Posted By:
John-Cottenham
Field Editor
ND 10-04-2009 07:58
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 40-45 Degrees
Adding a little today.
Started out slow on opening day. It was rainy and cloudy so it was hard to identify ducks with accuracy. As a result I did not shoot a duck until about 0830 with opening hour at 0709. This was because of choice not lack of targets. Since we are here for several more days staying within the possession limit presents an issue. We will eat our share but that still puts the freezer filled.
My bag for the day was 1 can, 1 redhead and one widgeon. I was looking for birds to skin for reference in painting decoys and none of these met the criteria so off to the grill they all go. Another dull day today so I am planning on doing some scouting on foot of several places I want to know more about. I refuse to drive in farmers fields as a matter of courtesy since it is very wet here and most are saying not to.
I am afraid that those that are coming later in the month will find much fewer birds since the weather forecast is freezing almost every night and tomorrow’s is “Monday
Rain and snow likely. Breezy. Snow accumulation up to 3 inches. Highs in the lower 40s. East winds 10 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation 70 percent.” According to reports there are few birds in Sask or for that matter any province north of here so the big push will start from here this year. Hope they all don’t move out before the planned timing of the big push.
Having a great time and wish you were all here! Except it is pretty crowded, I heard shots in the distance from at least 3 other parties. The local restraint had trucks from TN, NC, MI, WI and MN for lunch. Got to talk to a bunch from TN and they are pretty hard core hunters. Glad to see the spread of waterfowlers.
Oh yeah my 12 shells still had 8 left over for the day…..BSEG!
jacduck I worked out a new deal in Texas this past winter. I quit hunting snows when I get 5 or have used all 12 of the shells I carried. Worked pretty well since I tended to control my shooting. Mostly came home with ammo left over and often with the self imposed limit.
Posted By:
john-wickham
Field Editor
AuTrain MI/ Lk Superior 10-02-2009 08:28
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 45-50 Degrees
Well we made it back from AuTrain and we did pretty good. There were tons of redheads so we had to be real careful on what we were shooting at, but there were alot of high flying migrators, especially tuesday when the wind shifted and blew hard out of the north. If I had to guess, the NLP opener ought to be real good.
Posted By:
John-Cottenham
Field Editor
ND 10-01-2009 20:33
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 50-60 Degrees
N D diary of sorts
On the way to Goodrich ND yesterday I passed a pond with some funny looking mallards on it and I thought of a couple of guys that I have hunted with out here in the past. At any rate this smallish mallard was on a pond quite a ways north of Jamestown. It had some mallard colors on it but not always in the right place. It had a smile on it’s face and it made me wonder who would shoot such a happy bird. I sure don’t
That actually was among the few ducks seen from the border to about 20 miles west of Carrington. They it got better. I have been in this area before and never seen so many ducks of all kinds. Redheads are really in great numbers as are the common puddlers normally seen in ND.
We had a great surprise that cost me some time on the phone today. Just before we got to Goodrich I looked to my left just in time to see 3 Whooping cranes lift off for a flight. No doubt what they were, big white with black wingtips that long stretched out crane look. I called a report in to Game and Fish and answered the questions the gal had on her sheet. Later the head waterfowl biologist called me back and we had quite a discussion about cranes, ducks and decoys. He and his dad are both collectors. He had been of for the first week of hunting and his wife was already on his case when I told him how many days and states I commonly hunt. He wanted me to call her and get him off the hook.
Rained most of the day today so I got some work done around the house and a little scouting. Got a spot picked out for Saturday’s opener and will have several backups before it all happens.
Anyone else out here or coming soon?
jacduck I worked out a new deal in Texas this past winter. I quit hunting snows when I get 5 or have used all 12 of the shells I carried. Worked pretty well since I tended to control my shooting. Mostly came home with ammo left over and often with the self imposed limit.
Posted By:
rick-hungerford
Field Editor
Saginaw Bay Fish Point Area 09-30-2009 06:46
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 50-60 Degrees
I ran rhe marshes on Friday last week. Lots of water, but suprisingly few birds. It may have been the time of the day, but teal numbers are down from a year ago. Lots of young mallards, wood ducks and a few mixed puddlers, widgeon and pintail, but definitely not the numbers I expected to see.
Let’s hope with this cooling weather and a week and a half to go for the Southern Opener that we start to see some concentration.
On a positive note, I have never seen more natural duck food in the marshes, both wild rice and wild celery abound in the area. Hats off to the MDHA boys for spreading their seed!
I stopped by the Managed Area on Friday afternoon. Wet fields have kept them from harvesting corn in the overplanted areas. This may have to happen after the season this year since they have started flooding by now (scheduled for Monday AM). As you most know the first two days required registration by the end of August for a drawing. Hopefully all those who got selected in the lotto for these early hunts will have a flooded field this year. Remember the afternoon hunt on both Saturday and Sunday are youth hunts. You must have a young hunter in your party at registration to qualify for the drawing. If you have questions see the regs, the’re available on line.
