ND Hunting Trip

[ghuntofish]

Hello, my buddies and I are planning a trip to North Dakota for the early goose season and will be going mid to late august. We are trying to figure out a place to go. Right now we are thinking west of Jamestown by medina. Is it worth going out for early goose? Thanks

[TylerS]

Early goose hunting in August is a crapshoot. I'm guessing crops will be off later than normal this year because of the wet spring/summer, which would relegate you to hunting water (unless there's one cut grain field, which likely will be getting circled by six pickups, of which one will camp out at the field approach over night). There aren't big ponds full of geese in August. At best you'll get a crack at one family flock that has been using the same pond all summer. Plus, the pressure on early-season birds has skyrocketed in the past few years. Apparently being able to shoot 15 geese daily and not have days count against NR tags really opened the floodgates. Posted signs are going up all over earlier and earlier every year. Your best bet is to really pound the pavement and knock on doors with friendly "hellos" and handshakes, because God knows there are 100 other guys doing the exact same thing.