The boys are very true about what they say. I have been burned also after showing someone a hunting spot of mine.
Like they said the state and federal agenices will have the most current information since they are out in the field everyday. Like you said in the first part of your first post...getting crowded...we ND boys tend to keep "our" spots to ourselves. Even though those spots may have others that hunt them, in the back of our minds they are "ours". Like we have said before to others, you need to be mobile, that may mean moving 10 miles, or up to 100 miles, just depends on where the birds are and the water conditions. We are not trying to sound arrogant, we just tend to protect our spots since ND is getting more and more crowded.
This past fall on opener of pheasant my pops, uncle, and myself were cruising the Ashley area, we never set foot out of the truck to walk for pheasants. Since every place we would go to had either guys walking or guys set up for ducks/geese. I watched a father and his two young boys set up on a slough that same saturday morning...the slough was in a pasture, no cover and they were below some BIG power lines. In another field there were a group of hunters standing around in their spread, with their trucks no more than 75yds away in the ditch. This is not from lack of hunting knowledge, its from lack of information about the area they are hunting.
I know that was a lil off subject, but the more info you have the better, and the BEST places are the USFWS and NDGF. We just want to keep the last best hunting spot in the US, the best as long as possible. You will get the info you need, but it will take some time and hard work. Also, april/may is a very tough time to predict anything for the fall months.
Another good sight is the NWS, for up to date rain information, I know I use it during the summer quite often. Hope this helped out some, and good luck hunting in our fine state.
H2OfowlND
