Author: Webmaster

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 09-19-2012 17:17
– – –
Good numbers of Ducks and Geese hunkered down staying out of the wind on various ponds and rivers through the Central Minnesota Area.

Counting down the hours!

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Western, MN / Central MN 09-16-2012 19:44
– – –
Put on over 400 miles today scouting the Central MN and Western MN areas. Western, MN is very dry with most small wetlands completely gone from the lack of rain. By far, the most birds viewed was aroung the Fergus Falls and Benson areas. Anything further West of there was pretty much a waste of time (I traveled within a mile of the SD boarder multiple times).

Also a lot of birds South of St. Cloud towards Kimball, Dassel, etc.

Saw a number of goose hunters afield and heard quite a bit of shooting.

Please send me a private message if you are looking for more information.

Posted By:
Swamp Gas
Web Member

09-15-2012 22:39
– – –
The USGS site won’t let me check three level for LOTW last year for some reason.

Posted By:
limitsbynoon
Web Member

09-15-2012 21:54
– – –
Swamp gas, thanks for relaying that info, the lake was down last year and I was hoping they were getting some water out of Canada since the drought is getting worse in MN by the day. Good luck to everyone next weekend on the opener.

[Edited By limitsbynoon on 2012-09-15 21:58]

Posted By:
Swamp Gas
Web Member

09-14-2012 15:59
– – –
Nooner. according to the US army corps of engineers station at Warroad the lake is up about a foot since Jan 1 2012. Up a half foot since May. The data indicates it’s been pretty steady all summer too. Not sure how accurate it is.

Posted By:
limitsbynoon
Web Member

Lake of the woods 09-13-2012 17:38
– – –
Does anyone know how low the water levels are on Lake of the Woods? I know it is extremely dry here in central mn and I am wondering if the water levels are worse up there. Any comments would be great. Thanks

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Scouting Report 09-06-2012 21:39
– – –
Members:

Check out my scouting report in the Discussion Forum….

[Edited By HonkerHotline on 2012-09-06 21:40]

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 08-28-2012 18:40
– – –
Ducks Ducks Ducks!

Continue to see very good numbers of local ducks in the Central MN area. More than I have seen in a number of years.

Should be a good opener!

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 08-05-2012 17:15
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 60-65 Degrees
Took a back roads cross country trip early this morning while on the way to shoot some sporting clays and observed good numbers of Mallards, Teal, and Wood Ducks on the rural potholes. Even whitnessed a couple of flocks of Mallards in the 10 – 12 bird range.

These observations are an increase in what I saw last year at this time and last year was a good hunting season for me.

I will be attending the Anoka Game Fair this Friday and am counting down the days till the start of the season!

For those of you who haven’t, the next couple weeks are a great time to pull out the shotguns and get to the sporting clay range to prepare.

Till next time….

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central MN 07-14-2012 16:39
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HOT HOT HOT…….

Looks like another week of 90+ degrees. Thus far crops have been doing ok, but if we don’t get a shot of rain over the next week things could be dismal here in Minnesota.

Duck and Goose numbers continue to be promising and I am counting down the days till the season starts. Hard to believe we are almost to August!

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Minnesota 07-04-2012 09:16
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
It is HOT!!!!! 95+ degrees for the past 4 days up here on the Northern Prairie.

Continue to see a solid hatch of Canadian Geese and ducks. Recent rainfall has ponds in good shape with water in areas I have not seen in years. Went to retrieve a deer camera last night 1/4 mile out into a swamp and found water chest high.

Happy Independence Day Everyone and stay cool!

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 05-27-2012 17:49
Cloudy, Rain & Thunderstorms – 60-65 Degrees
Another quick report.

Broods of Woodies, Mallards, Ring Necks, and Geese plentiful in the area. A tremendous amount of non-breeding geese milling around as well. Saw one field Saturday morning with about 300 birds in it. The farmers may not be as excited as I am (they were walking down the planted corn rows doing some damage).

Down South boys…. things are looking good for this coming hunting season!!!!!!

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 05-22-2012 07:50
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 60-65 Degrees
Quick Report:

Central Minnesota appears to be maintaining average water levels. I am seeing lots of ducks and geese milling around. More than last year I would estimate.

The goose hatch has to be nothing short of spectacular. Many broods to be found on the area wetlands and golf courses :).

Good luck to all of you Trap and Sporting Clays shooters this summer!

Posted By:
knute
Web Member

Rochester 11-28-2011 12:05
Cloudy, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Feild hunted last day of the season in Rochester for geese. There are alot more geese than last time I was down but they are pretty well educated. With 25 mile an hour winds they were very leary of decoying. We did manage to get three geese. Also saw a number of large flocks of mallards migrating. Too little, too late!
With a lot of geese still upnorth, the late season should bring some luck on geese if they don’t all go in one big push.

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

none 11-25-2011 21:50
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
wish could b able to get out but work hampering effort my lake choices still open water in ec mn hope yall get chance to get out b4 season close tc

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central MN 11-25-2011 13:39
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Scouted a field for the morning. 20 or so flocks of honkers and ducks hitting the corn stubble. As Peter mentioned, there are geese everywhere in Minnesota right now. Pretty much using open water inside of city limits during the day and flying out to feed both mornings and evenings.

