Category: Illinois

Posted By:
qacol
Guest

Desplains River- State Area 11-05-2011 23:35
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Seen some new ducks today, it looks like the Gad’s and BH have moved into the area. The spoonies are thick but will not decoy.Only 1 mallard today.

Posted By:
Terry Wiseman
Guest

The Shoe 11-05-2011 18:58
– – –
WAs down at the farm today,could here honkers and specks out on the lake. Drove down to look at the hole in the levee and saw a few mallards have showed up.

Posted By:
waterdog trainer
Web Member

Havana 11-05-2011 08:25
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Finally got a decent day on Thursday. Two of us shot 8 mallards, 3 woodies and 1 ringneck. Quit a few mallards moving. Divers were thick. Grand Island is finally getting water into their feed after getting their pump repaired. That should help the area out.

Posted By:
Scott-Martin
Field Editor

none 11-05-2011 00:28
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Indian summer doldrums … unless your area is holding ducks – a couple of good spots in IL like Augusta National, and Emiquon — otherwise, we need some weathu! Corn looking better… dented all over and ready for hungry birds – flooding it all next week and watching to the north. if you build it, they will come…

Posted By:
Terry Wiseman
Guest

The shoe 11-02-2011 18:43
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Been workin on the farm over the weekend and today. Very few ducks seen. Seen more geese than ducks. Saw 1 flock of specks come in this morning.

Posted By:
huntorski
Guest

Pool 12 Miss 11-01-2011 17:20
– – –
Hunted Saturday

SHOULD have had a pretty good day. Cans and Gaddies were working me, but I thought the wind was going to be different and set up wrong in the calm of dark.

SHOULD have tried on a flock of cans and a pair of gaddies – too greedy for the perfect shot

Ended up with a greenhead and dropped another greenhead that the dog chased a quarter mile before he realized that the duck was swimming faster than he was and gave up.

Saw some queer ducks. A drake wigeon and drake pintail came in and lit 50 out.

Not the start of the season I was hoping for, but there are still a ton of ducks north of me and hopefully the dry conditions in iowa will keep more on the river

Posted By:
webmaster
root

11-01-2011 14:53
– – –
3 State Parks Set Goose Hunts

Statement issued Monday by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources:

The DNR will conduct controlled Canada goose reduction hunts at Ouabache, Shakamak, and Whitewater Memorial state parks in November.

Similar reductions have occurred since 2007 and are part of a management plan that includes non-lethal methods also.

Goose reductions will take place Nov. 28-29. These dates coincide with goose hunting season and annual deer reduction efforts at Ouabache, Shakamak, Whitewater Memorial and several other state parks. The parks will close to the general public the evening of Nov. 27 and will re-open the morning of Nov. 30.

Large amounts of goose waste at park beaches, picnic areas and in bank-fishing locations have raised health concerns, adversely affected visitor enjoyment, increased erosion, and resulted in increased operating costs.

Reduction hunts are only one aspect of DNR’s approach to managing Canada geese, according to Mike Mycroft, chief of natural resources for DNR State Parks & Reservoirs.

“The high recreational demand on the parks during periods of more optimum goose hunting has caused us to combine the reduction effort with other techniques, including ongoing harassment and nest management,” Mycroft said. “Combining these techniques is beginning to show favorable results and fewer parks needing reductions this year.”

Participation will be allowed on a daily first-come, first-served basis until available spots are taken. Spots will become available again throughout each day as hunters leave. Potential participants can arrive starting 90 minutes before sunrise local time. Shooting hours will be one-half hour before sunrise to 4 p.m. local time. Though hunting parties of two to four are desired, individuals are allowed. Questions should be directed to the park of interest.

Participants must be Indiana residents and 18 years old by Nov. 28, 2011. Hunters must present a valid hunting license, state waterfowl stamp, HIP number, and federal duck stamp on site on the day of the reduction. Apprentice licenses are not applicable. Dogs, boats and temporary blinds are allowed. Though Canada geese are the only harvest permitted, all state and federal laws pertaining to waterfowl hunting apply.

