And It Begins…
With the onset of this past weekend we saw the opening of the 2017 North Dakota Non-Resident Waterfowl Season. The Duck Boat parade from the East was on in all of its glory. We had a wonderfully windy Saturday morning and the birds did not let us down. Our 3-man limit of ducks was acquired in pretty short order and a beautiful BANDED breakfast surprise adorned the 3rd Honker of the morning. Robert from Florida was a very good shot and the mid-morning hours were perfect for a picture session.
Leading up to the Non-resident Opener, we were able to conduct our Field Research and complete our year’s R&D trips. In other words, we went hunting. We had a mixed result as some of the birds didn’t want to leave the water and then on a couple of days they cooperated just as planned. You never know what kind of attitude the birds are going to have with unseasonably warm weather and ample food stores both in the water and in the field.
4 Litmus Test Species!
We raise a lot of fowl out here on the prairie of the Northern Tier of North Dakota. The prairie pothole region of the northern states and southern provinces of Canada aren’t called the ‘Duck Factory’ for nothing. We have a lot of locally born and raised ducks and Greater Canada Geese. This sometimes it makes it hard, early on, for us to realize that there is any Migration going on at all. Heck, they could ALL be locals.
We have to look to 4 alternative species of fowl to gauge what kinds of bird movements we are getting. Those being, in normal arriving order:
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Sandhill Cranes
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Snow Geese
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Cacklers
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Swans
In recent years, you could add Speckle Belly's to that list as their fall migration route seems to be slowly drifting to the east and their eastern territory is just touching the Lake Region (We saw, and heard, two yesterday).
The Sandhills start their staged arrival in late August to Early September and gradually build to their peak numbers in early to Mid-October. The front edge of the Snows generally trickle in around the 1st of October but peak migration the last few years has been late late October and generally the month of November.
The next new face to show will be the cackler, the little, cute subspecies of the Canada goose. We should start to see a few show up any day now. I know some fellow guides that have seen and heard a couple, but as of today I have not. They should start to make their appearance this week though.
Usually the last of the 4 migrating indicators to show themselves are those Tundra Swans. We usually don’t see any until mid-October and the full swing migration is the end of October/Early November.
Guess what…
We’ve seen several flocks and a number of Swans already!!!!!
This indicates that there are definitely birds on the move. These aren’t all locals that we are shooting and bird numbers are only going to get better. As soon as this wind switches to the Northwest on Sunday and out of the North on Monday, we will start to see even more of the 4 species that indicate that the birds are punching their vacation tickets to climates much warmer. Hold on to your hats gentlemen and ladies, it is about to get featherly wild out here on the prairie.
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