Follow along as the Avery^® crew moves into the Devils Lake region of North Dakota. Over the next few weeks we will post daily Journal Entries from the guys in North Dakota. The Avery^® crew will field test many new products on these hunts as well as brainstorm and develop new products for next season. The past few seasons have produced some great hunts in this region of the country. Early reports show that there are large numbers of waterfowl in the area, which will make for some exciting duck and goose hunting. Be sure to visit averyoutdoors.com daily to read how the hunts are going in this area of the country.

Opening Day in North Dakota! - Day 1 Devils Lake, October 4, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer The Finishers along with the other Avery® ground blinds were perfect for hiding in the wheat field. DATE: Saturday, October 4, 2003 LOCATION: Northern North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:40 a.m. and 7:06 p.m. WEATHER: Sunny and WARM! TEMPERATURE: Lows in the 40's highs in the low 80's WIND: Light west wind 5-10 mph. EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Full Bodies, Power Hunter™ Blinds, Migrator™ Blinds, Finisher® Blinds, Finisher® Field Dog Blind, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Avery® Floating Duck Strap HUNTERS: Rudy Morgan, Chad Schuh, Travis Mueller, Rick Frisch JOURNAL NOTES: Hunted a chiseled wheat field this morning. Winds were very light making it tough to finish every flock. I said every flock because many flocks finished perfectly. A ton of young mallards and pintails were seen throughout most of the day. Surprised to see numerous flocks of snow geese moving all day as well. Finished up around 9:15 a.m. with 4 limits of mallards, 4 pintails and one Hutchinson goose for a bonus! Great hunt and well be back at ya' in the morning! (L to R) Chad Schuh and Rudy Morgan from R&R Sports with Avery's Travis Mueller on opening day in North Dakota. What a hunt to start the season! Mallard hunting in North Dakota - Day 2 Devils Lake, October 5, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer Rudy Morgan and Chad Schuh from R&R Sports after our awesome mallard hunt! DATE: Sunday, October 5, 2003 LOCATION: Devils Lake, North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:41 a.m. and 7:05 p.m. WEATHER: HOT and Sunny TEMPERATURE: Lows in the 50's and highs in the 80's. WIND: None EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® "Hot-Buy"™ Mallards, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Wigeon HUNTERS: Rudy Morgan, Chad Schuh, Travis Mueller, Rick Frisch JOURNAL NOTES: We decided to try the big water of Devil's Lake today. We found a hidden slough surrounded by timber with a few mallards working it the night before. We put out 5 dozen Greenhead Gear decoy's and with the lack of wind decided to use a jerk cord as well. As daylight broke we were greeted with singles and pairs of mallards dropping out of the sky into our hole. With singles and pairs it took awhile, but we managed a variety limit with mainly mallards as well as teal, pintails, wigeon and one diver to boot! The weather isn't exactly ideal, but the ducks have been cooperating and that's all that matters. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Greenhead Gear® "Hot-Buy"™ mallard spread waiting on some action. Check out the unbelievable detail on these decoys! Weather is a Factor - Day 3 Devils Lake, October 6, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Monday, October 6, 2003 LOCATION: Devils Lake, North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:43 a.m. and 7:04 p.m. WEATHER: HOT and Sunny TEMPERATURE: 66 Low and a high of 86 degrees WIND: None EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Full Bodies, Migrator™ Blinds, Finisher® Blinds, Finisher® Dog Blind, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards HUNTERS: Travis Mueller, Dale Brandt, Rudy Morgan, Chad Schuh JOURNAL NOTES: We decided to hit a dry oat field this morning. With little to no wind decoying these now educated ducks proved to be quite challenging. We had to be very careful with calling and any movement. If one thing wasn't perfect, you could hear that lone hen mallard as she warned the rest of the incoming flock. With the added pressure and the smarter ducks, the warmer weather is also playing a huge role. The numbers of feeding mallards was cut in half. The birds are burning very little energy right now, and seem to be only feeding once a day. We saw plenty of ducks and ended a very tough hunt around 10:00 a.m. Be