——————-

Park Geese always seem to have an abundance of bands present 🙂

Posted By:
diverhunter50
Guest

nw 10-31-2011 16:20
– – –
Hit the main part of the river Fridy afternoon and Saturday morning. Friday not too bad on the people. Hunted up ner the local refuge, really saw few birds even moving around in the refuge. Few we did see worked very well, feet down in the dekes, ended up with 6 for two of us. Saturday different story, stayed away from the refuge to try and get away from the people, no such luck, people all over on top each other. 3 of us killed 6, hunting could be so much better if all the other hunters weren’t idiots. Set a good decoy spread, call half-ass and shoot em in your face and everybody will kill more ducks, ducks will actually come into people if they don’t shoot at 70 yards every time!!! Haven’t been up that far north since the permanent blind days, prolly won’t go again until all the little boats can’t get out in the ice. Went back to the same old grind on Sunday with a nice wind (even though it was south) and killed a bunch. Long range forecast caling for wind next weekend as well (if you can believe a weatherman). So it will probably be a long week of work before we get out again.

Posted By:
webmaster
root

NW Illinois 10-31-2011 10:21
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Saw our first groups of mallards this weekend. Watched the the abundance of geese fly over on their way to the fields from their roost pond with little interest in heading to water.

After yet another slow day in the blind, decided to head to WI for a day of upland birding. Huge KUDOS to the WI DNR for the excellent public land details on their website (maps, descriptions, directions etc…) Scratched out a few ditch chickens in the rain. Kids, dogs and myself came home tired, muddy and happy.

Posted By:
Michael-PhillipsIL
Field Editor

SW Pike County 10-31-2011 08:49
– – –
Saw lots of pintails, wigeon, woodies, and a few teal. Few would work, though. Also killed some of our first mallards yesterday morning. It seems like there are quite a few smaller ducks around like Scott says but not many are willing to work. I heard from a friend of mine in South Dakota that the mallards were just hitting Northern SD last week. Not much weather to speak of even up north for the next 10 days except a little cool down this weekend.

Posted By:
Scott-Martin
Field Editor

Ilinois 10-31-2011 00:27
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Slow reports all over the state. Seems we are a couple weeks behind most other years. Don’t remember seeing all the pintails and wigeon and teal around in the mass bunches at this point before. Though, they are very concentrated in a mere few locales. Lots of little ducks all over but mallards and the main migration are not here yet. NoDak still open. Weather up there looks to be changing later this week. Lows of 22 most of end of week in Bismarck. Potholes will freeze. Some should head our way. Need a push.

Posted By:
2footroper
Web Member

Bath IL 10-30-2011 08:03
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Finally fired our first shots for the season after 2 days last weekend and friday never seeing a duck in range. 1 drake Mallard and 2 Redheads for yesterday. Never in my life have we been skunked for 3 hunts in a row let alone it being the first 3 days we hunted in the season. If a man misses or lets a few sneek by is one thing buy I’m telling you we never even went to reach for the gun!!! Hearing the same story from others as well.
On a side note, trying a Vortex this year and mixed emotions so far. The Redheads came in out of nowhere right to it as well as the Mallard yesterday but otherwise no real effect so far. I’ve never hunted over one in the water so time will tell. The birds that did see it never flared off but also never showed much interest either.
New birds will help but right now I don’t see anything that will improve in the short term.
Good luck everyone and please have a safe hunt.

Posted By:
webmaster
root

10-24-2011 20:04
– – –
INHS Survey Totals Pool 4-14 as of 10/17:

Canada Geese – 16,620
Mallard – 22,935
Black Duck – 10
Pintail – 13,220
Gadwall – 19,775
Widgeon – 13,730
N. Shoveler – 3,560
BW Teal – 320
GW Teal – 11,350
Wood Duck – 370
Red Head – 545
Canvasback – 76,600 (Pools 8 & 9 primarily)
Ringneck 22,685
Scaup 33,105
C. Goldeneye 10
Bufflehead 30
Merganser – 0
Ruddy Duck 13,390

TOTAL Ducks, Geese, Swans – 248,529

[Edited By webmaster on 2011-10-24 20:09]

Posted By:
huntorski
Guest

Pool 12 Miss 10-24-2011 15:34
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I’m with DH50

Took my first skunk in a couple years. Should have a pair of woodies at first light but screwed it up trying to get the double instead of concentrating on the first one.

