Author: Webmaster

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

north 12-06-2011 20:44
– – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
it sucked! bird watched all day. Saw sandhills all day. hopefully ducks are not far behind, cause we are running out of time. Thanks indiana dnr for starting our seasone so early at least give us till christmas. day 3 tomorrow.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River flooded corn 12-03-2011 10:22
– – –
Another stinker this morning. Daa and I set up in a cornfield right by the river. We heard pintails and mallards before shooting time. Saw about 15 ducks and 25 geese. Hopefully we get some cold weather. Everything else is in place.

[Edited By Bert Holtzman on 2011-12-03 10:23]

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 11-27-2011 10:55
Cloudy, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
It’s been a fun start to the 2011 duck season. We’ve managed to kill a few birds in spite of some really awful shooting. Yesterday we should have killed 18 teal in about an hour but only killed six because we were so awful.

Birds have been plentiful thus far and should get a little bit better in the coming weeks. I’ll be focused on ducks until we freeze up then it will be time put the hammer down on some honkers.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River: flooded timber 11-26-2011 19:34
– – –
Let me try this again:

Our opener sucked…hard in a nutshell.

I scouted the area last night and had been for the past few weeks as well. I saw quite a few birds on those prior runs but not as many last night. We set up this morning and had wood ducks and mallards all around. They flew out early and most did not return. We ended up with a mallard. We also crippled a few wood ducks.

I set up in another slough this evening and saw thirteen ducks. Pitiful and a hell of a let down.

It’s worth noting that the river is on the rise. The slough jumped up two feet over night.me should have backwater next weekend. Hopefully it brings some ducks. They usually show up when the river creeps up.

Posted By:
oldsilverfox
Web Member

Hamilton County 11-25-2011 09:44
– – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted a new wetland area this morning. Saw 10 to 15 mallards, but they did not want to work. Had two flocks of geese come off the river at the same time. I broke 4 out of the back flock, but at the last minute they returned to their buddies and flew east. That was fun!

I do not believethe ducks have come thorugh her yet. We should have seen more.

Still waiting for the sandhills! LOL

Beautiful sunrise.

Stay Safe Fox

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

South Zone 11-23-2011 15:37
– – –
We set up in a corn field we had some success in for the first round of the South Zone split. Birds did not want to feed today. We ended up with three geese and two mallards. See you Saturday. It’s finally here!

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Bottoms 11-19-2011 18:22
– – –
I’ve seen quite a few birds in the flooded timber this past week, a mix of woodies, mallards and a few teal. I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to get into them, as they’re in a lot of buck brush. Nonetheless, it’s all systems go next Saturday.

Two to five inches of rain starting tomorrow.

Posted By:
Lindo
Guest

None 11-16-2011 11:06
– – –
Any reports from North of Indianapolis area? New to lebanon and looking to see if it’s worth a go. Don’t have any gear yet as I just moved here from out of state. Let me know?

Posted By:
fatman300
Web Member

NW Indiana 11-15-2011 23:39
– – 60-65 Degrees
grand kankakee marsh over 1000 birds using property (lot of mallards) kankakee F&W corn opener not as good as I thought it would be (80 birds) but not bad, seems like most were killed in the corn. Heard they did good at the Slough and Lasalle too. But temps up again so harvests go down.

Posted By:
fatman300
Web Member

NW Indiana 11-10-2011 20:47
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Pretty cr ppy out, wish I were going.
The Kank F&W has been killing 30-35 a day out of 20 blinds. Corn opener the 14th should be good!
Grand Kankakee over the past week a total of 152 hunters harvested 69 birds. This brings the season total to 584 hunters harvesting 349 birds.
This week we plan on hunting spots 1-8, 10-19, and little hickory marsh. The shooting schedule for spots 10-19 is variable so please call ahead if you are interested in hunting those spots. Spots 1-8 will continue to be hunted daily. Little Hickory Marsh will be closed on Nov.6-7, 2011
Should be able to get out and give personal observations in the next week or so.(Still not “supposed to drive” for 2 weeks)

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

north 11-10-2011 17:11
– – –
4 guys killed 12 mallards 1 pintail 3 gw teal and 2 redheads. not a bad day but hunted until 130 to get them. Little to no calling. LET THE BIRDS WORKD.

