Posted By:
diverhunter50
Guest
10-20-2011 11:17
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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
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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
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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
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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.
