Category: Indiana

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-26-2009 17:41
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Two mallards this morning. We lost two more. Saw about 25 ducks. Same old show.

I did see quite a few birds flying the river this morning. Maybe things will pick up soon. Who knows.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-24-2009 13:47
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Hunted the timber slough this morning. We got set up and heard mallards on their roost soon after. They left at day break. Two hoodies landed and swam in. The boys shot. We got one.

We worked a few small groups of mallards and three black ducks almost finished. We’ll be back at it in another area Saturday and Sunday. We’re headed north on Monday for hopefully better days. It’s been a rough season so far.

I hit the water this morning for the first time this season. I was sitting on a log and saw some ducks. As I was positioning myself to call I slid off the log I was sitting on and went in. I didn’t get too wet but sure got a lot of laughs.

[Edited By Bert Holtzman on 2009-12-24 15:04]

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 12-21-2009 20:50
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Well, it’s getting pretty tough out there right now. Killed a couple mallards on the river Sunday morning but that’s about it. The geese seem to be using the fields so I guess it’s time to just shoot honkers and if a duck comes by it’ll be a miracle.

I drove 375 miles on Saturday and did not see more than 30 ducks. What the hell is going on? Spots that are traditionally holding birds this time of year are holding nothing. Who knows?

Posted By:
kayakis
Web Member

elkhart co. 12-21-2009 20:38
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Tim and I hunted a picked corn field saw some geese. pass shot on one flock. ended up with one goose. going to try a friends farm in the morning picked corn…..jimmy

Posted By:
Aaron-Vogler
Web Member

12-21-2009 09:08
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Its pretty sad out there right now. In regards to scouting efforts to the past two weeks, all areas of early floodwater and holes in fields are lacking use of any kind. Haven’t seen but a few divers this year, barely any high flying groups at all, very few geese and the mallards that are around seem to have been here for some time now.

Posted By:
cullenliam
Guest

12-21-2009 04:14
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Seems to be more deer than ducks right now. However, just finished with deer, I think. Not hearing good duck reports from my buddies. The fields have beemn holding a good goose turnout…giving it a go this week.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 12-20-2009 10:50
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
I drove along the river this morning hoping to see some birds. It just isn’t worth getting out there right now plus we’re all tired. Didn’t see but about 6 ducks. I also didn’t see many hunters. That says enough.

Keep those fingers crossed. We still have some time left.

Posted By:
shady
Guest

Ohio River 12-19-2009 19:23
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Didn’t see many birds today, saw about 20 ducks total, no geese at all. Ended up with 2 mallards. Going to try the corn tomorrow, I’m optimistic!

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Around Indy 12-19-2009 15:34
Cloudy, Accumulating Snow – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
We set up on the water this morning expecting to have another outstanding hunt. It turned out to be a major disapointment. We probably saw around fifty ducks and zero geese. Most didn’t give us a look. We ended up with a black duck and a gadwall.

Season tally:
60 ducks
43 geese

Posted By:
kmdenning
Web Member

12-17-2009 11:20
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Are there any birds at all in the ohio river zone?

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 12-15-2009 16:38
Cloudy, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Had a nice goose hunt this morning in a disced cornfield. Three of us killed six honkers and I killed one with a band on it from Nunavut, Canada. Looks like we have picked up a few migrating geese in the last few days. NW winds should continue to bring a few birds down.

Posted By:
Aaron-Vogler
Web Member

SW Indiana 12-14-2009 20:44
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Drove around Friday for a few hours and found relief in seeing what appeared to be new birds around plus a few pits holding quite a few geese. Drove around for two hours today, absolutely nothing and I mean nothing. Yea I know where some birds are and always are, but those places just dont count sometimes.

Posted By:
Sean Riley
Web Member

porter co. cornfield 12-13-2009 21:48
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had a great shoot today…12 mallards and 6 geese….it was our best shooting of the year 0 birds made it out of the field!!! the local co made an apperance and got to see us work 6 mallards and kill all 6!!!no one shot at the same birds,and that never seems to work like that….and 6 geese came in and we killed all 6…it was supposed to be a goose hunt,I didnt think there were ducks using the field,so we didnt set the full body ducks,but we did have the mojo….if the last group of geese woulda come 2 min sooner we woulda had our 4 man limit of geese!!!!

