North Dakota Waterfowling 2023-2024

[PorkChop]

Date:

Time:

Location:

Cloud Cover:

Wind Direction and Velocity:

Temperature:

Moon phase:

Special Notes:

Waterfowl Activity:

Waterfowl Responsiveness:

Hunters:

Guns:

Malfunctions:

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses:

Kudos:

Birds By Species:

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

[PorkChop]

Date: 21 Sep

Time: Morning

Location: ND parts unknown

Cloud Cover: 90%

Wind Direction and Velocity: From the NE about 5mph or so

Temperature: 51°

Moon phase: About a quarter of a moon

Special Notes: We had decent rain yesterday so I went out yesterday afternoon to walk the field. This farmer is very generous to me with permission but he is also very funny at times and I do not mean funny ha ha so I wanted to walk the field to make sure it would not be too muddy to drive. And I knew on other properties it would not be too muddy but like I said you never know with him so it’s best to be safe. This is prime land and the farmer\landowner really loves the fact that I take the kids and that we eat the birds. I still need to call him every time we go out there to let him know. But now he is starting to call me to let me know where the birds are. Super great guy but like I said he could be a little funny about things that most landowners don’t care about.

also this was Natalina‘s first goose hunt. She had to be to work at 10o’clock this morning. I also had to work but I don’t really have set hours. However for me getting to work the earlier the better. Shooting time was at 7o’clock and we had to start picking up no later than 815. At 7:57 and we dropped some more birds. One sailed into a standing cornfield a half mile away so Vinny Quack went over there with reaper. This particular bird was an Natalina’s First Goose. So even if I had to call the farmer to tell him he needed to combine that field we were finding that goose ha ha

Waterfowl Activity: plenty of small flocks of honkers. They were still coming in when we left. Had one flock of ducks working but will have to wait till Saturday to shoot those.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: 90% of the birds cupped right in to land. Did have a few short stop us which started pulling the other birds. Was going to send one of them over there to flush them off but then we had 4 cup right in and when we shot the other ones got up.

Hunters: Vinny, Nattles and I

Guns: Nothing but SX4s

Malfunctions: only my brain. Should’ve set the blinds in the decoys but I put us on the edge of a rock pile. Made for side shooting and a little bit further shots. Kind of got spoiled with a frames and stuff and need to get back into laying in the decoys. Easily could’ve been a 30+ bird day
but then again who the heck wants to clean 30+ early-season honkers. Definitely not me! Vinny usually cleans them. She charges me $1.50 each which is a steal. Don’t tell her what other people are paying to have birds cleaned ha ha

Dog(s): Reaper Who did pretty good and found that bird in the cornfield.

Special Equipment: just my spectacular calling skills. Haaaaa

Curses: Just my brain

Kudos: To Nattles as she shot her first goose today! She was so happy and I am so proud of her!

Birds By Species: 7 honkers

Photo Ops:

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Lagniappe: possibly but I’m not sure that I remember what this word means so I’m going to have to look it up again



I will have to check my shotkam footage to see if I got any thing good for a video if so I will post it up.

[Rick]

Lagniappe (pronounced "lawnyop") is something extra thrown into a transaction, like a baker's dozen. Or in the case of my little fill-in-the-blank log form, something you want to share that didn't fit elsewhere in that format.

Sweet hunt.

[PorkChop]

Thank You! I am sure I will ask again next season ha ha

[5 stand]

Sweet hunt pretty much sums it up, I'm sure Nettles thinks there's nothing to this hunting thing, killed her first crane on the first hunt and then kills her first goose on the first hunt, Stone Cold killer...

[PorkChop]

She’s about to float away with the big head she’s getting. Hopefully we can get out for some ducks on Saturday. That should humble her

[Deltaman]

Good job dad and looking forward to more of your reports this year!!!!

[DComeaux]

Nice hunt! Good job!

[PorkChop]

Thanks guys!

Tomorrow is looking like a washout right now. Definitely won’t be able to drive in any fields. We just had a pretty good downpour and it’s still raining right now. I’m gonna go scout to see what I can find for potholes that we can walk into. But I still have to work tomorrow and there are basketball tournaments so if we do hunt it will be an afternoon hunt. I don’t mind hunting in the rain but I dislike all the cleanup afterwords. If the tournaments run long we will hunt Sunday. But as dry as it’s been I agree with the song rain is a good thing!

[PorkChop]

Did afternoon hunts yesterday and today for ducks and birds no showed both locations. I thought this was North Dakota a paradise of duckhunting??? We should be chasing dove still!

[5 stand]

Dang ducks!!!

Sometimes they don't cooperate any better down here...

When I drove across South Dakota it surprised me, East River was dry especially from Sioux falls to Mitchell, from Chamberlain West there was more water and I saw a lot more ducks... If I was going to try to kill a duck right now in South Dakota it would be a long the Missouri or ponds West River...

[PorkChop]

One of these days I’ll make it to South Dakota to do some bird hunting. My buddy that lives in Kansas is moving there to Sioux Falls.

[5 stand]

You're in a sweet spot, my post was just internet banter...

[Duck Engr]

Were you handcuffed by the wet conditions on where you could set up?

