Prairie Smoke Ranch

Final 2011 Pre-Season Update Greetings from the prairie! In moving the blind locations recently, a couple things became quickly apparent: 1) We have lots and lots of water and 2) We are going to have to move the blinds around a bit as a result. While we could wade across most sloughs in previous years, it will be very tough this year. We also have a lot of tall weeds in the water, which make it impossible to place blinds on the water’s edge on the smaller sloughs. The good news is that Bluebill and the Pass should set up about the same as last year. Same goes for Redhead, but right now we can’t get blinds set up at Camp or Island due to the high water and cattail conditions. Because of the high water we have a couple of new passes and blinds behind the house and just south of the North End to which you’ll be able to drive an ATV. The best advice is to bring a good set of chest waders – hip boots won’t cut it this year. And a good dog or two will really help for the water/weed retrieves. We’ll likely have boats on Bluebill, the Pass, North End and Mallard Point this year, maybe Island depending on water conditions. We will mark all the blind locations once they are finalized first week of October. Hay is all down south of the house so you’ll be able to drive vehicles directly to several of the sloughs. Food plots came in well – we’ve got a mix of millet, sorghum and sunflowers. The turnips came in well - but something ate them down to the ground already. The old corn field south of the house is weedy and thick but holding birds. We jumped a few young sharpies while doing blind work.   Due to popular demand, we created a satellite image that labels all the water at the ranch. This should give you a point of reference to what was mentioned above. Click here to see a much larger version. Click here for license and season information from the state of North Dakota. Remember, you must purchase a license prior to hunting at the ranch. The best way to do that is online here. The 2011 Waterfowl Guide is also available as a PDF. Click here to download it. Good hunting, everyone!

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Prairie Smoke Ranch
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