Looking to Fall in ND

By Doug Leier
With the Vikings into training camp, regardless of who plays quarterback for the Purple this fall, most experts agree it should be a good season. The same goes for North Dakota’s primary gamebird species this fall.
That said, there’s no guarantee and we really won’t know until hunters or football players take the field. [...]

Buck Knives Father’s Day Sale

BUCK KNIVES 40% OFF Father’s Day Sale!
40% OFF Any Knife!*
www.buckknives.com
Get dad a new knife this Father’s Day at an unbeatable price. Buck has a knife for every occasion. Be sure to check out our Father’s Day Special! It’s a limited edition 110 Folding Hunter with Nickel Silver Bolsters, instead of the standard brass [...]

Thin To Win in the Blind

By Chris Hustad
It’s around 15 degrees, and my watch says 8 am on a late October morning in 1993. I have my head tucked under a staked-up snow goose shell, as I watch a flock of 8 snows coming at us 200 yards away. Luckily, there’s just enough wind this morning to keep [...]

Go Green with Mallards

By Doug Leier
The next time you find yourself kicking cans in the shop, killing time at the gas station or coffee shop with the crew, I ask you to raise a question about favorite ducks.
No doubt the wood duck would garner a share of votes, and the pintail has subtle grace and definition–that pointed tail [...]

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 [...]

GreenSkins Classic Recap

By Chris Hustad
The North Dakota resident opener proved to be a huge success for all those who took part. In our group’s extensive scouting around the state, we’d witnessed large masses of ducks for weeks. The trend appeared to be the more northeast you go, the more ducks you’ll come across. Local canada geese are [...]

GreenSkins Classic Recap – 2003 North Dakota Duck Opener

By Chris Hustad
As I sit here typing my first keystrokes, I’m looking out an airplane window watching North Dakota disappear behind me. As I prepare for my out of town business all week, I can only sit back and recap the prior weekend in my mind. It was the duck hunting opener for North Dakota [...]

Rory and the 2001 Hunting Season

By Doug Panchot
Having gone every hunting seasonexcept for last, without having a dog to hunt with of my own, I came to the conclusion that a gun dog is something that everyone should have the opportunity to have. Sure I have hunted with others who bring along their dogs when we hunt together. But there [...]

The Good Old Days

By Perry Thorvig
The Nodak crew shot the greenheads big time again in this year’s duck opener. They celebrated the tenth anniversary of the breaking of the drought of the 1980s and early 90s. Ironically, we may be heading back into another drought cycle. But, there are still birds around and then can provide some great [...]

Hunting the Honey Hole

By Perry Thorvig
Kenny Z said that he first “discovered” the honey hole when he was 16 years old. Now it is 39 years later, and he is still hunting the same spot.
There aren’t the numbers of birds around that there used to be. But, hey, shooting the birds is only half the fun. The favorite [...]

Purple Loostrife & SaltCedar – Noxious Weeds in the Outdoors

Jim McAllister
Sportsman, are you aware of noxious weeds that can limit habitat in wetlands for wildlife. In the last 10 years, the state of North Dakota has had two noxious weeds move into our wetlands. They both can have devastating effects if not properly controlled. They are purple loosestrife and saltcedar.
Purple loosestrife has been in [...]

New Life on the Prairie (2002)

By Jason Phillips
 Just when it seemed like it’s over, the action on the prairie potholes continues….on perch and northern pike that is. Well it looks like old man winter decided to get the last laugh this year and brought us some of the coldest weather of the season…in March. While it is tough to lose [...]

The Streak

By Perry Thorvig
My brother-in-law, Kenny Carlson, loves to hunt and fish. As most hunters do, he got started hunting during his high school years. Kenny is a lean six-footer. I guess that’s a kind way of saying that he must have been a pretty skinny kid in high school. He was not a Friday night [...]

Wildlife and Habitat Management: The Joint Venture Concept of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan

By Robert A. Langager
Introduction
Migratory waterfowl have traveled the North American continent for thousands of years. They have awed many who have seen their great winged migrations. Waterfowl inspire many to watch them, hunt them, and study them intensely. As a resource, waterfowl and other birds generate nearly $20 billion in economic activity and create more [...]

The Value of Temporary Wetlands

By Doug Leier
A recent rainy spell has rekindled somewhat the time-worn debate over the value of wetlands, small ones in particular.
North Dakota has hunreds of thousands of these small, shallow wetlands. They’re often called temporary wetlands because they typically only hold water for a few weeks after spring snow melt, or after heavy summer rains [...]

Water Up – Ducks Down

By PJ Maguire
When flights of ducks returned to the prairies of North Dakota from the south, numbers looked good for the 2004 waterfowl season. The annual spring breeding duck index was the 3rd highest on record, and was up 9% from last year. These numbers were surprising considering that there was a 16% decrease in [...]

