Waterfowl Reports

[grey ghost]

Was out this morning in the snow and wind. Ended with 3. Saw more larger flocks of divers that didn't decoy. The place I hunt was 3/4 locked up before sunset...pretty sure it'll be over for me. Overall was a good season.

[Stringerless!]

Private lake in Hugo. Kicked out 10 mergies crunching through ice with canoe. Saw one lone goose. High. One flock of sandhills and one high migrating flock of geese. I have come to the realization that I do not understand waterfowl migration at all ! Thought the sky would be just full of Vs as they bug out of here. Also realized that toe warmers,sock liners, merino wool and hand warmers are not enough for me when it is 20 degrees and I am sitting on a bucket. My feet are still sore . From now on HEATER.

[No_Net]

Saturday seen a couple small groups of teal and couple small flocks of mallards. Managed a teal and a gadwall. Maybe seen 30 birds.

Sunday was pretty much the same thing ended up with 3 mallards and a goose.

Monday had about 200 birds move in during the night and rest on the lake. Mostly bills with some redheads, buffleheads, and mallards mixed in. Decoyed 2 flocks of 40+ bills and a couple small flocks and 6 flocks of 20+ mallards. Also some singles and pairs. Also seen 2 small flocks of golden eyes. Ended up with 7 mallards, 3 bills, a redhead and a bufflehead.

Hunted the same lake all 3 hunts n south central area

[fishgutz77]

Was deer hunting near Whitefish and saw very few divers which is crazy for this time of year with only two volleys of shots out there. It should have been loaded.

Came back home and big numbers of mallards and geese moved in. All the ponds should freeze up and push them to the river. about 3000 geese and 15-1600 mallards in the elk River to big lake area. It's gonna be good till the end. Just wish I had a couple more fields to hunt instead of burning mine off.

[steve1111111]

Private lake in Hugo. Kicked out 10 mergies crunching through ice with canoe. Saw one lone goose. High. One flock of sandhills and one high migrating flock of geese. I have come to the realization that I do not understand waterfowl migration at all ! Thought the sky would be just full of Vs as they bug out of here. Also realized that toe warmers,sock liners, merino wool and hand warmers are not enough for me when it is 20 degrees and I am sitting on a bucket. My feet are still sore . From now on HEATER.

I here you. I cant hunt when its that cold out with the wind like it was. No matter how many clothes you put on it if hard to stay warm for very long!

[fishuhalik]

Nw corner of NoDak is done. Almost all of my lakes were pretty much locked up. 2 still had a little open water as of Sunday night, but I'm sure they've frozen over by now with these cold temps. Now it's on to pheasants and yotes!!

[BrdHunter01]

Hunted a bigger lake today seen migration of geese and divers. Shot 5 greater bills and seen the first 2 common lawn darts and 2 golden eyes. Loons were on the move also. Were are the mallards????

The mallards are still in canada Outdoor news had a big article on how the LQP geese show up later and later every year no matter what the temps are. I think its the same with the mallards. I remember Xmas day last year, walked outside and the sky was BLACK with mallards flying south. It was incredible! I called my brother and told him to step outside and he couldn't beleive it either!

On monday we shot 11 mallards for 3 of us but they were not, I repeat, not the big canadian mallards. These were mostly small, young mallards. Maybe one or two nice football sized mallards.

Good luck!

[CANOPY SAM]

Where are you BrdHunter? I'm up in NW Minnesota, and there are very few if any ducks around. Saw one small group of geese yesterday, while the previous few days showed thousands of birds moving thru.

I'd recently seen a report from a farmer in southern Manitoba who said all the ducks pulled out several days ago?

[walleye18]

guys out in the ND, Jamestown area are doing well right now....lots of birds...young drake mallards like BrdHunter indicated.

Wish i was there....last week was really, really good for us. But...wish i was there this week too!