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

North zone 11-09-2011 00:09
– – –
killed 8 mallards last saturday. In a private spot holding a lot of ducks with a little bit of everthing in it. Only took a couple hours. I am hearing good reports from some. Not hunting till thursday weather looks good but who knows. bring on the cold.

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

North Zone( bird watchin) 10-30-2011 21:41
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 50-60 Degrees
had a big day today saw 2 mallards. we must of had a huge migration last night. lol. I cant type either i guess tonight.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 10-30-2011 10:22
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Four wood ducks this morning. There were a lot of ducks in the slough but they flew out early and we didn’t have many chances. We saw mallards, wood ducks and teal again.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 10-29-2011 15:51
– – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Not a great opener for us today. Three groups of us set up in various spots along a slough next to the river. We got five wood ducks and lost one. Not bad for us having around ten woodies in range the entire morning. Another group of our boys got three and one hit the skunk, which ruined our opener. We saw a few hundred ducks. Most were wood ducks but we also saw teal and worked two mallards. The eight woodies we harvested were our lunch today. What a treat that was.

Better luck tomorrow is hopefully in the cards.

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

North 10-27-2011 22:57
– – –
not much going on. Very little number of mallards. Maybe got a push of some soft ducks Pinners, spoonies and green wingers. Lots of water and contines to rain. ducks are spread out and The next couple weeks could maybe start getting better. Hope for bad weather up north all i got to say cause right now it is bad.

Posted By:
fatman300
Web Member

NW 10-27-2011 14:07
– – –
Kankakee F&W averaging 55 ducks a day, over the last 11 days in 22 blinds. Grand Kankakee County Pk. has harvested 113 birds over the last week and are hunting 13 blinds. No personal knowledge just what I’ve found.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

South Zone Corn Field 10-22-2011 15:29
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
We set up in a corn field this morning in the Indianapolis area. Limits of geese were taken as well as a trio of mallards. We hosted a few new Tell City Ducks Unlimited Chapter members and they had a great time. Geese were a bit weird this morning but we finally started getting them within range. Very few ducks were flying. It was a lazy day for them.

Back at it next weekend for the two-day Ohio River Zone opener. I’m sleeping in tomorrow. Basketball season has worn me down already.

Posted By:
jsnyder
Web Member

10-18-2011 05:49
– – –
No body posted. I guess the northern guys didnt kill any duck last weekend.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 09-30-2011 21:51
– – –
Checked some water levels yesterday. The slough I checked had a good amount of water and should be all systems go come late October.

Got a yellow lab pup today. Named her Dakota. She’s already spoiled rotten.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 09-24-2011 17:58
– – –
RAIN!!! We’ve had around two inches so far with at least another inch tomorrow night. Farmers are just getting started with the harvest. I will check water levels once they get the corn and beans picked. This rain will help but it won’t be enough. With the biggest fall flight ever recorded, here’s hoping there will be an influx of water by the time the two-day season kicks in.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 09-08-2011 05:56
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees
We had a Labor Day teal hunt for our first outing of the season. The slough we hunted had some water, but was really down for the most part. We saw about 80 wood ducks, no teal.

There were some people who did see strong numbers on the river this week. No such luck on Monday for us.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 07-15-2011 13:14
– – –
Rain continues to be in abundance along the river. I’ve finally started to see some geese around again too.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 07-03-2011 22:44
– – –
I’m not sure how good our wood duck hatch was this year but Canada Geese appear to have taken a hit. I’ve seen very few families around.

The good news is that we are no where near close to last summer’s drought status. The sloughs are full right now.

Looking forward to the season. It’s getting closer. Seasons are set in August. Stay tuned.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 01-30-2011 14:53
– – –
Ended our season this weekend with five geese. We got one banded bird.

Not a bad season for us. We eclipsed last year’s numbers with 158 ducks and 90 geese. The boys will be headed north next weekend for the late goose season. I’m staying behind. We’ll all be in Columbus at the free Ducks Unlimited Volunteer Celebration at the Holiday Inn on Saturday. Should be a good time.

Now… a word about next season. With all the snow in Canada next year should be a banner migration if the nesting conditions are as good as they should be and the weather goes right. I’m already excited about it.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 01-25-2011 19:13
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
We set up on the river this past Sunday and got three ducks, two mallards and a gadwall. We didn’t see many ducks at all the there weren’t many shots. Hopefully we can end our season on a good note this weekend (you can hunt the river during KY’s season with an IN license as long as you’re in your boat).