sure to read tomorrows post, we scouted and found a field with six to eight thousand ducks feeding in it!!!!!!!! Rudy Morgan and Chad Schuh from R&R Sports and Dale Brandt of Streiff's after a good mallard hunt in Devils Lake, North Dakota. Break out the Sunscreen! - Day 4 Northern North Dakota, October 7, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer The Greenhead Gear® decoy spread did it's magic on Day 4! DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 2003 LOCATION: Northern North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:40 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. WEATHER: Hot and Sunny TEMPERATURE: 60 for lows and 85 degrees for a high! WIND: Southeast 5-10 mph EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Green-winged Teal, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Wigeons, Greenhead Gear® "Hot-Buy"™ Mallards, HUNTERS: Tom Cannon, Bill Cooksey, Travis Mueller and Jim Spencer JOURNAL NOTES: Had two different groups hunting this morning so we decided to split up into two areas. Our group decided to hit a hidden slough in the middle of a picked barley field. We set out about 4 dozen decoy's and included the all important jerk string, as there was little to no wind again this morning. As daylight broke we were greeted by mallards, wigeon, pintails, teal, and gadwalls. They were working surprisingly well and we were finished by 9:15 a.m. We were surprised at the amount of calling we did with so much response from the birds. Yesterday if we called, the ducks acted like they had been shot at. So, it goes to show you the only judge you need are the ones that hover over your decoys! See what the birds like and adjust to the situation. It was a great morning and now we need our suntan lotion because it's going to be 85 degrees this afternoon! (L to R) Jim Spencer, Travis Mueller and Bill Cooksey with a nice mixed bag of mallards, teal, wigeons and pintails, Day 4. Windless Days at Devils Lake - Day 4 Northern North Dakota, October 7, 2003 By Rick Frisch, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 2003 LOCATION: Devils Lake, North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:40 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. WEATHER: Hot and Sunny TEMPERATURE: 60 for lows and 85 degrees for a high! WIND: Zero EQUIPMENT USED: Migrator™ Blind, Finisher® Blinds, Power Hunter™ Blinds, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Greenhead Gear® Full Body Speck Decoys, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Green-winged Teal, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Wigeons, Pit Bag, Floating Gun Cases HUNTERS: Rick Frisch, Dale Brandt, Jim Schlender and Phil Bourjaily JOURNAL NOTES: We were hunting in a wheat field, and decided early that we would be selective and shoot only drake Mallards. We had the whole morning to work with, and if we didn't shoot a limit we would be able to enjoy the evening flight. With the lack of wind we wanted to have our backs to the sun to make identification a little easier. The first flights of birds wanted to work behind us, so we rotated the blinds 180 degrees. However, this made identification very difficult. We tried this for 30 minutes and decided to pull the blinds to the area they were working a little better and put our backs to the sun again. Immediately the birds started working the place we had just vacated. We ended a frustrating morning shooting 10 drake mallards and one drake pintail. The evening hunt proved to be not much different from the morning hunt. The lack of wind really gave the birds a lot of time to circle and look everything over before committing. We ended the evening hunt with two more drake mallards and called it a day. (L to R) Phil Bourjaily, Rick Frisch and Jim Schlender, afternoon hunt Day 4. The Wind Finally Arrives! - Day 5 Northern North Dakota, October 8, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer Sky waiting patiently for the next group of birds, using his Finisher® Dog Blind! DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 2003 LOCATION: Northern North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:41 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. WEATHER: Hot and Sunny TEMPERATURE: lows in the mid 50's and highs around 80 degrees WIND: Southeast 10 mph EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Greenhead Gear® Full Body Canada Decoys, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Wigeons, Migrator™ Blind, Finisher® Blinds, Power Hunter™ Blinds, Finisher® Dog Blind HUNTERS: Tom