Im not trying to get in a peein match w/ you here just meerly throwin ideas back and fourth. First I live in the pot hole region I around 175 acres of cattail sloughs on my property which some of that was put into soil bank the rest are left idle weather dry or not one of my bigger ones that tends to hold alot of ducks I dug out and formed island in the middle of. I also have some rougher land that I was farming that I let go back to prarie grass and I have planted its natural trees back whiac hold ton of sharptails and huns and I also have a couple of small alfalfa patches that I do harvest but I let the last cutting stand for the deer. What I am getting at is I am providing for wildlife. I had a feed pile this winter for w/t fed between 40-70 deer so I do give some back. As for Tony Dean I have no respect for anything involved w/ him he is clueless. Our chamber of commerce here could care less about what is better for the long haul. Business owners want the fast buck now and to heck w/ tomorow, everybody involved w/ the people is preaching economic development. The bird hunters do bring $ to our communities which badly need it, but it aint gonna save them. I think about what I spend when I come hunting bears in MN, I purchase a license, couple tanks of gas, but thats about it. I realize that the bird hunters that that recreate here have alot more cake than some broke dumb farm kid from podunk, but when it gets down to it it is still not alot. The states gives number on the $ that comes in from NR hunters but its not realistic to me because it is figured in a trickle down way, this guy to that guy and so on. Bird reports from here are not accurate our lodge is located between the two largest refuges in northern ND we scout 4-6 rigs every night, we got a good idear whats there, talk about tactics we like to think we got a pretty big bag of tricks, we have top notch equipment and our guides are all veterans, not joe who set a spread 3-4 years ago. I will admit that when I spouted off about hunting only over fields that I did not take divers into consideration(sorry). The thing that really makes me think about this stuff is years back, not to many we cleaned around 2000-2500 yr. last year we cleaned 500 sum, but the population is higher now than ever. I do voice these opinions to anyone I have even testified at senate hearings constantly call sens. and reps. but there gets to be so much hokey poke that they dont understand whats going on and most of them are not sportsmen they cant see it the only thing they care about is the green (econ dev). I need you to send me some cards so I have someone to send the guy to when they storm out of my shop.
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Alright I see you do thing to improve your area..But I also see your statment's that "our guide's are all vetrans, our lodge is located" by this I take it your a outfitter? If so then I feel your angry becuase of compitition...Please clarify...
I also see you come to this state and hunt bear..Hummm with that in mind and your opinion previously stated you should stay home and hunt ND bear,ya get my point..
Once again I see those people who are complaining about other's in thier neck of the woods ....Ya think I like it when a outa stater is 100 yds from my bait? I dont go and cut his tree down I simply shut down the area and move on..Trust me on this when I shut a area down the bear no longer go back to that bait..Useing a certain natural substance will do this in a hurry.. Then I make sure I meet up with them and offer a active bait via guide/rep....I think youll find that anytime you offer intell where the common guy can hire ya once and then come back you have either two choise's either live with it or go set up right next to him and show why ya dont want to do that again..Nothing has a more devastating effect than to see them pack up at 10 am and head out knowing that you took every goose off them....I did this to several cleints..The week before I took them out hunting and then low and behold they were right back in the same area.. So instead of sniveling I set up and with my my sub's we took control by properly calling and showed them why they hired us to begin with..Youll be suprised how many return cleints I got becaues instead of going over all cocky ..I would bring the thermos and a extra cup,walk over to thier spread and suggest them maybe tommorow you should hunt with us instead of watching us.. Ive spent the last 20 years developing decoys and learning.Ive since retired from guideing because of two fact I hate listening to people blame others for inability IE ya put the geese 20yds infront of em and they cant hit crap and at the end of a hunt cleints didnt always want the birds..Tell me what do you do with 91 honkers at the end of a weekend?I got tired of goose brats,steaks,berger,jerky,ect... ..
Since your into politics why dont you push to create MORE sanctuary so that birds do have a rest area,,Shut off half of devils lake..Dont allow motors in certain areas..I dont see any of that happening there.Change the laws to a no tresspass and not the sheep fence/range rule.
Yep ya kinda forgot the diver hunter didnt ya...Saw that one and was waiting for ya to see it yourself but some one jumped the gun there!Considering 3 of my client brag how the diver shooting is on devils lake..