I will post up results.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central MN 11-25-2011 13:39
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Scouted a field for the morning. 20 or so flocks of honkers and ducks hitting the corn stubble. As Peter mentioned, there are geese everywhere in Minnesota right now. Pretty much using open water inside of city limits during the day and flying out to feed both mornings and evenings.

I will post up results.

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

North Metro, Anoka County 11-25-2011 11:04
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
I returned to my old area Wednesday AM, Hunted Centerville Lake.

Four other parties hunting.

Very little action, no birds taken.

A ton of Geese in the area, but they are very hunter wise.

Didn’t hunt Thanksgiving morning for the first time in many years.

We’ll see, I might be done for 2011.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

MN 11-22-2011 19:50
– – –
Hunted a corn field and shot two limits of Big Mallards in 30 minutes.

Birds did it right and we were able to be selective with our shots. Most were about 15 yards on the shelf.

Also two honkers as well. One weighed 16.8 pounds.

Fun hunt!

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

Pine County, Willow River Area 11-22-2011 08:28
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
When for a ride about yesterday afternoon. Almost everything is frozen solid.

No birds seen on any of the little open water observed.

I’m sure there are birds somewhere on bigger water, but I think it’s over in this area.

I’ll probably head south for one last try.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

11-17-2011 20:04
– – –
Hunted the ND/SD boarder yesterday and this morning.

Yesterday, we hit it perfect. 15 BIG BIG Fat Greenheads and 3 drake Pins. Also got 2 bonus specs and 10 snow geese. Thousands of ducks worked our spread from 8am (Shooting was 7am and we didn’t have a bird work us for the first hour…. depressing and thought they were all gone). I imagine it was because of the cold (12 degrees when we headed out). After 8 we had flocks of 50-100 mallards working us every 5-10 minutes.

Today, we headed out to a balmy 1 degree temp. Again, nothing flew until about 8:15am. Afterward, we saw a good amount of snows, but very few mallards.

I am going to be out here for another 5 days, but am fearing the show is over. Guess we’ll try the pheasants.

Today 5 greenheads and 1 snow.

As we drove back to our hunting shack, very few ducks were visable and every piece of water was froze. A select few geese were sitting on the ice, but I can say I was visually satisfied viewing the awe of the North American Migration. I saw millions of birds yesterday and today was measured in the thousands.

Southern boys be ready… they are coming!!!!!!!!

Thank-you to everyone for your great reports this year. I had a great season, am extremely tired, and am very satisfied.

Best of luck to all of you!

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

Pine County, west of Willow River 11-17-2011 13:09
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
Saw much more this morning. Bunches of divers and a good group of Mallards.

The only birds to decoy were Hooded Mergasers, passed on them for sure.

At lot of the small water froze up.

It’s not near over yet, back after them tomorrow.

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

North of Morris 11-17-2011 11:33
– – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
Almost everything is iced here, even big water. Lots of geese huddled up on ice not open water. We have a patch of open water about 10 yards wide, 25 yards long. Killed 1 pair golden eyes and 2 other singles. Quiet. Back to brained tomorrow to hunt real big water.

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

Pine County, between Hinkley & Willow River 11-16-2011 20:18
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
I’ve been bouncing around and had mixed results. Last Friday I bagged a few divers and was encouraged by what I saw. Sat and Sunday were a bust.

Today things looked good again. Birds in the area and a few in the boat including a fine northern greenhead.

I’ve been trying to pattern the area’s black geese, but to no avail. They are here today gone tomorrow.

I’m hoping(as we all are)that the coming weather stirs things up a little.

My partner hunting the north merto says there were a bunch of new birds in the centerville area this morning. He picked up three in a short hunt.

Good luck to all in these final weeks

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

Brainerd area 11-13-2011 19:23
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Saturday was a totally different from days earlier in the week. Seems in this part of the state the birds moved on. No major weather but calm clear night with a near full moon Friday.
Same point from the previous 2 days for a few from our group and Trav and I headed south. Point guys had only one flock of GoldenEyes work them and bagged 5. That was it for them. Very few birds seen.Trav and I shot 3 singles and messed up on 3 mallards and messed up on a trip of G eyes. Did not see any other birds.
Have heard similar reports from others. Haven’t looked around to see if birds are on other water. There are good number of birds north still. Let’s hope they come before the 22nd.

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

Brained area 11-11-2011 21:08
– – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
What a week, straight EPIC!
Mallards on Sunday, ringers on Tuesday, golden eyes on wed.
Yesterday and today were the grandest show of what migration has started. Hunted my favorite point on big water both days. There are birds around and quite the variety of species. Yesterday we hunted until 830. Walked off with 10 birds for two guys. Golden eyes, one mallard and buffs. Birds did fly late and showed promise of activity late into the morn.
Today was unbelievable. 3 of us shot our 18 by 10 am. Mallards maple leafing into our diver spread, golden eyes coming in low in groups of 4-8 and some bonus redheads! We saw cans, buffs, geese, and bills working the lake. Usually we will just have primarily golden eyes and buffs.
Hitting it hard the next 11 days, might make all of em.

