SE ND

[Springerguy1]

I visited my parents in SE ND this weekend and took my son out for the youth waterfowl hunt. Conditions are very dry, haven't seen it that dry for years - maybe early 90's. Not much luck duck hunting, we set up decoys for a couple of hours but there wasn't much in the air. The pheasant population is supposed to be down around 40% as well and that seems to be the case. We didn't see too many pheasants while scouting for deer hunting - nothing like the past 3 years. For those heading that way to hunt you might want to have some idea of hunting spots - most of the CRP is hayed.

[brittman]

Parts of SE ND has plenty of water and the duck hunting was good today ... although I will agree there was little movement the 1st hour.

Pheasants are way, way down vs the past two falls.

[marine_man]

Correct and Correct... it's somewhat dependent on where you're at with respect to water, and obviously the bigger sloughs (if you're hunting them) will have a better chance at water.

Things are down a bit, but not unhuntable.

marine_man

[carpshooterdeluxe]

with all the talk of low water leading up to the early goose season, i was impressed with the water levels we saw where we hunted in se nodak for early goose opener. was in that same area last october, and the water levels were the same to slightly lower compared to last fall. and there was ducks everywhere. you guys have it good up there!

[marine_man]

It doesn't hurt that we've gotten almost 2" of rain in the last couple of weeks!

marine_man

[iffwalleyes]

I would have to say though condition aren't going to be much different that last year. Wouldn't you agree Rob.

[marine_man]

That's correct.. with the rain we've received lately water conditions aren't as bad as originally forecasted.

marine_man

[Springerguy1]

I was in Sargent/Dickey county this weekend on the youth pheasant hunt - brought my son and two of his friends. Seems like the numbers are down substantially from last year. We hunted CRP and sloughs around harvested bean fields - past couple of years that would have resulted in either a limit or kids getting plenty of shooting. Ended up with 1 bird and less than 10 shots fired between the three of them. Was really surprised, I knew the numbers were down per the Game/Fish but expected to see more birds. It was windy on Saturday but we've hunted in those conditions before with much better success. Could be a rough year.....or maybe it was just one of those days.

[marine_man]

I've seen a fair amount of birds... there is a TON (as in, all) of corn still standing in the fields that I think they're staying in heavily.

Until the corn starts to come off (which is going to be late) I think we won't see the "true" numbers of birds.

marine_man