All I Want For Christmas

By Chris Hustad
 

 
Christmas season has come and gone yet again, with plenty of memories to crown the year. This will be a very memorable Christmas for people all over the country who’ve never had a white Christmas before. On the weather channel, I saw some areas in the Gulf Coast of Texas received between 4-12 [...]

Junior Duck Stamp Contest Winner Announced

By Chris Hustad
A pair of blue-winged teal were the top winning waterfowl chosen as the 2005 Best of Show in the North Dakota Junior Duck Stamp Contest. “The Sun Watchers”, is the title of the Best of Show winning drawing by 18-year-old, Daniel Dwyer from Bismarck. Daniel used oil paints to depict a pair of [...]

Who’s Going To Look After the Ducks?

A Day in the Field With Delta Waterfowl – By Jed Fluhrer
Who’s going to look after the ducks? While I have spent many days in the marsh and field scanning the skies for ducks, it wasn’t until I stood in a wetland east of Bismarck, North Dakota surrounded by a group of Cub Scouts and [...]

All My Heroes are Duck Hunters

By PJ Maguire
The Old Man and I spent many summer afternoons discussing the usual topics; investing, religion, fishing and of course duck hunting. He was a strong Catholic, the kind that kept a painting of the last super by the dinner table. We said grace before we ate our meals, and we enjoyed many a [...]

Alternative Land Use Services Moving Forward

Federal, provincial and territorial Agriculture Ministers meeting in Kananaskis Alberta approved a four point policy agenda which would include testing of an ecological services plan called Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS). Often referred to as the “Farmers Conservation Plan”, ALUS was designed by the farm community across Canada. ALUS has been widely recognized as the [...]

The Mysterious Coot

By Doug Leier
Have you ever thought about hunting coots?
To be honest, most hunters never even consider bagging one and bringing it home, even though they are readily available on many North Dakota waters and regulations allow a daily limit of 15 and a possession limit of 30.
But this season, I might think differently when I’m [...]

The Best Waterfowl Hunt

By PJ Maguire
I have often been asked, “What is the best hunt you have ever been on?” I am a very modest person, but I have a long list to choose from when it comes to this topic. I have been blessed by befriending some of the best waterfowlers in the country. Being lucky, and being [...]

First Forecast

By Perry Thorvig
This year’s first comprehensive summary of agency reports and anecdotal observations concerning the prospects for the 2004 waterfowl season.
Last month you read that I was pretty discouraged about duck hunting prospects in general because of increased commercialization of the resource. In the space that follows, I will summarize the agency and individual reports [...]

Memorable Hunting Retrievers

By PJ Maguire
Life is just a series of moments where you connect with another person, place, or feeling. Every bird dog I have ever owned has had it’s own moments. These were times when dogs did remarkable things based on minimal training and experience. These moments seem to burn deeper in my memory for the [...]

Survey Says

By Doug Leier
With the final shots of North Dakota’s bird hunting seasons behind us as of the close of turkey hunting on Jan. 11, we’re actually only weeks away from the opening of the 2009 spring snow goose conservation season on Feb. 21. Beyond that, the spring turkey season is only a couple of months [...]

Waterfowl Hunting Memories

By Chris Hustad
Well here I am, back in another airplane for a cross country trip home from work. As I write this I’m on the first lag of my trip back to North Dakota from Blacksburg, Virginia. After a long exhausting week, it feels good to know I’m going home. And this isn’t just any [...]

Ducks, Geese, & UV

By PJ Maguire
Every year waterfowl hunters are bombarded with new equipment and ideas. As waterfowlers there is a lot of stuff we need in order to pursue ducks and geese. A wise goose hunter once told me that in order to be successful, you have to lead the pack and not follow. Since then I [...]

Bird Band – Duck Band – Goose Band

By PJ Maguire
Every year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service and agencies ran by the states, place leg bands on a variety of birds across the country. Migratory birds, like ducks, geese, and most recently doves are some of the most commonly banded birds. Harvesting a bird sporting a leg band is a special joy [...]

2006 Midwest Waterfowl Festival

By PJ Maguire
Right now it is August, and I can feel the fall creeping in. The nights are cooler and the days are shorter. It is time for me to organize decoys, check gear and count the shotgun shells I have remaining from last season. It is also time to check out new gear and [...]

Hunting Alone

By Perry Thorvig
Who would think that there is actually a “down side” to having the luxury of a lot of time to hunt? The problem is that it may be difficult to get enough hunting partners to accompany you. My hunting partners usually set aside one long weekend a year to hunt geese in North [...]

It’s Crunch Time for the 2002 Waterfowl Season

By Jason Phillips
The 2002 waterfowl season is just around the corner and it’s time for final preparations. For avid waterfowlers, preparation begins at the final sunset on the last day of the previous season. August is crunch time! The planning, preparation and anticipation has reached its climax and everything will soon fall into place for [...]

