2009 Waterfowl Reports

[Jordyn Kaufer]

Originally Posted By: Jordyn Kaufer

i went out his morning with my dad un near lindstrom and got myself 2 bluebills! THE PUSH IS ON! those of you throwing in the towel id suggest getting out atleast once this weekend for the hunt of your life!

LMAO LOLOLOL The hunt of your life is 2 bluebills?

no thats not the hunt of my life... this weekends hunts will be though i have a feeling. i wouldve had the hunt of my life i had had my goose decoys with..

[strait-meat]

Hunted Pelican today got 2 grays, 1 buffle, 2 blue bills and a hooded merg. saw a low amount on the lake, decent amount flying high but a big flock 200-300 mallards that came in like black birds circled around some and kept flying somewhere else. Neat to see though.

[Quackaddict9]

Guys complaining how bad this season is...well this year and last season has been great to me, mostly mallards. Finding primary feeding fields for mallards have paid off. A couple diver hunts. Pics are posted in the pic thread.

Jordyn- I've killed a limit of geese w/o goose decoys before. How many geese are you talking about? 100, 500, 1,000, 3,000+? I've hunted close to Chisago City a couple times this year and have see geese on every body of water in the area. Not much for ducks though. I've noticed that the geese are dumber than places I usually hunt.

Good luck everyone, post some more reports! I'll be in NoDak.

[schr0563]

I hunted in the West Metro on Wednesday afternoon. Held off on a trio of mergansers early in the afternoon and whiffed on a group of 4 mallards, wings cupped, sailing right over the decoys. It's been a disappointing season but was cool to finally get some birds to decoy. It was by far the best hunt I had this year.

[Gordie]

Hunted Pelican today got 2 grays, 1 buffle, 2 blue bills and a hooded merg. saw a low amount on the lake, decent amount flying high but a big flock 200-300 mallards that came in like black birds circled around some and kept flying somewhere else. Neat to see though.

strait where was you at I was there also and seen that flock of mallys but they were to far away for me to even think about.maybe we'll see ya out one of the two days if your headed there

[strait-meat]

[CANOPY SAM]

Did see a nice group of greenheads on the river behind my place this a.m. First ones I've seen all year down there. I think they're comin'.

[chub]

Hunted hard the last two days.

Tuesday night when it cleared off, there was a solid migration of Geese, Swans and some Mallards to be heard in the dark overhead. Had high hopes.

Wednesday, hardly a duck seen. Hunted around home until 9:30, then packed up and headed "out west" for the afternoon. Nesx to nothing to be seen

Knowing yesterday was going to be a perfect "migration" day, left home at three AM for Western Mn to make sure I was on the spot in the place that would be a given under the conditions.

Some Geese and Swans were seen, next to nothing again on the ducks. Saw perhaps 100 Mallards total, and I would guess the majority of them had been around for awhile. If anyone thinks there is a major migration yet to come, I'll take whatever your smoking.

I'm of the opinion that most of the birds we normally see have passed through, or there just isn't any "up north" in the areas that hold and give up the birds that migrate through this state, i.e. parts of Nodak, MB and SK.

SD still holds a ton of birds, but I have my doubts they will migrate east, Nodak has from what I hear, some spotty very concentrated areas of birds, and other than the big water is for the most part locked tight.

Most people are waiting for something that just isn't gonna come. Like Santa or the Easter Bunny. Sure there may be a spotty last minute group here and there that may show up somewhere, but unless you are in the right place at the right time, you'll never see it.

If there wasn't atleast some kind of a duck migration yesterday for where I was at, a major migration isn't gonna happen. Not now, nor in the middle of next month.

For whatever reason, weather, habitat, overall hatch, migration routes ..., we in this state missed out this year and got the krappy end of the stick.

I've hunted ALOT. Had some decent days, had some bad days, and will have a few more days.

I for one am glad it's almost over. Put the lid on this one and bury it. LOL

[joekleinjr]

i was out with my son and brother, sat out till 9 didn't get a shot. i'm done for this year,, my dog is even [PoorWordUsage]

[joekleinjr]

mad

[BrdHunter01]

Some Geese and Swans were seen, next to nothing again on the ducks. Saw perhaps 100 Mallards total, and I would guess the majority of them had been around for awhile. If anyone thinks there is a major migration yet to come, I'll take whatever your smoking.

Ive got a question for all of you that think that "NO" birds remain up north.... Why would they have migrated? Is it because they were getting sunburn or they had to much food available to eat? It was cold after opening weekend and there was some migration of the early migraters. After that this may be one of the warmest Novembers on RECORD! Why in the he[[ would they ducks have migrated? They would have gotten heat stroke! You guys are crazy to think there isn't a major migration to come after teh season ends. I'll take whatever your smoking! You must have never seen that migration come.... I've seen it a couple time in the last 5-6 years. I'm telling you its amazing!!! Limits of mallards for a goups of 7 or 8.... By the way everything was froze solid, highs in the 20s, the snow was flying and the wind was out of the north at about 30.... Thats the perfect migration weather! Not highs of 38-40 with a steady wind out of the north.....

[chub]

Never said there were NO birds left to come. If you still think they're all sitting in Canada waiting for some cold weather before they move, I would advise you to quickly get to the nearest Mall, and get in line to sit on Santa's lap.

Ask him to give you the "major push" of ducks for Christmas... .

Fact of the matter is, many of the ducks migrate by the calender anyway. Other than the few that hang out in some Hydro plant up in Ca., or the parks in Winnepeg. Many(not all) are opportunistic, and will jump on a good cold front or NW wind and ride it south. If that didn't happen yesterday, that tells me the rest of it is going to be pretty skinny. I've done this long enough and hard enough to have atleast an idea what should be happening.

