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This fall I'm planning on spending a week or two on a do-it-yourself duck hunting trip to North Dakota. I'll be pulling a 14' cargo trailer so sky's the limit of what I can bring with me... Having said that what dates would you pick for this trip? And is there a general part of the state I should avoid?

Try "North Dakota" in the search bar at the top. If I remember right, someone was doing this either this season or last season, and I remember there being some pretty good info there. Just don't remember who was posting it.

assateague wrote:Try "North Dakota" in the search bar at the top. If I remember right, someone was doing this either this season or last season, and I remember there being some pretty good info there. Just don't remember who was posting it.

Thanks Assa,
I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate the site, put this post in the blind cause I figured it got the most traffic.

Frylock wrote:

assateague wrote:Try "North Dakota" in the search bar at the top. If I remember right, someone was doing this either this season or last season, and I remember there being some pretty good info there. Just don't remember who was posting it.

Thanks Assa,
I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate the site, put this post in the blind cause I figured it got the most traffic.

you ever hunt Cromwell?

capt1972 wrote:

Frylock wrote:

assateague wrote:Try "North Dakota" in the search bar at the top. If I remember right, someone was doing this either this season or last season, and I remember there being some pretty good info there. Just don't remember who was posting it.

Thanks Assa,
I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate the site, put this post in the blind cause I figured it got the most traffic.

you ever hunt Cromwell?

Nope, not that it's too far from me, just focus on other areas. You live in central CT?

Do you plan on mostly field or water hunting? Mid october is usually a safe bet as when to go, but if you pan on field hunting mostly I would go towards late oct to early nov. As for where to go pretty much get a map and find some potholes and you'll find birds

Frylock wrote:

assateague wrote:Try "North Dakota" in the search bar at the top. If I remember right, someone was doing this either this season or last season, and I remember there being some pretty good info there. Just don't remember who was posting it.

Thanks Assa,
I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate the site, put this post in the blind cause I figured it got the most traffic.

No problem. Sorry if that cam off a little smartassed. I just wasn't sure if whoever posted it was still here posting or not, so you may want to search it anyway.

NORTH wrote:Do you plan on mostly field or water hunting? Mid october is usually a safe bet as when to go, but if you pan on field hunting mostly I would go towards late oct to early nov. As for where to go pretty much get a map and find some potholes and you'll find birds

I planned on bring lay down blinds and full bodies plus floaters. I gather that a lot of ducks get killed over fields as well as potholes out there so I plan to be flexible. Would you focus more on fields or potholes?

assateague wrote:

Frylock wrote:

assateague wrote:Try "North Dakota" in the search bar at the top. If I remember right, someone was doing this either this season or last season, and I remember there being some pretty good info there. Just don't remember who was posting it.

Thanks Assa,
I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate the site, put this post in the blind cause I figured it got the most traffic.

No problem. Sorry if that cam off a little smartassed. I just wasn't sure if whoever posted it was still here posting or not, so you may want to search it anyway.

No worries wasn't smart assed at all, was actually pretty helpful.

Frylock, I sent you a message.

3geese4me wrote:Frylock, I sent you a message.

Dickpic?

AKPirate wrote:

3geese4me wrote:Frylock, I sent you a message.

Dickpic?

First pic is always an above shoulders selfie, just to set the tone and establish some rapport.

3geese4me wrote:

AKPirate wrote:

3geese4me wrote:Frylock, I sent you a message.

Dickpic?

First pic is always an above shoulders selfie, just to set the tone and establish some rapport.

and then.......

capt1972 wrote:

3geese4me wrote:

AKPirate wrote:

3geese4me wrote:Frylock, I sent you a message.

Dickpic?

First pic is always an above shoulders selfie, just to set the tone and establish some rapport.

and then.......

I don't kiss and tell my secrets...

Avoid the full moon period first of all, and then shoot for late Oct or early November

3geese4me wrote:

capt1972 wrote:

3geese4me wrote:

AKPirate wrote:

3geese4me wrote:Frylock, I sent you a message.

Dickpic?

First pic is always an above shoulders selfie, just to set the tone and establish some rapport.

and then.......

I don't kiss and tell my secrets...

DeadEye_Dan wrote:Avoid the full moon period first of all, and then shoot for late Oct or early November

And pray to god we don't get a hard freeze and all the birds push south.

Why not plan a trip for earlier in the month and avoid the possibility of a freeze out? Not enough birds? Too much pressure?

Frylock wrote:

NORTH wrote:Do you plan on mostly field or water hunting? Mid october is usually a safe bet as when to go, but if you pan on field hunting mostly I would go towards late oct to early nov. As for where to go pretty much get a map and find some potholes and you'll find birds

I planned on bring lay down blinds and full bodies plus floaters. I gather that a lot of ducks get killed over fields as well as potholes out there so I plan to be flexible. Would you focus more on fields or potholes?

It sounds like you have a good plan, i'd definitely bring equipment for both types of hunting. I personally prefer field hunting over potholes, but great hunting can be had doing either.

