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.