It’s time, load up and get some!!!!

Posted By:
Canman OMaddie
Web Member

none 11-11-2011 09:04
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From what I read on this site and others is the migration is still in the early stages. with ringers, shovelers, few mallards.

just an observation

jon

Deer hunting again this weekend. It’s gonna be in the mid 50s and very little wind. I’ll take a day or two next week to chase them ducks again.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Deer Stand (Central MN) 11-09-2011 19:10
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While in the deer stand today I saw good numbers of geese and Mallards flying. A couple groups seemed high and moving south, but most were just milling around.

Anyone who enjoys the migration needs to get out and hunt between now and the 22nd as Paul said below.

I will be heading to South Dakota on Sunday for a week. Hopefully I can hit it right as well.

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

Brainerd area 11-09-2011 18:45
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Seems to be good numbers of new birds in this part of the state.
Hunted small water on Tuesday. Over 500 ringers were stacked up on Monday. Drug the boat thru the woods with excitement like Christmas to be bummed to find ice. 19 degrees and no wind at night is bad for small water. Went for it anyway. Side note, a Lund ducker square back has to be one of the most stable boats I have ever used. Paddled and broke ice setting dekes while STANDING in the boat. 30 loose mixed diver dekes in a J pattern and by 5 to 7 the lake was a tornado. I have never seen so many birds work over water and want in. A safe bet would be multiple groups giving a total of at least 600 birds, EPIC!!
Ice killed us. Birds worked and worked and worked but would not take any chances. Our dekes froze over early and left us with very little open water. If there had been no ice it would have been a crazy shoot. We took safe passing shots and watched groups leave, comeback and seemed to see new birds come to this lake from afar. By 815 birds had found pockets of open water and we had 7 birds in the bag. All ringers. Other note-birds seemed to want to be in the early sun more than anywhere. We were on the morning shade side and it did seem to give us less looks.
Wednesday morn hit big water and did same diver set. The GoldenEyes are here!!!! Not in crazy numbers but enough to bag 4 and two lawn darts.
One other note. A friend of mine has seen small groups of divers flying low but later morning. 9-10 am.
Hitting it hard hopefully every day till the 22nd and the end of the northern season.

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

carlos avery east central mn 11-09-2011 17:49
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
hunted last two days were fair yesterday 1 spoon 1 lost mallard one beautiful pair of hooded mergansers in decoys did not shoot had many chances was being picky.seen mallards working rice behind islands were many shovelers working shallows west of boat launch.geese gone b4 shootin time.today 3 greenheads had hen ringer swimming in decoys mallards left lake due to higher hunting pressure they headed east n did not return.also heard sporadic shots on north pool and tundra swans were migrating through area again.will not b able to get out b4 close on 27th but will post up on goose hunts after that time good luck all

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

east central mn 11-07-2011 22:20
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
well birds were here finally not in mass quantities but def some new birds ended up with spoonie drake mallard should had more but i m ok with it seen cans,gadwall,spoonies,and dec numbers mallards no new geese though,also seen flock after flock of migrating tundra swans was steady all day with the swans.ducks kinda setteled down after two pm was little evening activity.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central MN 11-07-2011 20:26
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They’re Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted By:
Olson
Web Member

Western Mn. 11-07-2011 20:05
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Thanks for the report Ole. We hunted last Thursday thru Sunday. Shot some ducks and had lots of Bills on Thursday morning. Actually unloaded the gun and sat and watched flock after flock of Bills work the decoys, wished it was like back in the 70’s when we could shoot Bonus Bluebills. It was fun to watch for about an hour and a half they kept coming. Of course I called everyone and told them to get up there and we never fired a shot Friday thru Sunday morning. Couldn’t figure it out but we had those 40mph south winds for three days. Got home last night and tonight my Farmer called and said the Bills are thick. He has only called me twice in the last 20 years to say the Bills are there and I have been in So. Dak. both times. Got the truck packed and am heading back up in the morning. have reinforcements coming up tomorrow afternoon, and I gotta be back Thursday cause I am leaving for So Dak Friday for 10 days. Hoping to capitalize on this overnight infflux of birds. If we got Bills today you must have too Ole’ Check it out. Hopefully this warm fall is finally getting on and we are going to shoot the big water ducks. Man I won’t sleep much tonight. I’ll try to post up when I get back on Thursday before I leave on Friday. Sounds like now is the time , I hope you can get away to take it in. please post your efforts and results and I will do the same. Time to get out there everybody, GOOD LUCK!!

Posted By:
Ole-Anderson
Field Editor

Bemidji 11-07-2011 19:35
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Wet dog, and the slow hunting in northern MN continues……

Pete and I hunted a little spot that usually holds a few birds this time of year. Saw 9 mallards and only fired one shot and got one nice greenhead.

After the hunt, watched a local lake and it seems we picked up a few birds yesterday afternoon as the lake was buzzing.

Talked with a buddy tonight that spent the whole day in the deer stand and he said he saw at least 25 flocks of migrating mallards and he wasn’t even really watching for them. It appears Canada may have frozen over and lost all it’s birds on one 24 hour period.

Time to start hitting the fields in 3 more days…..

