Devils Lake ND?????

[NAMASafetyDirector]

Heading there at the end of the week, anyone been over that way duck/goose hunting with a report? Thanks!

[walleye18]

Scout, Scout and Scout some more....great area!

Get landowners permission and you will not be disappointed.

[BoxMN]

My cousin is east of there now, and I am going in week and half. He said there are birds, but not in huge numbers. He also said he is consistently just a little bit off the mark. But they are shooting some ducks, but not many mallards. That was just quick report. My guess is the later you go, the better it will be. But we are east of there. Good luck!

[Markula]

Gackle is the place to be!

[onthefly]

No silver bullet to replace SCOUTING!

For sure going to Devil's is a safe bet. SCOUTING is the diff between seeing a lot of birds from a distance and having the opportunity to shoot a lot of birds inside 40 yards!

But, rest up, there will be birds. We were on Stump lake 2 weeks ago and it was loaded with geese and ducks.

[Feathers Rainin]

I was out for the NR opener. You will find more posted signs, more hunters, and have a harder time getting permission which has been the trend the last 5 years or so in that area. The DL area gets poounded compared to 5-10 years ago. Too much internet talk and articles in DU, star tribune etc. That being said there will still be plenty of birds but it will take more windshield time and more pounding on doors to secure a good hunt. If you hunt a field you will have to hope and pray someone doesn't bust the roost. If you bust the roost you will have to hope your tires still have air when you get done. The water is up from last year which is going to help keep the ducks around. Last year it was down and it definitely hurt the area.

[fishgutz77]

We did the NR opener as well and were well north of DL and had plenty of action.

Mostly shot mallards and pins. Even tagged some redheads in the feild one morning.

Even if the land is posted it;s still worth a shot to call I've had great sucsess calling people and telling them I'm a Minnesota hunter. The down side is so much ground did not get planted this year, I've never seen so much unplanted ground ever, and the water was way down from last year in our area. this only helps cause it concentrates the birds.

Some birds are already mojo shy and geese have been pounded at since August so have your game face on and remember waterfowling is the art of concealment! Good Luck.

[NAMASafetyDirector]

Thanks Fellas! Guess I should have clarified, we are actually going with an outiftter out there so hopefully they have a grip on what's going on with the birds. Weather looks like it should be pretty decent for hunting, at least it wont be 75 and blue bird by the looks of it.

Markula, we hunted the Gackle,Streeter,Medina area last year about 2 weeks prior to this and had a tough hunt. Was too early, no water, hot weather w/blue bird skies. Only got a few geese and had 1 decent shoot of ducks but we had a great time otherwise! That area can be really fantastic though, your definitly right!

[Storm]

I'd be interested to here how the migration is like over there after you hunt this weekend. A couple friends and myself are heading out east of devils lake next thursday for the first time.

[Feathers Rainin]

NAMA next year try doing it on your own. Guides are frowned upon in ND because they lock up all the land making it tougher for the freelancer. Freelancing really isn't that tough in ND and that is the way the state should stay.

[fishuhalik]

No migration yet. Teal haven't even left, killed 4 of em yesterday. Nw NoDak

[brittman]

Big flocks of teal are already in Louisiana and Texas some may already be in Mexico.

The bluewings you see in mid to late October in North Dakota are usually juvenile birds - maybe the hen is with them still too. They can also be birds moving through from the far north.

Adult male bluewings spend as little time in ND as the need too. Showing up in late May to breed - many departing on the first weak cold front to push through in late August.

[Gordie]

I will also be out in the Devils lake area next week. Leaving Wednesday

I have a friend that lives in Minnewauken that is about a block off the lake and said they are still shooting mostly locals but the few snows have just started to filter in.

I think with this little front that is suppose to move in over the weekend and looks like seasonable temps for next week will make it a good hunt as it should start to push a few of the northern birds down on there start of the migration.

[rbs]

I will be going out for the first time on the 24th. Bringing my son and my dad. We will be hunting south of Devils Lake a ways. Never been there before so it will be a full diy hunt for us. Already have our motel room booked so at least we have someplace to sleep lol. Good luck and post up your story...2 weeks for me is a eternity!