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

12-12-2009 21:59
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last day for me in the north zone. Pretty bad season, but today made up for it. Hunted the big lake and 2 bull cans came and they stayed. My dads first Can in 40 years of hunting kinda cool. Also killed one bluebill. Missed a drake mallard and one other bluebill that was it. Now it is time 2 start hunting the south zone. Maybe but a hurtin on the geese we will see.

Rack’ em

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 12-12-2009 17:25
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted a lake today and killed a couple of buffleheads. That wasn’t the real story of the day. The motor did not start but thanks to a couple guys that towed us out to our spot and towed us back in when they were done, we had a fun morning. Back at it on the river in the AM.

Posted By:
shady
Guest

Washington County 12-12-2009 17:11
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
Didn’t see many birds at all today with the exception of the sandhills. Did see a few geese though by themselves and flying with the sandhills. Had 2 snows look at us, that’s about it, saw 8 ducks total (mallards, blacks). Did manage to end the morning with 1, had a pair of canadas come into the duck decoys, got my first band of the year. Thus far, really disappointing, just not seeing any birds at all.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Around Indy 12-12-2009 13:16
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
We split up this morning and had some success. Randy and Scott took 8 mallards and a goose. Tony and I had limited spots. We got three green but didn’t find one. Ducks were skittish. We worked just a few groups. We did work a group of 30 geese and thought they were going to finish. To no avail.

Not a bad two days. We’ll be back on the big river tomorrow.

Posted By:
Forrest-Eads
Field Editor

Stillwater-Northfork / Merom 12-11-2009 17:05
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
All the birds around here have picked up and moved on. The marsh is all ice….Northfork is 98% ice ….maybe saw 50 birds all day. And NO Geese at all !! Except for the 200 plus in the Paynetown campground.

As for Merom…they had (keyword HAD) lots of birds. The guys said they had at least a 1000 birds that got up and headed out on Thursday. 4 parties killed 4 ducks on Thursday. I would be willing to bet it will be a madhouse tomorrow morning !! Everyone fighting to get 1st pick and blind 7 !

Time for a mini vacation and some windshield time to see if the geese will find any of my fields. I guess I am going to have to build a neighborhood just to hunt in !!

Posted By:
Sean Riley
Web Member

12-11-2009 16:55
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thanks for the pics Bert!!!!found some field feeding mallards this afternoon…gonna try them sunday…tomorrow is gonna be a scout day

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

Home 12-11-2009 14:42
Arctic Blast – Froze Out
Looks like it is a repeat of last year. No birds at any of my spots and no sign of improvement. Bring on the beer!

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Around Indy 12-11-2009 12:38
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
Had an exceptional hunt this morning. They really poored in at shooting time and we had ten on the water before we knew it! After that pairs came in consistently. We even had three gadwall come in low and got every one of them. We took a four gun limit of mallards and added those gadwall. I’ll post pics when I get home Sunday. We hope to keep shooting this weekend.

[Edited By Bert Holtzman on 2010-01-17 18:20]

Posted By:
kmdenning
Web Member

12-11-2009 10:02
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Are you saying that the ducks are here? I haven’t seen a thing. Have killed only a few so far this season. If they are here, what zone are they concentrated in. Good Luck.

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

12-10-2009 16:56
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Big concentration of canada’s behing my place of work right now. If u got a field in the area you will smash’em as for ducks I don’t think I need 2 say anything. But I will after it tomorrow. All u can do is try.

Posted By:
Spaniel
Guest

IN South Zone 12-07-2009 07:33
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Folks – Put in 2 full days this weekend -started out Sat am by killing time spectating on the main lake @ patoka waiting for a buddy to break free and head to Vincennes @ 10 am for the Sat pm hunt

Threw out a small spread and hunkered down @ 19 degrees near the Patoka beach to watch the morning unfold – heard 8-10 volleys from 4 or so other parties on the lake, and never fired a cap, not that near the beach is the place to set up on Patoka… saw a few divers, gulls, grebes and not the first puddle duck. two geese locked up and sat near the beach 5 minutes after I had picked up…not that the beach is the place to set up on patoka!

