Category: Minnesota

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]

Posted By:
Double_Trouble_Golden
Web Member

McLeod County 09-24-2011 18:50
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 50-60 Degrees
First day was a blast. Out of all 4 of us we got 13 ducks. Had one other party on the lake with 60 decoys. We played it smart and only put out 10 Woodies. Lots of them still flying around. Morning fog was the best!!! Good dog action too, almost lost my golden. Shot a duck landed 30 yards in deep deep water. Kept swimming out before my dog could get it. As soon as she did the duck dove six times. It was like wack a mole! Swam for 6 mins before finally getting it. Too late for me since I was running to my boat and paddling my little heart to reach her. Just got to remember shes a lot fitter and better swimmer. Good Luck Y’all.

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

pillager/gull river area 09-24-2011 10:22
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 40-45 Degrees
Day 1 of 60 complete. Funnest opener I have experienced in a while. All three members of the Golden Eye D.C. were together to start the season.
I secured our spot at 4:30 am due to tons of pressure on the river near us. No threats presented themselves before we hit the water at 5. We hunted a small land locked piece of water that was fairly small with a good crop of wild rice.
Took 2 trips with the jon boat to get all 3 guys, the dog and decoys out to the blind. SUPER thick fog. We could hear the whistling of wings many times after 6:30 this morning but could not see a thing!
1st woodie of the morn was brought down by Trave about 6:50. When birds wanted in, they were right on top of us. I missed a woody at about 5 yards i swear.
Did sight a few teal and a few mallards but mainly had woodies working us.
It got very quiet about 7:50, We peeled out about 8:15 to get to work. Left with 6 woodies for the 3 of us. Only thing i would have changed was hiding the dog better. Muskrat houses are nice dog platforms but always seem to be out in the open some what.
Not sure what tomorrows hunt will be. Thinkin maybe slipper blind. Keep ya posted

Paul Burton

Posted By:
Double_Trouble_Golden
Web Member

McLeod County 09-13-2011 10:23
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Seen a lot of Bluewing, Woodies, and Mallards.I personally believe that the local Blues and Woodies will be gone before opener with this cold front slowly coming in. BUT I will try to stay positive.

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

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

Orr, Northern St Louis County 09-06-2011 08:00
– – 50-60 Degrees
Hunted Pelican river north of Orr. We were out 2 of the first three days. Not a lot of action, but enough to keep it interesting. All over water. 4-5 Blacks havested.

Great to be out.

Posted By:
Double_Trouble_Golden
Web Member

Western MN 09-03-2011 21:57
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
Counted around 300 Candian Geese within the area. Each person in my party (5) shot their limit. Still they keep coming! Best Goose Year Since 2003.

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

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

Brainerd area 08-24-2011 13:03
– – –
Seeing good numbers of woodies, teal and mallards. Some groups of mallards are very large.
Plan to start scouting next week.

Get out on your local sporting clays course to get that shotgun warmed up! Helps me a ton every season.

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

Sandstone 08-24-2011 07:21
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Saw my first flock of geese in a field for this year.

Better pick up my scouting.

Posted By:
Double_Trouble_Golden
Web Member

McLeod County 08-21-2011 16:10
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
I have been seeing a lot of geese in the surrounding area. It hasn’t been this packed since 2003. It seemed like a big (20-30) non-local flock came in a couple days ago. Beautiful sight and sound at dusk on my lake when they come off the fields to roost. Getting PUMPED up, started refreshment retrieving training for my girls two weeks ago. So far everything is on track for a excellent year. Praying for a little bit more rain, but hopefully not a monsoon like last year. I’ll keep y’all updated in the next couple weeks.

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

Posted By:
dstohlberg08
Web Member

western mn 08-13-2011 21:30
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 60-65 Degrees
Well the scouting game has begun, took a look in an area that i hunt for opening weekend of early goose season and was somewhat disappointed. Locals say theres lots of geese around but could not find them.finally saw some birds in town but not the usual numbers weve seen in the past. One bright spot was on the way home we stopped at a friends cabin and decided to scout there. Found two nice groups of birds in cut wheat fields less than half amile from his cabin.

