Ice Up North

[Ruddy Boom Boom]

So a few reports of skim ice forming in SD and ND. From other reports IA,WI,MI and Canada there alot of birds and hunter success is very good. Also heard that Stump Lake Ill. is covered up with birds. Won't be long....

[GRN HEAD]

Where the hell is stump lake?lol

[Illinois Ducker]

Stump lake is in Jersey county about 3-4 miles north of where the Illinois River dumps into the Mississippi. It is freaking loaded with birds. I hope they stick around for a few more weeks!!!!:tn:

[BrianM]

I saw a flight of teal when I was there!
Stump lake is NOT full of birds unless you count coots!
While I was there there was at least 20 bunches of atleast 50 teal per bunch go into swan lake!I was there in the afternoon for about a half hour!
Stump lk is located where the IL River meets the Miss river !Swan lake is between these rivers!

[Illinois Ducker]

Brian did you go into Fowler Lake while you were there? If not you may want to give it a look. It really is loaded with birds. Not that it matters much since the kids and their parents get TWO days to educate them and run them out 3 days before season starts.

[BrianM]

But your right about youth hunt!I just don`t get it being that close to regular season!
Don`t get me wrong I hunt with youth all the time but why not two weeks in front not 4 days!

[Illinois Ducker]

I agree with you 100%. I don't have a problem with young guys shooting a few ducks but that's all that the youth hunt teaches them, how to shoot. Hunting is building blinds, cooking breakfast, watching the sunrise, staying in the blind for hours at a time w/o seeing any birds, stringing up decoys, ect. The youth SHOOT 3 days before regular season teaches them none of the above mentioned things. It teaches them how to pull a trigger and thats it. A guy like me who busts his butt to build a decent blind and spends countless dollars on the sport just for the chance of getting a few working birds come opening morning gets the shaft.

What really burns me up is that I see the adults do more shooting than the kids. I got hooked on hunting by being taken to the blind during regular season and I stuck with it because I enjoyed all aspects of the hunt. I learned there was more too it than shooting. If the purpose of the youth hunt is to get kids interested in hunting they are doing it the wrong way. They are teaching kids to get interested in SHOOTING and the first couple of times junior goes out and doesn't get to shoot 2 boxes of shells he'll probably loose intrest and want to go back home and play video games. The saddest part of all this is that we just lost another outdoorsmen. Just my .02.

[BrianM]

PM me with which one!
I saw alot of Geese in Flat lake today!
Seen alot of big birds(Pintail mostly) in Fowler!
Maybe we can get together this hunting season!

[scruffyduck]

I was at stump a couple of days ago and
I agree with ya there was thousands of birds pouring out of fowler, mainly teal and pintails

[Goose Bandit]

i haven't seen any ice around here yet. where at in ND is there ice?? its only froze twice the lowest the temp has got was 29, and not enough to freeze the water when it is 50degrees. just wondering where it froze I guess

[kygoose]

Just got back from Manitoba, & never seen the first hint of ice. From Winnepeg on up all the geese you want. We were 2 hrs. north of Winnipeg & the locals said they haven't come down yet.