..Please reply I am dying to hear the next reply. I dont let typed words upset me ,,aint any match going here just a good ole coffee cup discussion.I am bet'n your a big time outfitter that dont like the traveling pros'or educated gunners in your turf..Am I right?
I agree w/ you whole heartedly on bears and baits I have hunted bears since I was in grade school thanks to my father. We have found that it really is no problem at all to have another outfitter or somoneelse baiting within 100 yds of us, bears are usually very easy to commit solely to my baits, just givem what they like, as compared to that sucker or beaver nailed to a tree (this in MB not MN). As for the birds I dont have a problem w/ other guys even in the same field as my setup as long as they dont try takin my wind, these guys arent the ones that are causing problems. As for the pros letem rip I dont mind competition as long as we are all on a even field, and are honest and ethical in our ways. I work pt for a store in edina I have made a pretty good friend w/ one of the other employees who is a waterfowl nut, he has shown me pictures of some days in MN looks like there is awsome hunting over there still. Ya know as long as any of these issues are politicized I wonder if there will ever be any solutions to the sportsmens problems, there has to be a better way that can satisfy the majority.
Yep DT I agree with ya there will always be this underlying attitude with some hunters..Its really a shame sometimes they just get to overwhelmed with the sport..I look at bird migration as a gift at times..A couple of years ago I went to bigstone right after ND froze and it was comparable to anywhere in the world ..We basically had 60,000 plus just in mallards almost totaly to ourselves..the snow drifts stopped many.I knew with the low water just were to put 5 decoys yep 5 we shot drakes not just drakes but they had to have double curlie's..
Myself I dont care to have a feed feild Ive gotten the geese to try and land on the tracks just outside of Odessa and even down into a gravel pit..Its all in the placment and calling..
So are you a taxidermist? Are you a outfitter?
I didnt see a answer to that yet..I am planning to hunt with a good freind in Nd this fall he's pretty well known and does fairly well..I am looking for specks and pintail's..Like I said earlier I have as of yet traveld much always been to busy but with the shop going full time and the need for primo display birds and the fact its tax deductable I am going to do a little traveling this fall..Kinda been a dream to actually get to hunt new stuff..I dont know bout you but hitting the same feilds day after day gets to be boaring..This is why I sympathise with those who do guide..Its a crap job somtimes haveing to babysit errogant jerks..Not all my clients were this way but the one in a hundred can make ya regret it..So now we agree its not the guides ruining things? If anything I have seen many take the slack for many gunners with the same liscence plates..
So where do ya work in Edina..i get to the cities every once in a while delivering mounts..Yep I deliver,yea I know its sounds dumb but there is always a steak and beer connected and more work to bring home..........If ya want drop me a Email........
I work for a industrial company in edina though I hardly ever go to that store I am based here in ND we sell heavy industrial rigging, I work w// the power plants and coal mines here primarily. I recently had a little accident unloading some wire rope so I have just been doing taxi all winter, for the last 5-6 years I been mounting in my spare time but after this winter I think I will go full time say ta heck w/ all them purch agent jerks. Speakin of jerks ya sure can getem. The guy that owns the lodge where I work is a real charcter, fall before last we got a buncha guys from Chicago come in they were fairly ariogant, the best shots they have ever seen till ya get them in the field, I love these guys, thousands of excuses everytime, I tell them just you can hit a pidgeon once in a while dont mean ya can shoot birds over decoys. Any way back to the guy who owns the lodge, he has the guys in his sub get to the field goes back opens the trailer starts movin stuff around, nobody else comes back he goes and tells them to get back there and help, they said they shouldnt have to do stuff like that. He goes back puts out about 15 decoys goes back to the truck sits down and has a cup of coffee. One guy asks is that all the decoys we are going to put out, he says yep, guy asks will we get any birds w/ them pete says no. he wispered a few sweet nothins in their before you know it whole spreads up. If we have somone who has a obvious reason why they cant lend a hand we would never even consider this but these guys were just bein jerks. Most guys got most of the spread set before you even get done in the trailer, they are there to hunt not to be babysitted. If you want that treatment you gotta pay for it. We very seldom have trouble finding good fields, we always have 3 backup fields every morning, and if we find more the other guides know about them also. I have come up w/ a little trick for holding those fields, when we would find a good one my dad or I would head out about 10 pm and sleep in the truck, we always do this if we have a hot field. I shouldnt post this here cause it will probably come back to haunt me, but what da heck one saw horse 2 red taillights and a battery seem to work just as well, theres one for your bag. My dad is a traditional bowyer build custom traditional bows, we no longer activly farm although we still have the land, we have done quite a bit of messin around w/ guiding we had a lease on the missouri for whitetails for a while we booked hunters for 25 years for black bear in MB we have done a little bit around home but we dont like to neighbors see ya makin $ gets harder to get on land, just like guys payin. Then the goose camp pete has a awsome setup he bought a school that had closed and turned it into a lodge, its pretty decent built in 68 or 69 we turned class rooms into dormitories got the lunch room and comercial kitchen, pete says he really hated science when he was in high school so he turned that room into a bar something he likes much better. We have our own wing w/ meeting room and maps covering walls of all surrounding area where staff meets every night to plan for morning. Trap shootin gym pool tables lots a stuff. Its pretty neat nothing extravagant but it suits our needs exactly. Only thing we need now is birds that dont boogy at the first sign of bad weather, we have cancelled hunter for the past 4 years because of this,it hurts.