Posted By:
Canman OMaddie
Web Member

Carver County 04-04-2011 08:14
– – –
Bills, Redheads, Buffies, Mallards, Mergies, Geese and swans all sighted this weekend. fun to watch

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

Did Not Hunt 03-31-2011 16:45
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
I’m finally getting situated in my new home north of Askov. We moved last November.

It’s going to take a ton of scouting and talking to get some hunting spots around here. It will be interesting.

That said, I’m seeing signs of Spring and birds. Canadas moving in , Sandhills this morning, a bunch of Turkeys in my road last week. (I missed out on a license)

The reports I’m getting from SoDak White Goose hunters are “no shortage of birds, just tough to get”.

Life is good !!!!!! Only about 6 months until the 2011 Fall season.

[Edited By Peter-Brown on 2011-04-03 10:50]

Posted By:
CPAMAN
Guest

Did Not Hunt 03-20-2011 13:52
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Driving back from West Central MN on Friday, March 28th was pretty exciting to say the least. In the morning, not much wildlife seen at all. No deer, saw only one pair of Canada geese, and nothing else to speak of. Coming back around 4:30 pm was an entirely different story.

I saw four large herds of deer grazing over about a six-mile area. 15-25 deer in each herd. I saw three fields and/or wooded areas with 12-25 wild turkeys. Five flooded fields had 150-500 Canada geese and saw at least three dozen nesting pairs of Canada geese. No ducks seen yet but they should be here soon. A little discouraging was no sightings of pheasants. This winter was likely very hard on pheasants as much of their natural vegetation cover was entirely blanketed in snow for the past several months.

Posted By:
Canman OMaddie
Web Member

12-03-2010 08:18
– – –
Post them in the Photo forum. easy to do

Posted By:
dstohlberg08
Web Member

south central mn 12-01-2010 10:05
Arctic Blast – –
Hunted a cut corn field for ducks and geese yesterday,in twenty five minutes had a six man limit of geese.we waited onother hour or so for ducks and scratched out four fat daddy mallards. The whole time we had geese lighting in the decoys. One of the best hunts I’ve been on. I have pictures but don’t know how to add them, any help would be great.

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

North Metro, Anoka County 11-28-2010 05:05
Cloudy, High Winds – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
As one can imagine things are pretty much over for ducks on the chain of lakes in Lino Lakes. It was a decent season, certainly better than 2009

Some open water may remain in portions of Rice Creek, but I haven’t a chance to check it out.

I’m still seeing a some geese in the area.

This probably be my last report from the North Metro area. I am moving on Monday.

Next fall I’ll be scouting up new spots in the Askov area. I wiil continue to hunt from my cabin near Orr and report accordingly.

I’ve hunted near my home in Lino for 25 years so looking for new areas will be interesting for sure.

I plan to hang with this site as long as it remains viable ??????

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

11-23-2010 12:09
– – –
Finally had migrating birds thru the brainerd area last week with the weather change. There wasnt so many that you could go any ol place, you had to scout but it was worth it.

Hunted big water on saturday on a prominant point midway on a lake that runs North/south. Thru the week it had been slow with a few divers here and there and the remaining dock mallards.
Large diver set with long line and 3 dzn loose.
7:30 it started, groups of golden eyes ranging in numbers of 15- 40 poured RIGHT in the pocket and had no hesitation. by the 4th or 5th flock, all within an hour we had 18 golden eyes for 3 guys. As I remember the best shoot we have EVER had on this lake and we hunt it a ton.

Went back on sunday and didnt pull the trigger. there was heavy fog and i speculate that the birds didnt want to fly.

This lake since sunday has started making ice but there is still at least 200 golden eyes still on it but virtually no way to get to them due to shore ice.

