Fergus Falls

[koWALLEYEski]

Just wondering how many of you outdoorsmen come up to the motherland of the Canada Geese. I have hunted here all my life and have never went home empty handed. I have hunted the St. Paul Pass on N. Ten Mile Lake. My Buddys are guides there. anyone else hunted at this great hunting club?

[Goosepimp]

hunted Fergus last fall early season...whacked 36

[Nova]

My Dad has been hunting up near Dent (just north of there) for 45 years and I have been for 30 plus years. Last year I met my buddy at the point straight across the lake from that. 10 mile is a very good diver lake I hear. Early season goose was good for us last year, but the duck hunting was awful all year. You ever see snow geese there, get any? Have you tried spring snow up there. I am going up in March to see if I can find any, if so we are going to go after them. Might have to call in some turkeys while we are there too. I can't wait until I start making the trip again every weekend to hunt ducks, geese, and deer. Thankfully I have the fishing season to hold me over.

[MattKeller]

Have never had the interest to. Too many hunters PLUS anything that goes to Fergus has to first fly over my blind.

[brittman]

Borderline SPAM on this post

[Benny]

I have hunted the Fergus Falls area directly West of town for the past 20 years now.Have not been there every year but at least every other year.Back in 84 the pond we hunt was a cattail slew, the DNR flooded it to make it a diver lake.

Used to shoot lots of geese just across the road as the lake is right on the old goose zone out there.

Now we can shoot them on the water , but have not seen that many that use the pond any more.

Benny

[koWALLEYEski]

where exactly west of town? What is it near? Everyone that I have talked to say Fergus Falls is the best Late Season Honker area in the state. We shot the numbers out of them, so I agree.

[Nova]

KO, do you ever hunt geese up near Pelican Rapids area? I heard Lake Lizzy had decent numbers around late season.

[Benny]

It's a SECRET SPOT!Can't tell you

It is out on 59 past 94 by about a mile or two.Near dead lake, but North of there.Sorry I never have found a name for the lake, it is a large WMA with a lake on it.

It was a slew back in 83/84 then in 85 the DNR started to clear the trees away from it and flooded it out.

It gets a few people there on opener though, I had to get there at 2 AM the last time I was there to get the choice spot.

I have been up around Orwell a few times but didn't like the federal blinds and thier limitations.

Also hunted that pond just South of 59 right next to 94 on the western side.

That one also gets a lot of people on opener.

We hunt out by Browns Valley now on opener, found a few WMA's that are a bear to get to.

So that way not to many people want to work that hard to get to them and we get it to our selves.

Benny

[koWALLEYEski]

I havent hunted so much up by Pelican because of the great hunting south of Fergus.

[IceHawk]

I use to lease a field just out-side of town for years. The goose hunting was great it's just that our group broke up over the years and the lease was lost. One of the other areas I have had good success in is around the Dalton area.

Kowalleyeski- If you ever need a hunting partner this fall shoot me a email. I would love to hunt the fergus falls area again. Good goose land in that area can be hard to come by these days. I wish we would of held on to that lease. The field was on a big hill, we nicknamed it Hamburger hill. Had alot of good hunts and good memories on that hill!!!

[koWALLEYEski]

Yes I agree that it is hard to find a good spot around teh FF area because of all of the local hunters. I know a lot of the guides around here, so it should be easy to get on a field with geese. I have already taken out a few friends from Willmar.

[poutpro]

So many people come to FF to hunt in the corn fields that it is hard to get permission from local farmers. A lot of the parties that hunt geese will pay the farmers a little bit to make sure that they are the only ones that are allowed in the fields. It is hard to find state land that is cut corn. Any spots where there are open water are good choices, but very dangerous in the cold weather. Its a good thing that I know some guides that work in FF so I can get a good spot to shoot some late season honkers.

[MattKeller]

Leasing land...

The end to waterfowling as we (used to) know it.

[poutpro]

It really is not that big of a problem. Ther is SOOOOO much public land available to people to shoot ducks and geese. Not all farmers lease, just some.