UPDATE: Apparently IN has changed their regulations about hunting the river. If you don’t have a KY license the season is closed.

[Edited By Bert Holtzman on 2011-01-27 09:41]

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 01-22-2011 17:00
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 0-10 Degrees – Ice
Headed to our hole that was open y-day evening this morning. There were a lot of ducks in it then and we figured we’d bust ice and shoot some of them. Saw one workable duck, and we didn’t fire a shot. Our mallard machine didn’t keep the hole open big enough to grab their attention. There were several volleys early on the river and some ducks at the mouth of the creek. Not much though. We’ll hunt the river in the morning and see how things go.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 01-17-2011 10:20
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
We set up in the same place we hunted Saturday and hoped the ducks we saw yesterday would show up again. A few did. They worked our decoyless hole of water about as good as they could. We ended up with three mallards, the only three we saw in range. The rest were lounged in another hole of water a hundred yards away. We didn’t see many flying at all and were disappointed with our hunt. Back at it next weekend or Friday if we get a snow day.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 01-16-2011 15:13
– – –
Saturday- We set up in a small open hole of water and thought for sure we would have a pile of birds. We would have had we been able to shoot! Ended up with four birds, 3 mallards and a gadwall. We had five different groups of 2-8 birds come on down into our faces. We haven’t shot so bad in a long time. There was also a good amount of shooting on the river.

Sunday- We set up in a creek off the river and got two mallards. Had three come in a few minutes after shooting time. We also saw two groups of 100 or so birds early. No shooting on the river but we quit early.

Back out for one more day in the morning then I’ll be off until the finale. Be safe out there.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

South Zone 01-13-2011 18:03
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
We set up at a lake this morning. Threw out six Magnum Mallard Higdon decoys and waited for the birds. For the most part, they never came. Several hundred had been using this spot the last three days. Only a few came in for a visit. We ended up with a golden eye, five mallards and a goose. Not what we hoped for but we still had a good time. Back to work in the morning. Back in the hunt Saturday.

I hope everyone had a good season in the South Zone. Next season will be here before you know it.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 01-11-2011 17:35
– – –
Sunday hunt:

We set up in a creek off of the river but got froze out. We did see a good group of ducks on the river on the way home.

They didn’t stay long. Talked to some boys at the ramp today and they said the past two days haven’t been very good. The past two days I haven’t seen all that much scouting but I’m giving it a go in the morning for a quick hunt on some birds I have been seeing.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 01-08-2011 13:27
Arctic Blast – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
We didn’t see much this morning. Saw around 12 and got two gadwall. It’s been a rough couple of weeks since our best hunt of the season down here on and around the river. After we were done we found some birds that we might get a crack at in the morning. It’s going to be cold!

We seem to have picked up some birds the past few days. Saw one nice group of gadwall and some mallards and also saw some divers scouting mid morning. Things will hopefully be picking up.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 01-02-2011 15:14
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Precious few birds around here since last Sunday. We tried to get to a spot I’d scouted out and while it wasn’t holding very many, it was probably our best option today. We arrived to see hunters setting up so we went to plan B. We didn’t see much. I should have killed a couple of gadwall but didn’t have very good shots because of a tree I should have set up on the other side of. We saw about ten ducks after seeing hundreds a week ago. That’s hunting in Indiana. Back at it again next weekend. Things aren’t looking very good right now.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-27-2010 13:41
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
We set up in the same hold as yesterday and threw out fifty decoys in hopes of getting some ducks in when the sun got up: a wasted effort on our part. Talk about going from high to low: we saw a grand total of FOUR ducks. There was a lot more open water in the marsh today but after the sun popped up and the wind died down the ice began to build. The day wasn’t a total loss. We got five geese jump shooting. Two had bands.

I’m not sure what the deal was this morning. After seeing hundreds of birds yesterday I was excited about this morning’s hunt and thought we’d have some ducks come in early again. I heard no shots on the river and there was only one boat at the ramp this morning. Maybe the ducks weren’t flying, left, or went somewhere else.

The boys are headed north this afternoon. I’m taking a few days off to spend time with my daughter and take her to speech therapy. Hopefully the birds come back or perhaps we’ll find another spot they might be in. With the approaching thaw, it will be tough to tell.

Something else I’ve taken notice of, decoys! I bought my first dozen Dakota duck decoys today and am excited about adding these to our spread. As wary as these birds are I think they can only help us.