Its over i think, another season done. I will start a season overview in the MN forum later today to see how everyone feels about their season

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

North Metro, Anoka County 11-22-2010 05:42
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
There are still birds in the Centerville area. Mostly divers and geese.

Geo. Watch was iced up Sat.

Although I haven’t been out every day we have taken a few birds.

My partner and I shot a 12 bird limit(all divers) on Centerville last week.

There seems to be a bunch of guys still getting after it. Saturday there was fair amount of shoting on Peltier Lake.

I will get out a few more times before it’s over.

Posted By:
Canman OMaddie
Web Member

West Metro 11-21-2010 21:43
– – –
Buddies and I decided to do an afternoon hunt this afternoon. Very slow. Didn’t see a single bird until 3:45. Shot to bills and that was it. With this weather coming, Ice is sure to come. Busting out the Ice fishing gear.

Posted By:
knute
Web Member

wilkin county/ottertail county 11-20-2010 16:55
Cloudy, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Hunted Thursday near Rothsay. Little slough, covered in thin ice. Broke ice and set out a dozen and a half decoys and 1 roboduck.
About 9:00 finally, in came a pair of drake mallards. As they got close, they must have figured out that my dekes were all frozen in the ice. They flared up, and I dropped both with one shot. Wow!
An hour later a flock of 15 mallards were flyting in the north. Literally one quack from me and they made a 90 degree turn and came right in like the first two. Dropped two more drakes from that flock. Stayed another hour but saw nothing( other than high flying flocks of geese).
Scouted the afternoon and decided to hunt closer to Fergus falls the next day

Found more than 5000 mallards and several thousand geese at orwell. Asked permission to hunt a couple different cornfeilds for the next day but both already had people hunting them.
Settled on a small lake/large slough in the area.

Friday morning the wind was blowing 20-30 mph out of the wnw. Temp was 22 degrees. Took the boat out with the trolling motor. Set up on the quiet side of a point with a little hill on it blocking the wind. Really wasn’t too bad out of the wind. Saw a few flying around early then nothing more until a flock of four mallards flew in about 9:00 again. Dropped two nice drakes. Both apparently had only broken wings and Both made it into the cattails about forty to fifty yards away in a hail of shots across the water, but couldn’t get a head shot in the waves. Went across to them and searched for about forty minutes. Couldn’t find them anywhere. I hate losing birds!!!!!!!!
Notning else flying so I picked up about 11:30. that’s when the fun started. As I came back around the point I realized the wind had really picked up and there were good sized whitecaps. The spray from the waves was icing up on impact with my cold aluminum boat. The trolling motor bracket froze up and wouldn’t lock into positon when I put it down. Wet gloves froze solid and It made for an interesting ride back across the lake into the wind.
Really glad to get the heat going in the truck when I got back!

Drove around a bit to see where all the geese were going that I had been seeing. Found several hundred in a plowed corn feild bordering a wpa. Parked the truck and walked about half way across until the land leveled out with the cornfeild. Then crawled another hundred yards up to within about seventy yards of all the geese.

My hope was when they got up they would fly over me for a shot. Well the first few groups that moved out went the other way, but after about a half hour a group of a hundred got up and came right over me. An absolute gimme shot. Soooo…. I picked out the closest goose and preceded to miss three straight shots at it. I got no Idea!

Ton of ducks and geese all around the orwell area but securing permission hasn,t been easy and the lakes have divers on them but alot of ice and wind. Saturday The temp dropped to 10 degrees all night and the wind dropped which created a thick layer of ice across everything I saw Saturday. Almost everything along the way home along 94 was completely covered in ice and NO ducks.
I’d say the season is done!

Posted By:
dstohlberg08
Web Member

south central mn 11-14-2010 21:42
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Scouted Friday and Saturday for geese and ducks in the fields, Friday saw lots of ducks and geese hitting corn fields that had been plowed. Saturday we found a field that had several hundred geese in it and were able to get permission to hunt it Sunday. Set up in the dark after walking in the spread only to find out we were set up to close to the road. Had one Flock work us but landed behind us. So we decided to to move the whole spread further in the field onyx to have the sky on the horizon fill up with geese coming right for the field when were not set yet. Still got shots on groups as we layed there there. Finally set up and had a single come in and my buddy shot it above me but wouldn’t drop. A few more flocks come in with more poor shooting. Ended up with a couple of geese for two guys. Saw thousands of geese in the area.

