Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor
West of Willow River 10-25-2012 10:04
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 35-40 Degrees
Pretty slow the last couple of days. Very few birds seen.
Tough conditions this AM, wind,rain, even snow while picking up.
Maybe these high NW winds and cooler temps will cause some influx of birds.
We’ll see what Friday brings.
Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor
St. Louis and Pine Counties 10-22-2012 07:58
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2012 is way ahead of last year, many more birds beening seen.
I try to get out every morning,only stay out an hour or two. In the Orr area or northern Pine county.
I’ve had action almost every day.
Several four and five bird days,mixed bag.
Ringers and Bills north, Mallards and Woodies south.
[Edited By Peter-Brown on 2012-10-22 08:02]
Posted By:
Swamp Gas
Web Member
10-21-2012 19:19
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I just returned from my annual Manitoba trip. as of a couple days ago there were still scattered blue wing teal in central Manitoba. I think there are still large numbers of birds to the North.
Posted By:
jasonmn24
Web Member
10-20-2012 18:51
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Still blue wingers around. 2 came in and 2 dropped. First double.
Green wing, 2 blue wingers, hen merganser.
Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member
Minnesota 10-20-2012 16:37
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 45-50 Degrees
Holy Fog This Morning!
When legal shooting came upon us, I couldn’t see the edge of my decoy spread. Futhermore, my dad got turned around and walked around for an hour and a half trying to find the decoy spread. Thick, Thick, Thick. I could hear many wings come and go, but by 8:30am, I had not lifted up the gun.
Finally, about 8:45am the fog lifted for a bit and I quickly connected of 5 birds (Mallards and Teal). My dad was on the other side of the decoys and not much action was happening that way.
About 9:00am a flock of 4 geese came from the South. They were low due to the cloud cover, but were also riding a strong South Wind. When they came through about 40 yards to my left, I led the lead bird by about 10 feet and the third bird back dropped :). They were moving!!!!
I followed my 9 month old lab pup back to the area of the field the goose landed and he was running around the bird in a circle barking…. I guess I should’ve broken him in on Geese.
Upon returning to the blind, my dad connected on an additional three ducks.
About 10:00am a flock of 20 geese came in right and we connected on 5!!!!!!!
Once again, our lab (acting more like a coon hound) barked stood by the geese and barked rather than retrieving them. Funny, but going to have to work a bit on this one.
A few birds whitnessed and the October trickle migration that is occurring. A noticable increase in geese, but no where even close to peak.
Ended the day with a limit of honkers and 8 ducks. Not too bad.
Going to pack tomorrow for a trip up North to Sask. for some late season action.
Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member
Minnesota 10-19-2012 09:11
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Rain, Rain, Rain….. much needed rain is falling accross Minnesota. Not large amounts, but we’ll take what we can get.
A trickle migration continues with some new divers showing up. However, this week has been pretty slow from what I have whitnessed.
I believe most of the migration is still North of the boarder and should provide some great late season opportunities for those who work at it.
I am heading to Sask next Thursday the 26th for 7 days for some very late season action up there. The snows will be well pushed through the area we go, so Canadians and Mallards will be the target!
I hope everyone is enjoying this speacial time of year and getting out there after them!
Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor
North and Central 10-14-2012 10:16
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The last week took me from Orr to Askov MN.
I was very pleased to see as many ducks as I did in both areas. I had some action every day. Ducks far more prevalent than a similar time in 2011..
A four bird Mallard limit west of Willow River on Friday.
A good mixed bag shoot on Elephant Lake (north of Orr) Thursday.
Skipped this morning, but will hunt my home area (Pine County) Monday and then head back north on Tuesday.
[Edited By Peter-Brown on 2012-10-14 10:18]
Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member
Minnesota -Water 10-12-2012 10:11
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
Brrrrrrrrrrr! It was a brisk morning on the prairie with temps in the low to mid teens. When it gets to this stage of the season, you never know what to expect.
Hauled 4 dozen decoys back to a remote slough and was exhausted by the time legal shooting hours came. A non-scientific observation was that there was a minor migration over the past couple of days. Mainly green wing teal, Pintails, Gadwall, and a few Mallards. Very few divers yet though????? Seems like I should be seeing ringers and redheads but I am not.
Ended the morning with my limit of 5 green wingers and 1 big beautiful bufflehead that will be going on the wall.
I will be at the Gophers homecoming game tomorrow, so will not be out. Looks like a warming trend for the next week. Looks like the Mallard flight will once again be during and after deer season.
On a side note, there were pheasants cackling everywhere! Going to be one of the better openers in history I am predicting.
Get on out there and hunt em up!
[Edited By HonkerHotline on 2012-10-12 20:00]
Posted By:
knute
Web Member
Mahnomen county 10-09-2012 17:33
– – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Went up to Mahnomen on Friday morning with my 81 year old dad and 21 year old son. The son and I built a new blind on the shore of the lake, in the cattails, complete with straw bales to sit on. Him and his 81 yr old buddy have a liitle trouble walking and doing this stuff so we wanted to make sure they had a decent palce to hunt Saturday morning.
The kid and I sat in it from 2 til 4:oo on Friday. 30 degrees. 20-30 mph NW Wind. SNOWING LIKE MAD! Large flocks of ducks moving although nothing came near us.
Saturday, wind slowed down and 1″ of snow was melting. And we got skunked. 6 guys on the lake and no one fired a shot. The locals obviously took off and the northern birds hadn’t made it down yet.
Sunday, 24 DEGREES and 1/2″ ice on the calm parts of the lake. Only the son and I went out and while we saw a few more ducks, there were thousands of geese moving around. We managed to get two of the fattest teal I’ve ever seen and one cackler.
Very slow three days, But I got to hunt with three generations together for the first time in a while. Great weekend!
Posted By:
HonkerHotline
Web Member
East Central 10-08-2012 20:33
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While Driving from St. Cloud to Cambridge today, I saw probably 1000 sandhill cranes in a 5 mile strech just East of Princeton. Also seemed to be a few more ducks in the area with a few good bunches of Mallards viewed.
Geese also seem to be hitting the corn hard in the St. Cloud area, but not huge numbers around at this time.
Very few divers present as well.
Although it has been a cold October thus far it seems like most of the migration is still North of us.
Looks like a warm up is coming as well.
Thats all for now.
