Sun Showers

By PJ Maguire
One crisp fall morning in the recent past, I was sitting at a counter waiting on breakfast in Lawton, North Dakota. We were at Doris’ Café, which happens to be attached to the only gas station in town. In my opinion it is probably the last place to get a good breakfast for [...]

Dave’s Band

By PJ Maguire

 
I met Dave Easton in the fall of 2000 at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks. Dave had a burning passion to pursue game in the outdoors and a Jeep. I had three-dozen mallard floaters and knowledge of waterfowl passed down from my [...]

Nebraska Duck Hunting – Early Teal Season

By PJ Maguire
Ever since I heard of the early teal seasons held by states south of Minnesota and North Dakota, I have wanted to participate in one of these hunts. When I first started hunting with my friend J.D. from Omaha, he told me tales of hunting these little ducks in September. Finally, this fall [...]

A Duck Band’s Beginning

By Chris Hustad
It was right around first light when I ventured outside of our sleeping quarters at J. Clark Salyer National Refuge Headquarters near Upham, ND last week (in early September). I noticed the picnic table was still full of grills, empty plates of goose, and some empty beer cans. Luckily, I packed it in [...]

Staying HIP

By Doug Leier
For almost a decade, migratory bird hunters have had to get HIP. No, not the “hip,” that loosely means “aware” or “fashionable” according the Webster’s Dictionary, but HIP, as in registered with the Harvest Information Program.
What is HIP?
HIP is a survey method developed by states and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) [...]

Hunting Sunrises & Sunsets

By Chris Hustad
If you’ve read about the 5 stages each hunter goes though in his or her life, you’ll understand how we progress as individuals and how we relate to our surroundings. One thing that seems to never get old to me is watching the sun rise or set when I’m out and about each [...]

Respecting Diversity in Hunting

By Mike Taddy
As the hot summer days begin to fade away, the increased anxiousness and irritableness of the waterfowler is the one certainty that exists in the North Dakota hunting world. Now, before you go on the defensive because you

’re a waterfowler, please take time to read this with an open mind.
North Dakota and the [...]

Canvasbacks of Lake Catahoula

By PJ Maguire
The Internet is a beautiful thing. It has given me hunting opportunities I only dreamed of as a young boy paging through outdoor magazines wishing to hunt ducks in the exotic places featured in the stories. So… when I got the chance to hunt waterfowl on Louisiana’s Lake Catahoula how could I say [...]

Ducks vs. Geese

By PJ Maguire
I have often been asked what I enjoy the pursuit of most: ducks or geese. It is a difficult question for a person who would prefer to spend his time scanning the skyline above decoys for waterfowl. For me, I cut my teeth hunting ducks at my family’s lake cabin with my dad and [...]

Pay Me to Be Outdoors

By PJ Maguire
Ever since I can remember it has been a dream of mine to have my own hunting and fishing show. The dream has always been to find a way for me to hunt and fish for a living. After many discussions with other outdoorsman I know I am not the only one that [...]

The Duck Stamp

By Doug Leier
Even if you’re not a duck hunter, I think you’ll appreciate what thousands of duck hunters across the prairie are doing this fall. It’s about as simple a task as you can make it, and much of the time they don’t get enough credit for how they’ve contributed to the good of the [...]

Dead End Slough

By Chris Hustad
When I look back at the hunting and fishing memories throughout the years, I can really tell how much it influenced the blueprint of my life. I can remember my first walleye, largemouth bass, pheasant, and duck to name a few like it was just yesterday. But more than just the creature itself, [...]

Dream Hunt

By PJ Maguire
It was an unbelievable day. The snow was coming down sideways and the birds were committing suicide. I filled my Swan tag with a black neck collared bird that was sporting a tarsus band to boot. I picked the bird out of a decoying flock that came in at first light.
Matt and I [...]

2004 Greenskins Classic Review

By Jed Fluhrer
The 2004 GreenSkins Classic proved once again that opening weekend isn’t really about duck hunting. Opening weekend is all about hanging out with friends and family and enjoying the outdoors.
From the beginning this years Greenskins was different. Not only was the man who started it all, Chris Hustad, not going to be in [...]

Delta Waterfowl

BISMARCK, ND-Duck hunters from Minnesota to Louisiana are organizing rallies and planning public hearings in an attempt to answer the most nagging question in the outdoors: “Where were the ducks?”
Delta Waterfowl President Rob Olson says one reason hunters across the country have been disappointed by recent duck seasons is that the Canadian portion of the [...]