ND Snow Trip.

E

esetter

Active member
So we got to our usual hunting area in SE ND in the midst of a blinding snow. Thankfully the pub was open.... Anyhow we got up the next day to bitter cold and deep drifts on anything low lying or west facing. Hunting in knee deep snow was tough on me and my 8 month old GSP. However we found birds on just about every hunt and saw one of the largest groups of birds at one time I've ever seen (20-25 75% were roosters). We pulled three out of that group. I shot a grouse on a WPA that folded into a drifted in slough. I looked hard for it , gave up , came back , a rooster flushed on the return trip and I got it. The property next to it was posted. 6-7 birds flushed from it while I was walking near the edge. I ended up running into the farmer who had it posted that night at the bar and got permission to hunt it. It led to another rooster. I didn't get to hunt as much or as hard as I would have liked to. My pup was torched pretty early from doing the snow hop over and over. Not gonna lie , I was too. My friend is a waterfowler so I hunted with him some. We walked through two coveys of huns while pulling sleds full of decoys to field hunt mallards.
Ive got a couple of thoughts and questions for you snow guys..
1. MUCH RESPECT for those of you who I have read your stories about pounding snowed in sloughs , its tougher than it sounds!
2. Do you think dogs eating snow provides adequate hydration while hunting? Most of the water was frozen.
3. How do you keep snow out of your boots?
 
esetter said:
So we got to our usual hunting area in SE ND in the midst of a blinding snow. Thankfully the pub was open.... Anyhow we got up the next day to bitter cold and deep drifts on anything low lying or west facing. Hunting in knee deep snow was tough on me and my 8 month old GSP. However we found birds on just about every hunt and saw one of the largest groups of birds at one time I've ever seen (20-25 75% were roosters). We pulled three out of that group. I shot a grouse on a WPA that folded into a drifted in slough. I looked hard for it , gave up , came back , a rooster flushed on the return trip and I got it. The property next to it was posted. 6-7 birds flushed from it while I was walking near the edge. I ended up running into the farmer who had it posted that night at the bar and got permission to hunt it. It led to another rooster. I didn't get to hunt as much or as hard as I would have liked to. My pup was torched pretty early from doing the snow hop over and over. Not gonna lie , I was too. My friend is a waterfowler so I hunted with him some. We walked through two coveys of huns while pulling sleds full of decoys to field hunt mallards.
Ive got a couple of thoughts and questions for you snow guys..
1. MUCH RESPECT for those of you who I have read your stories about pounding snowed in sloughs , its tougher than it sounds!
2. Do you think dogs eating snow provides adequate hydration while hunting? Most of the water was frozen.
3. How do you keep snow out of your boots?
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Wear gators, use snow shoes.
 
Weimdogman said:
Snow is fine well out in the field but water back at the truck.
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So , I usually never carry water on hunts up there. Didn't really think about everything being frozen . She ate lots of snow but definitely got plenty of water back at the truck. I have just read many times that snow melts down to about a 3rd or less of water.
Thanks all for the replies.
 
Snow keeps them cool so they aren't losing much water to panting. But still need a few sips of water to actually be hydrated. Really don't need much though.
 
Animals also need water to help keep them warm. Dogs will eat the snow they need.
Once again just have water back at the truck.

As for 10 to 1 ratio that is only true sometimes. It's often far less.
 
ND has plenty of blowing dry snow. Probably travels a county or two before it finds some place to settle in.

Growing up in ND and often hunting snow filled areas. You learn to pick your areas well.
 
Southerner my whole life , so it took me a while to figure out how to approach the cover . I will say that seeing tracks kept me confident and ready. I have seen a few tracks over the years in the black soil there but nothing like it shows up in the snow. Saw literally zero other hunters too!!
Ill ask this , most all of the crp fields I usually hunt there were laid over and drifted in. In those conditions are they a waste of time to hunt?
 
esetter said:
Southerner my whole life , so it took me a while to figure out how to approach the cover . I will say that seeing tracks kept me confident and ready. I have seen a few tracks over the years in the black soil there but nothing like it shows up in the snow. Saw literally zero other hunters too!!
Ill ask this , most all of the crp fields I usually hunt there were laid over and drifted in. In those conditions are they a waste of time to hunt?
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Imo yes.Snowed in farms are usually not good.
 