[Bud]

There were about 40 I saw this afternoon feeding in the grass in the rain. They were in front and near the side of a grocery store I frequent. Spoke to the ones near the road and ditch, welcoming them. They just paused long enough to look a few times and kept feeding. After grocery shopping, the ones by the road were gone. The 20-25 in the field were still there. All Canadas.

That young lady might surprise you if you tell her how and what difference to change. Teaching her well.

[PorkChop]

You're in a sweet spot, my post was just internet banter...

I know I didn’t take any offense by it. South Dakota has always been on the bucket list!

[PorkChop]

Were you handcuffed by the wet conditions on where you could set up?

Nope we were actually able to get out to the spots we wanted to hunt. The one landowner said he didn’t care if we drove out there and to have fun. Some landowners care if it’s muddy and others don’t. I think because it’s been real foggy the last couple mornings they might be field feeding later and just feeding once out there. Also this time of year they are still mainly feeding on aquatics so it’s probably best to be hunting over water but the cattails are so thick at this particular place it’s almost impossible!

[PorkChop]

.

That young lady might surprise you if you tell her how and what difference to change. Teaching her well.

Thank you! She was actually out there solo for a good bit as one of my basketball players had practice and I had to wait for her to get home. Was hoping that when we got to the field she would’ve had a few in the bag but nothing had flown yet.

[PorkChop]

Well the dry spell is over! Vinny and I ended up with three drakes. She shot the ugly one. Only had a few flocks come in but I should’ve had my five green heads and she should’ve probably had two more and she whiffed on a widgeon. She just missed it with her first shot and unfortunately for her that was her only shot as she forgot to put two more shells in after shooting the last time. I guess I should not have made fun of her about her brown hands because a duck crapped on one of the decoys and I forgot about it and of course when I was picking up decoys I grabbed it right by the head.

My youngest with an angry Chessie

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The dirty decoy

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Well it’s good to be on the board and now it’s time to get serious!

[5 stand]

I sure do enjoy the PorkChop family waterfowling adventures...
The killers are back...

[PorkChop]

The moon rise was killer tonight! Had to use full zoom on it so quality is not the greatest but you get the idea! And yes that’s blood on his face ha ha

[Rick]

Moon was as prominent at last night's HS football game, and I saw several photos being taken of it. But don't believe any included a kid that cute.

[PorkChop]

Moon was as prominent at last night's HS football game, and I saw several photos being taken of it. But don't believe any included a kid that cute.

There is something about a kid holding a greenhead with blood on his face!

[Deltaman]

Build that sweet memory dad and congrats on the first blood!!!!!!!

[PorkChop]

Well we got out this morning in hopes of Nattles killing her first duck. With all the rain I thought for sure we would be carrying stuff in but much to my delight as long as we stayed on the stubble we were able to drive out with no problems. If I would’ve known this I would’ve brought my goose spread trailer as there are a bunch of geese in the area.

So without having any layout blinds we just brought our folding chairs and sat in some cattails. Not a cloud in the sky and a west wind so I kind of set us up on an angle so we wouldn’t have to stare into the sun. Had some pintails land right in and Nattles was too slow. She is very slow at shouldering the gun. Had a pair of mallards landing in. I said go ahead and take that greenhead on the left...

When you hunt with me and you have not killed the birds we are after, you always get the first shots when they come in. I don’t care if there is one or if there is 1000. That is the rule of my spread. I don’t want you to have any doubts in your mind that you shot your first bird. The only exception is if the birds are off to the side and it’s only safe for another person to shoot. Well these two birds were straight in front of us so when I said kill the greenhead on the left, that was intended for Nattles. Well lady molasses was too slow and Vinny shot that guy faster than fast. She was reprimanded as she knows the rules. She said she would unload her gun for the rest of the hunt but I said that was not necessary. Deep inside I was happy that she shot it because I knew it would’ve got away.

Had another pair of mallards come and I would’ve bet the farm that that greenhead was sporting a band. They landed right down in and I said do not let that bird get out of the decoys. I did not say why. Told nettles to stand up to flush it and shoot it. She did but once again she was lady molasses so I shot it before it got too far. No band ha ha. If I didn’t think there was a band on it I would’ve let that bird fly and live another day as that would have been a good lesson for her

Heard a bunch of Specklebelly’s and spotted some snows migrating down. I believe tomorrow’s highs are in the 40s and a good 30 mph north northwest wind. That will bring us new birds for sure. Got a little more rain today but I don’t think that will hamper us driving in the fields tomorrow. Going to go scouting this evening after church. I think I’ll take Vinny Goose Hunting In the morning somewhere and Nattles tomorrow afternoon for ducks.

This afternoon Vinny worked with Nattles on shouldering the gun faster. She is handling the 12 gauge just fine (just slow) but I may switch her to the 20 gauge until she gets faster.

Vinny and Reaper

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[Duck Engr]

Reaper’s camera mean mug is unrivaled.

[PorkChop]

Definitely looks like a grumpy boy!

[5 stand]

I have some info that I'd like to give lady molasses, but sisters usually work things out...
Necessity builds speed glad you shot that banded duck...

[5 stand]

I know I'm repeating myself, but this time of year the PorkChop family adventures sure are special...

[PorkChop]