Member Photo Credit: Canman OMaddie
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Hit one of my woodie holes this morning and picked up a quick limit. Not nearly as many birds as I saw last year in these areas, but enough to keep it interesting.
All in all a good start to the season. Now, hoping for some slightly cooler weather. 82 degrees up here today.
Happy balmy start to our 2014 duck season here in Minnesota. Hit a small slough that I scouted earlier in the week and hard Friday. Even with the scouting, we still setup in the wrong spot. Having to quickly adjust only moments into legal shooting hours was not how I envisioned the morning. Full of sweat and out of breath, we moved the decoys and got settled.
Over the next half hour we filled a two man limit of a Mallard, Woodies and teal. The Woodies decoyed wonderfully, but a lot of pass shooting on the others.
A fair amount of shooting in the areas around me, but not like other years.
All in all, a good start to the year considering the warm weather. Also enjoyed watching the U of M beat Michigan.
I am going to strictly target woodies tomorrow. They are only around for a few weeks, decoy wonderfully and are beautiful birds.
Good luck to all that go out tomorrow.
P.S. I am attaching a picture – although this time of year they aren’t very impressive.
This post is probably better suited for a forum, however it is a migration report so I think this follows protocol. Additionally, I wanted to post it hear as I believe this is something all visitors need to see.
This comment off the 9.25.2014 Minnesota DNR migration report is classic.
“Duck numbers appear to have declined since early September. Many basins have no ducks while a few have many. I am expecting only a fair opener here”.
Mr. Landwehr,
Minnesota DNR Waterfowl Commissioner
I want you to ponder whether this could have anything to do with the fact that we have had the following hunting already happening this year in the area this report is posted?
August Canada Goose Management: August 9th – August 24th
September Canada Goose Hunt: September 6th, – September 22nd
Youth Waterfowl Hunt: September 13th
That is over 30 days of hunting that has already occurred. I am not sure why we call this “the opener” anymore. What’s worse is most of this hunting now occurs over water.
I’m sure the blame will be placed on the lunar calendar, climate or some other scientific reason. However, I believe we need to reflect on how these special seasons are contributing towards the lack of birds days before the opener.
An expensive tax payer funded study will probably be launched to find out why duck hunting is less popular than it was years ago and why duck stamp sales continue to decline (massively).
The reason for this is quite simple. Too much time and money spent by hard working folks to stare at limited or often empty skies due to the hunting of water where the birds roost for nearly a month prior to the season beginning. Anyone that takes issue with this is either being dishonest or an idiot (If you need an acid test. Hunt the same pond you shoot out on opening day on Sunday and tell me if there are more or less ducks there the second day).
Sure the breeding numbers and fall flight estimates were high in August, but after being disrupted for over a month prior to the season it has an impact.
Some of you probably enjoy the additional hunting opportunities these special seasons provide and others will be in my camp which believes we need to get back to a true opening day. Hunter success would be higher and an overall better experience would be had.
As for the counter argument as to the resident geese causing too much damage to not have a season, I actually agree with this. However, I am confused as to why many of the agricultural advocates for killing all of these resident birds rarely let hunters onto their fields to take care of this issue in a way that doesn’t disturb the roosts.
We need to stop being overran by the agriculture lobby. They are tiling and draining still in 2014 at a record pace and are not aligned with our conservation interests. Sure these special seasons help introduce our Youth to the sport which is wonderful for the heritage, but these same policies are causing current hunters (the ones with $$$ to spend on conservation and heritage TODAY!) to drop out and focus on bow hunting, turkeys or fishing.
This migration report really hit a nerve with me and I wanted to share with the rest of you. PM me if you agree with this and would like to discuss an action plan strategy to get back to the real tradition of “opening day”.
Sunscreen….. check
Bug spray….. check
Going to be a good ole stretcher this weekend. Good luck to all that go out. Shot Fall league clays tonight and the bugs nearly carried us away.
Good news!
Seeing lots in central MN. Not Dakota amounts but I have been seeing birds in ponds that have not had birds for many years.
150+ wood ducks in a couple of ponds in Central Minnesota. An early sign that the hatch may have been ok.
What is everyone else seeing?
Water still very high in my part of the State. Seeing a few broods of ducks here and there, but with the heat haven’t been out much. Pulled out the calendar today to start requesting days off of work this fall!