[steve1111111]

The mallards are still in canada Outdoor news had a big article on how the LQP geese show up later and later every year no matter what the temps are. I think its the same with the mallards. I remember Xmas day last year, walked outside and the sky was BLACK with mallards flying south. It was incredible! I called my brother and told him to step outside and he couldn't beleive it either!

On monday we shot 11 mallards for 3 of us but they were not, I repeat, not the big canadian mallards. These were mostly small, young mallards. Maybe one or two nice football sized mallards.

Good luck!

[steve1111111]

P.S. just beacasue a mallard in fat does not mean it is from Canada. I have shot some very fat mallards in mid october and very, very skinny ones at the end of November. If they have just migrated for several days they can loose half of their body weight and not be a big fat candadian mallard. It would be a skinny canadian mallard.

[fishersofmen]

I was working at a property on Parkers Lake in Plymouth today and mallards were pouring in all day long by the hundreds. Unreal how these birds know where they are safe and where they aren't. Making a ton of noise and moving all over the place and they just kept on landing right out from us. They were coming up into the lawn and brush inhaling acorns.

[BrdHunter01]

Steve, the peak goose count at LQP last year was mid December. I was ice fishing red lake at the end of November... Where did those birds come from?

[FowlSki]

Brdhunter, a mallard is not a goose. Last fall was very different than this fall.

There are lots of mallards in the Dakotas and Minnesota right now. We just got back from NE ND and there were swarms of mallards in certain areas. I have heard similar reports from mn. The ducks are not spread out late in the season like they are in October. You won't see ducks for miles then you find the Meca. The ducks are putting on the feed bag this time of year which concentrates the birds around the best food. I would suggest you scout around to try to locate the concentrations. They aren't in the same areas every year.

We shot lots of really big mallards in the last week. Unfortunately they did not have a made in Canada sticker on them but if I had to guess that is where they came from because they weren't there a month ago. Some had close to a half inch of fat and some had hardly any. The fat ones were probably just getting ready to boogie south and the skinny ones probably just got there. Ducks put on as much fat as they can before migrating and by the time they hit their next destination they have lost most of it.

There are still mallards in Canada but based on what I have seen and reports I've heard I'd say most have crossed the border.

My guess is with a little searching you could find the big mallards. As for me I had my fill of mallards and now I'm concentrating on the other green head...Goldie's!

[Stringerless!]

Field tonight. Saw about 200 geese and one greenhead with one of the flocks. Had about a dozen peel out and circle 3 times before locking up. Then just banked into the wind and away they went. Never pulled up on em. After setting up we had less than an hour. Never heard any shooting. Geese landing in field as we were driving away.

[steve1111111]

The mallards are still in canada - this is your quote birdhunter

That was your line i responded to . I am NOT talking about canada geese. I am responding to your line about mallards still being in canada. Nobody is disputing the fact that geese show up late to LQP. Most of the mallards are not still in Canada!!

Mallards and geese are not the same thing.

[BrdHunter01]

So where did the mass amounts of mallards come from we saw migrating through on Xmas last year? I don't know where they came from but they were not there in november or early December. I live close to the river and see the mallards come through in december every year. A few years ago it was January 1st or 2nd. They have to come from somewhere as most bodies of water are locked tight for well over a month every year.

I whitness it year after year, this is the 1st article I've seen writen that suggests this is whats happening.

If you have the outdoor news its an interesting read...

[fishgutz77]

Remember how late the winter was for many of these birds. Everyone I talk to says how many late colored birds there are. There was a 2-3 week delay in the nesting that is showing up in many places.

[FowlSki]

So where did the mass amounts of mallards come from we saw migrating through on Xmas last year?

The North Pole? Maybe someone's Christmas wish came true.

[fishuhalik]

Post of the year fowlski!

[CANOPY SAM]

BrdHunter01. I don't think anyone here really wants to be argumentative, or offensive in anyway. I think maybe what folks are trying to say is that from year to year the big push can be extremely variable in timing. You may have very likely seen some big rafts of mallards moving thru late in the last few years.

We had some good mallard shoots up here in the NW part of the state in late November last year as well.