Cannon, Dale Brandt, Travis Mueller and Jim Spencer JOURNAL NOTES: We decided to hunt a barley field we had scouted the night before. We felt like we had won the lottery when we woke up this morning and felt a 10 mph southeast wind! We talked to locals the day before and they said they couldn't remember when there was 5 day's in a row without any wind. We set-up mainly for ducks, but saw some geese the night before in the area. We were just finishing setting the spread when ducks began dropping into the field. The larger groups weren't around, but groups anywhere from 10-30 began taking turns sacrificing friends. We had a few geese work, but they didn't like the spinners whatsoever and slid just out of range. We finished up around 10:00 a.m. with a limit of mallards and pintails. Great hunt and extremely happy to see the wind! On a brighter note for you guy's in the southern states with season's right around the corner, next week there is a pretty good cold front and it should begin pushing some of these "other" ducks out of the area. I have never seen so many gadwalls "grey ducks" in my life. We have also seen green-winged teal, blue-winged teal, and a ton of wood ducks, so get ready they are packing their bags for next week! (L to R) Jim Spencer, Dale Brandt and Tom Cannon, Day 5. A Great Duck hunt - Day 6 Northern North Dakota, October 9, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Thursday, October 9, 2003 LOCATION: Northern North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:42 a.m. and 7:16 p.m. WEATHER: Hot and Sunny TEMPERATURE: lows in the mid 60's and highs around 80 degrees WIND: Southwest 5-10 mph EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Green-winged Teal, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Wigeons, Greenhead Gear® "Hot-Buy"™ Mallards HUNTERS: Tom Cannon, Bill Cooksey, Travis Mueller and Jim Schlender JOURNAL NOTES: With the weather beginning to sound like a broken record, and relatively early departing flights, we decided to hunt until 8:30 a.m. There are a couple of sloughs close to the camp we wanted to hunt. We had some pretty good shooting early, and saw a variety pack of waterfowl. We bagged mallards, teal, pintails, wigeons, gadwalls, shovelers, a Richardson goose and a canvasback! It wasn't your ideal greenhead hunt, but man was it a ton of fun! It was good to see such a variety of birds up here and like I said there are huge numbers of teal everywhere, both blue-winged and green-winged. We are expecting cold weather to hit late this weekend, so we will see and keep ya posted! (L to R) Bill Cooksey and Jim Schlender after a nice duck hunt on the last hunt for the week, Day 6. Scouting Day - Day 7 Northern North Dakota, October 16, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Thursday, October 16, 2003 LOCATION: Northern North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:27 a.m. WEATHER: Cold and windy TEMPERATURE: low of 33 and high around 45 degrees WIND: Northwest 10-15 mph EQUIPMENT USED: None HUNTERS: Travis Mueller and Scott Threinen JOURNAL NOTES: Scouted all day, looking for any concentrations of ducks. It seems as if the local mallard population has moved and new birds have not yet arrived. We saw a tremendous amount of snow geese, and will try to go hunt those in the morning. Where are the Mallards? - Day 8 Northern North Dakota, October 17, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer Greenhead Gear Full Body decoys waiting for the action to begin! DATE: Friday, October 17, 2003 LOCATION: Northern North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:28 a.m. WEATHER: warmer and windy TEMPERATURE: low of 36 and high 55 degrees WIND: West 15-30 mph EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Green-winged Teal, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Wigeons, Greenhead Gear® "Hot-Buy"™ Mallards HUNTERS: Travis Mueller, Scott Threinen, Ron Howard, Dan Ferguson, Mark Ferguson JOURNAL NOTES: YARD SALE DUCK HUNT!!!! Hunted the infamous snow goose field this morning and were outwitted by the high flying white birds again. With the lack of ducks in the area we didn't even have a chance to shoot at any mallards. Usually you can't keep the ducks out of a good spread. We decided to pack it up around 9:30 a.m. eat breakfast, and head back out to a slough where we had been seeing ducks. As we were setting decoys we realized that there was not a lack of ducks, but a lack of mallards! When all was said and done we ended up with 21 ducks. We were able to scratch out 6 mallards, one pintail, 5 