Posted By:
knute
Web Member

Rochester 11-07-2011 12:28
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Feild hunted for geese in the Rochester area today. Never fired a shot. Very few geese came out of the refuge, and none near us. Saw one large flock of migrators coming into town about 9:00.

Rochester only has about a third of the geese as normal for this time of year.

The northwinds predicted this week should help.

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

carlos avery pool8 11-06-2011 19:47
Cloudy, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
hunted pool 8 today had some oppurtunities just didnt capitalize birds were very wary but did work just took time seen about 100 mallards total that is with what was flying over refuge too had about 8 work the spread had three gadwall n about 15 gwt working too just missed the shots.also seen 1 flock mallards moving se high in v formation probably thirty birds.also were geese near by this morning but left after first five minutes shooting time.will b out again tomorrow will post when done at end of day.good luck all n pay attention to weather parts of canada r quite cold with snow winnipeg is exception last report was 34 degrees snow light mist

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

none 11-05-2011 19:14
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
didnt get out spent day oberving scouting seen fewer than 100 ducks total seen some geese not the normal amount i m used to seeing will b out on a small pool tomorrow with only a couple decoys will post results

Posted By:
jasonmn24
Web Member

west central 11-02-2011 00:59
– – –
Hunted a couple of public lands last weekend.

Saturday, we walked a half mile to a pot hole. There were ducks flying around by they wanted to be about another 1/2 mile north of us. 0 ducks shot.

Sunday, we dragged the jon boat to another public land. Buffleheads are here every year. Dogs first time in the boat this year. She retrieved 10 out of 11. The one drake we saw and shot dived on her. Other then that, she did well.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

None 10-31-2011 22:02
– – –
Paul,

Why fight it….. Season might as well open the last week in September and close until November.

I am as frusterated as you are.

Just arrived in NW ND. Will post up after each hunt.

Posted By:
hannibal
Web Member

Not in Missouri 10-31-2011 20:00
– – –
They have not moved down here yet. We had our worst opener since we bought our farm in 2007. Four of us shot 24 birds by 8:30am last year on the opener and this year 4 shot 2 wood ducks (morning and evening hunt)…..horrible. Absolutely no ducks (very few) down here so far. Obviously if you all are not seeing them must be much further North. I think based on the weather prognosticators that it is going to be a late push. My fear is it will be so late that you better plan your time off with the push or you will miss the show in it’s entirety. Normally there is a much better trickle migration by now and we have not seen anything like that yet. Thanksgiving week is when I get started and hoping that I have timed it “right” this year. It is about a week later than I normally get things cranked up. Right now I think the birds are about 2 weeks behind but that can all change with a blink of an eye and 1 foot of snow in the North.

Cross your fingers and pray for a push soon!

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

THIEF LAKE 10-31-2011 17:36
– – 35-40 Degrees
Bird numbers are bad. I never say specifically where i hunt, but to help paint a picture of what is happening in the state i will be straight forward. Thief lake should be and all years past has been spectacular by the last weekend in October. Very few birds on this known northern duck lake.
Friday morning we left the east river landing and set up on the eastern side of the lake with a full diver spread. Very few birds working before shooting time and even less after 730. 3 of us left the lake with 5 birds. We capatalized on ALL opportunities. 2 buffs, 2 bills and a lone suzy mallard. Not much other shooting on the lake.
Saturday morning we used the north landing and set up RIGHT on the boundry for the refuge, rumors flying that there are birds on thief and that they are staying close to the refuge. Less bird activity and not much shooting on the lake. 3 of us left the lake with 6 birds. These birds were educated and had been shot at. All 6 birds were singles and not interested in decoys but were in appropriate range for pass shooting. We did see some small groups working the refuge area but nothing to write home about.
Did not hunt sunday morning due to lack of bird activity. My father has hunted thief lake religiously since ’72 and has never seen so few birds for the last weekend of October.
Summary: WEATHER, WEATHER, WEATHER. there has not been signifigant weather in canada for ducks to start moving south, and the extended outlook for winnipeg does not look good. I am headed back to thief for a fri-sun hunt and even though weather looks mild, hoping some new birds cross into northern MN.
I also will be posting my thoughts in the state forum for anyone who has questions or comments on my ideas.

Posted By:
Olson
Web Member

Western Mn. 10-31-2011 10:54
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – –
Hunted Thursday afternoon thru Sunday morning. Had all different weather and winds, even light rain with a good wind on Sunday morning. But nothing made a difference because there were no ducks!!We ended with a couple Cans, Bluebills and a Woodduck. Definetely the worst Halloween weekend I have ever had up there in 40 years, and I have never missed one. I am starting to doubt the so called experts. Outdoor News states that overall duck hunting has been good in the latest issue. I wonder where these guys are hunting? Not around us, yesterday morning we never heard a shot fired in the distance and we quit at 9:30. I’m leaving again on Thursday but I am not too optimistic

Posted By:
Canman OMaddie
Web Member

Carver 10-30-2011 20:53
– – –
hunted Saturday afternoon with my two boys. hardly saw a duck. we need some weather!

