Rugby area ducks

[fishhawk1750]

I will be heading to the Rugby area for the opening of the duck season and I was wondering if it is very difficult to get permission to hunt private land. There will only be 2 of us so this should help. Not looking for spots, just past personal experiences.

[marine_man]

That's got a lot to do with how much pressure the landowners get and how easy it is to figure out who owns the land and how to get a hold of them. But, if you're polite and state your intentions most people will grant access if they're not hunting it.

Good luck!

marine_man

[island guy]

We hunt not too far from Rugby. Maybe 40 miles west. Our area has been very dry. We hunt fields and stay away from the bodies of water where the birds roost. Problem in our area is most of the water that held birds is gone. Dried up. We've been going to the same area for many years. Still have family in the area who state it's the driest it's been in many years. Some larger potholes on our family farm that held water a couple seasons ago were so dry last year we could walk across with tennis shoes.

Not sure of the immediate Rugby area as far as water conditions. Maybe someone can chime in.

[fishhawk1750]

Can you use robo's on state land?

[iffwalleyes]

Here is a link the the ND waterfowl regs. At this time it is still legal to use motorized decoys. At least I don't see anything that says otherwise in the regs.

http://gf.nd.gov/regulations/waterfowl/pdf/waterfowl-guide.pdf

[fishhawk1750]

Hey, thanks everybody I really appreciate the replys. This will be our first trip to the area. Wish we could stay longer, but its hard to take days off this close to the start of the new school year! Heading back MEA weekend to the Lisbon area.

[Meat-Run]

Hey Fishhawk,

I hunt in and around that area and I can tell you that the further north you go the less leased up land there is. It's when you go further south and east towards Devils Lake you will be in for allot of posted land. Plus the hunting is pretty good around Rugby and north Good luck.

mr

[fishinalot]

Fishhawk

I have a chance to hunt some private land just north of Lisbon on MEA weekend. How is the hunting in that area that time of year?

[marine_man]

Hunting around Lisbon is pretty good... shouldn't have too many problems getting on land if you're willing to knock on some doors

With respect to water conditions in and around the Harvey area (I would expect conditions in Rugby to be similar):

Water levels are down - not as much as last year, but things are pretty dry. I had been saying things were looking pretty good after my last visit in July, but they have gotten very little rain since July and things have gotten pretty dry.

At a minimum be very wary of anything that could start a fire - a lot of the grass is very dry.

Good luck!

marine_man

[hill7410]

Has anybody been out this way in the past week? We are heading that way this weekend and wondering how the water situation is looking? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[marine_man]

I was in the harvey area this past weekend - no significant change from what I posted above.

Good luck!

marine_man