Waterfowl Hunting

[Scoot]

Can anyone give me some good info? I'm in Fargo and I have seen VERY FEW geese flying so far this year... why? Besides fishing I'm also a golfer and I have seen many hundreds of geese on the courses in town. These are the same geese we pummeled last year in the fields (actually the ones we pummeled are dead, but these are relatives), why aren't they heading out to feed on all of the harvested wheat, barley, and bean fields?
Scoot

[Sartell Angler]

Although i don't care much for the Denver Broncos,(lol) i am willing to give you some advice. To find the waterfowl projections for the 2001 hunting season, go to www.ducks.org ( the official Ducks Unlimited web site) It should be easy to see.

you're welcome,
Sartell Angler
P.S-- Go Vikings and Twins!

[Finlander]

The first geese of the summer flew over my house this morning!
So I put out my 100 silloette and full bodied decoys in my back yard to see if I could attract any for an early goose dinner!
Just Kidding!
Just putting them out to see if they are ready for the early goose season.
Need some repair here and there on some,
but otherwise they look pretty good looking
out the back window! Fooled my inlaws!
Just a reminder for all Goosers is to check out all of your decoys well in advance of the season opnener.
A 15 dollar decoy doe's no good in a decoy bag when it should be out there with the rest of them.
Practice Hootin 'N' Shotin!

------------------
BBB,T,F.

[Borch]

It really depends on where they are cracked. If it's around the keel(where 99% of the time it is)the only option is the foam. Hope you don't need to do this to too many as your load will get very heavy. Be careful with the amount you put in. It expands for several minutes after it's invected. My brother used foam and let's just say the decoy didn't make it to the next outing.

[Duck-o-holic]

Mr.Bear-- If the crack is not very wide and not too long, I'd try using Liquid Nails or a good clear caulking. I've also had good luck using a hot glue gun on some of these smaller cracks. Neither of these methods has lasted more than three seasons, as I am very hard on my blocks. When hunting in extremely cold weather, the plastic constricts, and the sealer can become seperated or split from the original crack. I have also tried the foam method... which was the worst thing I've tried. Maybe I gave up too easy on it, but I didn't like the results. What I usually do in your situation is saw off the keel, and use the decoy as a field or ice deke. They also work well on top of small clumps of vegetation!

Good luck,

Duck-o-holic

[Guest]

Questions, I have two Mallard decoys(Flambeau magnums),that are cracked. I'm thinnin some spray foam insulation would work nicely any Comments? What else can I do to fix them?

[Duck-o-holic]

Alright fowlers... who's going early goose hunting tomorrow? I'm planning on hunting SW of Willmar, but have relied on my hunting partner to pick our spot, as I've been so busy lately. Don't really know what to expect, but am anxious for the new 2001 season to begin! It'll be great just being out there!! Hopefully will be fighting off geese in the dekes instead of fighting the heat and mosquitos! Good luck to all that are heading out... let's hear some stories!!

Duck-o-holic

[mwktrapper]

Going out this evening in Bemidji, then Fosston tomorrow morning. Didn't make it out this morning. There's too many people hunting here in Grand Rapids and Deer River, not worth fighting the crowd here. Been seeing lots of geese though and can't wait to see them droppin in the dekes.

Good huntin

[Rippinlip]

Went out Saturday Morning and had a blast,
We only shot two, (my partner shot two), but I did get some shooting in, we only stayed out til @10:00. Thanks for the reply earlier in the post as to what I needeed. Looking forward to doing alot more, because I have been seriously bitten by the BUG. I already made up 16 silloutes(sp) and had my 3 daughters help me paint them up and I have to say they did a great job on them.
What else can there be to life than to share the great outdoors with family and friends.

P.S. Leaving soon after I write this to go look for some more possible hunting spots.

[Duck-o-holic]

I can quit holding my breath... SEASON IS HERE!!! Rippinlip-- Glad you caught the BUG! That's cool that you've gained the support of even your girls. Successful scouting is the KEY to getting into birds. Sometimes just hearing the word "YES" from a farmer is more reward than the hunt itself!

Luckily my partner came through with a prime field. We ended up having 200-250 woodies, widgeon, and mallards land in the dekes right after sunup. They literally flew a few feet over the beans in front of us, and buzzed us in flocks of three to thirty. We were excited to see if the geese would follow suit! Luckily they did, and we ended up getting some great shooting. In all, it was a great way to bring in the season! Hunted with a few new faces, and even bought a couple liters of wiskey for the farmer that gave us permission which was a small price for such a great hunt. So how did everyone else do in the state? Trapper-- how was the shooting up north? Hope everyone had safe and fun hunts!

Duck-o-holic

[Flick]

I hunted around Little Falls, we have relatives there. They said there were a lot of geese around so we went up there. Well, there was a fair amount but not a lot. Didn't get one goose. Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Saw singles, doubles all the way up to flocks of 40. Nothing even looked at the decoys. We weren't in fields that they were feeding in though. Our relatives said it's a here one day and gone the next thing. I can't believe we didn't get any, pretty frustrating, especially when it seems everybody else hammers them.

