Posted By: Anthony-Santoli Field Editor 10-12-2010 12:20 – – – Good luck to everyone on opening weekend. Duck hunting should be good throughout the state with a semi-cool front coming from due North. Local Mallards are looking pretty good along with a lot of Green Wings present throughout the state at this time. Early migrants such as Pintails,Wigeons and Ring Necks should be making their way to our areas as well. Everyone be safe and shoot em up. AS Posted By: Anthony-Santoli Field Editor 10-07-2010 09:31 – – – Well then, so much for that cold fron that came thru LAST WEEK. Looks like it is back to warm weather for a few days. There should be good amounts of both ducks and geese for the opener next week. The Lake Erie marsh region waterfowl counts jumped way up from the previous survey. Mallards, Greenwings make up the bulk, with… Continue reading

Posted By: Al-Faber Field Editor Central and NW Ohio 06-19-2010 12:09 Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees Central Ohio getting lots of rain this Spring and Summer which should create and foster ideal nesting conditions. Just back from Camp Perry up on Lake Erie and conditions seem great there also. Noticed Fowl Fooler Inc. for sale if anyone is interested in an outfitting/decoy/call business:) Will miss Captain Charlie, he once helped me improve my calling when I stopped in to purchase a call. Wonder how conditions on the Gulf will effect the duck habitat and populations in wintering areas. I am told the next DU magazine will have several articles on the subject. Time to scout, get permission slips lined up, clean the decoys and prep the boat! Be safe, teach a youngster to hunt & respect the great outdoors…and pass on the hens…! Posted By: Anthony-Santoli… Continue reading

Posted By: bridgeman Web Member Ohio River Downtown Cincinnati- no hunt 01-13-2010 12:21 Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Ice I drive over the Ohio river at downtown Cincinnati (mile 470) every morning and nite. This morning there was ice in downtown Cincin. It has been frozen from bank to bank above Meldahl (mile 436) since last sunday. I have hunted the Ohio above Cincinnati for 43 years now, and back in the 60’s and 70’s the Ohio was never at pool stage during duck season. Pool stage at Cincin. is 24′, and the river never droped more than 30′ all winter long. Now it is at pool stage all winter long. The problem is when the big O is at pool, there is no current, so when it gets cold- ice. You cant float hunt with Ice or decoy hunt, which sucks. Pray for rain and… Continue reading

Posted By: Al-Faber Field Editor Central 10-27-2009 20:40 Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees Have been out of the state for a few weeks, but back from scouting several areas tonight. Lot’s of ducks in the area especially woodies on small farm ponds with wooded lots near by. Scouted 4 ponds, all had 4-15 woodies and a mix of other ducks. Travelling home from work and did not have my hunting clothes, but plan on hunting in the am. Wednesday and Friday. Friends report some shooting on the bigger reservoirs in the area. Small streams also producing well if your scout ahead and have a plan to get in and out. Interesting phenomenon taking place this year. About 4 of the 25 or so properties I get permission on have capitulated to hunters (with money) leasing their land to hunt it exclusively. I hope this is not a trend… Continue reading

Posted By: Al-Faber Field Editor Central Ohio 10-11-2009 18:37 Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees Great weather approaching and ducks and geese are moving around the area. Spent the weekend in Port Clinton and scouted big numbers of divers, puddle ducks, and geese. South through Marion large flocks at sunset tonight. Small farm ponds are ideal right now. Central Ohio forecast calls for a cold front and rain WED-SAT next week 🙂 Should be a great opener! Be safe, teach a youngster to hunt & respect the great outdoors…and pass on the hens…! Posted By: Anthony-Santoli Field Editor 10-05-2009 08:27 – – – We were up at the marsh putting on the final touches for the opener and did some scouting in the process. A good influx of birds has occurred with these recent cold fronts. Bluewings were all gone. Good amount of Blacks… Mallards increased considerably along… Continue reading

Posted By: Anthony-Santoli Field Editor 09-01-2009 08:07 – – – Cooler temps overnight have settled in and did push some smaller birds out,,,,but at the same time have pushed some more into town…hopefully they’ll be around for this weekend. The neaby marsh across the street from us has a couple hundred teal on it(blues and greens). Water levels by the marshes are very high and this weekends wind is supposed to be a light 8MPH out of the NE, so levels arent going to drop at all. Good amounts of woodducks and the local mallards and gadwalls are flying around pretty good from pothole to pothole. Some geese were around, but not nearly as many as the norm, so I expect that they are out and about feeding and loafing and not in any patterns yet. Good luck this weekend and have a good Labor Day…. Posted By: Anthony-Santoli Field… Continue reading

Posted By: Anthony-Santoli Field Editor nowhere 05-22-2009 08:45 – – – THESE ARE THE BEST WATERFOWL PRODUCING CONDITIONS ACROSS THE ENTIRE BOARD THAT WE HAVE SEEN SINCE THAT “ONE HATCH” IN THE 90’S. For some of you,,,this year could be the best year that you might ever see. Posted By: Anthony-Santoli Field Editor Spring Synopsis thus far 04-23-2009 08:20 – – – Hello everyone: I have compiled some research thus far and here is what I have come up with: So far this has actually been a very wet Spring. As most of you know, Canada and the Dakotas have received a lot of late winter snow pack and early wet weather. The potholes for the most part are rockin and rollin with some areas having too much water for this time of year. As for Ohio goes, Ontario and Michigan have been fairly wet from the winters snow and… Continue reading

Posted By: Darron Baker Field Editor S. Ohio 01-11-2009 15:39 Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water Hunted an open marsh this morning. All I can say is, we need some cold weather to lock everything up. The ducks we saw this morning were stale ducks. They knew the game and knew where they were safe. Only ended up with 4 mallards. Hopefully with this cold coming, it will congregate the birds into a few holes that stay open for us. Posted By: Al-Faber Field Editor Central Ohio (Fields) 01-11-2009 14:33 Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 30-34 Degrees – Ice Light snow helped today and the ducks cooperated. Limited in an hour with mallards and geese, waited another hour to see if a black or widgeon would show-up, but no luck there. A good recovery day after yesterday’s disappointing results. Heading to the Ohio River for the final week… Continue reading