Hunting ND

[Seabass77]

I am looking at putting together a trip to N. Dakota this fall for some duck hunting. I am thinking of driving up on Wednesday afternoon, hunting Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Two concerns

1 – I have no idea where to stay

2 – I have no idea where to hunt

Do I pretty much hire a guide if I want to do this trip or, is it possible to get some good maps and just scout around on Thursday morning? I understand there is an abundant amount of potholes and sloughs to hunt in ND and it might not be that difficult.

Do any of the lodges have property you can hunt? Can they point me in the right direction?

Thanks for your help.

[CRAPPIEBAIT]

Seabass77,
I hunt N.D. every year.You really don't heed a guid in my book.We hunt mostly public land around Sweet eater,Devils lake area,Dry lake...all kinds of land to hunt.Most days you can go the whole day with out seeing another hunter.(even somedays without seeing ducks/geese)ha ha.From my past years,I have found the middle to end of October to be the best.

Blue Bills come through fast !Sometimes they stop for the night and gone b/4 am.

Let me know when your heading up.I know some good cafes for lunch

As for a place to stay,we usually stay with relatives or a camp ground.They have a lot of county camp grounds through-out the state.Get yourself a N.D. Gazette(topo map book) and get a hold of chamber of commerce in the area.They can be a great deal of help.

Remember to get your lic. as soon as they are available. GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING

------------------
Greg

[CRAPPIEBAIT]

SORRY,

That's no need for a guide. & the name of the town is "sweet Water".

------------------
Greg

[FOOT]

Seabass, I've hunted ND for over 25 years and have never used a guide.
What you willfind this year is the same as last for non-residents. 2 - 7 day seasons or one 14 day season.
If you choose the 2 - 7 day seasons only one 7 day season can be in zone 1 or zone 2 the other 7 day season MUST be in zone 3. If you choose the 14 day season it can be in any zone.
I've hunted the south central area of ND around Ashley and Kulm. Most places will let you hunt and in fact want you to shoot those "grain eatin sons-a-bitches". Hunting pheasants is a little tougher. Ducks and geese you can hunt but they like to hunt the pheasants themselves. BUT look and you'll get on for pheasants as well. Trouble is it will cost you $100 for waterfowl and another $100 for upland birds.
If you're looking for a place to stay, I have a house in Kulm that I rent out to hunters and other for $25 a day per hunter. Its right in town, sleeps 14, has 2 showers, TV, freezers, full kitchen, etc. The only thing you need to bring is towels, personal items and beding.
5 bedrooms with 4 single beds and 5 bunks.

[Seabass77]

Foot, can you send my your e-mail?

[email protected]

[FOOT]

N

[This message has been edited by FOOT (edited 08-16-2004).]

[Benny]

Don't forget you won't beable to hunt the opener weekend, only resadents get to hunt then.

Benny

[FOOT]

Benny, tis true, only residents can hunt the first week of the season.
I talked to some ND locals last year, after the first weekend when only residents could hunt, and none of the 5 I talked to had anyone ask or hunt their ponds. In fact, only one local even heard a shot all week long.
The local restaurant, hotel, gas station, grocery and watering hole (bar) owners were not very happy that they missed out on 7 days worth of opportunity.
As I've stated before I've been hunting ND for 20 plus years. For the past 5 years there has been a minimum of ten of us going for 10 - 14 days of waterfowl hunting plus an additional 10 - 15 days visting and working on a house we bought in ND. Not counting the taxes we pay on the house, heating oil, electricity, phone, grass cutting (we hire it locally ND), roofing, repairs (we buy the repair supplies locally in ND) each of us spends about $300 per visit or $1,000 yearly. If you add in all of the heat,lights etc. I listed above it comes to well over $2,000 a year.
I know this doesn't give me a right to demand better hunting regs but it does make me wonder if I want to continue.

[Benny]

Foot I here you, I have a friend who lives up by Michagan ND. Her whole family are against not letting the NR hunters in.
He father has a house he rents out to hunters each year, now he looses about a grand a year because no NR hunters can come in until after October 2nd.

Her son looses out on hunters who buy gas and food from his store on opener, he siad as well that there were very few resedent hunters out there any ways.

I just can's see how these guides can make it with loosing the NR hunters as well.But it was thier doing that got the legeslature to cut the NR hunters off.

Benny

[baja]

The resident opener will only be in effect those years that the Feds give a liberal season and allow an early sept opener. You guys over in MN also have the Sept 25th opener this year...last year your illustious DNR opted not to open your seasons early even though they were given the chance. When there is no liberal season and the seasons are cut back then there will be no resident only season the first week. Look at it this way...You really are not loosing anything, the resident hunters are just getting an extra week.