Posted By:
CPAMAN
Guest

Rice/Skunk Lakes-Central MN 11-13-2010 17:59
Cloudy, Accumulating Snow – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Perfect weather in Central MN for duck hunting. Not the heavy snow here that the Twin Cities is getting. Just a steady snowfall with winds at 15 mph. Problem. No ducks! Saw six birds on the two lakes-total! Two mallards and four divers. I shot a crippled goose on Skunk lake as I scouted the two lakes. Had to chase him around for several hundred yards. The only goose left in the area. Frustrating to say the least.

P.S. Discovered when cleaning the goose that it was banded!

[Edited By CPAMAN on 2010-11-14 10:58]

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

Brainerd area 11-13-2010 11:06
– – –
Hunted big water 5 days in the last week and a half. Not much happening in this part of the state. Have bagged a few birds each time but not seeing much in the mornings, weather outlook doesn’t look like it is gonna get too cold over the next week. Still gonna hit it hard and hope for birds to come down
I am guessing it’s quiet other places but would like to see some other reports!

Posted By:
kobear
Web Member

Otter Tail County 11-10-2010 10:45
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
News birds around past few days. Kind of a trickle of migration? Mallards and Geese using bigger lakes to stage out to fields. Some divers around too but nothing major. Should get some shooting if out and about this weekend.

Posted By:
CPAMAN
Guest

Did Not Hunt 11-08-2010 09:49
– – –
On my way back from deer hunting in North Dakota Sunday PM my son and I saw a lot of ducks and geese along the I-94 corridor from Fergus Falls area through Alexandria. Over three dozen sloughs were holding 15-400 ducks and geese. As usual, the peak migration appears to have hit during the deer opener.

[Edited By CPAMAN on 2010-11-08 17:53]

Posted By:
knute
Web Member

Breckenridge/rothsay/Fergus Falls 11-03-2010 21:45
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted this past Sat/Sunday/monday.

Saturday set up on the same slough/wpa as last week and took only one ringer. I did see several hundred mallards fly over looking for cornfeilds though. Packed up and decided to go scouting. Put on about a hundred and fifty mile in the above mentioned area scouting. Picked up a couple ruddy ducks in a little lake in the afternnoon.
After the snow they got last week there is water vertually everywhere. Found a flooded cornfeild with about three hundred mallards in it and three hundred sandhill cranes between the corn and the hayfeild across the road. Found the owner and asked permission to hunt, but was turned down. He said his cousin hunts it.

Sunday set up in backwaters of the river. Had a good day. Got a 14 pound goose and three two curl mallards, and dropped a leg on another, although he flew away.

Monday hit a slightly different area of the river and managed two more mallards(although one was a hen) and a really nice drake woodie before I had to pack up and head for home.

I saw a lot more birds than last week. Definitely starting to migrate, although not in full swing yet by any means.
If your planning to hunt that area you better plan on spending some time scouting becuase there is just so much water that even when they really start flying there are jsut so many place for them to hide, and the feilds are really muddy right now.

Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor

North Metro, Anoka Cty 11-03-2010 13:39
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Things have slowed in the Lino Lakes area.

Not a lot to be seen, less to shoot at.

I did notice a few more Mallards hanging around the “safe” areas. Centerville city limits and the golf course.

Some of them will screw up and fall to the gun before things end.

Although I have nothing to show for my last few mornings, the word I get from others is that a duck or two are being taken by some.

I did a drive about yesterday AM, very few rigs parked at the various boat landings.

I’m after Bambi this weekend, I’ll report again later next week.

Posted By:
CPAMAN
Guest

West Central Minnesota 11-01-2010 11:57
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted out in the Morris area Saturday AM. Two reasons, report earlier in the week indicated birds had moved into this area. Second reason was we gained permission to hunt several cut fields in the area. We were set up for dark geese but the fields were incredibly muddy. Had to set up closer to the farm area as walking in that mud was a disaster and travel via truck or 4-wheeler was impossible.

Ended up not firing a shot! The geese were moving in the AM but nothing came closer than 100 yards of our spread. A few smaller flocks took a look but shied away. We needed to be more out in the middle of the section-wide field in order to get more attention. The most disturbing factor was that we did not see one duck that morning. After we picked up around 10:30, we drove around and did not see a single bird in any of the WPA around the Morris, Hancock, or Glenwood areas. This is even more surprising given that some hunters had success in Central MN the previous Friday or Saturday as posted in the field reports.

Another report from the Herman area was a complete bust as well. Only one duck taken by a group of three hunters with very few birds seen on Saturday AM. One would have thought that October 30th would have been a prime day to hunt after the wind storm and snow storm the previous Monday-Wednesday.

Posted By:
Mendota Go-Devil
Guest

Central MN 11-01-2010 10:45
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Finally had a great Minnesota mallard hunt this weekend. Got out with my brother for the last 2 hours of hunting time on Friday. It was a nice sunny afternoon with south winds. Our set up was perfect as both the sun and wind was to our back which made identifying the drakes very easy. We shot 6 nice greenheads that evening and could have easily taken a hen each if we wanted to.

Saturday morning three of us went back to the same area. There were lots of mallards but we had a north wind so our morning set up had the sun in our eyes which made identifying the drakes very difficult for the first few hours. Shot a couple of hens early so had to play the “is it or isn’t it a drake?” game for a long time. By 1:00 p.m. we finally shot our last drake for a 12 mallard (9 drakes and 3 hens) limit plus a nice female Pintail. We could have shot some Greenwing Teal and Ringnecks as there were some of them around too but decided to hold out for the Mallards.

Water is very high in this area and the mallards were in the flooded grass.

Posted By:
dstohlberg08
Web Member

central MN 10-29-2010 21:07
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Just got back from the cabin, hunted the last couple of days in the area with great success. Lots of ringers around more than I’ve ever seen Wednesday the sky was thick with them. Killed a limit both Wed and Thurs. Less birds seen on thursday. Headed back up on Sunday.

Posted By:
nafd54
Guest

10-29-2010 19:12
– – –
CPMAN, I SAW THE SAME THING LAST YEAR WITH THE FLOCKS OF BLACKBIRDS. IT WAS AMAZING. WORDS CAN NOT DESCRIBE IT. THAT IS SOME OF THE GREATEST THINGS ABOUT DUCK HUNTING. YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU WILL SEE. GLAD TO HEAR YOU HAD A GOOD SHOOT.

Posted By:
CPAMAN
Guest

Central MN 10-29-2010 12:44
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Hunted this AM after the lowest barometric pressure system EVER recorded in the USA this past week on Tuesday. Yesterday may have been the day to be out as winds were out of the NW at 20-30 mph and overcast until late morning. Hard freeze overnight with temps down to around 23 degrees. Ice on the bays of the lake and the more shallow areas. Water levels extremely high-as high as I ever seen for this late in October.

I got to the landing early at around 5:50 am. That is a full 1.5 hrs before legal shooting. To my surprise, two vehicles were already there, and one vehicle was parked with the hunters already on the lake 20 minutes prior according to he other guy there who was just launching. Hardly a duck seen on my way in, however, it was still very dark. I got flashed off one point on the lake and chose to go the other side. Had plenty of time to set up, so I put out 18 diver decoys with a half dozen mallards just off to the side.