Saw gadwalls, mallards, woodies and cans. Had the gadwalls work, but wouldn’t finish. Cans were very skittish, watched them flare from a big raft of coot.

Come on weather!

Posted By:
diverhunter50
Guest

nw 10-24-2011 11:27
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
When the local weather man says its gonna be a beautiful weekend with abundant sunshine, no wind and above average temperatures, you would think I would be smart enough to stay home, or at least not haul the big rig out, but I did haul it out both Sat and Sun. IT was not worth the effort. There are birds around, don’t get me wrong, but why move when you have available food and calm water to sit on. Without a change in the weather, next weekend will be a change of tactics, either find a small pothole we can get some early shooting in, or a field for an afternoon goose hunt. How ever if we would get a windy day, I would not hesitate to hit the water again.

Posted By:
webmaster
root

Boone County 10-24-2011 11:26
– – –
Lots of new geese in the area but very few new ducks. Most of the woodies and teal have moved on. Sunday we only saw 2 gadwall and 3 hooded mergansers.

Didn’t hunt Saturday but the football season is finally done for the kids. On sunday, they got limits of geese and we’re going to make some jerky for the rest of the season.

Posted By:
Michael-PhillipsIL
Field Editor

Sw Pike County 10-23-2011 10:28
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Had a great opener with 9 guys getting their woodies along with a few teal and a redhead mixed in. Another spot not a mile away didn’t see a wood duck but limited out on pintails. A couple state conservation agents came by to check us and said it seemed to them that people were having as good of an opener as they could remember.

Posted By:
Kevin-Stallard
Field Editor

Highland 10-23-2011 05:54
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Had a few reports of successful bags on the opener, mostly woodies,teal and a few mallards. Supposed to be in the 70’s next few days but a good cold front here by mid-week. I am still in the timber chasing buck henry buck hope to get after them in a couple of weeks.
Unfortunately in the early morning hours before shooting time two fisherman were out in their small boat and it capsized on the lake so there was a lot of activity on the lake. Their bodies were found several hours later, with the use of sonar appears to be an unfortunate accident. The accident happened on the south end of the lake that is in the southwest zone, but most boaters had to go through the searchers too get to their blind at the northend of the lake. The victims were in their twenties and appears not to be wearing their PFD. The lake has been around for over 40 years and I can think of any other tragedy that has happened on the lake.

[Edited By Kevin-Stallard on 2011-10-23 05:55]

Posted By:
Scott-Martin
Field Editor

illinois north zone. 10-22-2011 00:40
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Had the fortunate opportunity to hunt the Augusta National of duck clubs. The grand daddy of them all – the first class operation. Best I have ever seen. Not many ducks are down yet but those that are here, are there. Not more to add. When you go to the best, that’s all you need to say… Scott

Posted By:
jaemon4
Web Member

Sangchris Lake 10-20-2011 17:57
– – –
Count down is on! 36 hours to shootin time. Jonesin’ for some waterfowl smackdown.

Will be one of several in line for the draw for the opener.

See ya there!

qwackwacker@gmail.com

Don’t shoot ’til you can count their toes! -Jaemon4

Posted By:
diverhunter50
Guest

10-20-2011 11:17
– – –
Got out last night, definately a few new arrivals!

Posted By:
mgehant
Guest

Savanna Illinois 10-19-2011 19:17
– – 50-60 Degrees
Hunted Saturday and Sunday, same spot. Took a few mallards and some teal on Saturday. Could’ve shot a pile of teal but we passed on many groups. Sunday I missed the only mallard that came in :). Again passed on a bunch of teal. Kind of disappointed in the wood duck numbers, however a few friends hunting near by took limits of woodies both days. Saw a pile of geese, but couldn’t get them to do much. Overall it was good weekend in the area we hunted, and many guys I know shot limits on Saturday. Talked to some guys today and they said there were a few new birds that came in the past couple of days. Gonna sit in the tree stand this weekend. Good luck!