Sorry about some of you guys buying houses in ND for hunting. Most all ND appreciates this as it is extra revenue but ust because you do doesn't qualify you for extra rights as a NR. Many of us own lake places in MN that are ND residents. I've never heard anyone complain about not gettng the homestead credit, or not being able to take our kids to MN for youth season ( which by the way you MN guys can do in ND), I think the rule pertainng to spearing northerns in the Winter should allow NR landowners but that's the way it is, I accept it. Anyway there is a lot issues both ways.

One of the biggest ones was the way NRs are restricted. 2 years ago there was a cap on NR waterfowlers...that was lifted last year and the resident opener was put in place to help placate residents who, in many cases, have been pushed out of good areas by guides and NR leasing of land. Before you post on how bad it is for NR hunters and landowners make sure you know all the issues.

This may have been posted in the past but for those of you that are truely interested in all the issues in ND there is a web site that may answer your questions. www.nodakoutdoors.com

[baja]

Seabass77

Here's the wenb site you will need.
www.discovernd.com/gnf. This will get you to the ND Game and Fish Department. Look inot the "PLOTS" guide books. (private land open to sportsmen) Thay are not huntable for NRs between October 9th and 17th for any game. The are for any other times. Get a ND gazette. Look for areas with a lot of potholes...also on the PLOTS maps. Please do not spoil your trip by spending a bunch of money on guides and paying to hunt. You WILL have a great trip to ND doing your own thing.

[FOOT]

Baja, the reason ND went to restricting NR hunters was due solely to politics and money. The Guides/Outfitters (who the vast majority are ND residents) complained to the Governor and made some nice donations to get their way. That is why the restrictions on a NR only being able to hunt one 7 day period in zone 1 or 2 and then the other 7 day period MUST be in zone 3. Funny how most of the Outfitters are in zone 3 and have tied up the majority of the good area.
Since, as I've said, I've been hunting ND for over 20 years I can remember when the ND residents were crying to get more NR hunters to kill "those grain eatin sons-a-bitches". We brought in much needed tourist money and provided a service of thinning the flights. Now that the water is up and there are major dollars to be made a few ND residents have discovered how to guide and outfit and want to freeze the NR out or charge. Don't get me wrong I have no problem with Guides/Outfitters charging whatever they can get for their services. AND I don't care if they lease land. My problem is with people who are blaming this on the NR hunters when it has been clearly caused by ND residents.
I know a lot of poeple who are NR hunters in ND and none of us lease land.
Very seldom do we run into resident hunters and we have exceptional relations with the local farmers, ranchers and town folk. They can not understand why the restrictions have been put in place and sincerely wish they were not there. As far as PLOTS lands are concerned, we, the NR hunter, pay for these lands as well as ND residents. However, we are restricted in the time we can hunt these areas.
To lay the blame at the feet of the NR hunter is clearly not correct.

[FOOT]

Baja, I went back and re-read your reply and as far as not getting the HOMESTEAD credit for a lake home, you're right, you don't and guess what Minnesota residents don't get it either unless it is their primary resident. You could get the credit as well if you "homesteaded" your MN lake cabin as your principle residence, but then you'd be a MN resident.
I am not complaining about having to pay NR taxes on the house we own in ND either. We knew going in it would cost us more for taxes and that's OK. We also knew it would cost more for a license and that's OK.

[baja]

FOOT,

I think you have it a little mixed up on who caused the restrictions. The last thing the G/Os wanted were any restrictions on NR hunters. The G/O's did try to pass a bill in the 2003 legislature that would have restricted ALL NR unters to using a guide and would have made the practice of freelancing illegal by NRs. The resident sportsmen helped to defeat that law as it wuld have lead to a dramatic increase in leased lands by the G/Os. The resident hunters themselves were the ones feeling displaced by the 30,000 NR waterfowlers, 15,000 of them being from MN. The znes were not enacted to help the outfitters. They were placed in key areas that many NR waterfowlers were visiting on a frequent basis year to year. As you mentioned there are NO restrictions in the DL areas. Now don't get me wrong, many resident waterfowlers hunt with NR hunters, be it relatives and or friends. The last thing we want is to restrict the NR out of ND but something had to be done to limit the numbers of all hunters in the key areas. DO I think the zones were a good idea...yes I do....they restricted hunter numbers without capping the number of NR hunters in a given year. By the way you guys from out of state don't have to purchase your licenses until you're sure you will be visiting ND....there is no cap on the numbers, only the zones. Anyway, I think we'll need to add more zones in the future. Zones will work in spreading out the pressure and pressure is the main thing many of us are looking at.