If the birds roost there and then it gets snowed in it is a surreal experience. If it got snowed in all day long and the birds have other cover like cattail sloughs or dirty sheltbelts those would be better choices.
 
When we arrived in ND on the 30th of Oct our area had 13 inches of snow. Drifts were mid thigh to knee deep around cattail slews. Birds were tucked in under the snow and were sitting tight. Almost letting you step on them from a point. But as week went on ,snow started going down from warmer temps. Started finding them in weedy grass adjacent to crop fields. All in all a great trip, lots of birds and some good times.
 
esetter said:
So we got to our usual hunting area in SE ND in the midst of a blinding snow. Thankfully the pub was open.... Anyhow we got up the next day to bitter cold and deep drifts on anything low lying or west facing. Hunting in knee deep snow was tough on me and my 8 month old GSP. However we found birds on just about every hunt and saw one of the largest groups of birds at one time I've ever seen (20-25 75% were roosters). We pulled three out of that group. I shot a grouse on a WPA that folded into a drifted in slough. I looked hard for it , gave up , came back , a rooster flushed on the return trip and I got it. The property next to it was posted. 6-7 birds flushed from it while I was walking near the edge. I ended up running into the farmer who had it posted that night at the bar and got permission to hunt it. It led to another rooster. I didn't get to hunt as much or as hard as I would have liked to. My pup was torched pretty early from doing the snow hop over and over. Not gonna lie , I was too. My friend is a waterfowler so I hunted with him some. We walked through two coveys of huns while pulling sleds full of decoys to field hunt mallards.
Ive got a couple of thoughts and questions for you snow guys..
1. MUCH RESPECT for those of you who I have read your stories about pounding snowed in sloughs , its tougher than it sounds!
2. Do you think dogs eating snow provides adequate hydration while hunting? Most of the water was frozen.
3. How do you keep snow out of your boots?
Click to expand...
I'm shaking my head after I read your post and sympathized with you & your experience! Myself and a few other guys drove from NJ to ND for an 8 day hunt. We left on 10/22 and our first day to hunt was 10/24 the first day of the snow that came through. We started our first 2 days near Flasher at little west of the Missouri, about 40 miles south of Mandan. Was able to get a couple of birds early then the snow came down so hard it was hard to see for a bit! Lol The next day we sat tight cold, icy & 6" plus of snow. Left at 1:30 the next day to head over near Braddock. Tuff conditions for the first 2 days until the sun & temps softened the snow and melted some off. All the ditches & treelines had 1.5-2' drifts, shame! We got a few birds between 3 guys. The problem was as of 11/3 the morning we left to drive home there was 1000's of acres of corn still up! It really hurt our hunt! We managed 24 roosters, 2 sharptails & 2 Huns. They would run/fly to the endless corn and forget it, it's all over! We also hunted a few hours over 2 different days near Napoleon and killed just 2 birds, flushed a few hens. I don't know what has happened over in Napoleon but there were very, very few birds there! 20 years ago we would move 200-300/day! Not good! Bird population near Braddock was good but it was hard to judge with so much corn still up! Much of the corn that was up a 10 plus days ago is cut or in the process of!
esetter said:
So we got to our usual hunting area in SE ND in the midst of a blinding snow. Thankfully the pub was open.... Anyhow we got up the next day to bitter cold and deep drifts on anything low lying or west facing. Hunting in knee deep snow was tough on me and my 8 month old GSP. However we found birds on just about every hunt and saw one of the largest groups of birds at one time I've ever seen (20-25 75% were roosters). We pulled three out of that group. I shot a grouse on a WPA that folded into a drifted in slough. I looked hard for it , gave up , came back , a rooster flushed on the return trip and I got it. The property next to it was posted. 6-7 birds flushed from it while I was walking near the edge. I ended up running into the farmer who had it posted that night at the bar and got permission to hunt it. It led to another rooster. I didn't get to hunt as much or as hard as I would have liked to. My pup was torched pretty early from doing the snow hop over and over. Not gonna lie , I was too. My friend is a waterfowler so I hunted with him some. We walked through two coveys of huns while pulling sleds full of decoys to field hunt mallards.
Ive got a couple of thoughts and questions for you snow guys..
1. MUCH RESPECT for those of you who I have read your stories about pounding snowed in sloughs , its tougher than it sounds!
2. Do you think dogs eating snow provides adequate hydration while hunting? Most of the water was frozen.
3. How do you keep snow out of your boots?
Click to expand...
 