Get ’em in close and drop ’em!

Posted By:
webmaster
root

Boone County 10-18-2011 15:09
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Ducks real slow but geese are all over. Cacklers (Hutchinson’s) outnumbered bigger geese today and saw multiple skeins of high fliers coming in.

Geese would approach the hay field we were in but were looking for corn. A few groups were tall but shootable, kids are still mad at me I made them pass on shots — but hey, at least I got them out of school for the day.

Still a lot of corn and beans in. I’d guess total harvest somewhere around 25%. Geese will be a tough game until it’s done and disc’d in most places — unless you’re hunting on the X, running traffic probably won’t produce too much.

Divers are moving but we probably won’t see them until the weekend or later.

Posted By:
diverhunter50
Guest

none 10-18-2011 11:33
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I seldom venture up to 12, but the biggest change on 13 is way more people!!!, people crowded on top of each other constantly and less birds being harvested because of that. You can’t even get out during the week and have a good spot to yourself any more. However, I heard 12 had the same influx of people the first couple years and then slowed down, (probably because they all came down to 13!!) Another big change, is 85% of the boat blinds I see look like crap, and the birds shy from them. At least when the permanent blinds looked like crap, the birds saw them day after day and got used to them. Now when the birds come out of the refuge and see this green, or light tan, or whatever color sticking out along a light to dark brown island they split in a hurry. This causes many hunters (notice I do not say all) to take longer shots resulting in more crippling and more educated birds!

[Edited By diverhunter50 on 2011-10-18 11:37]

[Edited By diverhunter50 on 2011-10-18 12:14]

Posted By:
goosepatch
Web Member

10-18-2011 08:33
– – –
Hunted the Miss. River pool 12. Sat. 11 Sun. 3 Mon. 4. Hey Diverhunter50 what’s the biggest changes you have seen since they removed permanent blinds in pools 12,13,14. Don’t seem to see as many hunters as in the past.

Posted By:
huntorski
Guest

Pool 12 10-17-2011 16:54
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Fairly poor opener. Not many ducks around – mostly woodies and teal. We did have a flock of redheads come in. Earliest I’ve ever taken divers out there. Hardly saw any mallards – but I didn’t see any on Pool 12 during teal season either.

Flooding last fall and this spring has really silted in a couple of my best spots.

Hoping the dry conditions in Iowa keeps more birds on the river.

Posted By:
DarrenDuck
Guest

Marsh near Big Bend 10-17-2011 14:29
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
Not a bad opening day. Birds flying from shooting time until 9 am. Lot’s of woodducks, some teal and a few mallards. Typical of what we see on the opener.

Snagged three on saturday and doubled on a pair of mallards on Sunday! Could have shot more but was out of the blind helping the dog find the woodies that sailed in the sawgrass!

Posted By:
diverhunter50
Guest

NW 10-17-2011 11:31
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Good opener. Lots of mallards, a few pintail, some teal and a very disappointing number of wooducks viewed. Did not hear many reports of hunters killing any real numbers of ducks, one here, 5 there, but did hear that the goose shooting was better than average.

We hunted three guys Sat and went back to the same hole Sunday with two of us. Saturday the best shooting would have been from 8:30 am-about 9:30am, but had to watch em swim around in the decoys (mallards and geese)Got some pretty cool pictures on the cell phone (they were really close) Was a little leary about day two hunting the same spot, but had similar results, even though we saw a whole lot less birds!!

I would say to be successful right now, you need to get out and scout before your hunt! Took 2 of us putting on some miles to find birds, but was well worth it!!! Maybe things will get a little easier with the cool down this week.

[Edited By diverhunter50 on 2011-10-17 11:35]

Posted By:
webmaster
root

Boone County 10-16-2011 22:56
– – –
Fair number of birds this morning — teal, gadwall, woodies and mallards. Geese were thick but not interested in water with all the fields recently harvested.