I too have hunted for many years in ND 35+ to be more accurate. I remember just a short time ago when the numbers of NR hunters were at 5,000. The pressure on the ducks and geese was much less intense and as a result they stayed in ND a lot longer. The average ND waterfowler spends the majority of his time huntng on weekends and then it's back to work. The visiting hunter is here for the better part of a week and the ducks never get a chance to settle down and rest. Yes, you may never see another hunter or at least not too many, however, wouldn't you want to keep it that way? The zones are helping to do thise things. What many of you guys don't see is the ducks are pounded week after week by one group of NR hunters after the other. They used to get to rest and therefore stayed in ND longer. Now many of the ducks have left the state after 1-2 weeks and literally pile into the Sand Lake area of SD, where they stay until freeze up due a lack of pressure. (SD gives only 4000-6000 licenses to NRs per year)

[FOOT]

I totally disagree with your statements. The outfitters have a vested interest in forceing NR hunters to use their services. In fact the zones have been in place for years it is not a new thing that came about due to last years restrictions.
I don't know of any state that requires a hunter to purchase a license before they actually know they are going to be visiting that area.
I'm not sure where you hunt but we have never had problems with finding ducks or geese unless there is a freeze up.
I do know that the restrictions have hurt the rural communities of ND and if you don't believe me ask your local grocery, gas station, hotel etc.

[Bryce]

I see this one hitting the rant forum soon. My hat off to the land owners where we hunt. ND plates on the rig when you pull in the yard = keep on rolling. At last guess, over 30,000 acres off limits unless you're helping support that small community. G/O's didn't push this idea, the res. big city freelancer did. These small communities appreciate the $ us NR's spend. Let them know you also appreciate their hospitality and tip well. Maybe we can push the freelancers back into their den to watch the Vikings. Then they'll really have something to whine about.

[KJSnider]

Anyone here hunt in the Goodrich area???

KJ

[Seabass77]

So I don't need to get a license right away?

[baja]

Foot,
Zone 1 and 2 have been in place last year and this year. No zones previously, unless you're refering to the larger ones covering most of the state. Sorry, You are wrong. The Outfitters tried to get you NRs to have to hire a guide to hunt in ND (ND legislative 2003 session). ND freelancers helped defeat the bill.

ND plates = Keep on rolling. I'd love to know where that sign is. I bet it doesn't exist or it's on an outfitters sign. Like some resident freelancers there's always going to be a few landowners with issues.
You forgot to mention the farmers who are upset over the fact that MN is SUEING ND over the hunting. I'm glad I won't have MN plates on my car this year.

[This message has been edited by baja (edited 08-12-2004).]

[baja]

Bryce,

According to a NDSU study a couple of years ago, although NR hunters do spend many hours and dollars in ND in the Fall, over 80% of $$$ spent on hunting is generated by resident hunters. I didn't want to get off the track here but the G/os are the ones limiting the access. Most ND resident hunters don't want to see a limit on the # of NR freelancers they want to see a stop to the land grab by all hunters that think they need leases and or guides.

[FOOT]

Oh, I see now. It's the NR hunters who couldn't wait to spend their money who went screaming and kicking to the G/Os that has created this situation. Sorry Baja I didn't understand that the G/O's were forced to lease all that land by us big bad NR's.
My last post on this subject.

[baja]

I think you should re-read my post...you may have misunderstood it. It wasn't the NR's who wanted the bill...it was the G/Os who wanted to stick to you guys by MAKING you guys hire a guide to hunt in ND.

[Bryce]

Baja, saw that study but it also included all purchases of gear and clothing and other items not pertaining to the trip itself. Apples to apples, I think not. No sign but the posted signs are in place and when you knock on the door, your plates will be noticed. See ya. My first post comes accross as making all res. freelancers as evil. Not meant to be. Against the freelancers who make the day trip from the "big" city who consider a tank of gas, a pop, and burrito helping the local economies.

[kpj5br]

I just have to say, it's amazing. Minnesotan's griping about potential availability of free land to hunt in ND.

Take a look in Minnesota, not for waterfowl, but for deer.

Same exact thing, but the shoe is on the other foot.

And I am a Minnesotan, having nothing to do with ND.

Not trying to change the subject, but just try and ask an MN landowner to hunt deer on his property...resident or NR, doesn't matter. It's a religious thing.

Talk about a land-grab...

[Bryce]

Just wanted to bump this one up to show the proper reply to ND's flawed study.

[Decoyer]

Foot, your clueless on this issue, I know personally the guys that sat down and wrote that particular law pertaining to zones, and I can guarantee you they weren't outfitters. Why would an outfitter want zones???? There were a good number of outfitters that got screwed because half their land was in one zone and half was in the other. Think about it.