Posted By:
Ktownwaterfowler
Guest
Webster, South Dakota 11-03-2008 10:28
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just got back from our first trip to So Dak and had a great time. The duck hunting was great. Three of us took home our 30 birds and we ate a few while there. The pheasant hunting was really tough with the amount of corn still standing. We did not push the pheasants real hard as midday hunting was nearly pointless. Finally figured things out the last afternoon and hunted later and got into some birds when they came out of the corn to roost. Overall a great trip and will definitely be out again. Thanks to all from this great state.
Posted By:
spirit
Web Member
mo rvr 11-02-2008 20:32
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saw very few ducks and lots of untalented hunters and game wardens at boat ramp and they said they will be there every day this year. Time to go where the ducks are!
Posted By:
tcsduck
Guest
missouri river 10-30-2008 14:32
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Hunted last 3 days, very poor, few ducks, waiting for weather chance and big push from upnorth
Posted By:
Dicky Duck
Web Member
north of Madison 10-30-2008 09:53
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
wed. morning – WE had to break skim ice to set the decoys. We were set up by 7:15 and had to watch four flights of Gadwells and Redheads buss our spread, severl birds landed in the decoys before we could shoot. At 7:30 we opened up, by 8:00 we had eight ducks, four redheads and four gads.Brian, my other gun, shot the four redheads with two rounds. He said it was the Black Cloud effect. I did not get a shot and we had to watch several more groups of redheads land in the decoys. It was nine oclock before we got our last two gads.
The local game warden was at the truck when we came out. He said that there had been some Mallards feeding in corn stuble and that everone had the same story. A guick morning shot and no birds after 9 or 10. We scouted and pheasent hunted the rest of the day. There were good numbers of ducks on shallow, 4 th 6 inches, water but not many on the big water. West of Howard we saw a lot of koots, I hate koots,which brings me to think that the freeze was not over the whole state.
Pheasent hunting was tough. If we hadn’t had two good dogs we would not have flushed a bird. We ended up with five.
We are thinking about going farther north of Madison, does anyone have any reports of good shooting in the north central areas?
Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor
NE South Dakota 10-29-2008 11:16
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NE South Dakota Oct 24-27 2008
FIL Steve, his brother Greg and BIL Will made it to the resort that we stay at every year about 1 pm on Friday, headed right out to scout some of our productive spots from years past. While scouting we saw some birds, mix of divers and puddlers, but not an over abundance of them. Decided to sit on a medium size water on an island with 2 dzn mallard decoys and a mojo spinnin’. Saw a few small flocks drop into the other end of the lake, nothing wanted to be by us. Oh no, we are into educated local birds like last week in Madison area. Not a shot fired and off the water by dark.
Woke up Sat. morn to 35 degrees and light winds and clear. Took a short boat ride in the 18’ Canadian and set up in the mallard honey hole from shore with 4 dzn mallards and one dzn full body mallards scattered along the shore. Early action included a few single and double gadwalls but no mallards. We could see some birds working the main water of the big lake but nothing wanted in the honey hole. Great, we are dealing with educated local birds I thought to myself. Sat until 10:30 Uncle Greg and BIL Will had some shooting but I did not pull the trigger. Packed up, headed back to the resort and made breakfast and hit the road scouting. By this point, only 24 hrs into my biggest trip of the year I was discouraged. I slept of my disappointment in the truck and told the guys, “wake me if there is something to shoot or see.” 2 hrs of scouting, er sleeping, and I was never waken from my slumber. The boys saw some birds around but no large concentrations. Finally we found a series of small sloughs that were holding decent numbers of ringers, mallards and buffles. Decided to sit on the edge of one for the last 2 hrs and pass shoot birds coming to and from these small bodies of water. One buffle winged past. Will and I missed once, missed twice, and finally connected on my third shot. Both Will and I were excited to drop a bird, then the question was posed, why weren’t you shooting? What do you mean, why weren’t you shooting? Apperently we both fired all three of our shells at the same exact time and both of us connected on the third! 10 min later another buffle winged thru and Will had the shot, one miss, two miss and finally while his twisted body, and at the end of his swing, he connected with the bird and dropped it. Saw many other flocks of ringers and buffles, I think if we would have thrown out just a few decoys we could have had some closer, decoying shooting.
Sat. night winds starting building, and building. I woke up at 3 a.m. Sunday morning to the loudest, howliest winds I have ever heard in my life. Woke up late thinking nothing would fly in these winds. Got set up about 8 a.m. with the long line and two dzn loose divers in time to catch the last 25 minutes of ducks morning flight, we were wrong, birds were out moving in the 35+ mph winds! Like many other people have said in other field reports, once you shot at these birds, they would adjust there wings, and sail away. We ended up sitting all day, really no new birds but more shooting. Ended the day with 4 ringers, 4 cans (4 guys) and a buffle.
Monday morning was plain EPIC!!! Set up very close to were we were the previous day on very large water. Set up with the long line, dzn loose divers , side set of mallards, full bodies on shore and finally got the mojo working properly. Started slow right at sunrise with double and triple groups of mergies and buffles in the decoys perfectly. Then about 8:45 it started. Flocks of 15-20 mallards circling once and then without hesitation, right in the landing zone. EPIC! I have spent little time in mallard shoots, but this was unbelievable. Same size flocks of cans and gads did the same thing. These were for sure new birds that had come south with the nasty weather and they wanted to sit and rest. By 10:30 we had 20 birds for 4 guys. This morning saved our trip from being a bust.