hehehe Ido somthing similar a low level light and a radio,,used to be for water sets a coleman lanter on rebar in the bog....LOL to funny.
I see you have freinds like I .
Clients were all highend and I called ,cleaned birds ,cooked for em
and provided bunk..I hit pretty good $ wise dont get me wrong
...It was only after a while they did care what ya charged and did'nt want the birds.Ohwelll I ate well.The artist I have guided were cool to watch,yep I had 3 old farts that just liked being out there ..Id get 'em in tight and they might go on em and they might not,,Trophy look'n..Sent out many photos of bucksin velvet in secured area's..$2700-$3500...full service with a mount...I did 3 a year in a area and not a soul knew it..Part of the reason I did he pred program .I knew where all the nice bucks hung in the Bigstone..I was the only civilian that could drive either boat or vehicle anywhere
beyond the gates..I studied many area while kill'n preds.. My decoy blind I built ..sold enough also so I could hunt everyday..Been doing that forever,dont think I could live any other way..
Guide'n waterfowl I only have 2 guys I know drop dead sure will be there in the am to guide with ya and no matter what wont screwya up or over
I contracted to the feds since early 80's got tired of working under a moblehome and crawl spaces in -30,,It did allow me to guide and do pred control programs..
Weather determines not only when but what I hunt..Snows get blown all over and shift mighty easy..Hatch#'s and drought determine where and what I do..This tooo alters its self on a whim..Crap happens for many uncontrolable reasons..I will say it again Only the most adaptable gunners limit constantly.Key word is adaptable
We basically know ya cant blame every other gunner the true fact is the BIRDS pick where and how...If people are hitting your flanks and spookin birds and landowners dont like ya guidein on thier proprty if the acre/dollar ratio aint right thats why I started huntin public.smaller spreads and contracted seasons to a picked few instead of fill'n dates on da calender.WEATHER again
.I only hunted with the guys that would drop all and hit the migration as it provided primo gunner op's..I am sure then you guys offer upland hunts as a main or additional ..
Taxidermy well I met many guides and Killas in my adventures to provide a pretty good cleint base for the shop..The guide program was the absolute best thing we did..We mount a freebie for the guide after 10 paid refferal's.We get the work before it leaves the feild
We cast all our own whatever!Mj has been a florist for 30 years and have killer habitat supply contact's.
The overall fill'n the bunksdidnt pay as well as watching the weather and calln a certain few..Sorta how the shop is run..We have a huge traffic flow going by our main street showroom floor so we are by appointment or net/shipping only for now. We live in a mainstreet building that is a part of a old JC penny..her shop is 25x130.My shop is 25x60..I walk to work every morning in -60 in my slippers and a coffe cup..We have a famialy cabin/lake home sleeps 21
and a area of 25x35 miles of hardly no one..I fish off the dock and catch # plus panfish..Shoot bear within a 1/4 of the lakehome /cabin
.The wife's getting tired of the floral shop its been nere for a 100 years so its not going anywhere..Mj wants to retire and wants to do base work. She hunts,fish's and trap's..Hell she sat out near 8 hours in a rain storm wait'n fe bear..I could have asked god for more
As for the game its all in how ya play it and enjoy it..Life is what ya make it!
Insert Could'nt in place for could ..Thankyou..Durr fingers doh