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

none-observation 10-30-2011 16:51
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 45-50 Degrees
seen mo conservation thinks we have mallard migration what do they have cameras tracking birds cause dnr waterfowl counts n hunter reports not reflecting the same.personal observation i have noticed for se wi northern ill i drive truck n over last sev weeks i notice some migration there mallards n canada geese.m wondering if we r getting overflown,or just if that flightpath is more active than ours

Posted By:
knute
Web Member

North lake-Redwing 10-29-2011 19:19
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted North lake today with a friend. Lots of hunting pressure, few birds.
Got there at 4:00am and there was already eight trailers at the landing. We still got the spot we wanted. Set out a dozen and a half mallards, 6 widgeon, 3 woodducks, 6 ringbills, a dozen canvasbacks, 9 geese, and three mojo’s! What more could a flock of ducks want?
Well, by 7:30 we had a nice mallard come right in to the dekes and I promptly missed the shot, and that was it!
Had a few flocks of mallards and one flock of cans fly over down the middle of the lake and didn’t pay much attention to us.
Pretty slow morning just like every other one I,ve had this year. Only three more weeks of the season for the north half of the state and the record 70 million ducks projected to migate this year by the USFWS have barely started to move. Season will be done before they come through again.
Arrrrrgh!

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

none 10-29-2011 15:49
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
hey how is the hunting now m unfortunately stuck here in eastern wi til at least monday r yall havin lot more birds

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Travel 10-26-2011 17:59
– – –
Traveled for work today from St. Cloud to Grand Rapids. Wasn’t totally paying attention as much of my time was spent on the phone, however I saw a good number of woodies all the way up on various ponds and rivers.

Still continues to be way too warm up here.

Anybody having success?

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

St. Cloud Area 10-24-2011 20:20
– – –
Hunting a picked corn field this evening and shot 2 geese. Was running traffic, so I was pleased with the results. As stated in an earlier post, for some reason I continue to struggle to get on land in this area.

Seems to be a good number of geese building in the area.

Posted By:
Double_Trouble_Golden
Web Member

McLeod County 10-24-2011 14:12
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Well y’all I just got back from a excellent South Dakota Pheasant Opener. I figured I would head out to my lake and see whats popping. I must of seen 150 wood ducks within the 2 hours I was out. I limited out within 15 mins, and when I was about to call it quits a flock of seven ruddy ducks came into my decoys. Over all it was an excellent day.

Posted By:
knute
Web Member

Wilkin county 10-23-2011 21:04
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Saturday morning.Not alot of ducks around. Set up a dozen and a half mixed dekes on my usual Wpa. Shot a nice double on a pair of GWT, one drake mallard and had no other ducks close except one ringbill that I didn’t see until to late. Had a pair of geese fly right over ,low, and made a nice head shot on him. saw veryfew other ducks.
Scouted all afternoon in wilkin and ottertail counties and saw very few birds.

Sunday morning, rain and wind, hit the same spot, and fired only a couple long shots with no luck. Did have a large flock(100+) mallrds fly over a mile high.

I get a feeling when the weather finally turns, the migration may come through here in one big wave. Hopefully I’ll be out there those days.

Posted By:
Olson
Web Member

western Mn. 10-23-2011 19:23
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 45-50 Degrees
We returned to our shack Friday in time to make some decoy sets for Sat. A.M.. Started out with low fog over lake which hindered a couple spots for the first hour or so. Action got better as morning progressed, with a decent number of new divers not yet wise to our spots.Did not kill limits but had good shooting, and it was girls weekend (once a year we bring all the wives and girlfriends). My wife is almost a regular but it was my 28 year old daughters first time at the “shack”. We had a few ringbills, some nice flocks of cans, redheads, GWT, buffleheads, and just a few nice ‘Bills. The strange thing was again we still had quite a few Woodies.Being a big fan of Woodies on the table it is a welcome change.We quit Saturday about 10:00 A.M. short of our limits but with plenty of excuses why. Saturday afternoon we decided to do some fishin and caught a mess of very large sunfish and crappies but thats for a different website!
Sunday morning was a complete bust. Still quite a few ducks around but wise to our spots. Perfect morning with a light rain , low skies, and a west wind which doesn’t work well with our points. We managed a handful of ducks with one awesome bull can, but the majority of birds were high and not interested in our sets. Seems to me the migration is still early, but I am encouraged by the mix of birds we had. Going to let it sit ’til Thursday and hope the natural migration continues as we need fresh birds. It does not appear that the weather is going to help, more nice weather is forecast as far out as their reports go.
Saturday was definetely better and we heard alot more shooting from other lakes in the area, Sunday we hardly heard any other shooting.Still though for us it was a good weekend for this ( fairly early ) time of year. We had 8 in our group with 6 shooters and they all got a decent amount of shooting.Thursday it will be back to our
3 – 4 regulars up there so it will be back to serious hunting, I just hope the ducks show up.Had 3 Goldeneyes work the outside of the dekes this morning as we were picking up, seems a bit early for that,but nothing suprises me anymore with when it comes to weather and ducks in this state.
I’ll post next Sunday when I get back.
Good shootin’ to all of you…

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 10-23-2011 12:07
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Southern Boys….

