The type of goose hunting Dittus likes is more in the way of open-field hunting, farther from the water. There are also hunters who pursue birds right on Sakakawea itself, or on the shoreline. It's a big lake, with sometimes nasty weather in the fall. Hunters who go out on it this time of year have to be very well prepared, or they may not come back.

"It's something that is popular with some people," said Dittus, but apparently he's not one of them. "On Lake Sakakawea there are a lot of geese that stay there until the water freezes. People take boats and decoys and sit out on sandbars and islands. I haven't done that because you have to fight tough waves and stuff to get to it. They do that for both geese and ducks."

The hunting on and along the big lake can be wild and secluded. Most of it can't even be reached by vehicle, so hunters use boats to get into the best position.

"On Sakakawea they set up on the points around the shoreline and try to hide in the weeds," said Dittus. "If there are none, they put up camouflage blinds. They hide the boat away a bit, and they sit on the shorelines."

It is a hunt that's best undertaken later in the day. Sakakawea hunters often wait for the geese to leave the lake to feed in the outlying areas. Then they move in and get their setup ready, and wait for the geese to return to the water.

"They set up decoys and wait for them to come back," said Dittus. "They do it very successfully. I just don't like to venture out there when it is rough. You need a boat. Most of the property along the lake is Corps of Engineers land. And they have really restricted the travel on that property."

Although North Dakota is always a big producer of local ducks, Dittus says that not that many ducks from Canada seem to be showing up. In the past few years, he says, they have stayed north longer, and then when cold weather drives them south, they tend to fly right on through.

"We just don't have a lot of ducks showing up," he said. "They will be there in big flocks for a while, and then the next day they will be gone."

In South Dakota, Don Kallenberger likes to go to the sloughs and go after ducks near his home town of Eureka. Kallenberger is the state chairman-elect of Ducks Unlimited. He has seen a lot of hunters and a lot of hunts over the past 15 years.

The hunting in the less populated part of South Dakota is good, as it is in many of the East River areas where sloughs abound and local ducks raise ducklings throughout the summer. By fall, they're flying around in very good numbers. Kallenberger likes to go after them as they move about to forage.

"We hunt as they come out to feed in cornfields and grain fields after they have been harvested," he said.

The hunting is a throwback to another era. You can still go out and not be near another human being. In fact, Kallenberger says sometimes it would help if there were a few more hunters roaming about. That would push the birds more.