ND bird hunting Nov 7th??

[golfdoctor]

Am I crazy to try to schedule a trip to ND to hunt birds the first weekend of November? It looks like the gun deer season opens on the 6th. Any help would be appreciated.

MB

[nate larson]

It depends on what kind of birds you are planning on hunting...

[golfdoctor]

Mainly ducks in the SE corner of ND - then head into SD to utilize the SD pheasant license.

[marine_man]

It all depends on the weather; but historically, most of the water is froze up by deer hunting opener. Although, it would appear anything's possible this year, as everything's pretty well froze up right now, but should thaw over the weekend.

But, given what I've been seeing this year, I suspect most of the waterfowl are going to be south by the first weekend in November.

marine_man

[golfdoctor]

Is Traverse and/or Mud Lake worth an attempt - I can't imagine that being frozen up by then b/c it's so big. Anyone hunt there in the past - and to be clear, I'm hoping for 'conversation' rather than your spots. I've never made this type of freelance trip and appreciate any of your knowledge.

The only times I hunted the area was on private land (twice) during the first week of November and birds were thick as thieves both times. Thanks...

[nate larson]

Last year I was up visiting my inlaws during the deer season and there were lots of malards in the fields. I had already used up my waterfowl license so I was SOL. If you can find a good sized deep lake it will stay open many weeks after the small sloughs lock up. If the fields aren't burried by snow you can have some of the best mallard hunting of the year imo. It definately can be harder to get on land during the deer hunting season though...plus be careful out there. I would say it is worth a shot but definately have a plan B in place just in case.

[GatorGetter]

You are right Nate, we were harvesting corn in November last year and I remember the mallards were thick in every slough for about a week. The next week they froze over and the ducks were gone.