Well, I have honey dews this weekend, so I’ll miss the Middle Opener this weekend. Wish all well who venture North. Next post will be after the Souther Opener. Weather patterns appear to be cooler than last year (mid 90’s remember)let’s hope this helps.
GO TIGERS!
Everything else is between seasons!
Posted By:
john-wickham
Field Editor
AuTrain MI/ Lk Superior 09-24-2009 07:50
– – –
Sorry I haven’t been on here much but I’ve been so busy around the house and with work that I haven’t had time to get out and do much. Never even made it out once for the early goose season, but everything I could hunt was still covered in corn. Most if not all of the corn is off now though. I am finally getting some time off though and will be heading north for the U.P. opener and will give a report when I get back. Good luck to everyone that gets hit the first duck opener.
Posted By:
Bevrpndhntr
Web Member
Saginaw County 09-21-2009 04:35
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – –
Saginaw County youth hunters were greeted with clear skys (after the fog burned off) and lots of birds. Lots of shooting with some ducks taken. Quite a mixed bag. Teal, mallards and even a pintail. The youth hunt is a great opportunity for kids to get a taste of some fun waterfowl hunting!
Take a kid hunting today!!
BwB
Posted By:
John-Cottenham
Field Editor
middle of the mitten 09-19-2009 14:22
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 40-45 Degrees
A great day in the boat this morning. My two guests had a ball. O dark thirty found us managing our way through the fog to a secret spot covered up with woodies. Boys set the dekes, their dad kept trying to help but I made him quit. Then the wait until shooting time. Fog made the shooting fast and furious and tough for kids who don’t move as fast as old men in that kind of situation. I kept grinning and chuckling at the buildup of M-Ts on the water and few ducks that Maude (YLF) was required to retrieve.
I had promised 50 limits of woodies to be seen and we ended up short of that but plenty were around and the brothers cut the population by 5 when the day was done.
The boys picked up the decoys after telling me they had enough and away we went to a great breakfast and to continue the great conversations we already had throughout the morning.
What a blast! I don’t remember as much fun since the last time I had youths in the boat for the youth hunt. I heard a guy who wanted to stop that hunt because it ruined his opening day and I would rather have that youth hunt than ever open another season myself.
jacduck
Posted By:
nurban
Web Member
St. Clair Co. 09-16-2009 10:19
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – Over 70 Degrees
Shot 4 geese over farm pond early yesterday morning. Also several groups of blue winged teal decoyed during the morning. Goose movement was limited and by 10’0 clock all was quite. The weather was hot and windless for the early season but there are alot of geese in the area basking in the sun on the water. Corn and soy bean fields are up but hay fields and golf courses were attracting some geese.
[Edited By nurban on 2009-09-16 10:23]
Posted By:
John-Cottenham
Field Editor
middle of the mitten 09-14-2009 09:15
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 50-60 Degrees
Did an early morning goose hunt this morning. Finally saw what I thought to be molt migrants. Anyone else seeing new locals?
Great day. Decoys were surrounded by wood ducks. Most I have seen in that particular area in 25 years. Too bad season on them will be so short again this year. They are usually gone by the 25th of Oct. around here except for a few stragglers.
I felt sorry for my YLF Maude. The pair I killed fell into the lilly pads and the weeds were so heavy she could only swim about 1/4 speed. I actually took the boat and went to her to help her out. No matter, she was not deterred from going after the 2nd on command even before catching her breath.
Great morning. Hope you all have many like it. I had to rush home to do a radio interview about DU since our Gladwin dinner is thursday night. My wife sucks up to the local FM station and gets us air timer.
jacduck I worked out a new deal in Texas this past winter. I quit hunting snows when I get 5 or have used all 12 of the shells I carried. Worked pretty well since I tended to control my shooting. Mostly came home with ammo left over and often with the self imposed limit.
Posted By:
rick-hungerford
Field Editor
Saginaw Bay Fish Point Area 09-09-2009 09:46
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Just for the heck of it, we set up Monday morning in our cedar blind to drink coffe and see if we could pull a grain thirsty goose or two into our spread. We accomplished the former but not the later.
Still we had a good time watching all the teal buzz us on their way to getting shot in Indiana (I still don’t get it). And we had four mature redheads fly by, seems a bit early for these guys but we did have four days of light N wind.
Our hunt abruptly ended when a group decided to set out their blind about 200 yards across wind from us a feat that started at 9:00 am and wasn’t completed when we left. The did spook the only group of working birds we saw that morning.
I guess that’s the luck (or unluck) of hunting on Labor Day.
Water continue to be up, we are seeing more and more blinds in different areas. This should prove to be interesting on Opening Day. The rice beds a in full bloom. We are seeing lots of woodies, teal and widgeon in the rice beds. I hope some stick around for a while.
I hope your Early Goose Season is going well, just a quick reminder the season ends Thursday in Saginaw, Huron and Tuscola counties.
Everything else is between seasons!
