Hunting ducks in a pandemic

[Hunting Wife]

If you’re planning on hunting North Dakota, expect company! The border closure has already been extended to Sept. 21, and in all likelihood will continue through at least the end of the year.

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[Doublecluck]

Of the 50 or so folks I know who hit Canada every year most have just planned on hunting their home states. Some are coming to Montana and the dakotas. The lodge we stay at when we spring Snow goose hunt ND called me a couple weeks back and said they had Several cancellations for fall if I wanted a killer deal?, we jumped on it and will be doing two trips this fall, one for early honker and one timed on weather to hopefully have a shot at some specks or sprig.

Can’t imagine you could fit enough Minnesotans in to ND to crowd the amount of hunt- able land, if so hopefully It keeps the birds moving..lol..

Be good for whatever states economy wherever we all end up..

 

[Nick87]

If nothing else maybe it means there will be a surplus of birds coming down. Seriously though that sucks for the outfitters and local economy that depends on hunting season every year.

 

[seeth07]

Of the 50 or so folks I know who hit Canada every year most have just planned on hunting their home states. Some are coming to Montana and the dakotas. The lodge we stay at when we spring Snow goose hunt ND called me a couple weeks back and said they had Several cancellations for fall if I wanted a killer deal?, we jumped on it and will be doing two trips this fall, one for early honker and one timed on weather to hopefully have a shot at some specks or sprig.

Can’t imagine you could fit enough Minnesotans in to ND to crowd the amount of hunt- able land, if so hopefully It keeps the birds moving..lol..

Be good for whatever states economy wherever we all end up..

I've been following the same story about out of state duck hunters. I work for an outfitter here in Wisconsin and we had all of our out of state clients cancel except for 1. They have all been just filled in with in-state hunters and many offered at lower rates.

 

[Nick87]

I've been following the same story about out of state duck hunters. I work for an outfitter here in Wisconsin and we had all of our out of state clients cancel except for 1. They have all been just filled in with in-state hunters and many offered at lower rates.

Where abouts do you guide in wisco?

 

[thomas89]

^^^ what he said

 

[Doublecluck]

I've been following the same story about out of state duck hunters. I work for an outfitter here in Wisconsin and we had all of our out of state clients cancel except for 1. They have all been just filled in with in-state hunters and many offered at lower rates.

Lodge we stay at gets 200 a night in the spring goose season (sleeps 10, full kit) He gets 4-500 night in the fall hunting and Summer fishing seasons. He text me saying he had multiple cancelations and would do 125 a night. He told me the same for the spring goose season this past April but we stayed a week and left them 1500 just because they are great people. Be doing the same this go around. I own a business myself and it’s not gonna hurt my feelings to spend spend my money in ND, hell even being generous it will probably cost half a Canada trip.

On another note, won’t all the Minnesotans be in Montana hunting region 7 mule does when ND waterfowl season is open.. just sayin..

 

[seeth07]

Where abouts do you guide in wisco?

Grand river area over to Fondy.

 

[NR_Hunter]

I think ND is gonna be a zoo, but a zoo by ND standards isn't really that bad.

I'm gonna stick to the same miserable swamps and sloughs I hunt in MN. Increase in pressure won't effect me at all, nobody else is dumb enough to drag a canoe and decoys back to the places I go for a shot at 2-3 brown ducks.

 

[Frenchy]

If nothing else maybe it means there will be a surplus of birds coming down. Seriously though that sucks for the outfitters and local economy that depends on hunting season every year.

I'm thinking there will be a few more juvies that make it south of the border this fall. Gotta like those easily decoyed birds.

 

[MNElkNut]

This year will be an interesting case study in how a lack of pressure moves (or doesn't move) ducks south of the CA border! Will there be an effect? Will all the ducks stay north with less pressure up there until late in the season? Will the influx of hunters into NoDak move ducks east or west?

 

[NR_Hunter]

I think the migration will be mostly the same from Canada. I don't think there's enough pressure in Canada to push birds south before they would move that way on their own (just my assumption,). Migrations are a funny thing, and not always completely north/south. I'm most interested to what a large increase in pressure in ND, if there is a large increase in pressure, does to bird movement.

This could be totally wrong on all of this, but I feel like there are calendar migrators and weather migrators. Birds I would consider calendar migrators would be teal, gadlwalls, wigeons etc. They tend to move through the same time of year, unless they get pushed south by favorable migrating conditions earlier. I think these birds are more easily pushed south due to hunting pressure. Weather migrators I would say are big canada geese, mallards and goldeneys. It seems like to me pressure doesn't push them around as much, it just concentrates them in the areas they already know are safe.

IDK why I even typed all this up, I really just don't feel like working today.

 

[noharleyyet]

Do not hug your fellow hunters.