Posted By:
kobear
Web Member
Douglas County 10-25-2010 08:42
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 40-45 Degrees
Wet. Real wet. Thunder before legal shooting Saturday. Shotgun thunder after. Didn’t sound like alot of guys out but there sure were ducks. Ringbills and a gadwall. Never got the drop on any mallards, other ducks swung thru interfereing twice and they got me by suprise once.
Sunday they were later but had some big flocks swirl right in. First ones caught me sitting them came so quick. Half were on the water before I stood up. Pulled down on the passers not landing, bang, bang, switched to the lifting off birds, bang. No ducks three clean misses dog not impressed. Ended with five ringbills.
Posted By:
kobear
Web Member
West central 10-22-2010 21:02
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Lots of birds bagged in the past week. Mallards and woodies in some spots. Ringbills in others. Field shooting like it’s ND. Good to see guys who haven’t been out in years get stamps and bag birds. Not sure why but I’m headed to ND next week. Tomorrow, there are new birds out back. A pintail even.
Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor
North Metro, Anoka County 10-22-2010 08:44
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Things have been pretty slow in the Geo.Watch area. A few birds seen and a few taken, but not much to report.
I skipped this morning after striking out yesterday. Almost no shooting heard in AM.
I’m headed back to St Louis County. I did OK there last week on Ducks and super on Grouse.
I plan on hunting the Pelican River (north of Orr Sat. AM ) The local guys say there are a few new birds around.
Although, I’ve done very well chasing Grouse my duck numbers are still a little better. A great Improvement over 2009.
[Edited By Peter-Brown on 2010-10-22 08:45]
Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor
brainerd area 10-19-2010 16:36
– – –
slow start to the season…..
The least amount that i have hunted early in the season in many years, guess turning 30 I have started putting more time into working the family business and house projects.
There have been about the same amount of local ducks as previous years, decent number of woodies and mallards, some ringers and bluebills earlier than usual.
I havent scouted a ton or even hunted to warrant many reports, dont want to BS anyone on here, start weekend traveling friday, hopefully with some insight as to what ducks are doing in the northern part of the state.
Posted By:
dstohlberg08
Web Member
north metro 10-19-2010 14:59
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted the metro this mourning and did OK, wasn’t expecting much. First flock was canvasbacks decoying, we each killed one. Then blue bills followed by ringers. Then nothing it lasted about 30 minutes or so. Headed north west the rest of the week.
Posted By:
Peter-Brown
Field Editor
North Metro, Anoka Cty 10-13-2010 11:38
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
There has been steady early shooting in the area (Geo. Watch) for the last 4 to 5 days. Shots fired drop off big time after the first 30/45 minutes.
I have averaged couple ducks/geese each day between Geo.watch and Reshanu, mostly Woodies. I have not tried Centerville.
I’ve seen a fair number of birds , but they are pretty wary. Usually headed to closed areas
My poor shooting has reduced my take.
It’s hard to tell how others are doing as I actually encounter few hunters. If shots fired means anything the guys working the south end of G.W. (Sat. Sun.& Mon.)should be cleaning a bunch of birds. However high flyers and emptied guns doen’t always mean birds in the freezer.
My total birds taken is better this year than last.
I’m headed north for about a week.
[Edited By Peter-Brown on 2010-10-13 11:39]
[Edited By Peter-Brown on 2010-10-13 11:40]
Posted By:
3Times
Web Member
10-11-2010 23:08
– – –
This was the worst opening day of my life, pulled the trigger 3Times missed each time and almost fell out of the boat on the 3rd shot. There was some bird movement prior to 9:00 but nothing after. The upside being that the walleyes, crappies and sunnies we on Fire
Sunday morning was a Ringer shoot and we ended with 15 for 3 guys. Not a fraction of the birds that were there last year.
Monday I relocated to a small rice lake at shooting time and went out and watched the 2 other groups on it. I moved to the north end after watching for an hour, not on the X but shot a nice Greenhead a Drake Woody and a Honker.
Tuesday I brought a friend along and set up on a shore line that looked like it was getting worked by the birds on Monday. We did alright we got 5 Mallards, 3 Woodys This lake is awesome for the amount of birds, we could have killed more of them but we don’t have a dog and just can’t shoot at about a 1/3 of the birds that come into range because a man can’t travel on the bogs behind us.
Wednesday the wind blew hard the spinner worked and we were able to decoy most of the birds right into the kill zone we took a limit including Mallards, Redheads, Ringers, Gadwall and Woody
Thursday I went by myself and got 2 Mallards a Woody and a Ringer
Back to work Friday Saturday and Sunday.
Today I went out with 2 Friends and we got 2 Mallards, 2 Green wing Teal, 1 Pintail and 2 Ringers.
Photos in Grip and Grin
Posted By:
crowwing hunter
Guest
hubbard badoura area 10-11-2010 18:11
– – –
Hunted sat on a area lake…. saw a few geese… trumpeter swans and absolutely no ducks. Ended up with one mallard. Looking forward to those migrating ducks. I’ll be at the duck schaack for 9 days straight starting 0ct. 16. Hopefully I’ll have something to report on.
Posted By:
dstohlberg08
Web Member
thief lake 10-09-2010 22:12
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Lots of ringers around, I think the dnr counted on wedsnesday and said there were about 7900 ringers,400 cans, 400 bills,600 redheads and very few puddle ducks. I also saw a nice flock of wood ducks in a ditch near the moose river. Mostly ringers in the bag with a few redheads, three mallards,and one widgeon for the week. Weather way to nice. The walleyes are biting
Posted By:
knute
Web Member
Mahnomen 10-08-2010 22:50
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Hunted the opener on a large WFPA that has been really good in the past. Saw a few on it Friday afternoon. Well, come Saturday, they were no where to be found.
Never saw a single duck on Saturday. Stayed out all day and never even saw one!!!!! Pulled the boat and moved over to a near by lake where Two of my buddies hunted Saturday.
Sunday was much better, shot my limit of six by 8:30. Alot of birds moving early. The surprising thing was we shot no mallards or woodies, and only three teal.
It was all divers. My limit consisted of two redheads, two ringbills, one bluebill, and one bufflehead.
The other two guys also got their limits of similar birds on Sunday, but by 9:30 the skies were empty again.
Went out Monday morning for one last try before heading back to the cities. About two minutes to legal, I was loading up and getting everything set in the boat when I looked up and what to my eyes did appear, but about thirty ringers bearing straight for me. They obviously saw me floundering around and off they went. Ten minutes later, a pair of redheads came in and I dropped one. That was it! Saw a couple small flocks moving about, but not interested in my decoys.
WAY TOO nice for ducks. No wind at all one Sat. or Monday. Still it was great to be out on the lake again. Going to wait for a little cooler weather before going out again.
Good luck everyone.
