Member Photo Credit: Canman OMaddie
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The migration is on! Zero MN reports??
Not looking for specific areas, just general NW, SW etc.
Haven’t been out. SW mn area
The snow should get some birds rolling. It did today!
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Traveled for work this morning from St. Cloud to New Ulm. Seemed like a large influx of divers on various lakes and ponds. Most had 10 – 40 birds on them and appeared to be cans, buffies, bills and ringers. For those of you that don’t go deer hunting this weekend, you should get some shooting. I will be in the stand until I fill my tag, then off out West for 10 days.
I love November!
It’s pretty dead in here. I am in South Dakota and have been for a few days. Lots of ducks but not too many mallards yet.
3 Honkers tonight. Pass shooting 1/2 mile off the roost. Good to get back into the swing of things. Seems like some migration may be starting.
Gotta love taking them between the roost and where they are feeding. For the most part it saves both for future hunts. Bust the roost on the last day or two of the season.
I agree 100%. There was only like 50 hitting this field about 3 miles off the roost, so I thought I would see if it would build. Looks like about 150 in there tonight. I would say the migration is starting to happen.
Dippe Dave and I headed West over the weekend. Day one we saw less than 100 but the ones we did decoyed wellcoyed. Lots of gadwall & widgeon.
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Hunt #2 we saw more but most would not decoy well. Mixed bag of mallards,pintail and gwt.
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Lots of windshield time. We tried to find a field but there’s only so much time.
Our third hunt wasn’t quite as good. No bonus (non mallards). A good 3 hunt weekend though. Three day total bag.
Dipper
Awesome!!
Good Shoot!
Another balmy Fall day greets us up here in Minnesota. Highs expected in the low to mid 50’s. Seems like a few more geese are in the area this morning, May have rode the North winds the past couple of days.
Most of the hunters I have talked to have really struggled over the last week to 10 days and although the warm weather is not ideal, I am hoping it will kick start the corn harvest so that it will open up some field hunting opportunities and eliminate some hiding places for deer season.
On that note, I went out to my deer stand yesterday which is in the middle of a cattail swamp and was amazed at how well the water table has recovered. Very wet.
I am going to try to get back into the hunting game next week and will post up.
Thanks,
-Lee-
Hi Everyone,
Sorry for my absence. My wife and I recently gave birth to our first child and that has had me out of the field for the past few days. Up here in the North Country it now feels like Fall, but still today it is 46 degrees as I type this. On a scouting trip this afternoon, I saw very few fowl in areas that are usually holding good numbers of birds this time of year. Definitely in a mid-season lull.
On a positive note, it looks like some harvest action is starting up and more and more corn should come off early next week as things dry out. This may kick start the migration as well. right now, there just isn’t a lot of food available down here and reports from North of the border are they are eating well.
With the results I’m not sure if I will head out this weekend or not.
Also called my contacts in Sask and the Northern Mallards and Big Canada’s still aren’t down. Last year we went the 28th – November 1st and pounded them. All water at that time was froze except a few rivers that held the birds. Looking at the 10 day there are still temps nearing the 50’s.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of the migration happens around Thanksgiving or after our season is closed this year :(.
I hope I am wrong.
Congrats on the new addition. Gonna head out tomorrow for my first MN hunting since the second weekend. Boat is loaded and the bags are packed.
Hunted western Manitoba last week. Just minimal skim ice on smaller ponds.
Good Luck and go get em!
Post up when your done. Maybe it will entice me to see if I have a hall pass :). For now, I think I’ll store up some points for when I start seeing some geese. Only 2,600 right now at the refuge.
will do!
Hello…..Hello……Hello….Hello….Hello…
Hello Jon!
Pretty quiet in here. Just got home from Manitoba. Good trip as usual. Nothing to report from MN. But it’s getting cold so there should be fresh birds on the way.
Tried to get myself ready to go hunting and on a scouting mission today, but honestly the 70 degree weather just isn’t giving me the itch.
It will turn soon enough, so I’ll just sit tight for now.
Good Afternoon Waterfowler’s,
It continues to be a very warm Fall up here in North Country. I was out mowing the lawn this evening (thanks rain – where were you when we needed you this summer) and was bit by several misquotes. Certainly not uncommon for this time of year, but I would rather the weather start being a bit more “ducky”.
I placed a call to a guide friend of mine up in Sask today and the reports indicate that goose numbers are increasing by the day, but that there are still plenty of Gadwall and teal present which is rare for this time of year. This is generally his peak migration week and he believes they are 10 days behind a normal year.
That is all I have for now. Will post up later this week again. How is everyone else doing?
