RaininFeathers

I see these reports of the duck stamps being down but I don't see the proof when I head to the swamp. Each year it gets worse and worse. This year was unbelievable...over 15 trucks at a spot that used to get 6 or 7 on opener. Had to get up at 330 every morning to make sure we got our spot this year. I'm sure it depends on the area you are in but it sure seems like there are just as many hunters as ten years ago if not more. Maybe all the amatuers who jump shoot and sit on dykes and pass shoot have given up and all the die hards are at it twice as much. As for the ducks when the dakota's have water don't expect much to come through MN. Would you fly over MN and get shot at every lake you stop at our fly through the dakotas with food and water everywhere with minimal hunting pressure. If the dakotas dry up they get forced our way. You hate to hope for the duck factory to dry up but that will improve our hunting ten fold.

Thanks guys! Where abouts were you Cwboymn1? I feel bad for those farmers I talked to one that said he was going to cut it to just to keep it from rotting. Said he was going to loose most of the crops. Hope they have good crop insurance.

You guys think it is better near Ortonville area or down south near Windom? I have scouting reports from both areas so I am wondering which you think is better. I am mainly a duck hunter but getting after the pheasants this weekend because of the lack of ducks. I've done ok near ortonville a few years back. How is the crop situation...any come down this week with the warmer dry weather?

With poor numbers of ducks to chase in the area I hunt and no weather on the way to send em down I was thinking of heading down to do some pheasant hunting in southern MN. I know most of the crops were up last week but with some of the dry warmer weather as of late I was wondering if some of that corn is getting taken down yet? Is it better west or east?

I thought shooting a ruddy is like shooting a coot. They can hardly even fly. I could have shot a boat load of em in ND but saved the cooler space for Mals, bills, and snows. =) Always fun to add another species to the list tho.

I lost my dads head lamp I was borrowing. My bro and I searched the launch everywhere. My bro didn't have a light to search and about half way through the search he reached down to grab something he saw on the ground and his hand sunk into warm dog [PoorWordUsage] that our dog had dropped minutes before. About 5 minutes later I felt my head again and realized it was still on my hat all along. Needless to say he wasn't happy. I still brace myself for a bruisin everytime I tell that story.

Spring Lake seems to be a good place to hunt them. There was a couple dead ones at the launch when I scouted it.

I don't think their patterns have anything to do with eachother. Gulls like to get out and glide in the wind to search for food with minimal energy. Ducks fly in the morning to get up stretch out and get some excercise for their migration. Most places I hunt the gulls start flying mid morning and fly until late afternoon. Geese get up later than the ducks when it is time to go get some food. But like dan z said everywhere has different patterns I just don't think they correlate with eachother.

I turn a lot of my canadian honkers into jerky. I just use a dehydrater instead of a oven but it takes a couple of days. Marinate it a few days at the least for unltimate flavor. As fas as the BB thing goes I slice mine thin maybe 1/8 of an inch or less and I found all of my BB's. You can see where you are likely to find one. If you keep a close eye you should be alright but I'm not saying you will be gravy.

Similar thing happened to us. We got permission to hunt a farmers fields between two snow goose roosts. The first day we banged em up. The second day some dummies pulled right down by the roost about 200 yards and kicked the geese off. I thought it was an unwritten rule to leave the snows alone on their roost. Amatuers didn't even have decs. I guess they thought they could drive right up to them with their brights on and wait for them to fly over once it got light. I never talked to them so I'm not sure if they got permission but I doubt it because the farmer I talked to was soo old you could hardly understand what he was saying. Great trip overall 18 snows 2 ross 6 lessers and 42 ducks for four guys. Could have finished off the bag limit on the ducks but had enough birds and thats not what its all about. The snows have officially moved in to Devils area. The first day Thursday 22nd hardly saw any and by Sunday they were everywhere. Duck #'s were lower than usually and dropped off each day. The last day hardly any bills on Devils. Best hunting was about 45 min from main lake tho. Made buddies with some farmers with beautiful land that will be getting some wild rice mailed to them soon.

CCRocks Good opener due to good scouting but has been poor around McGregor/Aitkin for bird count all year. Most guys in our shack have one or two birds to the bag all season and we're no rookies just no birds around. My uncle was up at Squaw Lake last weekend which is the ringer capital of MN in my opinion and hardly fired there gun. Hoping those two big fronts didn't already push most of our birds through already. The big push is usually this weekend or deer opener but everything has been different this season so we shall see.

Anyone else dressing up as a duck hunter and going to a Halloween party in the swamp? This is one of my favorite weekends to get after the ducks. It's been great in years past but most scouting reports I have heard from our area are poor for the diver count compared to normal this time of year. I'm sure it will be fun either way. We'll get up some grouse if the ducks aren't there. Have a safe and spooky weekend and remember help your local farmer...kill a snow goose!

I live up in Carlton about 20 miles north. I have shot some geese in the area but there isn't much ducks around. You could get some shooting if the lake has some food on it (rice or shallow mud flats). Haven't heard of waterfowl hunting around there but haven't scouted much there so don't really know. If you don't see much on Saturday you could try Hay Lake up by Carlton. It gets hunted but has good food supply so gets used by migrants. Not much cover so lay out blinds are ideal. Don't need a boat if you have chest waders cause shallow lake with hard bottom. You could also try perch or Kettle lake out past sawyer but that is a good 45 to hour drive from moose lake. Kettle is WPA so if you go not motor. Far north end is the best.

Elwood my dad is heading to Cando on Friday and I will be there the 22nd. Heard some good reports from the area. This year we found an old lady who rents apartments with kitchens and all for cheaper than the hotel.

You only need a few unless you are in an area with a ton of geese. If you are ok at calling two to four will work. I have called them in multiple times without decoys. I usually put them up wind a ways in a seperate pod because besides teal and woodies ducks don't seem to burn into them much.