[Sifty]

No migration yet. Teal haven't even left, killed 4 of em yesterday. Nw NoDak

We go the last week of October and have shot many BWT.

A few years back there was a foot and half of snow on the ground and it was 10 degrees for the highs and we got some.

I think the big push early in the year always seems to happen but there seem to be some that stay around until ice up.

[mpester]

Hunted five and a half days out of Lakota late last week until this Tuesday. We got a good number of ducks most days and could have shot limits if we shot better and stopped waiting for big ducks. I only found two areas with lots of birds using fields. One area was over towards Devils Lake north of HWY 2 by a few miles. I will keep the other are private because I am heading up that way next week. We covered about 800 miles looking for birds. I found some birds on most small ponds but seem to have zigged when I should have zagged a lot. I found that if the pond did not have a lot birds on it, they were not going to show up all of a sudden. Keep looking. We Stayed at the Buckshot Lodge. If you want a really good burger and catch the kitchen open, get a burger at the hotel. They were very good.

[2thepointsetters]

We have been out here for two days and have found great hunting. Yesterday we got into mallards and today we got a 2 man limit of teal, blue bills, shovelers, bufflehead. We only heard 1 other group of hunters shooting. There are 30 mph winds but I am surprised at the lack of hunting pressure. We used a boat Friday but it was too windy this morning. We haven't had any geese come in yet.

[NAMASafetyDirector]

Our hunt was tough. We had some wicked weather to contend with for the first two days. Got poured on Friday and Saturday started out rainy with 35-40 mph winds. Sat was actually beautiful, almost too nice. Didn't have any wind to speak of. We had the biggest trouble getting the birds to decoy in. Ducks would fly by take a look then bug out,same with alot of the geese. Friday morning our geese short stopped on us about 1/8 mile in the field. I know they could see the decoys but didn't have any desire to pull up with the group. Birds where all acting kind of skiddish for some reason, wheather it was the weather or something we were doing or they had been shot at enough times already. Would like to think it wasn't us since we were with expereienced guides but after the weekend and looking back now im not so sure... We came home with about 15 birds (honkers, mallards and pinners). Won't use the outfit we went with ever again for a few reasons.

[Feathers Rainin]

I do not use guides but from what I have heard a vast majority of them in ND are not worth your money. They either do not scout enough, don't have access to enough land, or don't know what they are doing. If birds aren't piling into fields they have leases on you are SOL because they won't put on the miles and pound on doors to get access to a hot field. Based on your report I would not be surprised if they were hunting fields they had already hunted a bunch this year, hence the skittish birds. They are looked down upon in the state because they lock up all the land making it tougher for the freelancer. Next time save the money you would spend on an outfitter/guide and spend it on gas money to scout. You will probably have a better hunt, save money, and I can promise it will be a lot more rewarding. The two times I have talked to guys in that area who were getting guided they were doing a lot worse than our camp full of freelancers.

[walleyeking19]

Feathers Rainin is spot on. We had a group of 6 go up there last Thursday-Sunday and we shot 132 birds for 6 guys. And all we had to pay for was $90 a person for a place to stay and gas to get there. Right around the $250 range for the whole thing. And we had birds that wanted to land right on our blinds.

[Outdoorsman 95]

Heading out there next weekend, as of now going out there blind. Anyone with a duck/goose report who has recently went out there? Anything will help!

[walleyeking19]

Just go back to the duck/goose forum and I just posted my report and pictures from my trip over the last weekend! Lots of birds up there!

[2thepointsetters]

Heading out there next weekend, as of now going out there blind. Anyone with a duck/goose report who has recently went out there? Anything will help!

We got back from our first trip to the area on Monday. It was a great experience and hunt. We scouted hard the first day and hunted the other 3 days. We got 8 different types of ducks with the majority being bufflehead, bluebill, and mallards. We saw very little hunting pressure and every set we made produced great results. We were able to be pretty picky with what we shot because of the large numbers of ducks. We didn't get any geese. We hunted water the whole time from Devils Lake to small pot holes. When we left Monday there seemed to be a lot of blue bills moving into the area.