Kids emptied the guns a few times but couldn’t connect. Rained most of the morning and, as expected it was slow until the rain stopped.

Ducks loved the call today — which was good since I was designated caller and the kids were shooting. At least I can say I did my job to make it happen 🙂 lol

Posted By:
Michael-PhillipsIL
Field Editor

SW Pike Co 10-16-2011 20:57
– – –
Lots and lots of woodies and teal around as well as a few pintails. Also quite a few honkers. This colder weather coming should bring some new ducks to the area.

Went to North Dakota for the first week of October. It was record hot but the hunting was decent. I can say there are a lot of ducks and a ton of geese up there. Have a lot to look forward to.

Posted By:
Magmodel12
Guest

Pool 16 10-16-2011 17:22
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – –
Saw 1/3 less ducks this morning..nothing flew past 9

Posted By:
Scott-Martin
Field Editor

NE IL 10-15-2011 22:04
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
Lots of ducks in our cove this am and lots of shooting on the lake to our north but after the initial volleys the bird vamanossed to family friendly ponds. They like the weather there better. We had a very slow opener but managed to come home with a few ducks. Most reports from friends were the same. Teal here and there and a few young mallards. Seems like we had a few birds around. Keep your eyes peeled to the north! Scott

Posted By:
Magmodel12
Guest

Pool 16 10-15-2011 20:32
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – –
usual wood ducks before shooting time but did see groups of big ducks till 10am.

Posted By:
qacol
Guest

Desplaines conservation 10-15-2011 19:29
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – –
only 1 drake mallard today. guns were blazing all morning throught the dpr. cousin got 5 in another blind but he missed many more. 1 blind shot 25 mins early and DNR was there to catch them when they left(SWEEET). another hunter decide a boat blind was way to hunt dpr and he got warned by dnr. Seems some folks have no idea how to read regs or ask ?s.

Posted By:
Scott-Martin
Field Editor

NE IL 10-14-2011 21:26
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
Game on! Good luck to all tomorrow. Looking forward to your reports. Scott

Posted By:
webmaster
root

10-14-2011 12:36
– – –
Good luck to everyone this weekend. Not a lot of ducks here in Northern IL but the shooting ought to keep what’s here moving.

Expect next weekend to be a totally different story. A cold front is building in Alberta and will hit hear early next week. Expect a fresh round of new birds and ones passing through all next week. Good time for vacation days 🙂

Posted By:
diverhunter50
Guest

NW 10-14-2011 07:50
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Not alot of ducks around for the opener. Spent almost a week to find the birds we are going to hunt tomorrow, and it is far from a sure thing. Seems to be some woodducks, teal and a few mallards. Had some buddies saw some pintails and shovelors last weekend, but not many. Does seem to be decent goose numbers, and quite a bit of the corn picked in our area might help hold them a little while.

[Edited By diverhunter50 on 2011-10-14 07:51]

Posted By:
qacol
Guest

Desplains River- State Area 10-12-2011 20:31
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Youth Hunt Sunday: The 3 kids did good 2bwt 3 mallards and 3 woodies. They could of had more but hay their kids…

Posted By:
webmaster
root

Boone County 10-10-2011 11:34
– – –
Youth hunt was hot, slow and uneventful. Had one group of gadwall and one group of teal give us a flyover. The boys managed to scratch out one wood duck.

A ton of geese in the area, but they went from the nearby roosting pond to the cut field that was literally across the street and then back.

Harvest is rolling along but in this heat what is here isn’t flying much.

Water levels are near normal and there is a ton of forage under it. The duck food really sprouted in dry areas during July, August and early Sept and is covered in water now.

Looking forward to cooler temps and hungry ducks.

Posted By:
davehunter03
Web Member

will county 10-10-2011 07:21
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Out and about yesterday and saw an increase in Longnecks, seems as though we have some early movers.Ducks, zippo.
Sr.

Geese were everywhere this weekend. blah blah blah. test the map pin.