DOUBLES FOR DAKOTA

The two men that I shared a North Dakota goose blind with were both shooting 12-gauge semi-auto shotguns, but they admired my British 10-gauge double.

- SHERMAN BELL

The author and 7-month-old "Scout"

Although I have hunted for years in the Dakotas, that 2022 season was the first time I had hunted during the North Dakota early goose period. The season opens in August and runs through most of September. The Canada geese are plentiful, the bag limits generous, and the geese are quite willing to decoy into the fields to feed. The biggest challenge, of course, is to find which of the endless number of fields a flock is feeding in on any given day and then to put out a numerous and convincing decoy spread and wait for their return.

The prairie pothole region of North Dakota is a target-rich environment for waterfowl. The number of lakes, sloughs and small potholes seems almost infinite. The level of the water changes with the seasons and the years, sometimes radically, and some long-established roads now lead to nowhere but the bottom of a lake or swamp. I have hunted the pothole region of North Dakota exclusively with side-by-side double guns for years. In addition to keeping me supplied with delicious duck and goose dinners, it gives me an excuse to find just one more duck gun to try out. However, over that period of years and many shots fired, my concept of what a “duck gun” is, or has to be, has modified somewhat. What has not changed is my strong preference for a side-by-side double gun for my waterfowl gunning. I have absolutely nothing against the over-under shotgun; I have some and have used them for target sports and game shooting in the past. But the side-by-sides always get the ride West to the Dakotas. Some of my doubles are long-used friends, some are newer purchases that I must try out and use to justify their purchase.