Posted By:
Kris-Bertelsen
Field Editor
Chippewa Valley 10-04-2012 11:17
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Not many new birds if any. I heard the mall area in Eau Claire has huntable numbers again. They are flying out south/southwest. Still birds flying west of town.
Not much word from Chippewa so I don’t know where the right direction would be there. I haven’t heard anything about the Lake Wissota area so I’m assuming there is birds that people are keeping a secret!
My buddy has been hunting Stanley/Boyd. Plenty of birds, but no really patterns. It will take some scouting.
Posted By:
MallardKingWI
Web Member
Vernon & Horicon 10-02-2012 19:24
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Went to Vernon for the opener on Saturday. We got there about 6:30 to see if birds were flying early in the morning because we had not seen many birds on the previous scout. We saw one flock of teal and three other ducks before opening. At opening we heard a few shots by Frog Alley but nothing to get excited about. We saw three birds that were shot at and one that found a spot to land without being shot at but that was it before we left.
I went to Horicon on Sunday to do more scouting/hunting. I saw three birds in about 4 hours. I went out the greenhead launch. I talked to someone at the dock that had a Pro-Drive. He got alot of birds on Saturday but said most of the guys he talked to didn’t get anything. Only the guys that have mud motors and can get back to the potholes with feed in them seem to be getting birds. I had to push pole shortly after the dock because of the sand bar in the river. I also had to push pole to get into Malzone’s Bay. Can’t get past West Bay without a mud motor. Tired push poling into the area north of the Rock River and got as far as the big ponds but really need mud motor after that. Three guys in a boat with a go-devil gave me the “what the heck are you doing back here” look.
It is interesting to get out of the boat and walk back to areas we have skied in the past. You can find all kinds of areas that you missed on the skis.
Posted By:
DU870
Web Member
10-01-2012 11:21
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Hunted lake sinnisippi on Sat sept 29th. Set dekes and were ready by 9:00. 9 came and went with not much happening. Had a flock of 3 teal buzz in, 2 left 1 stayed. Another couple hours went by and had a pair of mallards work us, communication issue on taking em let both fly away. Around 1:00 we were checked by the warden. He said it was very slow, with most groups of guys having 0 ducks, only a few blinds had birds. Heard maybe a hundred shots all day. Saw a total of 20-30 birds. I think we picked the wrong spot. Hunted sunday on a small creek with a couple little ponds on it. Hardly saw a bird. Ended the morning with 2 very nice drake wood ducks, almost full plumage.
This cold front should push some birds down at the end of this week.
Posted By:
Kris-Bertelsen
Field Editor
Stanley 10-01-2012 11:11
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Plenty of birds. Find the right field and it is almost anti-climatic. Good thing my my buddy (Trial Lawyer) kept it exciting by showing me my first one shot double on geese. That was exciting.
Eau Claire had plenty of birds too, but they have been using a field inside the city limits for the past couple days. I guess hunting pressure has gotten to them!
A slow down around the Augusta area. Small flocks scattered around. Our hunt Saturday morning got foiled by the farmer flail chopping and raking the corn stubble. Now there is round bales sitting in that field. Hunted the adjacent field this morning but didn’t see a goose (or duck for that matter). Had to bug out at 7:30 though for school so maybe they came in later.
Posted By:
REARNEY
Web Member
Lake Pepin 09-30-2012 20:37
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Saturday-2 hunters (9) birds/ Mixed bag mostly wegion. Sunday 2 hunters (3) birds all wegion. Has really slowed, water is very low but getting back to areas ok with mud motor. Good time for the split season. Need new birds down. Cant wait to be back at it October 13th. Had a very good first week, the best in the last 3 years. My group has shot over 70 birds.
Posted By:
pipewrench
Web Member
Miller Dam 09-29-2012 21:11
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted the south end in the rice on Fri. morning to noon. Saw a lot of woodies. The teal were gone! Only saw a couple of small flocks! Water levels are very low everywhere! We got skunked, except Remington found a drake mallard cripple next to the boat landing when we were loading up to leave! I never hit it good on this lake! I have friends that do really well there, but not me! Colder weather is on its way! Hopefully there will be a push of some new ducks! Good Luck and shoot’em with their feet down!
Posted By:
pipewrench
Web Member
Lake Pepin 09-29-2012 20:59
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 40-45 Degrees
Hi everyone! Another season is here so soon! Hunted 9/23/12 in the morning back in a bay! Had to drag the boat to shore in the mud because the water levels are so low! So much for having a mud motor! Hunted off a point and saw quite a few ducks! Saw a lot of spoonbills. Two of us shot 7 ducks total. We had a mixed bag of green wings, blue wings, 2 spoonbills, and 1 mallard. We had the best spot that morning, not to many shots all around us. We seemed to have the best shooting. It was nice not having skyblasters around us once! Ducks weren’t working the best. Suppose they were spooky from the opener on Sat. We had a fun hunt and my 11 yr. old lab, Remington did a great job. He is in semi-retirement and this will be his last year in the field! Sure is sad knowing this is our last hunting season together, but on the bright side, I have a new puppy reserved for the spring and look forward to the many training sessions to get her ready for the 2013 duck season! Good Luck to everyone this season. Keep the posts coming!
Posted By:
REARNEY
Web Member
Lake Pepin 09-28-2012 16:19
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted before work and never fired a cap. Had ducks in decoys at shooting time but could tell what they were. Did some scouting and found a bunch of ducks and will set up on them tomorrow. Good luck this weekend everyone.
Posted By:
Kris-Bertelsen
Field Editor
Chippewa Valley 09-27-2012 13:40
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Sorry for being delayed on my posting. Too much going on.
I’ve been hunting the Augusta area with good success on geese. Not a lot of geese yet, but huntable numbers. We did see a couple flocks of cacklers, got 2 one day, so some are starting to migrate. They looked like teal next to the local birds we shot! I did pick up my second banded goose from the same field I shot the other one in 5 years ago. Now that’s irony.
I haven’t seen anything around the Fall Creek area, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any there.
Eau Claire and Chippewa have plenty of geese to hunt. It will just take some scouting.
I missed opening weekend last weekend due to a wedding so I haven’t tried any duck spots. I have only seen 1 duck on the way to work in the last 3 weeks. All of our ponds are dried up, my swamp hole I hunt opening weekend had weeds growing in it. The creek I jump woodies on was stagnant and gross. Boy is it dry!
Posted By:
REARNEY
Web Member
Lake Pepin 09-26-2012 19:56
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Come on guys-where is all the hunting reports!!!! Hunted for first hour this morning with my brother before work. We got (4) wood ducks. No hunters around.