Dog story – Tank,the american water spaniel (AWS) is now 4 1/2 and in the groove – SAT. his owner, not real interested in getting wet if I didn’t have to with newly patched waders- pitched dekes in the dark from the shore, some near, some far… all around submerged veg. Turned out the far ones had a hat floating ditch between me and them, and the wader patch didn’t – I couldn’t get ’em w/out swimming… After questioning the intelligence of the blockhead that threw the blocks – I looked @ Tank…hmmmmm

Lined him up and sent him to the 1st dekes – told him to FETCH! and he looked to me after winding the blocks – twice – like “you idiot – they are plastic” – i begged and he bit and I was in business… 5 reps later I was outta there and loving my dog. In 17 years of having dogs I had never asked Tank or my first AWS to play pick up dekes.. try it – it’s pretty handy! He had a ball -found a new calling in life!

Rolled to the white river bottoms w/ 3 buddies to be guests in set blinds in flooded corn and beans and had an awesome Sat. afternoon – birds were very active and all the groups took sub limit bags of mallards and woodies -still a lot of woodies around and probably a thousand birds in this immediate part of Indiana.

Hunted an oxbow lake off the white river with a great setup all day Sunday right adjacent to where we thumped ’em the night before and never fired a cap. the flooded fields that were hammerin ’em maybe had three volleys – dead quiet Sunday. Had a mature bald eagle at 40 yards come in feet down and backpedaling thinking our dekes were dinner – awesome sight… had a few woodies shoot by out of range, One group of local geese milling around, a hoodie, and thats it. so it goes…

Those that watch this stuff are expecting a push on the next jet as up north is begining to get snow and lock up -our hosts on the White River for Sat/Sun haven’t seen the real pushes yet -the area they watch will hold 10 to 20X the birds they had this weekend.

Season’s open today in KY, have a few farm spots we’ll try and gettin both sons home for the holidays from college soon, and we’ll be after ’em. Would had posted about the two early season and two main season hunt’s so far on Patoka, Lemon, and Monroe but there was Nuthin Much to report!

Word is some of the boys with private wetlands on the Muscatatuck bottoms are having a Good! season and holding birds. Once we get some winter rains and the White and Muscatatuck get out & flood the corn it should good. Best of the seasons – scout! and be safe…

Oh Yeah – What’s the word on the Patoka Bottoms – Oakland City, etc or Goose Pond?
never tried goose pond – worth the trip?

Posted By:
Sean Riley
Web Member

12-06-2009 21:17
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Its almost over for us north guys…and it hasnt even started yet!!!!!goin after geese in the morning…..it better happen fast if its gonna happen at all….worst I can remember in a long,long time

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-06-2009 13:16
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We sat up in a spot that was holding birds this morning. We didn’t see anything. Absolutely nothing.

I got roasted in the blind again this morning. So at least we had a little fun.

Season Totals
28 ducks
42 Geese
I was told I missed a few early season birds in our totals. I can’t count nor see any ducks. Hopefully this weather brings some birds. Big system coming mid week.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-05-2009 17:19
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Added another mallard today. Not much seen.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 12-04-2009 22:03
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Dad and Randy scratched a drake mallard this afternoon. They didn’t see many ducks at all. Still waiting for them to arrive.

They did see some ring necks, which I’m sure are probably new birds. We didn’t see them last weekend.

Posted By:
Sean Riley
Web Member

11-29-2009 21:19
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dear Santa…I would like some snow for Christmas…and if you could get it here this week,I will leave you extra cookies!!
ps…Forrest needs some new bigfoot decoys!!!

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 11-29-2009 19:46
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 45-50 Degrees
What a dick punch of a weekend this has been. Hunted two areas on Friday and Saturday that should have produced birds but only produced skunks! Went today for our reserve at Monroe and shot one gadwall.

It’s just pitiful right now and we need some kind of weather to get something started. There are birds around but they know where they are safe.