I'm not here to argue, just giving my opinion based on about 35 years of playing the game. We are pretty optimistic as duck hunters, I still am to a certain degree. With the exception of today, I'll be in for the rest of it. However I know that I'll get some, but to expect a mass migration and cry that our season isn't long enough or go late enough isn't in the cards.

The "major migration" is just as likely to be heading our way as a sleigh streaking across the night sky pulled by Reindeer.

Good luck to those of you that head out.

[RumRiverRat]

Plenty of Ducks out there.

[RumRiverRat]

i was out with my son and brother, sat out till 9 didn't get a shot. i'm done for this year,, my dog is even [PoorWordUsage]

Did you scout the area before you hunted it?

Were there even Ducks there?

[BrdHunter01]

Fact of the matter is, many of the ducks migrate by the calender anyway.

Migrate by calander? Wheres their calander located? I would love to take a look at it. Get a clue... The ducks migrate with weather patterns. If you think the northern mallards migrate by calander or the geese migrate by calander where are they? They didn't come through, the DNR counts were extremely low all year. But they migrate by calander right? What tells these ducks to migrate over the centuries of doing so? They must know the date right? LOL give me a break. They migrate by weather patterns buddy! I don't care what you say... But if you find that duck calander let me know please! You must have had a great year because you know the calander....

I did look at one calander I beleive it was on the DU HSOforum. They said peak migration day was the day before deer opener... NEVER SAW A DUCK! Get a clue...

[BrdHunter01]

Originally Posted By: joekleinjr

i was out with my son and brother, sat out till 9 didn't get a shot. i'm done for this year,, my dog is even [PoorWordUsage]

Did you scout the area before you hunted it?

Were there even Ducks there?

When the ducks are migrating you don't need to scout... If the major migration is coming through it doesn't matter where you are... You need to scout when theirs only local birds around and not much a migration has/is happening... JMO but if you ever have hit the migration everyone is coming in with limits of mallards no matter where you are...

[BigGrassBass]

Isn't this thread about reports?

[chub]

If you think the northern mallards migrate by calander or the geese migrate by calander where are they? They didn't come through, the DNR counts were extremely low all year. But they migrate by calander right? What tells these ducks to migrate over the centuries of doing so? They must know the date right? LOL give me a break. They migrate by weather patterns buddy! I don't care what you say... But if you find that duck calander let me know please!

I would guess all the birds sitting in the NWR's in SE Iowa and Missouri got the memo.

You'll figure it out after you get a few seasons under your belt Brdhunter.

Until then, keep on believing in that mass December migration and 'Ol Saint Nick! I'll just keep on keeping on and shooting migration Mallards all season long, no matter how small the migration is.

May your duckstap be full, and your chimeny large enough to allow the man in the red suit to fill your den with presents.....

LOL

[Jordyn Kaufer]

Guys complaining how bad this season is...well this year and last season has been great to me, mostly mallards. Finding primary feeding fields for mallards have paid off. A couple diver hunts. Pics are posted in the pic thread.

Jordyn- I've killed a limit of geese w/o goose decoys before. How many geese are you talking about? 100, 500, 1,000, 3,000+? I've hunted close to Chisago City a couple times this year and have see geese on every body of water in the area. Not much for ducks though. I've noticed that the geese are dumber than places I usually hunt.

Good luck everyone, post some more reports! I'll be in NoDak.

Quack,

there were probably 2,000-3,000 geese that were flying and another 2,000 or so on the lakes around... it was pretty cool, woulda been better off sitting in a field than on the water though.

I know all you guys are talking about throwing in the towel and how bad the season is... But in all seriousness, I go out for the experience of duck hunting and i love it even though half the time im lucky to get a decent shot at some birds but thats hunting you know? And another plus is that i get to spend many hours with my father in a duck boat or in a field and just get to talk about random things, its pretty cool to be able to do that with my dad... So all you guys saying that the season is so bad and that the season wasnt worth it, think about the time that you spent with your buddies and get to shoot the breeze while sitting in a duck boat instead of the office.

Just my opinion and I dont mean to attack anyone, thats just how i look at it..

I will be hunting every day until the season ends..

[Will]

Jordyn, i can appreciate your outlook! It is your season and you keep enjoying all aspects of it.

[dan z]

i cant believe how many peolpe just give up. a true duck hunter goes out on everday that so that he can be out there when its happens.

im still killing enough birds to keep going out every day that i can. the season not that bad it just got be out there to kill birds sitting in the chair you not kill anything.

and Jorydn u hit it right on the spot about been with your hunting buddys.

[cutter08]

So all you guys that told me that i was wrong and the birds Haven't migrated yet because its to warm, WELL the cold weather is here and i don't see all the ducks that are supposedly still in Canada??????? Like i said that weekend where we had 30 mph winds out of the north was going to be the big push. I have been seeing goldeneyes for the last 3 to 4 weeks and correct me if I'm wrong but arnt they one of the last birds to head south?????? I'm not calling it quits for the year and i will be out there this weekend. There are some birds around and so I'm hopen to finish the regular season with at least a few birds and then its on to late season goose. Should be a good late season. Lots of geese in and around the metro.

[Jordyn Kaufer]

Scotty,

where you headed tomorrow morning?

[cutter08]

Jordyn, i think we will be down on the river in the morning. Was up north yesterday and didn't see much.

[schr0563]

One would think that with all the folks viewing and replying to this thread that someone would have a brother, cousin, uncle, barber, doctor, previous neighbor, past coworker, day care provider, or fellow church member that could give a first hand report of what birds, if any, are still in Canada. That would help put an end to all the speculation regarding whether the major migration has already occurred, or is yet to come.