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Jeez, the report area is all the way to the bottom of the page! We ended the season on a high note by hunting a river and got 3 mallards on the last day. The last drake was taken about 20 minutes before closing. Love those end of the season birds. They are so much bigger than the locals. One of the birds was so stuffed with corn it was coming out of the beak when we picked it up.
Took the dog for a walk this afternoon. There is a drainage creek between houses with some open water. I is maybe 10 feet wide but there must have been 20 big two curlers in that water. City ducks, they barely even swam away much less fly!
The little river I duck hunt on filled up with green heads on Sunday afternoon. They appeared out of the heavens starting around 1:30 and kept coming till about 3. Or course I was sitting in my deer stand questioning if I should go home and get my dog and decoys. Last year the big groups of green heads showed up on October 30th.
We also hunt a little river at this time of year but have only been doing it a couple of years. We go for opening and it is usually done by 9. Do the ducks usually come to the river in the afternoon like that? Maybe we are going too early and would do better off by getting there at noon. Does it always pattern out that way?
I had a normal season compared the last 5 or 8. Hit and miss all season, with the big push coming after duck is closed. Still have goose hunting opportunities in the Chippewa Valley, but it really sucks when the greenheads pile in too. Lack of water really condensed the ducks, but the geese were in their normal places at normal times.
I don’t think that we need to push season back a week, but push the divider for north and south back to highway 64 where it was 8 or 10 years ago. We’d be in the south zone then where we belong. The northern guys would get their early start like they want, and us in the middle would be better off too!
Kris, great comment. It sounds like it worked years ago and would be a small enough change, so there would not be much opposition.
Went back up to Horicon today and as I suspected the marsh was froze tight. Even the greenhead lauch had ice on it. I did see where the river was open further down from the launch but once you got to the marsh it would be all iced over anyway. Looked like one boat broke through though. Burnett’s ditch was busted up for a little way but then it was solid too. Pike Lake on Highway 60 had ice for twenty yards around the edge and the bay on the southeast end was iced over. I didn’t see any birds in the open water.
I agree Bill, I had 3 days in the Eau Claire area where I saw lots of birds, and that’s was about it. I wish they would move our season back a few weeks. I would rather get froze out than miss the big push by a week.
I also would like to see the season structure modifidied. Opener first Sat. in October. Open 9 days then closed for 5. Then finish out the 60 days. This would give us a chance at the early puddle ducks, then a break during a normal slow time, aand back at it when the northern birds are starting to move. I would rather miss a few days early and the possibility of teal and make it up on the back end with divers and Canadian mallards.
Hunted Horicon on Friday 11/22. Water was totally open but was starting to freeze in the reeds before I left at 2:30. Did not see a duck and heard one or two shots.
Hunted this morning and it was a typical end of the season freeze out day. Got to the Chestnut street dock and 5 boats were already there. Apparently a few other guys knew this was the day to be there. The boat houses were frozen in and about 25% of the marsh was frozen. More would have been except there was a strong wind blowing all night. All kinds of ducks were flying around in flocks from 10 to 100. Flights started about 9 and were still going on when we left at 1. Unfortunately we were not on the X again. Someone to the west of us were getting 90% of the shots. He was near the split between the main ditch and the Rock River. that boat had at least a half dozen ducks before we left. Great day for him. We took home one duck that we took out of flock of 6. Missed a single but those were our only chances.
Unfortunately, I think the marsh will be froze tight by tomorrow morning, The temps will get to single digits and the wind is supposed to stop. When we were coming back in some of the ice was getting in that 1/2 inch range. Of course, Greenhead will be open but by the time you get to Malzone’s it will be froze over..
With the northern season closed, I thought I would give my thoughts on the 2013 season. Only made it out 8 times, one great hunt, one good hunt, and the rest were slow. Number of birds seen were about half of what I saw in 2012. The lack of Ringbills and Teal was very noticeable. Could be I missed the days they were around, but I hit almost every cold front that went through. Overall I would judge the 2013 season in the Eau Claire area as fair at best and much worse than 2012. Also a couple of comments on the website. Don’t know if the changes turned people away, but their sure is not the exchange of information that occurred on the old site. I also miss the migration report maps on the old site. Good Luck to all.
