[jdhog]

Can anyone help me as i,am starting to plan a trip out to north dakota for next year , and i don,t know where or when would be a great time to come .places to stay and areas to hunt ? I thank you all for your help .
James Droster from Wis .

 

[nodakoutdoors.com]

Hey James.

That's a tough question to ask since there's so much area and any recommendation could be their honey hole. :wink: The first thing I recommend doing is ordering a good county map of the state. Seek out an area that has good pothole concentrations and you'll be in good shape. Of course, most of the state has potholes, so you'll probably find an opportunity on almost every page. Most SMALL towns don't have lodging, so you'll have to look for medium sized towns. If you need a hotel for a particular area, drop me a pm and I can help you out.

Most people plan their trip in October. November has provided some good opportunities in recent years, but this year was pretty grim....so planning for November is always a risk. But it is pretty crowded in Oct. in some areas, so plan to stay mobile.

 

[Matt Jones]

Like Chris was saying, plan on being mobile. With possible drought conditions looming on the horizon a spot someone reccomends to you right now might very literally be dried up by next hunting season...you just never know. Which really exemplifies NoDak hunting, you never know. You could see a foot of snow in October so you always have to be prepared and always have to be willing to move to where the birds are.

When it comes to waterfowl you want to look at basically the entire state minus the Red River Valley and South and West of the Missouri. This is the PPR region. Buy yourself a good state atlas and start looking around. One of the hotspots this year was the Devils Lake area because it had good water conditions, but this is also the most commercialized region for waterfowl hunting in the state and I spoke to several groups of NR's on their way back (after leaving early) from their trip because access has become nearly impossible in some spots. Other areas of the state aren't as bad but they're probably not going to hold the amount of birds either, especially if they're dry.

 

[Fetch]

I can't say I've had two years alike in 25 years - so mobile is the key.

Buy a ND Gazzateer I think they are at delmore.com ??? You bring the Beer & brats (not kids) :roll: But good ones are OK :wink: & I may show you a spot or two ??? You a boat hunter as if all Wisconsin guys arn't :wink:

Next year I'm going early & then to Canada when the hardcore Invasion starts :roll: I got s c r e w ed this year & never got Kissed cause I went to Vegas for a week during primetime & saved too much time for later - Later usually is better cause most NR's never see the real migration. But this year :roll: :******:

 

[quackersmack]

You may want to think about narrowing down the dates you want to hunt, and that may limit your area to hunt. If you plan on hunting later in the season, the northern part of the state may be iced over. Earlier in the season, as mentioned before, plan to put on some miles, watch the birds patterns, and bring plenty of steel.

 

[MinotRich]

Here's a link to the North Dakota Fish and Game page. You can get PLOTS maps here that will give you a good general overview of the state. http://www.state.nd.us/gnf/info/plots.html
I would also recommend one of the gazateer maps as well to give you a good idea of where you might find a good place to hunt. The only bad thing I can say about the Gazateer maps are that they show roads where sometimes roads are not actually there. If you use one, I would recommend a GPS receiver as the maps are marked with longitude/latitude reference lines and would make finding your way around and marking "honey holes" quite a bit easier. Good Luck! I should also add that these maps vary year by year depending on the amount of precipitation that we receive. What I mean is, where the map shows water and what should be a big pond or lake, oftentimes is nothing more than a dry lake bed. Some advance scouting a few days prior to your actual hunting may be in order.
4 More Day 'til the opener!!! :lol: