Waterfowl Reports

[Gordie]

I didnt hunt this morning but I talked with some guys on mille Lacs that had seen a bunch of teal today and got a few GWT nd BWT

[Stringerless!]

One woody drake after some skyblasting kids sealed my fate. Do the new regs let us hunt ducks with rifles now ?? Maybe I missed that one in the synopsis ;(

[fishuhalik]

my dad found a beaver pond absolutely loaded with mallards this wknd. bowstring area. he's been seeing 1-2 thousand birds come in every evening. wasn't planning on getting out this yr but i'm gonna try to make it work this wknd!

[dan z]

seen more teal yesterday than I have all season, was a great morning in the blind with them buzzers keeping things interresting to say the least, I also seen some migrating ducks up high, I took a metal note on how many less woodies were also around the area, seen tons on sat morning and just a few flocks yesterday. cant waite for the wind change at weeks end

[hunter322]

was out this morning and wholy cow did i see birds! i must have seen half a dozen toa dozen flocks of dozen ormore. most wouldnt even give me a second look. also did see more teal today then the last couple of weekends.

[Musky Buck]

Dismal river float, 7 mile stretch, saw 2 wood ducks and 1 group of 7 mallards and 0 seemed to be drakes so 8 hour mission and no ducks, but saw northerns in the river and suckers, a beaver, a few muskrats, jumped a few deer by accident bedded close to the river so there was adventure, it was also way to warm, so the question is how this river, that used to be everyone's primary duck destination because it was so good, became so poor ? We never saw another hunter at any of the bridges or setting with dekes so we thought this might really be ok, but it wasn't. Around 1 bend there were 6 swans also.

[H0LE HOPPER]

seeing lots of birds from bemidji on up mainly flying high most of them being bwt but shot a limit sunday morning i really wish i had my camcorder up here wave after wave, monday i dont know what happened definatley poor shooting for our group and this morning only hunted till 9 still got our share of birds shot two bands both being bandend in winnnepig

[Bryce]

Put on quite a few miles for work. Been seeing more ducks than expected south of the metro. All sitting in no hunting areas. I'm sure more habitat would help to disperse the hunting pressure that pushes them there but so would getting rid of the mentality that every lone duck sitting in the middle of the marsh needs 3 hats putting on their best belly crawl.

Got a questionaire about early goose from DNR. Wondered about hunting over water. Hope they get enough checks in the eliminate box.

[TylerS]

I realize most of these reports are for Minnesota, but thought I'd give everyone my observations from God's country.

We had lots of water this spring, and most has stuck around to the fall. The result was bad for upland birds, but great for waterfowl. After a couple years of drier conditions, I've definitely witnessed more ducks this year than in the recent past.

Geese are, as always, plentiful. And with the crops coming down in record pace, finding a cut corn field right now is not out of the question.

I'm not going to give out towns, but the usual waterfowl haunts have been producing quite nicely. Although I do not think we have many migrants down, the resident population is healthy enough to offer plenty of shooting until the weather turns.

We've had some unseasonably warm weather the past few weeks, but now we're wet again and the temps are cooling. Watch for the winds to start blowing and the overnights to tickle that 32-degree mark. When that happens, any major front that comes through could start sending some northern birds our way! Watch the weather and try to get ahead of the fronts.

Good luck to all you NRs! I'll try not to shoot all the ducks before you get here

[Musky Buck]

Was out each night Sunday-Tuesday, saw a pair of wood ducks whistling by, that's all, there's definitely more sandhill cranes then ducks in our area, scout mornings some to and just little to no waterfowl around and no one is hunting or if they are I haven't heard a shotgun blast in the area all fall other than me taking out a problem skunk the other day.

[H0LE HOPPER]

was out this morning seen lots of geese in the area... seen what looks to be the first push of bluebils in the area should be some good hunting this weekend. But shot 6 bluebills and a canvas back definately thinking about getting it mounted

[sdsufowler]

Talked to the CO that flew the Southern MN Duck counts yesterday and he said most of southern MN had small pockets of ducks but with low numbers. The only significant areas where small groups on Swan Lake and fair amount of mallards North of Marsh lake near Appelton. Lets hope the weather switches soon and brings some fresh birds in.