Horicon was about 1/3 froze over this morning. There was some ice in the main ditch but nothing that you couldn’t plow your way through. Stoney Bay was open and the area where the east rock river meets the main ditch was open. We went to the north end because more then one person told us that was the place to be. Two groups were in the only open water so we went back to the area by the east branch of the Rock River. The only shots we heard seemed to be from pheasant hunters in the distance. We had our usual success where we only saw two ducks and brought them home with us. A ringneck and a ruddy duck. Only the second time in 40 years of hunting we have bagged a ruddy duck.
When we got back to the dock we got the usual “you should have been here” speech. The guy claimed there were 200,000 ducks from November 10th to the 12th and then they left. Shooting was great. How come I didn’t get the memo? We were on the south end on the 10th and didn’t see that many flocks so I don’t know what to beleive. And why would they leave already? The fields are open, the water freezes a lit bit and then reopens.
This weekend we are going to have two consecutive days below freezing so by Monday I am sure the whole marsh will be frozen unless we have some really strong winds with it.
Hunted a small river this morning before work. I think I needed a few more decoys to help get the ducks attention. There was a fair amount of birds down river and they pulled the birds in. I ended up with a couple nice green heads.
I just saw the duck count from Horicon. They are saing there was 181,000 birds as of 11/14. Horicon hunters- Are you guys seeing some birds? That is a pile and I would have to imagine hunting is pretty good. If the marsh is slow, how is the field hunting?
I hunted on Thursday and only about a third of the marsh was froze. With the warmer temperatures the ice should be melted. They are having a Wounded Warrier event this weekend and said they were sending out 20 boats on Saturday and Sunday from the Chestnut Street launch and asked that other hunters stay away and give the vets a chance at duck hunting.
When we hunted on Thursday, someone was hunting about a quarter of a mile away from us on the same side of the river. He had his decoys set out the same way we did. For some reason he had the X spot and we had nothing. We got to shoot at one Shoevler and that was it.
Anybody hunt Horicon this morning? If so see many ducks and was the ice gone? Thanks
I hunted a little river this morning hoping for some new birds. I hunted until 8 and didn’t see a duck. I did hear a few that were roosting down stream but they never got up. Seems the cold weather had them sleeping in.
We have hunted Horicon several times this year and we are experiencing the same thing as you have. We take a couple of birds but it is either doubling on the only chance we get or we happen to get two chances on an outing. The openings are wierd because at Horicon there almost always is shooting 10 minutes before opening but this year you are lucky to hear any shooting at opening. Haven’t seen many big flocks. Only heard good shooting at Cotton Island on one day. Overall it has been a pretty crudy year at Horicon. Can we blame the windmills?
Has anybody been hunting Horicon? I’ve been there 5 times and harvested only 4 birds. It’s been real slow. Shooting time starts in the morning and there is no shots fired! Pretty sad. Talked to some trappers and they are not seeing much either. I launch at Bernet ditch. Should be better at this time in the season.
Tried Horicon this morning. What a waste of time. I had the feeling when we were the only one at the dock that there must not be many birds around and it turned out correct. Only heard a few shots in the marsh and they all seemed to come from the same spot. So that guy probably thought it was a great day. We have been hunting a river lately and that has dried up too. You would have thought with the front going through that thing would have freshened up a bit but it hasn’t.
Hunted Pool 4 on the Mississippi Friday (5) ducks, Saturday (never fired a shot) and this morning shot (3) all mix of mallards and teal. More mallards every day.
The wood ducks seem to have vanished and the mallards are yet to show up in my neck of the woods. I have scouted a few new spots that are hodling a hand full of ducks. I hope they stick around until after the rut. The low duck numbers had me looking for something else so I looked to the Bay of Green Bay.
I went out a couple times with a local guide and we had some great hunts in the past couple weeks. If you are interested in a great layout boat hunt, look up http://billsandgillsguideservice.com/. Jim will put you on the birds and you will be able to experience a great hunt on the bay.
Brother got out on Mississippi River Pool 4 yesterday and shot some birds, he said a lot of birds flying today. Said he had cans, buffleheads and ringers in decoys. Said he could have filled out pretty early on divers if he wanted too. Said he waited on puddlers ducks. Here is pic of his morning hunt.
Good hunt finally, LAKE Eau Claire, NW wind, 5-15 mph, cloudy, 33 degrees, Good number of new birds on lake this am. 6 bird limit in two hours, 4 greenheads, widgeon, and ringbill. PLenty of other chances. Two of greenheads had 3 curls. Overall season has been slow, with a lack of birds. Maybe the migration has started. Good luck to all.
Nice to see some color in the mix Bill. Way to go.