SD snows

SDSU spring break is next week and were going to be out hunting ole whitey starting saturday south of mitchell. Ill be sure to give a report when we get back.. Anyone heard any hunting reports for out here?

I was under the impression that the bulk of the birds were still messing about in Nebraska.

It was the case last week but with the warm spell this area has recieved theres nothing holding them back now. Theres a lot of mixed reports but most are saying that birds are pushing heavy across the border. 7 days from now there should be good huntable numbers. You can call the snow goose hotline out of aberdeen. They generally give accurate reports. (605) 885-6401

We have a contact from Salem that has a small airplane……he went up in the air last night just to check it out for us.

He said yesterday (Tuesday) was the first day he has seen consistant bird activity over the house and around the area (he’s been seeing smaller flocks for over a week)…….In the plane last night he said he could see multiple flocks on the ground and in the air at any one time……not the huge monsterous clouds, but decent sized groups

Leaving tomorrow….Kill Whitey!!!

Good luck Jake maybe well see ya out there!

Nebraska is lousy with birds right now, so I would expect SD to fill up very fast with these warm temps.

I’ll be in the Aberdeen area next week. Can’t wait to pull the trigger on some snows!!

Last weekend was okay for us…..Birds seem very streched out this year due to the weird weather.

Decoying reports have been tougher as well, but we did okay……40 birds, 1 band over dekes in 2 days.

Leaving tomorrow for 5 more days

Did you hunt solely over sillo-socks?

We’ve got 348 silo-socks and 6-700 standard socks.

I was in the Aberdeen area the last two days. Tuesday, only saw one small flock. Wednesday, we saw more birds, but not what I would have expected this time of year. I’m headed back out next week, hope I have time to get the gun out of the case on the next trip…

Quote:

---

We’ve got 348 silo-socks and 6-700 standard socks.

---

You don’t utilize any shell decoys along with the socks? We run 200 shells and some ratty socks but have gotten a bunch of sillo-socks to replace the rags.

My interest, as with most spring hunters, is in reducing the bulk being carried into the muddy fields.

We like to walk in to reduce the effect, both physically and visually, on farmers who are gracious enough to let us hunt in their fields.

Jake—-just as an FYI 40 in two days this year is pretty darn good from reports and from what I’ve experienced, especially if they were over decoys.

We got back from SD sunday and what I saw was the most snows in one area that I’ve ever seen and I’ve been around the block a time or seven! There were easily 4-700,000(wasn’t less & probally more!) WITHIN EYESIGHT all day long on friday and the time in which we hunted on sat. The sights were truely amazing but made for extremley tough conditions. Cold and NW winds didn’t help as birds poured in from the south, saw all of the live birds on the ground, and went to them. They migrated up to us in the stiff N-NW winds, but didn’t leave. Would you rather land with us and our 900, or over there and join that tornado along with 150,000 on the ground already? Our field was excellent and there had been birds on it two days prior until the spread was put up, picked corn and a pond in the middle, there were floaters on the water. 9 birds later we were dissappointed but the sights were great. We shot a couple of doubles, took 2 out of 4 on a Rossie flock the maple leafed their way down, but other than that all singles, one juvie. It was tough for them to even circle around to get a look at us.

Was thinking of heading back this weekend but the weather forecast doesn’t look any better, cold again with snow and rain. Don’t know if I want to wast another weekend on crappy weather.

Yeah, we’ve been doing fairly alright from the sounds of things this year. our average is around 20-22 birds a day for 4 guys. No really big kill days, but no signal digit days either.

We finally started working some bigger flocks down in close this past Monday and Tuesday with the high winds.

Like they’d start here

and they’d ended up here!!!

We had some smaller flocks work in nice as well, and shot a couple singles that were on the deck at like 4 yds.

Can’t wait to go back on friday.

Shootin at a single

Nothing like sitting in the blind from Sunrise…

to Sunset

Awesome pictures Jake! Thanks for sharing!

Spent the first part of last week in Mitchell.. Shot 22 over dekes and jumped another 18.

Second half of last week was in Huron. Shot 25 for a total of 65 and a double banded blue. Birds are TOUGH to decoy. We only had luck when the weather was extra crappy but for a spread of 400 dekes we did OK.

Very few birds over the weekend in the Lamoure, ND and Verona, ND areas. More birds to the south near Oakes and Crete.

We had best luck in ND between Lidgerwood and the MN border. A LOT of birds east of Hankinson.

The migration seems to be jumping over the areas that had little run-off from snow.

We ended our 08 Spring Season with a Bang (literally) this last weekend.

with a little help from mother nature, we were able to string together a couple GREAT hunts to cap off what was already a great season.

I love the spring!!! but now it’s time to get the boat out……Can’t wait for next year

This guy was flying in dangerous territory!!!

That’s a Canada in there isn’t it? Does this happen much?

Congrats Jake on a successful spring! Thanks for sharing your hunt and pictures!