[Edited By Bert Holtzman on 2010-12-27 14:16]

Posted By:
callmaster64
Web Member

n. Indiana 12-26-2010 20:10
– – –
Sounds like you had a good hunt Bert good partners are hard to come by sounds like you got a good one and scouting pays off. 2 of us today shot our geese in the northwest part of the state. Good luck and keep wackin em.

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

Home 12-26-2010 14:09
Arctic Blast – Froze Out
Haven’t even taken the gun off of safety the last few days. Not sure what’s going on but we’ve hunted the river and didn’t see more than 10 birds. Scouted my goose fields and they’re empty too. What a fun season this is!

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-26-2010 12:52
Cloudy, Accumulating Snow – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
We set up in an open hole off the river this morning, hoping for a great hunt. We got one. We had originally planned to go north this morning but Randy checked out a spot where it appeared yesterday’s ducks were going. He put us on the X yet again by doing excellent scouting. We made a short boat ride in and set up with three decoys a piece in two different areas just a bit apart. When the sun began to provide light group after group of ducks POURED into our spot. Tony, Marty and I sat back and watched for 10 minutes or so. We had a group of 12 right in front of us. Just as we were getting ready to shoot they took off and we decided to wait a bit longer. Another group was sitting 40 yards out and we decided it was time. By the time all three of us had shot, we had about 8 birds down. We had a lull and our other group moved closer to us. For the rest of the morning we had ducks work us and scratched a few here and there. Our morning ended with 12 mallards. We lost about four in the ice. What a hunt! We hope to do it again in the morning. Kudos again to Randy. He has worked his tail end off for our clan for years. You can’t ask for a better hunting partner.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 12-25-2010 10:30
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
We set up in the same locale as yesterday. Had a bad Christmas hunt! We saw a lot of ducks but they were in big groups and all high. Better luck next Christmas! Have a good one. We’re headed north tomorrow.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 12-24-2010 11:17
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
We had a fun little hunt this morning. It started off with breakfast at Marty’s. He made a fine breakfast, as did Randy earlier for our opener. Soon after eating we hit the road for a brief car ride to our spot, which is an open hole of water off the river. Ducks flew high early. We had a nice group of mallards fly out to feed, with a nice flock of gadwall shortly after. A trio of ducks also flew lower early but weren’t interested. Finally our first group of ducks gave us a look. By the time we raised up to shoot it was almost too far a shot. To our surprise we flushed about 30 geese up after missing the ducks. We had a long shot at the first group and hit one. Another group was a little closer but not much. One got too close and we shot him and he nearly fell on Randy! After we got our birds we sat for a while. Before long a large flock of mallards began working us. We had about 100 birds all over us! Unfortunately, they landed out behind us in some open water after working our small spread for about 10 minutes. It was quite an experience. We also worked several other large groups all morning. These ducks are decoy-shy, call-shy, ect. We could have used some movement and will have a mallard machine going in the morning to see if that works a little better. Merry Christmas. We still have a month left. Stay safe.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-22-2010 10:37
– – –
Hunted the same spot we did yesterday. It was pretty much a bust hunt. We saw about half the ducks as yesterday and only one group of five gave us a look. We also had a group of geese work us a little. I’ll be at it again Friday.

Be safe out there. We had a fatality on the river in Louisville about a week ago. Always wear a life jacket.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-21-2010 13:23
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Had a fun little hunt this morning with Tony. We set up in a creek off of the river. We put out 20 duck decoys and some jumbo goose shells around our layout blinds and waited. Sure enough ducks started moving early again. We saw several groups. One gadwall drake liked what he saw and dove in out of no where. We took him in short order. We also ended up with a goose. That was it. Not much but we had fun.