Birddog77 said:
I'm shaking my head after I read your post and sympathized with you & your experience! Myself and a few other guys drove from NJ to ND for an 8 day hunt. We left on 10/22 and our first day to hunt was 10/24 the first day of the snow that came through. We started our first 2 days near Flasher at little west of the Missouri, about 40 miles south of Mandan. Was able to get a couple of birds early then the snow came down so hard it was hard to see for a bit! Lol The next day we sat tight cold, icy & 6" plus of snow. Left at 1:30 the next day to head over near Braddock. Tuff conditions for the first 2 days until the sun & temps softened the snow and melted some off. All the ditches & treelines had 1.5-2' drifts, shame! We got a few birds between 3 guys. The problem was as of 11/3 the morning we left to drive home there was 1000's of acres of corn still up! It really hurt our hunt! We managed 24 roosters, 2 sharptails & 2 Huns. They would run/fly to the endless corn and forget it, it's all over! We also hunted a few hours over 2 different days near Napoleon and killed just 2 birds, flushed a few hens. I don't know what has happened over in Napoleon but there were very, very few birds there! 20 years ago we would move 200-300/day! Not good! Bird population near Braddock was good but it was hard to judge with so much corn still up! Much of the corn that was up a 10 plus days ago is cut or in the process of!
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As a side note: We were snowed out last year from that mid Nov snow storm that came in 2' of snow and I-94 shut down for like 3 days! We came 2.5 weeks earlier and we hit snow again! Go figure! I've been coming to ND for 20 years and we rarely hit any snow with the exception of 1 time 16 years ago where it actually affected our hunt so we have been blessed! I'm retired now so I'm more flexible with planning! But as you all know, snow can be both a blessing & a curse for a ND hunt! We love a dusting but not inches! Lol We are very concerned with bird numbers in the Napoleon area of ND! I would have never thought Napoleon would be so poor, of course it's been 2 years since I was back for a hunt & things change fast in our bird hunting world as you all know! I compared notes with some friends from Minnesota that were hunting near Braddock 10 days before me and over 4 days they did very well especially hunting ditch areas near cattails! They did not go anywhere near Napoleon! We did have a great time, very thankful to get out there! Love ND, can't wait to get back!

I'm sure most hunters on this forum drive to their hunting grounds in ND. I flew for many years because of my job! Northwest airlines then Delta, check 2 dogs in at the counter they fly with you out & back $400/dog round trip nice & easy until som executive said NO MORE 7 years ago! As of today Delta will not fly any dogs, yea COVID changed things too but they put a stop sign up before that! You could fly them as cargo which created a whole other set of nonsense & hoops to jump through but they still will not fly dogs! Bottomline, if you're going to ND or anywhere else out there the only way to get your dogs there is for you to drive, that's a 26 hr drive for us one-way! At least now I can bring 3-4 dogs or more if I wanted to. There is still some great hunting going on out there now & I wish I could turn around and go back so anyone reading this that still has the opportunity between now and Jan I say absolutely get out there, 98% of the crops will be cut and you should have a great hunt!
 
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