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 11-29-2009 10:22
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Set up in the timber slough this morning. Things were looking up early. We heard mallards and woodies all morning. Unfortunately they flew out before shooting time and most never came back. We saw big groups of ducks around 7:45, a mixture of gadwall and wood ducks. Ended up with a hen gadwall. It’s been a disapointing opener. Back at it next weekend. Back to work until then unfortunately.

There was some shooting on the river this morning.

Season Counts-
26 ducks
39 Geese

[Edited By Bert Holtzman on 2009-11-29 10:23]

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 11-28-2009 18:07
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
One would have thought that we would have had a serviceable hunt this morning. Our first split opener on Halloween was above average, water levels were good, and there was no freeze to push the birds we had out. Something happened. This morning was a bust and a shock. Got there this morning and walked in. Randy and Scooter hunted together. I hunted with Tony and Marty. The wait to shooting time said it all. We heard next to nothing. There were a few vocalizing in the timber but not much. Ten minutes after shooting time the other gang of hunters down the way shot. Then Scooter and Randy. We waited a bit longer when I heard the roar of hoodie wings. Plop. Two were in the midst of sitting down. Marty and Tony sprung into action. Two hoodies met their maker. I didn’t shoot. I didn’t have a chance and am glad. Yuck! That was it. Nothing more flew in. The opener was offially a stinker, though Randy and Scooter did manage a nice drake woodie.

Scouted this afternoon at the lakes. Nothing. Went to another slough this evening. I found some birds. There were some woodies having a good time in the timber. I spent the next hour on a log watching hoodies drop in like jets, vocalizing as they flew (something I’ve never heard before). There were also some mallards on the water that I heard. I’ve honestly never saw so many hoodies before. It’s been an odd one so far to say the least.

The river is a bust right now. We’re in dire need of weather. But at least we have time, something lacking in Illinois right now (see their state forum board for the details).

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Around Indy 11-27-2009 15:27
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
We set up in a cornfield this morning. Started out really slow with no ducks whatsoever. Finally some geese started flying. We got one group in and managed three out of it. Only had a couple more groups give us any look. One group fell out behind us but quickly jetted out.

Had flocks of sandhills roll through late in the morning. It was good to see them again.

Off to scout for ducks in the morning. Happy hunting.

Posted By:
oldsilverfox
Web Member

Hamilton Co 11-27-2009 10:57
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
One mallard killed, but, one hell of a up river against the strong current retrieve by Mr. Kane made it worthwile.

Had a Bull Pinnie land in the decoys and Jeff and Kevvin did not see him come in. He floated down river untkouched. What a pretty duck.

At 8:05 am my big buck I have trying to kill decided to cross the river, upon seeing Kane he took off! Just the way it goes.

Got home to see the sandhills going over the house and then a bald eagle flew over. Wow what a sight.

We were covered up with doves! Today is the last day of the season so we may go get after them this afternoon. They were thick!

Stay Safe

Fox

Posted By:
Corey-Cordray
Guest

South Zone 11-26-2009 16:46
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Killed 6 on Wednesday morning between 3 of us. Had the wind in our face so it was a pretty good effort to kill 6.

Didn’t get anything this morning due to poor shooting and setting up incorrectly. Should have went further down and we would have been golden but oh well.

Taking tomorrow off and back at it on Saturday morning.

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

11-26-2009 16:37
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3 guys
2 geese
3 mallards
2 wigeon
1 gaddy
1 woody
1 gw teal
1 redhead
9 ducks and 2 geese. this weather better keep it up.

Rack’ em

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River 11-26-2009 12:00
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Four guns, four geese this morning. Didn’t see but about 40 ducks and 40 geese. Last year we saw ten times that. Weather needs to change badly. Headed back to Indy tomorrow. This could be a banner week for us.

Two of our geese were banded making this hunt with something to be thankful about.

Season counts
24 ducks
39 geese

[Edited By Bert Holtzman on 2009-11-26 12:03]

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Around Indy 11-25-2009 16:18
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Randy and the boys slammed ten ducks and eleven geese this morning. Bronsugaris kept me out of the game. The coach is putting me in tomorrow. Modern medicine is amazing.