[Sartell Angler]

ah, the land leasing phenomenon...makes me think of our own experience with it from this previous season:

A few years ago we located a nice alfalfa field very near the city of Sartell that was holding a decent number of canada geese, and just a few days before the start of the early goose season to boot. The elderly woman who answered the door gave permission without hesitation, and her son who farmed the land was always very nice to us as well. We managed to shoot a few geese out of this field during each of the early goose seasons for a couple years, but then last summer we neglected to stop by and talk to him about hunting the upcoming season. But about a week before the season was set to begin, we stopped by his place after a successful morning of crappie fishing after noticing that hundreds of geese were in his field, and began talking to him about hunting. Unfortunately his mother had passed away earlier that summer. We continued talking and he very hesitantly told us that he had leased the land out to group of guys from St. Cloud. We told him that we understood his decision (after all, he's a farmer and obviously it would make sense to take the money, especially if he was going through hard times, etc). So we gave him some fish and thanked him anyways and went on our way. Well we hunted our only other early goose field spot for the next two weekends and did very well with a total of 17 birds. When we stopped back in to talk with our farmer-friend who had leased out his land, he told us that the guys he had leased it to hadn't enjoyed the success we had...apparently they set up in the wrong side of the field and ended up getting zero birds for the first 2 weekends! Don't know if their spread/calling were dump as well, but this goes to show you that using your CHECKBOOK doesn't always guarantee success hunting. At a time when private land is becoming more and more difficult to find, and when people are resorting to sleeping overnight in their duckboats in order to guarantee themselves a spot for duck opener, I feel fortunate that I have a good amount of private land to hunt, as well as the knowledge of several public spots that don't see much pressure.

SA/wdw

[koWALLEYEski]

I would almost prefer to hunt private land around Fergus Falls because of all the hook ups I have. But when it comes down to finding a spot I see no problem in hunting over some public water.

[poutpro]

There is so many public water holes especially south of Fergus Falls,that it would not be too hard to find one that you could have all to yourself. I know that every duck opener, my father and I always go to a little WPA north of FF and have it all to ourselves, and we manage to get a good number of ducks.

[MattKeller]

Pout.

I'd hate to get started on leasing...

Nobody leases land where I hunt yet we still hunt mainly private stuff. Public water hunting is still awesome at times as well.

I'll try to keep this short.

Think about it. If everyone has to pay to hunt choice spots, that will most likely eliminate the waterfowlers who make the sport what it is. Sure there will always be public water to hunt but that will be crowded with all the guys who can't afford to lease. I am generalizing here, but the rich guys like to pay to get a good hunt because they don't want to or don't have the time to find the birds on there own. They are not the heart of waterfowling.

Look at the states where leasing is a problem. I've even talked to guys around St. Cloud who are pretty frustrated with the leasing there...

You can't blame the farmers...

I believe most places in Canada have outlawed leasing for waterfowl.

That's my opinion...

[poutpro]

Obviously you have never been to the south side of Fergus Falls because there is countless water holes to hunt. The number of hunters would have to quadruple for them to even begin to become crowded.

[koWALLEYEski]

In my opinion, you can can to any public land south of FF to hunt and not even run into a single duck or goose hunter. And about leasing.....i dont have the money for it, but wouldnt you lease land if you lived in the city and only had a couple weekends off to hunt from a busy schedule? Im not picking sides, but we need to look at both sides of the perspective.

[MattKeller]

So you're assuming that I haven't looked at both sides?

I gain access to thousands of acres of private land with a handshake and a friendly conversation. Unfortunately for me, I'm sure some day that will be replaced by guys trying to "buy" out my spots.

Talk to those in Nodak, Arkansas, etc...

Leasing is a problem!

[poutpro]

Not in the FF area it isnt. There is way too much public land, and farmers willing to let people hunt for free for it ever to be a problem.

[MattKeller]

"for it ever to be a problem."

Hmmm. Are you positive? Because I'm pretty sure guys in Nodak were saying that 10 years ago...

[poutpro]

I dont think you understand how much land there is South of Fergus Falls that is prime goose hunting area. It would takes 1000s of hunters to come lease land to fill up the area. Between public waters and fields, to farmers fields, to the provided state pass shooting, It would take A LOT to fill this area with hunters.