Scouting report last night still contained many woodies which is abnornal for this time of year. Saw probably 300 of them on various rivers, ponds, etc. No sign of other ducks though. Zero mallards or divers were viewed.

My target however, was for Geese. Found 5 good fields and as Minnesota would have it was denied permission to all of them.

Can’t fault people for doing what they want with their land. They pay taxes, maintain, farm it, etc. However, it sure is frusterating when the land I am seeking to hunt are open corn fields with no houses, livestock, or tree’s for deer hunters nearby.

Ended up skipping this morning.

Long range forecase continues to warm.

I will try to stay positive for now, but am guessing we are going to be another 2+ weeks before we see good migration activity.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 10-22-2011 17:12
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Well Southern Boys……

It appears the last few frosty mornings have moved some of the local woodies south. Setup on a small river system this morning and where there were hundreds of woodies up till last week, this morning we only saw about 15. Paddled 2 miles south on the river and scared up another 20-30.

Ended the day with 4 BIG drake woodies and packed it in.

Seems a large influx of Canada Geese into the area, but duck numbers still very low for this time of year.

I keep checking the accuweather extended forecast and what looks to be promising temp wise towards the end of the month and into early November continues to rise.

68 degrees today while driving back home…. yuck!!!

On a good note 2 fields we can hunt for geese had the corn removed yesterday, so off for a scout here in 20 minutes.

I will post up my results.

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

Brainerd area 10-22-2011 11:31
– – –
The birds that came last week, GONE. Hunted big water today with a diver and mallard set, some competition near by. Saw a few small groups of ringers and a few mallards. Nothing wanted to cooperate, sat until 8:00 and then off to work. Hello, November, are you out there???
Did not hear much shooting in the area, another sign of few birds in this part of the state.

Posted By:
Erik L
Guest

ND 10-20-2011 19:09
– – –
I’m glad a few of you guys are getting birds… I just returned home after putting over 1000 miles on the truck traveling from the SD border through Jamestowm, Lakota, Devils Lake and Cando. I’ve been hunting Nd for 15 years and this was the worst I’ve ever seen it. For people who havent witnessed normal ND conditions there may appear to be alot of birds. The only thing I saw alot of was coots, I talked with several people inluding a mail carrier who confirmed there just isn’t many ducks around. Didn’t see one tornado of mallards or field with more than a couple hundred geese, although snows are showing up. If your planning a trip my advise is WAIT! The migration is off to a slow start & about 90% of the crops in the southern half of the state are still standing. If you really want to work hard there are a few birds to be had (brown pinny mallards & gadwalls) but if you want big fat greenheads give it at least a couple weeks, these birds right now are in summer mode and well educated. Another really important point is call ahead to make sure hotel rooms are available, with all the construction and oil boom it was VERY tough to find accomodations, most places were booked out 2 weeks. We used to kick back outside cleaning ducks and swapping stories with a few other hunters, now is packed with noisy semi’s and truck drivers. Also if your running a Diesel dont let her get too low.. I almost found out the hard way, there is a shortage along the freeways. Good luck

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Western, MN 10-20-2011 18:32
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Headed out West this morning for a good ole fassion diver hunt. Temps along most of the drive were 25 – 27 degrees with a lot of fog.

Setup between two shallow lakes (20 yards apart). Put out a smaller spread of 12 buffleheads, 12 ringbills, 4 cans, and 4 Redheads.

Everything appeared perfect and then…..
we did not fire a shot at that location.

Moved the setup to a smaller pond about a 1/2 mile away and decoyed a flock of 35 Redheads (about 15 minutes in)dropped our limit of 4 out of that flock and those were the last shots fired for the morning.

For MEA weekend, little to no shooting heard and hardly any ducks flying around. I speculate some of this may have been due to the dense fog, however the only species I saw while in the blind were Redheads.

After packing up we put on about 75 miles scouting various fields, potholes, and shallow lakes.

Below is what I observed:

– 30 ringbills
– 300+ Redheads in small bunches
– 15 – 20 teal
– 2 Gadwall
– 15 snow geese
– 300 Canadians

*We are definetly in a mid-season lull at this point in the three areas of the state I hunt. Zero flocks of Mallards were seen and very few geese also.

Still fun to be afield with my 14 month old lab.

While scouting did pick up a bonus Rooster in a small WPA. Watched him fly into a patch of grass 100 yards in and was able to get him.

Ole – what’s happening up North? Anyone else getting out there?

Looks like a cool front moving in towards the end of the Month. Looks like November is going to be another good one. I wonder why I even venture out in October anymore.

Best of luck to you all!

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

carlos avery 10-19-2011 19:29
Cloudy, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
well what a difference a day makes today missed opportunitys n missed shots seen about a tenth of birds i seen yesterday.back to work in morning ughhhh

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

St. Cloud Area 10-18-2011 19:03
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Farmers are back in action with the corn harvest in full swing. Seems to be a good push of geese in the area.

Will be out Thursday.

I LOVE this time of year!

