WaterfowlForum.Net

Saturday Opener

Yippee Skippy, it’s finally crane season! Lots of anticipation for this season, especially the last two weeks there was above average numbers! Even Friday morning when I scouted numbers were fantastic. I had at least five fields to choose from. Went scouting Friday night and most of the fields were empty and the fields that did have birds had minimal numbers. Wasn’t going to let that stop us so we hit a field yesterday morning. It was our “A” field that we had been planning on hunting. The other guy that has permission saw us out scouting and he sent me a message saying that he would head east. Figured that was pretty nice of him. We still got to the field a few hours early just in case he was bluffing.

Most birds flew by like we were not even there. We did have a flock of seven come and start landing in. We knocked three down out of that group. After my first shot, my gun would not fire. Still don’t know what happened. Couldn’t get the safety back on. Eventually, I got it all fixed up and never had a problem after that.

Reaper’s has been so so when it comes to cranes. He will run up to them but sometimes he’ll pick them up and other times he could care less. The crane in this video hit the ground alive and reaper ran over there. Didn’t get it all on video but the crane pissed them off and it was game on. That crane really pissed him off and now he is a crane retrieving machine.



Had a pair of Honkers come in. I sailed one into some standing canola. Just too thick to get into.

Had a couple of the birds do it right. Like I said our shoot and it was just too crappy. Seems to be the theme so far.

Ended up with four and all in all, despite our poor shooting, and most of the birds, flying by like we weren’t there it’s always great to have one more hunt with my dad!

I know I am forgetting a few details from this hunt, but even after getting a four hour nap this afternoon, I am still wiped out!

Sunday day 2

Couldn’t get to the field where yesterday’s birds were landing so we decided to hit a field north of the one we hunted yesterday.

Left the house and it was in the low 60s. Started hitting fog about 15 miles to the north. Looked at the truck temperature and it was down to 43°. Not big on hunting in the fog but it was just a low fog, and we could see the stars so we continued on.

Turned onto the gravel by the field we hunted yesterday there was a skunk walking down the road. It ran into the brush and didn’t feel like messing with it without the thermal. Very rare that skunks get a free pass for me.

The fog had me thinking they might short stop us and we should set up in Yesterdays field, but I gave the girls The choice and Vincenzia quickly said she wanted to hunt the new field.

First couple flocks landed in our field, but nothing within shooting distance. Finally had a pair come right in. I called take em as the first bird landed. Vincenzia must’ve thought it was a turkey because she shot it in the head on the ground. The other one went behind the blinds, and, even though I feel like I’m 200 years old I was still able to spin around pretty quick and drop that bird.

A single came in, while Reaper was getting my bird and Vincenzia got that one.

Had a pair of Honkers come in. No goose decoys so they came right in just to the sounds of my call. Definitely had to be some dumb birds to fall for that. I used to be able to hold my own with a Goose called but these days I just flat out suck. Anyways, I dropped the first bird and Vincenzia got a piece of the other one. It sailed into the field. We hunted yesterday and her and Reaper’s set out to go get it.

While they were gone, another pair did the same thing. I called the shot and I nailed the first one pretty good. It hit the ground like a rock. Natalina got the other one. We were sitting there talking and then I see a goose walking around. it was the first bird that fell. I had plenty of time to finish it off, but reaper was coming so I figured I would send him. He got about 5 feet from the bird and it started flying. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing as that bird was hit hard . Once the bird had cleared reaper enough, I took three shots and whiffed. I think that Goose is still flying.

I have some more retrieve videos, but have not uploaded them. Even though my story doesn’t sound like it I say we shot a little better today. Just didn’t have the birds coming in like yesterday.

Still had birds flying when we started the pick up, but needed to get going to make it to 11 o’clock mass.

Awesome weekend!

On Reaper, that was the best thing for him on the crane, a lively cripple to get that instinct to come out in him!

Duck Engr wrote:Awesome weekend!

What he said.

That is great stuff !

Great reports PC

Day three of the cranes.

I let everybody sleep in 30 minutes longer and somehow we managed to have more time to relax after the setup. Even had about 7 miles further to travel.

Found about 60 birds using a field. We saw them going there in small flocks so figured it would be worth it. Pretty cool in the dark as we had thunderstorms to our south and the northern lights to the north of us. A double light show while setting up the decoys.

First few flocks short, stopped us by about 300 yards in a totally different field. Finally had some birds come to our field, but they flew past us. Had three young ones come in. I called the shot. two of them went right in front of the blinds and the third one went by Vincenzia. Not sure why she didn’t go after that one, but that one lived to see another day. The other two stayed with us.

My second youngest Emerentiana wanted to come along. Usually when I bring the younger kids, I set them up on a rock pile or in the cattails at a safe distance. Somehow I got talked into letting her sit behind the blinds about 20 yards away. I told Natalina and Vincenzia to make a little blind. There was tons of tall stubble that she would’ve blended in just fine. I made the mistake of trusting, but not verifying. Three spaced out low flocks were coming from behind us, and each one of them flared. After the third one, I sat up and could see the problem. So we got her covered up good and of course the birds stopped coming to us. Those ones that shortstopped us just sucked everything else to them.

This was the first time I ever hunted this field and we found a small pothole in the corner. We could hear a few mallards quacking, so Vincenzia and I went and investigated it. There was about 30 birds on it. Well about 8 o’clock 30 turned into about 200 as the little flocks kept on dumping in. This pothole is probably 50 x 70‘. Definitely will be back to check that one out.