[H0LE HOPPER]

Good North and cold wind today seen a quite a few more ducks the area, i just love the difference in #s between divers and puddle ducks tht im use to see. But shot 19 birds for 4 guys today lost 3 birds so it was a pretty good day out but seen a few more mallards push down and more redheads too hopefully its a good sign. Hopefully a few people can get out this weekend conditions are looking good but then again the weatherman is usually wrong.lol. Good luck!!

[sartellangler05]

Was out for opener and 2 weekends following 5 miles west of Sauk Center. Not a lot of shooting after opener, or birds flying for that matter. Anybody seeing more birds in the area? Thinkin about maybe Saturday, but with the weather just starting to cool down, I'd say next weekend there should be a few more northern birds coming through.

[dan z]

yeah I would prolly waite another couple weeks and let them fly by when your sitting on the couch.

Heck dont waite get out there and make the most out of it its not about shooting limits its about being able to hunt

[Musky Buck]

It's not funny but kinda funny, if we had the internet and this site during the 80's wow would the story be different, we'd be talking about ducks at times into the thousands, little goose chatter other then in Rochester,Fergus Falls, Alexandria, and LaQuiParle. I'd be saying about 2-3 hundred woodies in a beaver pond, 1,000 mallards in our cornfield, etc. etc. etc. We'd all have those comments for the most part, bluebills in great numbers down etc. I never thought the day would come where it's easier to get ruffed grouse then ducks in my area and there's few grouse around. What a joke that article was in outdoor news about duck stamp sales they are lucky/fortunate they're getting the sales they are, like my dad who buys them and quit hunting 15 years ago, cmon record duck numbers whatever, compared to 1776 yes maybe. Sure there are pockets of decent hunting in some areas but it is nothing compared to the early 80's or late 80's even. Read that sales pitch outdoor news article, it's like trying to sell a guy a car and you got no car to give after the sale. Thankfully the goose and turkey are providing the lapse in duck hunting for many of us.

[Musky Buck]

We are going to give it all we got tomorrow, will see what we see, going to hunt 3 private farms that we haven't tried yet so I'm optimistic, but realistically speaking it's going to stink, but we can put on an orange hat and hope for some roosters once reality hits that there's no ducks. Man do I want to report dozens of greenheads, beuatifully plumage woodies, fingers are crossed.

[Traxxx]

Two of us hit Leech this morning. Pretty slow overall with low numbers seen. Saw a few small flocks of ringecks, couple mallards and a couple small flocks of geese. Didn't see any sort of a migration. Talked with a couple other groups and all had similar reports. Hopefully the cooler temps will get some birds moving.

[tracker x-2]

Decided to try the geese as i think the wind would have blown me out of my deer stand. Seen a lot of geese flying early and had three come in with about one minn of shooting time left.

as where picking up of course two more low flocks come by, man i hate that its so bright yet right at sunset.

[Stringerless!]

the usual for me. Local woodies. Over and under misfired twice ?!? Both times were the only times I had birds decoying. If anything, a lot of geese left the area. No other signs of migration. Not much local shooting.

[Cheetah]

Plenty of wood ducks around me this morning, only two buzzed my decoys and I didn't shoot. Saw a flock of 2doz mallards go over pretty high heading to a field somewhere I suppose. The usual geese were around but wouldn't pass over me. Oh well. Will try again tomorrow morning.

[hunter322]

was out in eastern wisonsin this morning. hunted a picked corn field next to a couple of ponds. my buddie said last weekend he saw close to a thousand geese, but not this morning a few here and there. ended up with 6 mallards. boy were they decoying beautifly! i think the wind messed em up this morning. goin out again in the morning!

[Gordie]

was north of Aitkin this morning saw quite a few flocks of ringers and red heads a few teal and a whole buncha mallards the luck wasnt with us today as most of these birds were real decoy shy. didnt see hardly any geese

[fishduck]

Hunted near Glenwood this morning and saw alot of divers (redheads,cans,ringers)but didnt have a spinning wing decoy and others on the lake did, nuff said. Managed 1 redhead out of a flock of about 30 that was it. Amazing how the spinners work sometimes.Nice to see some divers movin in. Hunting cornfield with water tomorrow, should be good.

[Dbl]

West Central Minnesota public land, limit of Ringbills in 10 minutes. Saw a few Mallards in addition but nothing close. A number of geese high!