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

carlos avery 10-18-2011 18:15
Cloudy, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
well today should had limit but lack sleep ruined my hunt seen several birds had more vocal birds today had hen gwt,hen mallard in decoys but m passing on all hens had many nice opportunity on low close shots but oh well will try again tomorrow

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

carlos avery 10-17-2011 22:48
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
well finally was able to get out i oared to my spot kicked up about 100 mallards,gadwall,greenwings then ended up shooting hen widgeon,lost her and shot young drake woody,missed shots at some mallards,one thing i noticed ducks were for most part quiet had one hen mallard call to few other mallards they spooked from where she was n decoyed to me n missed not many birds around but better than being at work will b back at it again in morning

Posted By:
Canman OMaddie
Web Member

Carver County 10-16-2011 20:57
– – –
Small movement of birds the past few days. Cans, bills, ringers, and redheads

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Didn’t Hunt 10-16-2011 12:10
– – –
Decided to sleep in this morning.

Very Windy here in the St. Cloud Area, but still quite warm.

I will hopefully get out once during the week and will post up.

How is everyone else doing?

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 10-15-2011 16:44
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
Well……..

The morning started so promising until I filled my waders up with water while setting decoys 🙁

Hit a small river area where woodies had been working earlier in the week. While setting decoys, I stepped into a deep hole and was soaked from my shoulders down. I am not sure why there was a hole there since the water was less than waist deep everywhere else, but it appeared I stepped off a deep sandbar.

I was amazed at the number of hunters afield this morning. Counted 8 rigs on one WPA???

The morning was Extremely Slow. Only heard roughly 5 barrages and we ended the morning at 8:30am with 2 woodies on 2 shots fired.

Went back to home base and changed into some dry clothes and decided to go on a scounting mission. We had a good idea of where some birds were working, however the problem was how to get to them.

After 2 hours of hard work, WE FOUND THEM!!!!

For anyone down South waiting on the recent Northwest winds (yesterday) to push some birds down they sure didn’t affect the Local wood duck population. Saw over 200 birds while getting back to the spot (conservatively) and have honed in on a spot to setup in the morning that was holing at least 150.

While on our way back we had 2 flocks of woodies buzz us and we ended the day with a 2 man limit of woodies.

Everything around here still seems to be in early season mode……. was 200 yards off a fairly large diver lake this morning and only saw two flocks.

Zero Geese were seen.

Hope everyone is having success!

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

brainerd area 10-13-2011 11:27
– – –
Ringers are starting to show up in this area. Have not been able to hunt but seeing decent numbers on small wild rice sloughs.

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

none 10-13-2011 05:45
– – –
hopin this front coming through pushes some birds in been watchin weather in canada m hopin my 4 days off sun til thursday pans out good luck guys

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 10-12-2011 19:47
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 60-65 Degrees
Scouted this evening and still many local Woodies and Teal present. Seemed to be more Mallards around which was encouraging.

Still very warm outside and now a wet weather pattern has set in causing the corn harvest to slow.

Going to hit it Friday morning and will post up following.

Posted By:
knute
Web Member

Wilkin county 10-09-2011 21:26
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 50-60 Degrees
Hunted a flooded WPA on Saturday. Had several flocks of BWT flying over me and into the slough before light. When legal time finally came aflock of ten or so teal came in and one broke off and dropped right in. When I dropped him, about a hundred Bwt got up and started to buzz around. I ended up with four BWT over the next hour. then it got slow. I saw birds, mostly teal, moving around but not very willingly to decoy. An occasional mallard and a flock of about forty mallards flew over high about 10:00, but no takers.
After picking up my decoys I checked a little pothole about a 100 yards away and managed to get one more BWT, so, ended with five teal.

Sunday woke up to a steady rain. I agreed to hunt geese with my brother-in-law’s group.Acting on a misinformed plan we blew how we set-up and only managed a single goose for four guys. Watched several hundred geese to north of us. Should have hit the slough with a mojo for ducks, but it was still fun.

Really, REALLY need some c old weather!!!!!

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 10-09-2011 11:31
Cloudy, Rain & Thunderstorms – 60-65 Degrees
Woke up this morning to a hard steady rain. After scouting last evening, opted to try a small river system for some pass shooting of woodies and teal. From my observation, most ducks that are around have their minds made up on where they want to go and decoying has been tough.

It was still pretty dark (due to the storm)when legal shooting began and we had steady action throughout the morning.

The highlight of the day was a flock of 8 screaming teal that flew off the water about 10 ft from me.

Ended the day with 1 Drake Mallard, 2 Drake Woodies, and 3 teal.

Will plan to scout a couple nights this week and will report back with my findings.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central 10-08-2011 23:39
– – –
CPAMAN

Have you fired a shot yet?

Post up!

Posted By:
Double_Trouble_Golden
Web Member

West Metro 10-08-2011 19:18
Cloudy, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
Hunted four days straight on different areas. These warm winds making these bugs come alive are not fun. Ducks are becoming fairly shy, we need some pushes now. Woodies and few Mallards are all I am seeing. Always see geese before and after we set up, and that is low too. To top things off, we came back to the lake next to my house, split up and hunted different sides. Mr. Nice DNR my buddy calls him ticketed him 135 dollars for a battery mojo. He was acually a very nice man, who ended up giving my buddy a break with the no life jacket. Any ways I hope he comes back, so he can bust thouse juveniles trash throwing harrasment hunters off the lake. Other than that these 100 woodies I have been seeing, are down to 50-60 very shy birds.