Season count-
24 ducks
35 geese

posted via Iphone

[Edited By Bert Holtzman on 2009-11-26 14:53]

Posted By:
Sean Riley
Web Member

private marsh….porter county 11-25-2009 00:07
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we had a pretty good hunt this morning….2 guys 7 mallards and a goose….coulda been done in 10 min but had to wait on the fog and some better shooting light

Posted By:
Sean Riley
Web Member

11-23-2009 20:16
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Might actually get into a good hunt tomorrow!!! A marsh north of my house a few miles has a bunch of mallards using it,they showed up a few days ago,and as luck would have it a friend of mine has permission there!!!Hopefully I can finally post a positive report!!!

Posted By:
G-man
Guest

north west 11-23-2009 18:02
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Oh boy what a day, don’t want to keep on the same neg. reports, but the cold hearted truth is the truth, we spent the entire morning in the flooded corn, saw a total of 6 ducks, We managed to finish off a cripple drake, that swam up to us..
lets hope this comeing wed. will bring out some new ducks, suppose to be cooler, i won’t say colder, only bright spot, to look forward too, out again tomarrow, waiting for the migration.. be safe an good luck, ” happy thanksgiveing to you all ”

Posted By:
TRM
Web Member

11-22-2009 19:13
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killin a few divers on the lake that is about it. Not much going on else where. So i have been hunting the lake. But saw more geese today then ducks.

Posted By:
G-man
Guest

11-21-2009 10:30
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Man talk about SLOW, went to the marsh yesterday, sat in middle of flooded corn field all morning, saw maybe 20 ducks. there calling for chance of snow, wed an thur, we’ll see. sure hope the rest of you are haveing better luck? Sean keep on the chase, we’ll corner them i hope

Posted By:
Sean Riley
Web Member

11-19-2009 22:17
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ssslllooowwwwwwww…..we need some thing to happen…I have been seeing new birds in some of the local marshes…they just dont seem to be moving much….I know I am ready for some cold weather and some hot dry cornfield hunts!!!My 2 best fields still have corn standing on them, and if this drizzly rainy crap doesnt stop..its gonna be there a while longer!!!

Posted By:
G-man
Guest

11-18-2009 18:04
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talk about sad, they opened the corn blinds, the other day, 19 blinds , total kill 45 birds, 4 of them geese, there are just no birds to hunt, hopeing this cool weather pushes something down here, its sad

Posted By:
Bert Holtzman
Field Editor

Ohio River Zone 11-17-2009 15:49
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Looks like we could see our first bitter cold night time temps late next week, just in time for the opener with highs in the 40s and low 20s Wednesday and Thursday. I haven’t heard of any strong mallard numbers of late though there were reports of lots of ducks on the river a few weeks ago. I’ll start scouting hard Wednesday and report back on a daily basis in the days preceding the Ohio River Zone opener. Stay tuned.

Posted By:
Aaron-Vogler
Web Member

Gibson County 11-17-2009 11:10
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Put the boat in the Wabash at Mt. Carmel and took it up the white river about 11 miles to get to familiar with some new stretch of river. Made it back to the ramp right at dusk, and didn’t see a single duck either on the river or in flight, not a good sign considering how close to the power plant we were.

Posted By:
G-man
Guest

north west 11-17-2009 08:42
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Went to local preserve, this morning, 147 party’s, we got 127 pick, what a day, went to my friends place, we managed to knock down one large goose, pass dhooting, end of day. got home an the wife has taken my little goose dog to the vet. 12lb yorkie. he’s haveing trouble breathing, who knowns?? no new birds yet waiting

Posted By:
Sean Riley
Web Member

cut corn field 11-16-2009 18:47
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the rain quit just in time!!!!but….the birds didnt show up!!! killed 2 mallards and thinned the local pigeon population by 12…dang those birds love a mojo

Posted By:
kayakis
Web Member

elkhart co. 11-16-2009 12:18
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Tim and I hunted a private pond this morning we shot 3 ducks and 3 geese. we saw alot of birds moving around….going to let the pond rest and hunt the field tuesday….jimmy