As a little twilight shown in the east, I saw a few small flocks of ducks moving around. Shortly thereafter, two other groups on the lake opened up with a volley apiece, and then another. I had a bluebill fly right into my decoy spread and took him right in the decoys. He drifted nicely to a clump of slough grass so I stayed in my boat blind. Five minutes later, two geese came in from behind me and I made a nice shot on both of them at around 40 yards. Unfortunately, both glided about 250 yards so I had to put the chase on them. I got one of them and the other one managed to get enough lift to just barely get off the water. It was shot by another hunter on the lake, so it was put in the bag.

A fairly decent number of migratory ducks showed up on the lake the first hour. Probably ten flocks of mallards ranging from 25-80 birds and about 15 diver flocks, primarily goldeneyes, ranging from 15-25 birds. I had a couple of goldeneyes pass through my decoys that came out of nowhere with no shots fired.

About ten minutes after sunrise, the most incredible blackbird swarm I have ever seen busted out across the lake. In my forty years of waterfowling, I have never seen a bigger swarm of blackbirds. I kid you not there must have been several million. The flock was at least a half-mile wide and it took half an hour to pass by and it was thick! The noise was so loud it almost hurt your ears. During this disturbance, several flocks of divers and mallards got literally buried within the swarm. It was nearly impossible to pick them out of the blackbird swarm as they moved about.

Despite seeing a fair number of ducks, the decoy shooting was very poor. Most of the birds swung around the lake at 100 yards up but never came to rest. This was surprising to say the least. I ended up with only the one duck and goose. At least I saw some birds today, however. That was encouraging.

Posted By:
kobear
Web Member

Alex-Fargo 10-29-2010 09:57
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Small ponds and lakes are skimmed with ice this am. Some new birds but just a few I’ve seen. Some nice mallards. A few Redheads. Head to Nodak.

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

brainerd area 10-28-2010 15:18
Cloudy, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted same water and point as yesterday. Not alot of bird activity, if anything less than yesterday- birds left? no new ones in yet?
ran a diver set tweaked a bit from yesterday due to wind being more north than west. Only shooting we had was at one group of buffles that came right in the pocket, dropped 4. That was the only real opportunity of the morning.
Did recieve word that new birds have arrived in western minnesota near Morris.

Still gonna hit her hard tomorrow and thru the weekend, keep ya’ll updated!

Posted By:
knute
Web Member

Breckenridge/ Rothsay 10-27-2010 21:49
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 45-50 Degrees
Scouted last Saturday afternoon for about five hours and put on ninety miles. Very few ducks around. Very high water around the area. Finally found a promising spot on a wpa. A slough that was way over its normal edges up in to the grass.

Walked in Sunday morning with a dozen duck decoys and 1 goose. Set up in a foot of water in the grass. Had a few mallards working it early but I think they were seeing me in the tall grass so I moved into the cattails on the edges of the slough and dtood in the waist deep water.

Bingo!
Within ten minutes, in comes a big four curl drake. Dropped him at about 30 yards dead on impact!
Then about twenty minutes later I saw two mallards, started calling, and heard a quack above my head and looked up to see twenty big mallards over head. Dropped probalby the biggest hen I’ve ever seen. It was raining so hard and was so gray that I couldn’t see any colors at all between the hens and drakes.

Then a half hour later another huge drake comes over solo. Shot him and broke a wing. he dropped 15 yards away in open water, but very much alive. I peppered him with two more shots but couldn’t kill him, so I ran out to grab him and he dove under. Searched for 45 minutes for him but he never came back up! He looked even bigger than the first drake i got, which was huge! Bummer!!!

That was it and I picked up. Not a lot of birds but at least they were big ones.

Going back up this weekend. This weather should drastically improve things!

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

brainerd area 10-27-2010 12:00
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
hunted close to home this morning. The nastiest weather I have ever hunted in. 20+ mph winds and blowing snow.
Setting dekes was a bit of a challange in the wind.
Hope was that the corner/point we set up on would be more protected than it was. Side set with 24+ loose decoys, didnt want to mess with the long line.

Didnt seem to have any new birds in the area i was, but did have movement from birds after 8am.

