is a bit excessive for kids and of you wants any kids to be able to hunt every weekend like we did when we were younger shit better stop going in the direction it is. That is my point.

glad you had a good opener, I've never targeted woodies before on water or in a bar.... Haha

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Nodak buckeye, what you left ohio for the crowded places oublic land 6 figure leases is what I want to prevent up here. Please do nothing and it will end up that way that's all I'm saying. Again as a life long resident I can tell you it if getting worse every year. Period . Don't beleive me, think I'm a little bitch, whining, them do nothing and watch it go to shit. Period!

Seriously how old are you? This is not a question for insulting you it's just a question for me as i try to figure out what world you're coming from for your perspective! Because if you are trying to place 2005 up against 2015 to show the difference in hunting pressure I'm scratching my head since the two are twins at best if not leaning more towards 05 for the more of a shit show trophy! If you want to compare pressure in a now vs then set up you would be better off listing 93,92,91 or 87....now those where some lonely days out in the potholes! Well mind you there were no potholes and the limit was 3 ducks 1 Canada's and 5-7 snows.

As for my early season opening day hunt shut the freaking hell up!!! I am so sick of your freaking arguments on this it's ridiculous!!! Posting a report that is not two thumbs up is not complaining its just acknowledging the real world situation of that hunt!!!! if you can not figure that out on your own then go sit in a corner and stare at the wall and again shut the hell up! Not all hunts work out great and saying so and speculating why it didnt isn't complaining....hell I highly enjoyed the hunt! I bet you money if i had that exact hunt with that exact outcome but instead of Canada geese it was snow geese you wouldn't of had a word to say! Hell like my last report for today the take was considerably less than yesterday and in the end I didn't even fire a shot. Now I could have shot but choose not to because what birds that did decoy were give me shots and I let the other guys shoot them. Would I list today's hunt as a bad hunt or complain about it....nope. When it was all said and done I was probably the most content guy in the group about the hunt. It's not always about the number birds in the strap but the experience one has. For me it was cool enough to be sitting in a marsh in the dark with the full moon listing to all the birds and coyotes call with weather nice enough to be in a T shirt leaning back and soaking in the moment.

What you clearly fail to grasp is I will stand up and fight for our future waterfowl hunting in North Dakota... I've testified before a couple legislative committees on this matter have you? But unlike you I'm not going to stare into the future or even the present for that matter and spend my time focusing on what isn't ideal in this state but instead choose at this point to pay more attention on what is good!
Man in the end stand up and fight for what you believe in but don't do it at the cost of loosing sight of why your there in the first place!

Oh and MN shoots so many hunkers because it has more lakes then just about anywhere else and its the size of two states! Put us and SD together and spread the potholes out to the western part of the states and we would bury them! Not sure I've ever met in Minnesota hunter who came here specifically for hunting Canadas unless it was late season on the river!

 

[svnmag]

You gonna run for gov Mr. Dean?

 

[dean nelson]

Here is my realty in the form of a unique setting for a gorgeous ND sunrise! I find like yesterday it hard to feel upset about our collective lot in life when I find myself 300 yards at the closest from dry ground with thousands of acres of ducks marsh shared by two groups. So stop bitching and start hunting because no matter what you can't do shit about it till 2017 anyway!

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You gonna run for gov Mr. Dean?

Thought you were?

 

[svnmag]

No way. You and GST are way more "Jack Ryan" than me. I barely graduated high school.

 

[dean nelson]

Wow that last post pics got all jacked up but I'm to tired to fix them. A double shot of today's spot and for God knows how a shot from tonight in the folks yard?

 

[svnmag]

Did you break any windows?