What happend with the snow geese in nd?

I was raised snow goose hunting once it became really good in your area. Before they would come through Devils lake, Ashtabula, Tewakon, and through W. MN....like Fergus Falls of the olden days.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was told the flyway shifted west for food, as they followed the increase in small grains further west.

Nowadays, the birds stay in Canada longer for a couple of reasons. First, pea farming has taken off up there and the birds stick around longer to take advantage of that food source. 2nd would be the lack of hunting pressure up north(although this is changing). And 3rd, they've implemented dams that will hold the birds when there wasn't prior. The combination of those 3 plus the mild fall weather has been keeping most birds void of ND. It's taken a blizzard to bring the birds down every year since 97.

Last fall was a breath of fresh air as we finally had a chance at a mass numbers in ND in the fall. It's just too bad every weekend was bluebird weather.

Good Topic

I started out hunting SOB out of GrandForks (70's) - Only had to drive to Petersburg or Michigan ND. & we always got a few. Used to drive back & forth everyday. Then we headed more towards Brocket & Edmore - then Bisbe & the Rocklake areas (used to shoot them as they crossed over the border :grin started getting into decoys. Had some spectacular hunts & really thought we knew what we were doing. Like Ken said, not many hunted Mon. thru Fri. & the weekenders actually helped decoyers to keep the birds moving.

It used to be the SOB's would show up in smaller family groups & could find them feeding in new barley shoots & green fields - (not worked yet.) then they would move to waste grains. The young birds had to acclimate to grain, after living on grass shoots up in the Tundra. I think hunters helped, group the birds up, by hunting them. Plus as they moved to grains & eventually corn - they started piling into the same fields - as more & more came down. This was the great staging area. That they all came to & built up fat reserves - until they made the flight south - usually forced out by weather. It was amazing to see all the birds.

I have been terribly disappointed, in the last ten years, as the size of the flock grew bigger - we started getting less & less birds. & since the conservation hunts & liberal regs. it has gotten even worse.

Weather & crops have played a big role in that - also pressure from hunters.

I saw the ever progressive move of the flyway west. Where Hurricane North of Leeds & Rugby & Bottineau, became the center of the flyway.

I eventually got a lake place in Devils Lake. It saved me alot of driving & gave me lot more sleep.

The high water in the region has changed everything also. Their roosting areas changed dramatically (& still are)

With the popularity of everyone wanting to come to ND & shoot a SOB. Also caused the rise in guides & outfitters. & all those folks found out how tough they were to hunt & needed guides to get any. ( or even find them :roll: ) Then the leasing began & has got worse every year. Plus all the freelance hunters, found out, we had the majority of the ducks here too. & of course the internet came along. & the word spread like a wildfire. Every year a few came & were amazed - the next year they all brought a few friends & so on & so on & so on etc. etc. etc.

During this time the geese started staying in Canada (for the reasons in the above posts) Then the guides & outfitters started to panic & had to go out & get all the land a SOB either landed on, or even flew over - to at least show their clients a few.

I hope the word gets out, that ND is really not the meca of SOB hunting anymore. That plus the fact, most have tried it & found out it is expensive & harder than shooting golf course geese back home :grin: Maybe now, they have learned, it's not all it's cracked up to be ???

I'm afraid a drought & severe restrictions will be the only thing to prevent the duck hunters from coming. $$$ to the state G&FD (license sales) & all the other $$$ involved has changed things (IMHO for the worse) What was a recreational thing for us, is now a money thing, to way to many. I will also say, many of the most successful, at making money from all this - really were not the best hunters (or really gave a hoot) before. & now they don't want to compete with the recreational ones - that did become very good & loved every aspect of hunting them. That is part of why there are opposing groups, with totally different idealogical & opposing views. Now make this political & you have a real mess.

This is why, I think only the G&FD can (or could have) done things, to have prevented some of this. But in many ways, they have missed the chance now ??? Or don't want to take the flak, for doing what is best, for ND Resident hunters. (???) :sad:

Is it a resource, that can be managed, as a economic resource ??? Or should it be a recreational thing (1st for residents) & then allow, as many as can be managed, from out of state to partake ??? How the guides & outfitters, got to the point of being a sizeable portion of this ??? - is beyond me ??? & should they have a equal, or even a higher priority say in it all ??? I guess the Govenor thinks so :roll: What a mess !!!

& I have not mentioned, the word Pheasant once, until now. That mess only triggered the bigger problems. & served as a wake up call to many. That something needs to be done - studied - changed - before it gets even worse. :sad: & as Redlabel points out, things change - But do they have to keep changing (so much)in unmanaged ways, that will untimately make ND, like most all others states ??? Where $$$ & those that have the most of it, are the only winners ???

[ This Message was edited by: Fetch on 2002-04-17 13:06 ]

Field Hunter's comments are pretty true to the mark.

The snows are continuously changing - hey maybe in 20 years they will return and stage somewhere in ND agian.

30 years ago Salyer was full of Specs and not a snow goose. 15 years ago there were almost ½ to 1 million snows staging on the refuge. Now they have mallards and giant Canada geese and snow geese may stop for a week or two.

Snow Geese Return to ND in big numbers and stay all October ??????

May be :???: on the northeast side of ND, but from Bottineau west, the geese will likely stay in Canada longer.

The big "river" refuges in north central North Dakota (Salyer, Des Lacs, and Upper Souris) have been short stopped. Dams were built on the same rivers on the Canadian side of the border. Geese sit by the hundreds of thousands 15 to 100 miles north of the ND/Canadian border in western Manitoba and eastern Sask. Unfortunately, these Canadian reservoirs are drought tolerant like their ND counterparts

Snow geese have not returned to SE ND, with the exception of weather-related years, it is unlikely that they will return to northern ND either.

In the '70s and early 80's I hunted snow geese in SE ND from October 10 to freeze-up.

Snow geese prefer to nest on the arctic and winter near the gulf coast. In Texas, snow geese are around from November until February. North Dakota is a potential stop over to keep their bodies fed for the migration. Unusual weather patterns will likely play a bigger factor now. If by chance southern Canada is hit with a huge snow storm in October, northern ND could have a good year again.

[ This Message was edited by: prairie hunter on 2002-04-18 10:47 ]