Welcome to the Re-Opener for the Central zone. Had a very crazy week of work travel which limited my scouting time and I was very bummed by this. By the time I landed at the airport and traveled back to my hunting area I only had about 30 minutes of light left. Knowing the area well was a big help as I know where the roosts are and the feeding ponds / fields as well. Ended up finding a small area some birds were working and hit that spot this morning.
Threw up a nice decoy spread and hunkered down. Brought a 13 year old kid along, so we made sure he took the first shots. Ended our day with a 3 man limit on some efficient shooting.
We have been hunting the same group of ducks all season, however because we leave the roost be, we continue to have opportunities instead of 1 hunt and done. I know this is hard to do in a lot of cases, but try to lean the birds and try to do your scouting during the times you will be hunting. It can give you much greater success.
For those of you down South a Winter storm is tracking West of us in South Dakota and they were talking a large cool front would sweep through MN. The low tonight in my area is 42 degrees with the 10 day showing highs in the 70’s. I doubt this will move the migration, but may get a few of the calendar ducks moving.
I also spoke to a buddy of mine that guides in Sask Canada and he said the geese started to arrive on Oct 1 in good numbers and he is finding a few pockets of ducks, however he said they are no where close to peak. For those of us down here, we’ll just have to wait and keep playing with the local teal and woody population.
I am torn on if I will be out tomorrow or not. If so, I will post up – otherwise, I will get out next week.
Go Get Em!
Dipper
Saturday.
Those girls are some shooters. Where are your birds?
🙂
Forgot to include Dipper.
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz98/Swampgass/IMG_20130928_091552_154-1_zps3f80f8c3.jpg
They are our birds. We didn’t wsnt to show the girls birds. Here goes.
Sunday was a little more organized. No eating for the kids until they were dressed and in the truck. A lot of junk food was consumed. No need for rain gear made it much more comfortable.
sunday
sunday
Love the face paint!
Saturday started with an hour and a half of sleep. Got everyone up at 345. Kids were slow eating as usual but 0345 is not normal to an 8year old. It rained all night so we wrapped then in adult raingear with some help from a little electrical tape and rope for a belt. They were troopers. Being girls, potty time in the rain was a little tricky. All the humidity and hard work had us soaked by the end of the hunt.
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz98/Swampgass/IMG_20130928_091501_962-1_zpsb1c18d72.jpg
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz98/Swampgass/IMG_20130928_091501_962-1_zpsb1c18d72.jpg
[URL=http://s817.photobucket.com/user/Swampgass/media/IMG_20130928_091501_962-1_zpsb1c18d72.jpg.html][IMG]http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz98/Swampgass/IMG_20130928_091501_962-1_zpsb1c18d72.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
http://s817.photobucket.com/user/Swampgass/media/IMG_20130928_091501_962-1_zpsb1c18d72.jpg.html
This desktop won’t let me paste direct link in image. I guess I’ll have to use my phone.
Saturday
Sound like you guys have really been getting into them. I am jealous as I have only gotten out once due to soccer coaching and kids. Hopefully I can get out more later in the year.
More seasonable weather this morning in the mid-40’s. Scouted a new area last evening that had birds working. We arrived and setup a similar spread as yesterday. For those of you that have been on the “X”, this was one of those hunts. The birds came in wings locked and were heading to the landing area of the decoy spread……. until they were met with #3 Black Clouds.
In about 16 minutes we had our limit of 12 Woodies.
No Mallards or Geese seen.
The season closes now for a week here in the Central Zone. I will be back at it next Saturday.
Love this time of year!
The Set
Saturday morning was a sack stretcher for sure!
Yes it was! 80 degrees again today. Yuck!
Woke up this morning to 73 degrees at 5:00am and fairly humid. Nothing like Duck Hunting weather! LOL!
I never like to hunt the same spot back to back days, so I opted for another hole as far back as yesterdays. Walked back into the spot and met three other hunters along the way. Apparently, they know of a short cut. Since it was just me, I asked if they’d mind if I hunted with them. They were great people.
We placed the decoys and first light brought a few volleys of woodies that we were able to connect on. For the next hour and a half we continued to have birds work us and we ended the morning with a 4 man limit of woodies (12 birds). I have some great footage on my Go Pro I wish I could load on here, however hopefully the pictures will tell a good story.
For those of you down South, the Wood Duck hatch this year seems to be pretty strong. Last year was probably a bit better, but I am still very impressed with the numbers I am seeing. I wasn’t really in a goose flyway, but did not hear or see any honking.
About 8am a steady rain started which will most likely slow the crop harvest.
With these unseasonably warm temperatures, I am pleased that we have a week of season close coming up. Chasing early season birds is fun, but it would be nicer if we had 40 degree weather vs. 70.
I will probably be out one more time tomorrow before the season close and will be scouting like crazy for the re-opener.
The birds. One was still being chased when this was taken.