So we ended the day with two birds. One of those bitter, sweet hunts. My dad is 77 and you can tell he’s going downhill. More than likely our last hunt together. I can still remember our first duck hunt together. I made it very clear to him before he left that he is the reason why we are hunting. His dad never took him so he started from scratch. He even shared today how he used to hunt illegally when he was a kid first starting out and would hide a gun in his pants when walking down the street. My grandfather was a bookie for the mafia and that’s all he did. As a kid, he would hand us 20s, 50s and 100s. Then tell us to get lost. Money was his way of saying I love you I guess. Probably the reason why I don’t give two craps about money. My dad said he would see his friends hunting with their dads and he wanted to go hunting, so he started on his own. He got pretty emotional when I said thank you for making all this possible. I’m pretty emotional typing this.

Kind of wished it would’ve been a barnburner for him, but it was the time together that mattered!

Emerentiana and my dad! Not sure why the rest of us did not get in this picture. That is already a regret!

Ok, you need to stop. I am getting too jealous.

Livin' the life.

Well, after a few days of fog and rain, we were finally able to get out again this morning. Birds have been using this field for a couple days.

I would love to know how birds decide overnight to use a completely different field! It’s comical to me when it happens. Especially when the flocks are spaced out enough that they can’t see the previous birds. And out of all the birds that were using this field the last two days only three groups came to us. I called the shot on the first group as they were sliding to Vincenzia‘s side. I didn’t see the second flock of four, that was cupping right in to the center of the landing zone. Vincenzia knocked one down and I missed. She gave me a bit of grief about not waiting on the four. If I would’ve seen them, then I most likely would’ve waited.

Third and final group came and went behind us. Figured for sure they were going to land up wind of us, but as I poked my head out of the blind to see what was going on they were actually turning towards us coming in with the wind. They saw me and flared, but they hooked back around and they were borderline. I took one shot and one bird fell out of the sky about 300 yards away. Vincenzia told me when she cleaned the bird she only found one pellet in it. One of the luxuries of North Dakota, and having big wide open spaces where you can see birds fall and you can send the dog to retrieve them. Not many trees to lose birds in.

Finally, it was starting to rain and we were going to pick up so we didn’t rig up the field. Saw a flock of seven Honkers coming from the north. They flew by but I was able to break one off. I let Vincenzia take two shots at it, and then I put it down.

Calvino and Emerentiana had a great time helping and watching.

We have a pretty good field for tomorrow for Honkers, but I think we may go after cranes again.

The Mallard’s also put on a pretty good show, so I think we will hunt this field Saturday for the opener.

A quick little video of some of the scenes of this hunt.



Nothing better than happy kids!

Can't buy those smiles!!!!!
Good Job Dad

Friday morning we had a field with maybe 30 cranes the night before. I was worried with the light winds we might bust the roost.

A few minutes into shooting time we had a single land in. Almost called the shot but 5 more were coming. 2 of the 5 landed before I called the shot. Natalina, Vincenzia and I all whiffed. Not even sure how that happened but…

After an hour or so we figured we blew our only opportunity. We started to discuss picking up when we heard a crane. A single bird dropped right in. I called the shot. I popped up before the youngsters and dropped it.

About 20 minutes later a pair was coming. They dumped right in. Unfortunately for the girls, not in the zone and unfortunately for me they were in the sun. First shot I got the first bird. Second shot missed and third clipped the wing and dropped the crane. When the second bird hit the ground, he was making a racket and pecking at his wing. Kind of like a coyote bites at where it was shot. Tried to call Reaper back, but he dropped the first crane and went to the second. Thought he was going to lose an eye as that crane was possessed. When I got over there, it started pecking at me. I finally got it by the head and it wrapped its feet around my boot. it was digging its claws in. Luckily, I had my knee-high boots on otherwise I am positive he would’ve sliced me open. I have encountered a lot of angry cranes, but this guy was something else.

We decided to pick up shortly after that. And we were bringing the birds out for the picture when we heard a goose honking. He dumped in and I got him. Reaper had to round him up.

Nice!! Have heard of guys carrying a Louisville slugger for just such an occasion.

Attempt 2. Not sure what happened, but just as I was about to upload attachments, it went to a different website.

Anyways, a few more crane hunt pictures. Once again seems like Groundhog Day with most hunts being 3 to 5 birds and may be a few honkers mixed in. Definitely not complaining! Hopefully we will break that trend tomorrow as we have a stacked field and we should shoot our nine.

The picture with the two Honkers, I shot those when I was going to look for a crane that fell out of the sky about 3/4 of a mile away. They flew right over me about 40 yards. Thankfully, I was close to the truck so I only had to carry them about a quarter mile.

Yesterday, Vincenzia and I shot four. I got another triple and she thankfully shot the other one. Hope to upload the GoPro and ShotKam footage sooner than later. Speaking of the GoPro, I’m about ready to throw that thing up in the air and swing at it with a baseball bat. Just when I think I have it right the footage sucks or it doesn’t capture the birds. It’s pretty frustrating! I must be a real simpleton ha ha.







Yesterday was in the mid 20s and we had quite the breeze. I was freezing my butt off!





And yes, I know Calvino is way past due for a haircut!

Not much of a pile person, but sure like the smiles - and that sunrise/set? shot.

Sunrise watching towards the roost.

Crane hunting sounds intense! Great family pics though

Awesome reports dad

All those cranes. I want to come visit.

Did a crane hunt a few years ago in Texas. A lot of fun and very tasty.

Well, as luck would have it we got skunked this morning. Birds went a different direction. It’s just the way it goes sometimes. Hope to scout tonight and try again tomorrow.

Really enjoyed the videos and pics.

Thank you!