I was suprised that we saw what we did, as I hadn’t seen all that much scouting the past few days. We saw one big group of mallards and another group of fifty ducks, all gadwall! It’s been a gadwall year around the zone. I’ve seen lots of them so far on top of the mallards we have. Looks like we’re getting more weather late this week. Hopefully it brings another push of birds. We need it.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 12-19-2010 16:13
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted the big river this morning and we had plenty of company. There were already four boats at the ramp when I drove by at 4:25 am with four more yet to show up. I arrived to our spot and got set up by 5. Then the hour and a half wait to shooting time began. A boat flushed a ton of birds out of the creek mouth we were hunting shortly after I had begun to set up but it didn’t take long for them to show back up. We had birds everywhere 10 minutes before shooting time and they flew for a good half hour after that time began. It was a particularly frustrating day for us in regards to birds wanting anything to do with our decoy spread or calling. “They’ve been called at, shot at and have seen decoy spread after decoy spread for months now,” Randy quipped. Right again Randy but it is still frustrating. Group after group of ducks cupped on us, worked as if somewhat interested, then promptly landed in the middle of the river. Some seemed to be pitching into the creek so Marty decided to investigate. Several minutes later a drake mallard gave us a look but flied on into the creek. Big mistake. Marty the man promptly ended him and we had our first duck. We all got back together and continued to be frustrated by the wary ducks of the Ohio River. They rafted up the river and eventually floated our way. I counted all 22 of them as they did. A part of the group made the mistake of getting within 45 yards of us and we had our chance. After rising to shoot we unloaded on them as they took to the wing. We got six of them and that was our day. We ended up with seven mallards and a goose. We couldn’t decoy a thing but had a heck of a day anyway. Everyone was pleased with the results. Back at it again later this week…

There are some huntable numbers on the big river but not near what I though we’d have after last weeks storms. We still have over a month. Be safe out there.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-16-2010 10:28
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Braved the ice this morning and didn’t do much at all. A fair amount of ducks have been on the river since Monday but I’ve been sick all week. Today was my first outing of the week due to a snow day. I probably could have had a good shoot but I had to bust a hole open and there wasn’t much of a landing zone. Started off looking for a place and took a hard fall. I thought for sure I had broken my leg, and might have a minor fracture, but got up and walked it off. Soon I was busting ice and then got in my layout blind. Ducks were flying all around early and really wanted to work but it was simply too icy. I thought for sure the rain and rising temps would open things up a bit. Ducks worked behind me in a spot I can’t hunt all morning.

Back at it again tomorrow if we have a snow day.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 12-12-2010 12:55
– – –
I slept in this morning but got up around 7 and scouted a bit. I certainly liked what I saw. Group after group of ducks lounging on the river. I saw ringnecks, mallards, gadwall and a few black ducks. A lot of them were in creeks off the main river. With all this snow to the North I assume we’ll start seeing more and more. With that being said, I’m heading out for a while to see if I can shoot some. I’ll be on the river in about an hour.

callmaster, duck hunting can be an up and down affair. We all get frustrated from time to time.

[Edited By Bert Holtzman on 2010-12-12 12:57]

Posted By:
callmaster64
Web Member

12-11-2010 22:05
– – –
corey why is your stuff put up are you a quitter cant handle the pressure…. Thats sad……

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

South Zone 12-11-2010 17:23
– – –
Back from a few days of hunting. We had good success with the freeze up this past week. Two days of hunting netted twenty plus birds, all mallards and gadwall.

I’ll be looking around tomorrow morning and might get out in the afternoon.

Posted By:
oldsilverfox
Web Member

Scouted Morse Yesterday 12-10-2010 13:16
– – –
Scouted her yesterday afternoon. Saw no birds – ducks or geese!. All of the holes they typically keep open were frozen shut although I did not observe the main body north of the dam..

This does not bode well!

Stsy Safe

Fox

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

Home 12-10-2010 11:31
Arctic Blast – Froze Out
No info to post. All waterfowl gear has been put up for storage.

Posted By:
callmaster64
Web Member

12-09-2010 17:52
– – –
what nobody has no info

Posted By:
fatman300
Web Member

northwest 12-02-2010 20:11
– – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
well guys. they say trmp, is going down around here, so most of the watering holes will be frozen up by morning, might be the end of our hunt? what few ducks we did have will be heading south real soon i think. good luck

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 11-28-2010 14:13
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Not much doing this morning. The birds didn’t fly like they did yesterday. We managed to get a goose and that was all she wrote. I’ll be back at it again Sunday. We have our basketball tournament all day Saturday. The boys will hunt. I’ll post how they do.

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

SW/NF 11-28-2010 08:09
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
I knew that a good day was there for the taking if only the sun would pop out from behind the clouds. It did. However, our shooting didn’t exactly show up. Managed to scratch out four mallards, two black ducks and a gadwall and lost another black duck and another gadwall.