Pretty slow in here. Young geese in my backyard pond have been practicing flying for a couple weeks. Pretty much full color too. Still a couple late blooming Suzie’s getting gang banged as well.
.bump
Seeing a lot of big flocks of honkers throughout Central Minnesota. Rain and our state bird the mosquito seem to both be in full force.
Get out and support your local sporting clays and trap ranges as the summer is a great time to hone your shooting skills.
Thousands upon thousands of honkers just South of the snow line in Minnesota. Drove up from Mankato to St. Cloud and it was very fun to see. Pond conditions should be favorable for most of Minnesota and in talking to my Canadian buddies it appears they received a lot of snow as well.
Already planning my hunts for next year!
Bump!
A little more than 7 months till 2014 go time. Anyone got a half-hard yet?
Ready to roll!
Ponds should be plump full in the central to eastern half of Minnesota – however there is very little snow in the Western half of the State. Hopefully, we get a couple of shots in March to charge them up.
Hello fellow Waterfowlers. Well Winter has officially settled in up here in the North Country. The past couple of weeks have been very cold and ice is being made daily on the local lakes. As I sit here and reflect on this year’s hunting season I am thankful for the opportunities i had to be with friends and family afield. There is no better bonding expierence or relief valve from a stressful life than to be setting up decoys on the “X” in anticipation of the morning shoot.
2013 wasn’t as good as 2012, but it was very close. The difference this year was the unseasonably warm temps and an artic blast that cooled things off pretty quickly whereas 2012 provided more timely small cold fronts to push birds.
I appreciate the hunting reports and posts from fellow WFC members.
Best wishes to all of you this Holiday season. I’m already counting down the days to next opener!!
Easy Limit of Greenheads this morning. Most shots less than 15 yards. It has turned very cold this weekend, but without any snow they are still finding feed. I would say by the end of next week most birds will have moved along.
It has once again, been an awesome year!
Sorry Southern Boys……. with no snow cover and more corn fields than they can handle, it doesn’t seem to matter how cold it gets. They keep a hole open in the middle of big water and they feed hard.
High winds today. The transition slough behind our field set, was mostly frozen until the winds pushed the ice up onto the land.
Sorry….. Picture didn’t load.
Love the sunrises!
Had a couple decent hunts recently. One thing I’ve noticed is the mallards have really been mojo shy when hunting water. I have had higher success without mojos. Hoping this upcoming cold snap freezes most stuff. Been saving a roost just waiting for it to get real cold. We’ve also been having trouble finding non-mallards to complete the limit.
Dipper Dave
Love the Honks!
We setup this morning on more Mallards than I could count. Shot our limit and while picking up the decoys we had about 15 different flocks of Honks over the field we were in. They were not in there the day before, so I don’t know if they migrated in or just shifted fields. These were the big ones.
Oh well. 15 Greenies and 3 Pins.
Headed out West for a 4 day hunt. Scouted the first evening and found a good bunch of mallards. Only concern was the -3 temps that were forcasted for that night. Woke up the next morning and set the decoys (the whole time I was worried about the Full moon approaching). Nothing flew. Left the decoys and headed to town for breakfast. Came back at 12:30pm and had a limit of 15 mallards, 2 Widgeon and 1 Pintail by 3:15pm. Next three days were the same story – except we didn’t hunt the mornings. set decoys by 1:00pm and didn’t even make it till the eventing flight for our 3 man limit. While packing up the decoys Mallards were buzzing everywhere. Also lots of snows, specs and small Canadians. Didn’t see any big ones.
I would guess close to 20k mallards were on the roosts we setup a 1/2 mile from in corn. We did have one evening where someone shot on of the roosts (we were already limited). It is really sad when you see a spot holding thousands of ducks that could be shot from the surrounding fields for days get blasted up. I talked to the people that did it and they crippled 3 ducks and recovered 2. Makes me sick.
All in all a great couple of days. I will be heading back out tomorrow to get in a few more hunts.
Love November!!!!
Another good hunt.
Sunset
Mallards
More
Stay off the roost and this is what can happen.
Good work!
Well done!
I’m not looking for any specifics. I know where im headed and keep spots pretty quiet. But how about some sunrise/sunset pics, decoy spreads or tailgate carnage. Anyone?
This was Sunday. Greenwings were on fire!
.
Find your own!!!!! LOLOL!!!!!
lol Steve!!!
We did Steve. Just trying to get a little participation here. In the Lodge as well!