Had some cans and ringers decoy perfectly right up the string, left the lake with 2 cans and 3 ringers.

Planning on hunting rest of the week with the hope that birds are still coming in, keep you posted

Posted By:
crowwing hunter
Guest

detroit lakes park rapids area 10-27-2010 07:26
– – –
My friend and I hunted hard for 9 days straight in the park rapids area. Should have waited a week later though. It’s always a crap shoot here in minnesota. Ended up harvesting 14 ducks. Saw very few birds. Hopefully this week will be better with this low pressure coming in. I might have to sneek up north for a day here. Good hunting. Crowwing hunter

Posted By:
Mendota Go-Devil
Guest

Big Fork River 10-26-2010 15:15
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Three days, seven guys, four dogs and two ducks! I’ve been hunting the Big Fork River annually for 35 years and it was by far the most discouraging duck hunting I have ever experienced there. We “maybe” saw 3 or 4 mallards and a few flocks of Rignecks but that was it. There weren’t even any coots hanging around! We had heard the hunting was slow in this area of the State but we didn’t think it would be that slow…especially when we had cooling weather and mostly north winds. The Big Fork’s water is very high this year and this probably has something to do with the lack of ducks but boy, when a bunch of good hunters with well trained dogs can’t even scratch out one limit between them after 3 days of hunting it tells me something is wrong! No wonder people are quiting duck hunting!

I’ll be heading up to central MN this weekend and will report back on Monday.

I hope this current storm pushes some good flocks of birds into MN this week and that everyone can get out and have some good hunting.

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

statewide 10-26-2010 14:46
– – –
HERE WE GO!!!!!!!
WE GOT SOME WEATHER AND IF ANYONE CAN GET OUT, DO IT. THIS SHOULD DEFINATELY BRING NEW BIRDS TO THE STATE THRU THE DAY AND NIGHT

GOOD LUCK, SHOOT STRAIGHT, BE SAFE!

Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor

skime/nw minnesota 10-25-2010 15:03
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted large public water saturday and sunday. I believe that this water has held the same birds since opener, with fewer every week due to birds taken and pressure pushing them off the lake.
bluebills, bluebills, bluebills. Few buffles and even fewer golden eyes.
Ducks on this water had very specific flight/excersise patterns.
Saturday morning we were NOT on the “x” saw flock after group take the same flight pattern with no change, cover and decoy shy. 3 of us left with only two bluebills.

Sunday morn moved in to where the birds wanted to be after morning excersise and we WERE on the X! Great shoot with 4 bills in the boat for 2 of us in under 2 hours. Waited to get some buffs with no avail. We could have easily killed 12 bills for how flocks of 5-15 came right in the pocket, feet down. our other group of 2 killed 8, 4 bills and 4 buffs. My buddy trav pulled the ultimate shot, saw it from a distance, 3 bills with one shot, all deader than a door nail when they hit the water.

Summary: We need weather, I believe that i have been hunting and shooting at the same birds on this lake since opener. Other note- been loving doing a side set with the decoys, the covers i have been hunting have been thin, the side set doesnt have the hunter in the birds sights as they come up the string.
I believe bird numbers and activity is the same other places in the state, maybe all birds have left your area due to pressure and better food down the road for them. KEEP AN EYE ON THE WEATHER!

I will be hunting local water around the brainerd area this week and weekend, reports in the last week of good numbers of ringers and a few small flocks of cans! keep ya’ll posted!

[Edited By Paul-Burton on 2010-10-25 15:11]

Posted By:
CPAMAN
Guest

West Central Minnesota 10-25-2010 13:02
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
On Saturday my son and his buddies did OK. They ended up with ten variety species birds but could have taken a limit with better shooting and not having been totally surprised by a couple of small flocks that suddenly buzzed the decoys out of nowhere. The wetland fog was a little dense early on making it difficult to be ready for those kind of opportunities. Mostly diver ducks seen with a mallard, wigeon and gadwall tossed in the bag.