Posted By:
MallardKingWI
Web Member
Horicon 09-26-2012 10:29
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Oh yeah, I forgot. the water is a nice shade of green, almost like pea soup. And when we stopped the boat we kept hearing this splashing sound. Turns out the fish are constantly jumping out of the water. Most of the oxygen is out of the water??? Don’t know fish well but they didn’t seem to be carp but they probably were. One guy at the dock said they lost quite a few walleyes earlier this summer.
Posted By:
REARNEY
Web Member
Lake Pepin 09-25-2012 21:00
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
Hunted this morning before work in a small slough area and filled out in 1/2 hour with (5)Blue Wings and a nice drake wood duck. Not many BW teal left. My try tomorrow. No hunters around.heard shots way off in distance.
Posted By:
MallardKingWI
Web Member
Horicon 09-25-2012 20:25
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I agree with Rearney, this is the lowest water levels I have ever seen in Horicon. Even when they drew down the marsh for carp kills it was never this low by duck hunting season.
We went up to the marsh last Thursday and spent 3 and a half hours on the marsh and basically went up and down the main ditch because everything else was so dry. We got stuck in the mud on the north side of Stoney Bay and had to get out of the boat and drag it back to the main ditch. Normally we can go from the main ditch to the east branch of the Rock River but this year a mud flat is blocking the normal route. This eliminated the access to West Bay.
We started going north on the main ditch to look for an area to get into the West Bay area. We parked the boat got out the skis and walked to some open water. However the open water is 40 yards away from the marsh reeds so there was no cover.
Then we went to the area by Demsey’s Tree. There is a channel there that normally leads back to some excellent pot holes. this was bone dry. We put on some waders and were able to walk the entire channel without sinking in.
We thought we would try Diana’s ditch because it looked like there was water there when I was in the plane. As we traveled up the old river bed the motor started throwing up more and more mud so we turned back before we got stuck in the mud again.
today we went back with a canoe thinking we could get around in that. It helped a little bit but even that got hung up on the mud. We did see some ducks in back bays but it is going to be very hard to hide any kind of boat back there. You are going to have to lift it up onto the reeds to hide it.
When we got back to the launch we talked to two people that said even Go-devils and Mud motors were getting stuck in the mud. One person even described it as dangerous. It could be if you went by yourself and road that Pro-Drive back into an area and shut the motor down and then get stuck in the mud a hundred yards from floatable water.
We were even churning up mud in the main ditch today.
We talked to a guy in a Kayak and he mentioned getting hung up on mud by Greenhead. I didn’t go up there because when the river dumps into Malzohn’s Bay it was shallow before and when I was in the plane I saw a sand bar at the end of the river. I doubt if you can get through there.
If you haven’t scouted, be careful on opening day, there is a good chance you will be stuck in the mud.
Our other hunting spot in Vernon has had the same problem. Where we hunted last year is bone dry.
this is going to be an unusal year. I’m thinking a lot of ducks are going to be killed in the first week as they will all be concentrated on what little water is left.
Posted By:
REARNEY
Web Member
Lake Pepin 09-24-2012 12:57
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Opener was very good, three friends and myself sat back in a small cut off the big lake and each shot our 3 wood duck limits. All were very young birds. Sunday morning we decided to go into a bay that was holding birds. Three of us ended up with (5)Drake mallards(1)wood duck (6)Blue Wing and(1) Drake Blue bill (Yes-Not a Ring Neck a Blue Bill)It was 75% colored out. We also could of shot at several flocks of Spoon Bills but held off. Pretty much all the groups around us filled up as it was fast and furious. This is one of the best openers we had in a while. Water is the lowest I have ever seen in my life. Probably head oyt this week sometime.
[Edited By REARNEY on 2012-09-24 13:00]
Posted By:
REARNEY
Web Member
Lake Pepin 09-24-2012 12:48
Cloudy, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
Hi Everyone, this season has started out great. Hunted with 2 kids on Youth Hunt and they had a ball. They shot all their BW teal but really enjoyed the experience. We easily had 20-30 flocks of teal come into the decoys. Water levels are super low, I invested in a Go Devil surface drive 3 years ago and now it is really paying off.
[Edited By REARNEY on 2012-09-24 12:48]
Posted By:
MallardKingWI
Web Member
Horicon 09-13-2012 18:18
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Holy Mackeral is it dry. Took a flight over the marsh and that pond to the east of Four Mile Island looked dry from the air. There were some channels up near the Federal Refuge that looked like they were dry too. I went over to the dock at Chestnut and it looked like the marsh was at least 18″ down if not two feet. This is looking like mud motors and skiffs are going to be the only way to get around. This weekend I am going to try it with the boat but I have a regular setup so this should be interesting.
The DNR was actually handing out a sheet at the wildlife center on 28 warning about the low water conditions. The pond behind the building was mostly dry.
Posted By:
MallardKingWI
Web Member
Germantown 05-15-2012 20:40
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We have this pond and a little swampy area by the Germantown Business Park. In the 9 years we have been out there I have never seen so many goslings as I have this year. Some families have two or three and some have 8 or 9. I have noticed that two families have joined togther to raise the young. There are about 16 youngs ones swimming with 4 parents mixed in.
I also watched a Sandhill crane on a nest made out of an old muskrat hut. They sucessfully hatched two chicks. As my bird book inidcated one of the chicks dominated to the point where the other died. It was funny watching this 4 inch high chick walking in and out of the legs of the 4 foot tall crane.
We also have a bunch of Blue Heron nests in this same area.
Posted By:
Trial Lawyer
Web Member
April 9, 2012 Conservation Congress 04-03-2012 17:05
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The 2012 DNR & Conservation Congress “Spring Hearings” will be held in each county on April 9, 2012 at 7:00 PM. This is a time when you can make your voice heard on the duck hunting season dates as well as other DNR issues. I encourage each of you to attend and voice your opinion. Here’s a link to more information: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/congress/spring_hearings/.
Posted By:
pluckaduck
Field Editor
HELP PLEASE 03-10-2012 20:49
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If anyone is traveling from central Wisconsin to or through North dakota in the next few days,please shoot me a message. I have an e-caller that I need out here and would meet you and pay you for bringing it! Feel free to email me at getthenetnd@hotmail.com
Thanks
Posted By:
webmaster
root
01-30-2012 09:22
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The Wisconsin Waterfowl Hunters Conference will be held March 9-10 at Plaza Hotel and Suites in Wausau.
The focus of the conference is preserving and enhancing waterfowl hunting heritage and improving waterfowl hunting in Wisconsin.
The cost is $20 in advance or $25 at the door.
For more information, visit www.wiswaterfowlersconf.org