Ducks worked great after the sun came out with most shots inside 30 yards. Not sure when I will go out next. Possibly some time this week.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 11-27-2010 17:58
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
We set up on an island this morning in a creek off of the river. Ducks flew early. We saw about four groups of about 25 total ducks. Randy and Marty got a one of those on the other side of the island. They also got a goose. Tony and I got blanked. Big groups of geese flew around 9 or so. We’re going to set up in a different spot close by with a bigger decoy spread.

After we hunted I scouted and did some jump shooting. I took a limit of wood ducks really quick but didn’t see that many. One of our sloughs is packed full of water with flooded timber. We’re hoping that will stack up with birds for later this season. It is ideal and I’m excited about it if things go right. Not a bad opener. It could have been much worse considering the pitiful conditions/lack of birds.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

South Zone 11-26-2010 14:03
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
We didn’t do so well this morning. We set up on a lake and hoped to get some of the ducks we saw there Wednesday. We had about three groups come in and ended up with three mallards. We lost three more. After a while the plan was to pack up and head to the field for some geese. We did and didn’t have much luck. We ended up with one.

Back at home tomorrow for the Ohio River Zone opener. It’s not looking good but we’ll give it a whirl.

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 11-24-2010 16:58
Cloudy, Rain & Thunderstorms – 35-40 Degrees
It was an interesting way to start the year. Didn’t shoot a bird but we were on the X. Kicked up roughly 1000 birds out of the spot but NOTHING wanted to work in to our spot. It was a bizarre morning for sure. It was almost as if we were hunting ducks that had been shot at for three weeks. I’m not a big fan of hunting in the rain so we bailed around 9:30 when we realized that the ducks were not going to finish.

With five inches of rain projected to fall in the area of our lease, we will likely head there on Friday in hopes of having some water in the timber. We shall see.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

South Zone 11-24-2010 16:52
Cloudy, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
We endured the wind and cold this morning to have a decent opener in a corn field in central Indiana this morning. Randy drove us up in style. It was ball-busting 101 all the way up and we had a blast. After getting set up we continued to keep our eyes on the radar via my Iphone, in hopes of getting in a limit before the sleet and rain made its way up. Mission accomplished. We saw very little ducks flying but geese started to fly about an hour after sun up. A nice flock snubbed us early, as did a trio of birds. Our third flocked came in on a string and we got all five birds. Several other groups worked us. We got two more groups in, getting seven birds (8 guns) on our second group and filling out our limit on another large group. Eight smiles and sixteen birds later we picked up, shook hands, took pictures and scouted a little for Friday. We hope to get some ducks on a lake then and then go back to the field. I’ll post a full report then.

As far as the Ohio River Zone goes, I scouted this evening. Water levels in the slough are up about six inches or so with more rain coming. I saw some sand hills roosting in a field next to it. I didn’t see any ducks though. I’ll be chasing a nice buck rain or shine tomorrow evening and scout as well. Hopefully some birds will follow the sandhills. Very little ducks in my area of the Ohio River Zone right now. Most of the birds we had early hit the road.

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

north 11-22-2010 21:02
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shot 4 mallards today with orange feet. maybe new birds. I am hoping it is getting started.

Posted By:
callmaster64
Web Member

n. indiana 11-22-2010 17:14
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Wish i could give ya some good news Bert but i cant. Its been slow on the north end of the state to (no) well low water and no birds. Hunted Rochester on Lake Manitou and seen maybe 20 ducks 6 of them being mallards and the rest were divers. The Geese dont even seem to be around like years past. Maybe we will get lucky and this front will give us some shooting.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 11-21-2010 09:32
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I have scouted a bit the last few days and there aren’t very many birds around at all. Water conditions are also still poor. It doesn’t look good at all for our opener Saturday.

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

11-12-2010 17:56
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To warm up here. That pretty much sums it up right now.

Posted By:
INJonesboys
Web Member

Clay Co. 11-09-2010 04:09
– – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Great start last week. Woodies, teal, mallards, ringneck and red’s.

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

north 11-06-2010 18:49
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divers are starting to show up. Maybe a little migration on big ducks, nothing to big.

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 10-31-2010 13:42
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Another fine morning for Dad and I. Managed five GWT, two gadwalls and a wigeon. For as well as I shot yesterday, I shot just as poorly today. I can’t complain though. It was a fun weekend for sure!

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 10-31-2010 13:20
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I didn’t make it out today because of too many people hunting but the crew picked up two more wood ducks, a mallard, a green wing teal, a gadwall, a widgeon and a goose. Back at it when the South Zone reopens. Couldn’t ask for a better start to our season. Kuddos to Scooter and Randy for all the hard work finding some birds. It’s awfully dry and they made it happen.