Anyone who hunted in the storms on Sunday and were discouraged, get back out there, I think it only needed a little more time for birds to move south.
No traveling for a while, hitting the local scene around Brainerd MN for the next week and a half, keep you posted.
Posted By:
cdickinson
Guest
Tripp County, SD 10-26-2008 11:18
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted Friday and Saturday. Had a real nice gadwall shoot on Friday, tougher time on Saturday with clear skies and no wind. We manage a mixed bag, but not limits.
We have seen a pretty good increase in ducks this week. Feels like the front end of the mirgration. Lakes I am hunting on are holding good numbers. Lots of Gadwalls, some mallards, wigeon, woodducks,redheads, bluebills, a few canvasbacks. We had about a 1000 specks on the lake when we showed up on Friday. In seven years of hunting this lake I have never seen a speck on it. They were gone on Saturday morning. We are still seeing Cranes migrate through.
I shot my firt Bull Canvasback Saturday, we don’t normally get them in this area.
I am really struggling with the hunters choice bag limits that we are in the test area for. I really have a hard time equating a hen mallard to a canvasback or pintail. I may start a thread on the state discussion page to hear others comments.
Posted By:
Paul-Burton
Field Editor
Madison and west 10-22-2008 21:30
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Duck report Oct. 18-20
Madison, SD area
Traveled just a short distance west from Pipestone, MN to Madison, SD with my father in law, brother in law and uncle in law.. Scouted Friday evening south of Madison, checking larger public waters. Found a small concentration of birds and picked it.
Woke up Sat. morn at 5 a.m. to a 10 mph SSE wind, traveled 15 min. to landing to find 3 other trucks! Put in the ol’ reliable Lund Ducker and headed out. Found a small point/corner on the lake and set up with 2 dzn mallards, a few teal and redheads mixed in. 6 geese set of to the side. Set the decoys in a looser, large group.
Some birds flew early and we were buzzed by some divers, finally I connected on a lightning fast teal and the game was on. Other birds worked us but were fairly spooked. I even witnessed birds flare at other rafts of live birds! Small flocks of teal, mallards and gadwalls. Worked the water and other groups did have shooting. We pulled out at 9 with 2 teal, 1 drake widgeon, 1 redhead. My thoughts on the morning bird activity was 1, lower than usual for this area, 2, Birds were spooked and I think had been shot at in the area. Scouted for an hour before chasin’ roosters and found a public piece we had hunted years past loaded with birds at 11 a.m.
Sun Morn we headed to that public spot that had produced teal and widgeon in previous years. ENE wind and 40 degrees and clear. Water on the piece was down roughly 1 foot, and using the ducker was useless. Due to lack of time till shooting, we compromised on a point/corner. Set the same decoys in two separate tight groups.
The start was slow with few birds on the water or even moving, finally about 745, flocks of 4-8 would wing in, working our dekes, working other groups of coots/ducks on the opposite side, back and forth for 3 passes each and the live birds won out. Took one lone teal, and watched small flock after small group drop into the opposite shore just a short distance away. Pulled out at 930 and Scouted before roosters. Found more water loaded with flocks of cans, widgeon, gads, mallards and a few teal. Hopes were raised and waited for the next morn.
Got to the new water we found nice and early and set up in the NW corner, 35 degrees and the 15 mph howling wind that we woke up to on lake Madison was nothing south of Howard. Birds poured in and lack of movement from decoys killed us. Mojo battery was dead. Finally stripped off cord from 4 decoys and made a quick jerk cord. Too late, birds were set and not flying. What do you do when you get busted- JUMP SHOOT!
Found a gadwall and a spoonie.
Over all thoughts are that all the birds we encountered were local birds that had been shot at and very decoy/cover shy. Tue afternoon while driving back to Brainerd was on the phone with any hunter I knew to get an idea on bird movements. Northern ND, birds moving in, Ole has also seen this. NW MN, lake of the woods, and south and west of that area has seen a HUGE influx of blue bills, and other divers, no mallards from what I have heard. Tue morn local brainerd report from my partner is sightings of Buffleheads, ringbills and some mallards. Wood Ducks are gone.
I am traveling to north eastern SD for ducks fri-mon, reported snow showers in that area and north tomorrow, hopefully fill up with the first big flights of northern birds.
Posted By:
Ktownwaterfowler
Guest
one week to go 10-22-2008 10:00
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three of us will be heade to So Dak in a week. we leave the 28 th and will be there through the weekend chasing ducks and pheasants. Any reports would be great. staying in the Webster area. PM me if you like
Posted By:
tlimoges
Guest
South of Sioux Falls 10-20-2008 13:43
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Finally some good numbers of ducks and geese around. Hunted pheasants this weekend but walked a field that normally holds small a small amount of ducks and to my suprise there was 30-40 on the water. Good Sign!
Posted By:
wigout
Guest
North Central 10-16-2008 18:47
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
1000’s of cranes.