[mwktrapper]

Not the best opener up north. Didn't see a goose in bemidji in a field that was full of em the last couple weeks. We saw lots of geese in fosston but they were glued to the potholes all day. But heck did we see ducks. We had the same thing happen to us, ducks galore landing in the dekes right at sunup. It was my little brother's first hunt and I think he's still shakin from seeing them ducks just about land on top of him. Nobody did good up here in Rapids either. Oh well, there's still duck season adn that'll be a good one. Good huntin'

[Scoot]

Hey Rippin,

Sorry if this is repeat info. but you mentioned making up silloutes with your girls, give me some details as to how you did this? What did you use for materials?
Thanks,
Scoot

[Rippinlip]

Scoot
I am not real sure how good they look, but here it goes. I had borrowed a silloute from a friend. Got some 1/4" plywood (I have plenty of that) traced the goose, made some different poses. I made 8 standers, and 8 feeding. Painted them the best I could (daughters helped a great deal)
Lots of Black paint, touches of grey, brown, and some white patches.
Picked up a 10' piece of 1/2" PVC pipe, cut it in 6" sections, took a skill saw and split it down 3" (be careful), screwed that to the silloute. Cut myself 16 pieces of 1/4" rod and sharpened the ends.
now when I set them into the ground the wind also gives them movement. I HAVE BEEN BITTEN BY THE BUG BAD.
By the way what is the laws on having someone sit with you that is not hunting.
I took one of my daughters with on Monday morning and she had a ball, even if we did not get anything. We seen a bunch of wildlife, ducks, deer, And of course a ton of geese that had no intention of stopping for a visit to my freshly made silloutes.
Scoot, if you lived reasonably close I would bring one over to let you take a peak, maybe we could even come up with a better design?

Happy Hunting

[Guest]

These reports sound similiar to what I experienced. I hunted near Waubun, MN and we saw a lot of birds, but nothing like last year. Not one duck came to our dekes this past weekend...last year hundreds to thousands buzzed and landed in our dekes. The geese this year were just plain decoy shy. They would come close enough for a shot, but not commit. Our first and only bird committed and wow, what a blast!
Sat. morning hunt was interupted by T-storms and high winds. Sunday too hot, sunny and windy. I'm waiting for a cloudy, cool day before I return to the fields.
It seemed that these birds were all on a tight schedule and they all had an exact destination in their flight patterns. They just were not interested in anything else.
Still plenty of time left.....
Good hunting!

[Scoot]

Thanks for he info, sounds pretty cool. I don't know if I have the artistic ability to make them or not, but I might give it a try.
Where do you live Rippin? I'm in Fargo.
Scoot

[Rippinlip]

Give it a try Scoot, use your outdoorsman imagination (we all have a good one). I live south of the Twin Cities about an hour, to far for an afternoon trip. Maybe something in the future will work out to meet up and do some hunting or fishing.

[Sand Burr]

any of you guys tried a tar paper decoy?
I have a design if you want it. send me and email and i will try to get it back to you.
This is what I started with and it worked well. I could get like 50 decks out of a cheap roll. Plus some laths.

[Rippinlip]

Hey Sand I will give it a shot.
My e-mail is
[email protected]

[Guest]

Sand burr-
I would be interested in your design too! Throw me an email. [email protected]
Thanks!

[This message has been edited by CD (edited 09-05-2001).]

[Sartell Angler]

Sand Burr,
I'd also be very interested in your tar paper/lath decoy design. Thanks in advance for your help.

Sartell Angler

e-mail address= [email protected]

[Sand Burr]

I am trying to make a file small anuff to email to you guys. Hold on.

[MNice]

Sand Burr,
I'd also be very interested in your tar paper/lath decoy design. Thanks in advance for your help.

[email protected]

[cdnfisherman]

Sand Burr...

I would also be interested. [email protected]

Thanks

[Sand Burr]

I just sent out the design hope you all got it. Give me some feedback and remember it a cheap way to bulk up on deeks.

[mwktrapper]

If I'm too late that's fine but I'll take one of them designs too if you are up to it sand. My email is [email protected]
Thanks and good huntin

[Guest]

sand burr..
I would be interested also

e-mail
[email protected]

[kelly-p]

A quick note to let you all know that if any of you are looking for a place to take a kid hunting for Youth Day we will be letting any kid with an adult along hunt in our wild rice paddies. I've talked to some of the other area growers and we will have plenty of room and ducks for all without any crowding.
No Scoot you do not qualify as a kid.
Good hunting all!

------------------
Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[GullGuide]

Hey all,
Since we now have our own forum for waterfowling, I am closing this thread. Let's start some new topics and get this forum rolling!
>"////=<