Dang….I knew I should of practiced shooting clays this year.

Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member

Central Minnesota 10-08-2011 15:31
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 60-65 Degrees
Not enthused at all about hunting in the Summer like conditions we have been provided with over the past couple of weeks, my neighbor coaxed me into getting out of bed this morning for a hunt.

Hit a small shallow slough with a dozen duck dekes and a half dozen goose floaters. After the 30+ mile an hour winds yesterday, there was litterally none this morning making standing on the shore with nats buzzing your head tons of fun.

At first light, we saw a flock of 8 teal buzz the decoys, but we were asleep at the wheel and didn’t capitalize on that opportunity. Afterward, we were kept busy enough with Woodies to keep things interesting. Ended up the morning with a two man limit of woodies, however we shot pretty well and didn’t miss on many opportunities.

Other than the flock of teal, no other species of fowl seen. Driving around afterward, I continue to be amazed at the lack of geese and Mallards in the area. Saw a couple of fields that may be an option, but at this point we are in need of a weather change. September had geese everywhere, but I guess the early season pressure has moved them on.

All in all fun to get you there.

Let’s keep the reports comming in.

Go get em’

Posted By:
Ole-Anderson
Field Editor

Bemidji 10-03-2011 21:51
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
Wet dog, good hunt.

The first 2 weeks here in Bemidji have been really slow. It appears that nasty cold we had just before opener moved out the clouds of blue-wingers we had, and very few ringnecks have moved in yet.

Opening weekend was tough. REALLY slow hunting with Larson and I just taking a few wooducks, BW teal and 1 lone mallard. No ringers killed.

This weekend was better as we targeted the abundant woodies and easily killed a limit of those Sunday.

Extremely low mallard numbers as of right now, and with such low ringneck numbers, it’s tough hunting. I guess we’ll keep on targeting these wood ducks.

Good luck, and good huntin’!

Posted By:
Double_Trouble_Golden
Web Member

McLeod County 10-03-2011 10:10
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 60-65 Degrees
For Sunday and Monday, my group saw some Woodies and Mallards. Ended up getting 12 birds for both days. We plan on taking a small break to give a birds a rest, and plan on hitting them hard on Friday.

Dang….I knew I should of practiced shooting clays this year.

Posted By:
knute
Web Member

Mahnomen 10-01-2011 22:47
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
A little late with my report from the opener.

Hunted our traditional opener spot on a little lake on my buddie’s farm near Mahnomen. Not many birds around. Only saw teal and woodies. I shot one bwt and one drake woody. Total for seven guys we got eight BWT, four woodies and one goose on Saturday and four woodies, one teal and two geese on Sunday. Still had a great time.

Looking forward to some weather!

Posted By:
Double_Trouble_Golden
Web Member

Meeker County 10-01-2011 17:40
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
I Yai Yai this South, Southest wind blows. Headed to a lake near Litchfield and bagged 3 King Woodies. Beautiful birds. Anyways we saw a decent size portion of ducks in the area along with some geese, but pulled a rookie mistake and had the sun and wind facing us. I will be heading down to my home county of McLeod tommorrow and give you the update from there. Good Luck y’all.

Dang….I knew I should of practiced shooting clays this year.

Posted By:
bigwoody2
Web Member

WALKER 09-30-2011 10:24
– – –
I will be coming up from illinois to hunt ducks on the 8-10 of October and we always do ok on the little lakes our friends house is on, I also want to grouse hunt some afternoon with my dog. Any suggestions? Bird count up? Want a bird for the wall as We have never shot grouse. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks

Posted By:
MNMALLARDMAN
Guest

Minnesota 09-27-2011 16:47
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 60-65 Degrees
Late report for Sunday. Me, 3times and my daughter hit the water early. Was slower than Saturday. Ended the morning with 7 ducks and a goose. 1 Bluewinger, 5 drake woodrows, and a drake mallardass. Killed the only goose in range.

Next weekend looks to be very slow with no weather fronts to move in any fresh birds. May end up going grouse hunting.

Posted By:
1gander
Guest

carlos avery 09-27-2011 11:35
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 45-50 Degrees
hunted saturday n sunday managed 3 woodies 1 bluewing 1 goose was plenty bluewings around lots woodducks a few mallards was a good opener should had more birds but was a little sluggish lack sleep fri night down side was nearly everyone out there saturday was shooting around fifteen minutes b4 shootin time

Posted By:
Canman OMaddie
Web Member

Sibley Cty 09-26-2011 11:28
– – –
Plenty of Woodducks around. Most i’ve seen in years!. Fog killed us. Killed 4. less than a handfull of teal left.

Posted By:
MNMALLARDMAN
Guest

Minnesota 09-24-2011 20:30
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 60-65 Degrees
3 of us shot and recovered 15 ducks and a goose. Bluewingers, greenwingers, mallards, widgeon, woodies, and yes some spoons. Did not see a ton of ducks, actually saw less than most years. Plenty of geese, just were not set up for them.

Happy hunting!!

[Edited By MNMALLARDMAN on 2011-09-24 20:30]