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 10-30-2010 14:32
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Redemption would be an excellent word for today’s hunt at GP. Dad and I managed second pick and chose the exact area we wanted to be in. I shot well and limited in a couple hours while Dad shot poorly but corrected things with a change in chokes. Ended up with 7 gwt and a gadwall. Headed back tomorrow to see what that brings.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 10-30-2010 13:22
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Our opener was one of our better ones in quite some time. We split up into three parties once Randy fixed an outstanding breakfast. I hunted with Marty and Tony. Randy hunted with his son Jason while Scooter split up with Billy.

We got lots of shooting early and didn’t have much trouble getting our eight woodies and three mallards. We also had some gadwall give us a look. The other two parties ended up with 11 woodies and a goose. Everyone had a great time. Turns out the drought didn’t hurt us all that much thanks to the river. We’ll try again tomorrow.

Posted By:
ReggieDog
Web Member

White River north of Indy 10-27-2010 21:07
Cloudy, High Winds – 60-65 Degrees
Had a couple of good hunts over the weekend on the white river. 2 mallard limits both days. Curious if anyone else hunts the river between Indy and Noblesville?

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

South Zone 10-24-2010 13:59
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We had another great hunt this morning. 9 guns got limits on geese. Another good time had by all. Ducks refused to give us much a look at all. Birds tended to move more mid morning this weekend.

Back at home in the Ohio River Zone next weekend. Drought conditions will make it tough but we have several options with potential.

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

Home 10-23-2010 14:10
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Didn’t hunt today. Last pick as per usual.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

South Zone 10-23-2010 12:56
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We set up in a corn field this morning and had a great hunt to open the season. Our shooting was a litlle off early. We finished with twelve mallards and thirteen geese. Birds came in in small groups until eleven. We hope to make the trip again in the morning.

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

north 10-21-2010 22:54
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
three guys killed 9. we had good water but over all it is about 18′ low. hopefully the rain we are suppose to get this week will help a little bit.

Posted By:
oldsilverfox
Web Member

10-21-2010 16:52
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Okay I renewed for another year.

Had a great shoot in South Dakota. Perfect weather, good friendship and everyone shot well. The best part was Linda Killed 8 birds.

Stay safe

Fox

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

north 10-18-2010 18:59
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1 woody. slow, fairly good water.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 10-17-2010 09:44
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The drought continues with no end in sight for the next few weeks. Birds are still most likely concentrated along the river or lakes, at least the ones we have. I haven’t seen many of late.

Heard an interesting fact at Hancock County’s (KY) DU event last night. The last time we had a prolonged drought this bad was 1936. The worst flood we’ve ever had along the Ohio River followed in 1937. Mother nature seems to even things out.

It was certainly a great time last night. Congrats to our Hancock County chapter members who hosted another great DU event.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 10-05-2010 18:49
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Conditions for the youth hunt aren’t ideal right now, to say the least, but there are still some birds around the river if you can find a spot. We’ve seen numerous teal and woodies around and a co-worker saw some spoonies and gadwall during Kentucky’s wood duck/teal season.

Best of luck with the youth hunt. Get those kids out there and help preserve the future of waterfowling!!

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 09-19-2010 10:01
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We saw a lot of ducks flying the river this morning while dove hunting. It was very impressive. I’m sure that we should have probably been teal hunting instead.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 09-10-2010 21:26
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The crew added three more geese this morning. We’re planning on making a trek tomorrow morning provided it isn’t raining hard.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 09-09-2010 06:10
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The crew got the season started yesterday afternoon. Four geese to start the season, one of which was banded.

After they were done one of our boys took a swimming lesson.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 09-07-2010 16:27
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Not much to report down here. I’ve been sick all weekend and haven’t been out all that much. When I have been out I’ve noticedd that most of the long necks around here in the areas we hunt are hanging out where you can’t get to them.

This drought has kept them from feeding in the grass all that much as well. Farmers have started to pick corn so the fields might be a place to be this weekend.

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 09-05-2010 08:30
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Shot five more Saturday morning. There was an awful lot of bad shooting in the group and we should have easily had 15. Birds were slightly skittish after being pounded on all week. I don’t know that I will go the rest of the early season so that could have been the last go until October.