First Migration Report of the 2017 Waterfowl Season
Often times, early on, the only indicator of any migration occurring at all is with one particular species. That is the case here early on the Northern Tier of North Dakota. Canada Goose and Duck numbers don’t seem to change much. Snow Geese are non-existent. That leaves our litmus test as the Sandhill Crane.
Two weeks ago, we had 5 roosting on Lake Alice, Last week that number jumped to 30. As of this weekend we witnessed roughly 250-300 Sandhills exiting the refuge both Saturday and Sunday, so they are starting to stage here a little.
We were able to connect on 2 of them on Saturday, they hoodwinked us on Sunday.
The Real Purpose Of Being In The Field
We weren’t real dedicated to luring Cranes though, this little guy was our main purpose of being in the field this past weekend. The North Dakota Youth Waterfowl Season was Saturday and Sunday and Mack went after his first duck. He was not successful in killing his first feathered friend but a successful day was had both Saturday and Sunday. He fired off 4 rounds on Saturday. He did hit one but it sailed to the refuge. Sunday was only one round and then he got cold. I told him not to get discouraged as:
‘Daddy has missed a lot more than that!’
The Report From The Great White North
While we await a push of birds and the arrival of our first “flocks” of Snow Geese (we have seen a few singles and one small flock of about 20), we are getting very favorable reports our of northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Adult-to-Juvie ratios of 1 to 1. The Snows had a great hatch and maybe this fall we will have some productive snow geese expeditions.