Getting Stuck

By Perry Thorvig
The little town of Middle River, Minnesota has an annual goose hunting opening day celebration. They sell beer in plastic mugs that say, “If you ain’t a goose hunter, you ain’t sh*t.” That phrase reminds me of the one that my hunting partner Ken Ziegler says about being stuck. He say’s, “I ain’t [...]

Winged Migration

By Doug Leier
I’ve got a short attention span. In fact, my 9-month-old daughter can stay on task longer than I can. I say it’s a factor of society, the internet, email and cell phones – the “right now” culture that seems to have us trapped.
But somehow, that all changes when we get outdoors. Outside, the [...]

CRP Loss Equals Less Wildlife

By Doug Leier
It’s no secret that Conservation Reserve Program acreage continues to decline in North Dakota. This is not a surprising development, as for many years agencies and conservation organizations have been pointing toward economic factors that could potentially influence landowner interest in CRP.
The reality of the situation in 2008 is that accelerated CRP loss will [...]

Hunting Retriever Basics

By PJ Maguire
Dogs are companions, first and foremost. As hunters with retrievers, we should always keep that in mind when training, hunting or playing with our dogs. The vast majority of your retriever’s life will be spent going for walks and chasing butterflies, not hunting. However, it is easy for us to forget that when [...]

Fall Hunting Predictions

By Doug Leier
Football previews with prognostications and predictions for the upcoming season are starting in earnest. Based on drafts and off-season transactions, “experts” are predicting which teams will flourish or fail.
While most hunting seasons are at least six weeks away, biologists and wildlife managers can also make calculated estimations as to how well a fall [...]

Wind and the Critical Role it Plays

By PJ Maguire
Picture yourself in a cornfield. It’s late October, the previous night this particular field was lined shoulder to shoulder with Northern mallards. Standing in the headlights of your SUV you toss a few crispy corn petals up in to the air, and watch as a gust of wind takes them back to the [...]

Planning a Waterfowl HuntingTrip to Canada

By Justin Gatzke
Well, it is getting down to crunch time. We are officially less than two months away from the big waterfowl hunting trip to Canada. Coordinating a hunting trip can be a series of headaches if you let it overwhelm you. There is lodging to find, licenses to buy, trailers to stuff, and so [...]

Hunter’s Choice Waterfowl Regulations

By Doug Leier
About 15 years ago I attended my first Game and Fish Department advisory board meeting. I was a fisheries and wildlife management student at North Dakota State University, and had a goal of one day working in the natural resource field. I decided it might be a positive learning experience to attend this [...]

The Art of Missing

By PJ Maguire

 
There has been a lot written about shooting shotguns and the different roles of shot size, chokes, etc. It seems to me that every article I have read about shooting agrees on one thing; you can have the right choke with the right load, but if you cannot shoot, it won’t matter. In [...]

Duck Hunting Field Tactics & Tips

By Chris Hustad
There’s a lot of different ways to hunt ducks. You can field hunt, open water hunt, hunt shallow potholes, hunt flooded timber, pass shoot refuges, etc. etc. Every state has it’s own unique landscape, it’s own flyways, it’s own style of hunting. This philosophy definitely applies to duck hunting in North Dakota.
What amazes [...]

Duck Recipe

Here’s some favorite duck recipes of ours.
Orange Duck Recipe :

1 Tablespoon of Vegetable Oil
1/3 Cup of Orange Juice
2 Tablespoons Grated Orange Peel
1/2 Cup Can of Peaches, Pureed
1/2 Cup Can of Pineapple, Pureed
1/3 Cup Whipping Cream
1 Tsp. Bacon Drippings
2 Tablespoon Butter
1/2 Tsp. Chopped Fresh Garlic
1 Tsp. Tomato Paste
1 Cup Chicken Broth
1 Tablespoon Clover Honey

 
In a large [...]

Fast & Easy Wild Game Bird Cleaning Tips

By Chris Hustad

This type of bird cleaning is best used for ducks, snow geese, lessor Canada geese, and upland game. The process of breasting the bird and packaging takes about 3-4 minutes/bird. It’s a great way to do large numbers at a time. I learned this years back and have been using it ever [...]

Layout Blind Concealment Tips

By Chris Hustad
Without a doubt, the introduction of layout blinds is one of the biggest assets to field hunters in the past decade. Every year, existing models get makeovers adding better modifications. There are many brands on the market, and many models can be found of each. I’ve hunted out of most of the major [...]

Scouting for the Fall

By Doug Leier
 I  hate to bear bad news, but summer is fading faster than the Minnesota Twins. While there is still some time to soak in the last remaining days of August, it’s also a good time to start preparations for autumn and all its splendor.
It’s never too soon to begin planning for fall hunting [...]

Battling Aquatic Nuisance Species

By Doug Leier
A few months ago I wrote about the expanding concern regarding aquatic nuisance species and their current and potential impact in North Dakota waters.
While North Dakota doesn’t yet have ANS as significant as, say, zebra mussels in the Great Lakes, unwanted plants and animals continue to steal time and money away from state [...]