Frylock wrote:Why not plan a trip for earlier in the month and avoid the possibility of a freeze out? Not enough birds? Too much pressure?

All depends on what you wanna hunt. If you are happy hunting a majority of big bonkers with an occasional snow goose and brown ducks then the first week of October is fine. But the masses of birds show up in late October.

3geese4me wrote:

Frylock wrote:Why not plan a trip for earlier in the month and avoid the possibility of a freeze out? Not enough birds? Too much pressure?

All depends on what you wanna hunt. If you are happy hunting a majority of big bonkers with an occasional snow goose and brown ducks then the first week of October is fine. But the masses of birds show up in late October.

This. And the last two years we have been there the last week in October we were a week late for all the brown ducks and a week early for all the snows/migrators. We are going the first week in November this year, so if I had to guess, I'd say be there the last week in October or the 2nd week in November and you will be money!

sws002 wrote:

3geese4me wrote:

Frylock wrote:Why not plan a trip for earlier in the month and avoid the possibility of a freeze out? Not enough birds? Too much pressure?

All depends on what you wanna hunt. If you are happy hunting a majority of big bonkers with an occasional snow goose and brown ducks then the first week of October is fine. But the masses of birds show up in late October.

This. And the last two years we have been there the last week in October we were a week late for all the brown ducks and a week early for all the snows/migrators. We are going the first week in November this year, so if I had to guess, I'd say be there the last week in October or the 2nd week in November and you will be money!

We need to get together next year. You hunt really close to where I live.

3geese4me wrote:

sws002 wrote:

3geese4me wrote:

Frylock wrote:Why not plan a trip for earlier in the month and avoid the possibility of a freeze out? Not enough birds? Too much pressure?

All depends on what you wanna hunt. If you are happy hunting a majority of big bonkers with an occasional snow goose and brown ducks then the first week of October is fine. But the masses of birds show up in late October.

This. And the last two years we have been there the last week in October we were a week late for all the brown ducks and a week early for all the snows/migrators. We are going the first week in November this year, so if I had to guess, I'd say be there the last week in October or the 2nd week in November and you will be money!

We need to get together next year. You hunt really close to where I live.

I'm down. We often considered heading towards you (there's a strip club close isn't there?), but never made the turn.

Oh and Frylock, if you hadn't already planned on it, I would STRONGLY suggest investing in some snow goose decoys. Even if you don't plan on killing snows, the ducks absolutely love them and canadas will decoy just fine to them as well. A dozen at the head of your spread is a good start, although if you plan on targeting snows, you literally cannot have enough.

The strip club has sadly shut down.

3geese4me wrote:The strip club has sadly shut down.

Minot -1

sws002 wrote:

3geese4me wrote:The strip club has sadly shut down.

Minot -1

May want to tack on a couple more thousand points. This place sucks.

sws002 wrote:

3geese4me wrote:

sws002 wrote:

3geese4me wrote:

Frylock wrote:Why not plan a trip for earlier in the month and avoid the possibility of a freeze out? Not enough birds? Too much pressure?

All depends on what you wanna hunt. If you are happy hunting a majority of big bonkers with an occasional snow goose and brown ducks then the first week of October is fine. But the masses of birds show up in late October.

This. And the last two years we have been there the last week in October we were a week late for all the brown ducks and a week early for all the snows/migrators. We are going the first week in November this year, so if I had to guess, I'd say be there the last week in October or the 2nd week in November and you will be money!

We need to get together next year. You hunt really close to where I live.

I'm down. We often considered heading towards you (there's a strip club close isn't there?), but never made the turn.

Oh and Frylock, if you hadn't already planned on it, I would STRONGLY suggest investing in some snow goose decoys. Even if you don't plan on killing snows, the ducks absolutely love them and canadas will decoy just fine to them as well. A dozen at the head of your spread is a good start, although if you plan on targeting snows, you literally cannot have enough.

If I showed up with Canada and Snow field decoys I could kill ducks just fine? .....then I'll definitely plan on adding to my honker spread and getting some snows.

3geese4me wrote:

sws002 wrote:

3geese4me wrote:The strip club has sadly shut down.

Minot -1

May want to tack on a couple more thousand points. This place sucks.

What happened this time? Dancers fell through the stage again?

Frylock wrote:If I showed up with Canada and Snow field decoys I could kill ducks just fine? .....then I'll definitely plan on adding to my honker spread and getting some snows.

The only reason you will need duck decoys to kill ducks is if you want to kill them over water. We bring a couple dozen full body ducks just in case we find a really good mallard feed, but most of our field ducks are killed in snow spreads. If you are buying decoys for the sole purpose of this trip, I would push you more towards buying snows with a few honkers mixed in (silos and socks are fine too). Quite honestly, we don't kill many big canada geese in the time frames being discussed, sounds like they are either really early or really late, the only canadas we kill a bunch of are the cacklers, and they act more like snows than canadas.

5-10 doz full body honkers and 25 doz sillosocks is an extremely versatile spread for up here.