north dakota mixed bag?

[tanman]

headed to north dakota in one week!!!! im so excited but i was wondering.... there are only 2 of us going we are taking 6doz full body canadas 3 doz full body mallards, a whole ton of floaters and 3 mojos....

what is the chance of shooting some snows, specks, or blue fronted geese without and snow, speck, or blue decoys?.... or cranes im hoping to shoot some different birds that i dont get to here in mn... any input

thanks guys

[Todd Caswell]

Quote:

what is the chance of shooting some snows, specks, or blue fronted geese without and snow, speck, or blue decoys?.... or cranes im hoping to shoot some different birds that i dont get to here in mn... any input

Plan your trip about 3/4 weeks later and then you'll be right on target... As of now with the weather the way it is your going to be shootin grey ducks and teal...........

[carpshooterdeluxe]

You'll probably be a few weeks early to see the big numbers of snows and specks. Not to say that there aren't any in ND right now, I guess the farther north you go, the better the odds of seeing some. I just wouldn't spend much time scouting for them right now though.

[Gordie]

One of the guy I used to work with just movced out to the Devils LaKe area and they have been just putting the smack down on ducks and geese.

opener 4 of them filled out in 45 min ducks and geese

he told me that he watches the ducks and geese and will pass shoot them where ever he can get permission from farmers. He doesnt even own any snow decoys yet.. they have shot a quite a few snow and blue also.

The first year we went I got liecences for the cranes for the kids and was just going to hope on getting into some but as luck would have it those birds stayed just out of range we had about a 100 of them circling the feild next to the slough we were hunting and they kept getting closer so we got as we could with out trespassing and waited for them to come over but like I said they stayed just out of range.

I've got 14 days before I leave and I so pumped were gona hunt divers on Devils Lake and a couple different lake also and were going to spend one day fishing eyes on Devils Lake too

[cbrooks]

I personally haven't seen any blues or snows. Work with a guy who hunts up in Langdon area(northern part of the state) no snows or blues as of last weekend. All the honkers shot were very small. The bigger geese that I have been getting is in the Ardoch area. Lots of local hunkers there that are huge. Ducks you will limit out no problem. I only shot mallards because there the easiest to identify for me. There's plenty of ducks to go around if you want some different species in the mix. Good luck

[TylerS]

I heard one flock of specks on opener in the central part of the state, but I'm taking them as an anomaly. We have a week of 80+ degree weather now, but it looks like the temps will cool this weekend. If you see the temps really plummet, and we get some good north winds blowing, then you'll start seeing a migration. Until then, don't expect much. And the later you wait to get up here as long as the decent weather is around, the greater the chance of having to hunt stagnant birds that have been shot at for a month.

[uwleagle]

As others have said you will probably be too early to see huge numbers of Snow/Blues. As far as getting Snows/Blues to decoy into a spread of Canada decoys, not saying it wont happen, but dont get your hopes up. I've never had one come into a Canada decoy spread. I dont see alot of Specs in my area but they will sometimes decoy into the Canada decoys though. I have no experience with cranes so cant help ya there.

If I know their are snows around I always throw out a few hunderd snow sillosocks behind my duck/canada spread and often seem to get pretty lucky and shoot quite a few. You can buy a 10 dozen pack of econos for pretty cheap.