blue-winged teal, 1 wigeon, 4 shovelers, and 4 gadwalls. You now see why we called this the yard sale duck hunt, quite the variety, and a ton of fun!!! Tomorrow we are heading to the timber hole near Devil's Lake again in search of some GOOD GREEN!. (L to R) Ron Howard, Dan Ferguson, Mark Ferguson and Scott Threinen, Day 8. Hunting a Timber Hole - Day 9 Devils Lake, North Dakota, October 18, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Saturday, October 18, 2003 LOCATION: Northern North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:28 a.m. WEATHER: Sunny and warmer TEMPERATURE: low of 55 and high 70 degrees WIND: East 5-10 mph EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Green-winged Teal, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Wigeons, Greenhead Gear® "Hot-Buy"™ Mallards HUNTERS: A WET Travis Mueller, Scott Threinen, Dan Ferguson, Mike Ferguson, and Ron Howard. JOURNAL NOTES: SUBMERGED!! We decided to try a timber hole on Devils Lake today. We were pretty excited because the weatherman said it was going to be warm, but very windy. Well, I know everyone won't believe this, but there was no wind and it seemed like the temps were a lot warmer than they had anticipated. About 20 minutes after shooting time a flock of pintails dropped into the decoys. We dropped four and that's when things got ugly. Two pintails were wounded and were swimming fast towards open water. Sky, my dog, grabbed the two and I went after the cripples. The first cardinal sin I committed was walking too fast in waist high water. The second cardinal sin as a duck hunter was not noticing the beaver damn located to my right. Well, I found an 8-10 foot beaver run and the rest was history. Scott said all he could see was an olive drab Avery hat floating on the surface where I was previously standing. As I swam back to shore with my waders full of 45 degree water, all I heard was uncontrollable laughter. After a quick run back to the truck for some dry clothes, the mallards began filtering back from the fields for a drink. We ended the hunt with 16 ducks. It was again a variety pack, but it was mainly mallards and teal, with four pintails to boot. The day ended with a few more laughs and some memorable stories to bring back to camp. With the lack of ducks still in the area, this afternoon will again be a scouting adventure to find more GREEN! (L to R) Mark Ferguson, Ron Howard, Dan Ferguson, and Scott Threinen, Day 9. Final Day at Devils Lake - Day 10 Devils Lake, North Dakota, October 20, 2003 By Travis Mueller, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer Beautiful sunrise at Devils Lake! DATE: Monday, October 20, 2003 LOCATION: Devils Lake North Dakota SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:32 a.m. / 6:40 p.m. WEATHER: Hot and WINDY! TEMPERATURE: low of 55 and high 70 degrees WIND: West 30 mph EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Green-winged Teal, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Wigeons, Greenhead Gear® "Hot-Buy"™ Mallards HUNTERS: Rick Frisch, Scott Threinen, Travis Mueller JOURNAL NOTES: Today was the last day for us in North Dakota, and we struggled to find water and ducks. We decided to set up on the lake today, in some flooded timber. With the winds gusting to 40 mph we thought the mallards would want to get out of the wind, but with the pressure and warm weather, those ducks chose to ride the waves out on the big water. We ended the hunt with 6 mallards, 4 teal, 2 wigeons, and a Canada goose (for some reason he wanted into the timber pretty bad). Overall we had a great trip, but like I have said, North Dakota as a whole needs a lot of rain and a good stiff winter with snow to replenish these already depleted sloughs. The entire state looks as if a bomb was dropped in the area, as the farmers burned off their cattail sloughs. Smoke is billowing in every direction. When it's this dry, the farmers are able to burn the sloughs, so they don't hold snow. It's good news for them in terms of getting a bigger crop, but bad news for ducks looking to breed next spring. On a positive note, all of the dry sloughs have some very lush green vegetation growing in the middle of them and if we can get help from Mother Nature and some moisture, these sloughs will be a pool full of vitamins and energy next spring for the ducks. A biologist once told me that it is a necessary cycle for these sloughs to dry, and grow up with vegetation. He said it was very similar to a forest fire. Let's just hope for some rain!!! Sky patiently waiting for the birds to arrive.