How is it lookin in ND?
- Thread starter Rangerbob
- Start date
J.D. West
Senior Refuge Member
J.D. West
Senior Refuge Member
Looks like a good snowpack heading into to spring...
Rilez
Senior Refuge Member
It definitely is in a lot of respects. We got a lot of wet snow in November / December that will continue to add back some of the water that went missing a few years ago, but since then most of the snow has had very very little moisture to it so it's pretty worthless for anything other than blowing...unfortunately, we had an early cold string & a larger quantity of snow earlier in the year than typical which has led to fewer migratory birds sticking around this year & a tougher winter for a lot of the non-migratory game animals that will likely have carryover affect into upcoming seasons...hopefully I'm wrong and the fact that it's warmed back up will help them out, but forage is pretty tough to find with this snow depth & they're going to have to be eating off of the remaining forage for a decent amount of time longer this year unless we have an early melt.
Crew_ChiefND
Refuge Member
I'm ready for a healthy pheasant and hun population in the central and eastern part of the state.
We had a dry end to the summer and a pretty dry fall, so what does melt will run off and/or replenish to a point in those areas. Like Rilez said, a couple of those storms had wet snow, but it's been dry since, and sparse. Thankfully. I'd be extremely happy if we didn't get anymore snow. The local wildlife is severely limited for cover in the areas I hunt.
We had a dry end to the summer and a pretty dry fall, so what does melt will run off and/or replenish to a point in those areas. Like Rilez said, a couple of those storms had wet snow, but it's been dry since, and sparse. Thankfully. I'd be extremely happy if we didn't get anymore snow. The local wildlife is severely limited for cover in the areas I hunt.
Doubt we'll see that in the near future with the lack of CRP out there. We'll see on the water front, nice snowpack for now but if March and April are dry it's not going to amount to much.
prairie hunter
Elite Refuge Member
Huns do not really need CRP like pheasants do. Huns need consecutive drier springs ...
As noted above ... wetter snow and some freezing rain has resulted in many fields not blowing clean. It is amazing the snow cover over ag fields across much of the Dakotas and Minnesota.
As noted above ... wetter snow and some freezing rain has resulted in many fields not blowing clean. It is amazing the snow cover over ag fields across much of the Dakotas and Minnesota.
True on the huns; seems they like small grain/alfalfa type of ag...very little of that in the central and eastern part of the state anymore as well.
Crew_ChiefND
Refuge Member
Oh I know with the lack of any CRP the chances for a healthy pheasant rebound is slimmer, the hidden part of that message is the less water, the less...
prairie hunter
Elite Refuge Member
Zoops ... you are right. As soybeans and corn displaced small grains ... the huns really disappeared. For that matter - I believe the loss of so many barley and wheat fields has also decreased the number of mallards in many areas. Used to be MANY harvested barley and wheat fields starting in mid-August. September mallards were field feeding. Seems like now many mallards are content sitting in roadside ponds and ditches until it turns cold.
Few years ago we scouted a township in Stutsman County. That township had ONE harvested wheat field. It was an endless sea of soybean fields that were weeks away from harvest. 30 years ago it would have been 50% small grain in the ag fields.
Few years ago we scouted a township in Stutsman County. That township had ONE harvested wheat field. It was an endless sea of soybean fields that were weeks away from harvest. 30 years ago it would have been 50% small grain in the ag fields.