Unfortunately, this year appears to be different then previous years. Almost all our water, except for the larger lakes, is frozen up, including most of our local refuge lakes. The birds poured thru the area on Sunday and Monday with a pretty stiff, very cold north wind, and by Tuesday pretty much everything was gone. I haven't seen any waterfowl up here anywhere today.

There are reports of tons of ducks in central and southern NoDak right now, which doesn't surprise me at all. The Lion's share of the duck migration pattern appears to have primarily shifted west across the Dakota's over the last few years. With that being said, there just doesn't appear to be much of anything left in our area, or north of us for that matter.

Does this mean there still may be ducks up north? Perhaps. But with almost everything that might work as waterfowl loafing areas frozen here, it's quite likely most everything is frozen north of us as well. Truly wish it were different, but as they say, it is what it is.

On a more positive note, ice fishing is just around the corner!

[srj]

I just returned from a couple days down SW. Lots of ice, even on the bigger, deeper lakes. It was getting softer by midday and might go out tonight or tomorrow on many waters. Big numbers of Canadas, not big numbers of mallards. I saw a few duck feeds in corn fields but not many. As often happens late-season there are lots of greenheads. Sure pretty this time of year. Lots of fat on the birds. Overall, hunting mostly NW MN and SW MN, I've seen far fewer mallards than most years.

Friends hunting Montana had their worst year ever. The mallards were missing. I listened to a weekly hunting report on a SD radio station on the way back today hosted by a SD warden. It seems even SD is waiting for the mallards. Some areas have decent birds but many have mostly geese according to the show. I think only the ND guys are happy.

Canopy, I sure wish the price of barley and wheat would jump. I believe since soybeans became the main crop up your way, there just isn't much reason for the mallards to stick around (if they show up at all). I miss the days sitting on the water up NW waiting for the flights of mallards and pintails returning from the fields.

I guess it is time to get the fish house pointed towards LOW.

[CANOPY SAM]

Amen srj. It's rare to see a barley field anymore. I miss those late fall days hunting mallards in the flooded barley fields. Used to have days when we couldn't shoot em' out. They'd just keep coming back.

I really think we've blown it up here though with draining so many of our wetlands. There just aren't hardly any big loafing areas up here anymore. Contrast that with central North Dakota. Even though they too have drained many wetlands, they still have thousands upon thousands of potholes and cattail sloughs. If I were a duck I know which way I'd be migrating south, and it wouldn't likely be thru NW Minnesota.

Strange to hear these various reports on lack of Mallards? I've also seen and heard reports of clouds of mallards in North Dakota, but pretty localized, as in, only in certain areas. My son and I were just last night saying we really have to pencil in a hunt in central Nodak for next year. Duck hunting has just dried up here in the NW part of MN. Meanwhile, our family land out in ND is covered with potholes and ducks everywhere. Just gotta take the plunge and pay the non-resident fees.

[fishuhalik]

There were still a lot of mallards that moved through my area (nw NoDak) but not like last year. Last year, they came through right as everything was freezing, as expected. This year, they came through about the same time, but not nearly the same numbers. Lakes that had tens of thousands last year had a couple thousand this year. Snows hardly made an appearance. I saw a handful of big grinds with several thousands birds. Last year it seemed like every other field had thousands of birds. I dunno, maybe they haven't moved in yet. I guess we'll see.

[steve1111111]

The good news is they dont survey the North Pole. Santa is planning on releasing tens of thousands of mallards in December with instrutions to head to Minnesota. I guess I will really look like a fool then!

DAUPHIN LAKE FIELD OFFICE - LOCATION: DAUPHIN LAKE, MB

Reported that on 11/13 that Dauphin Lake was completely froze up as of Monday the 11th and every duck and goose has now left the area for the year!

BOISEVAINE AREA OFFICE - LOCATION: BOISEVAINE, MANITOBA

Reported on 11/12 that there are still a few pockets of ducks and geese hanging around, but the majority of birds have now headed south for the winter.

OAK HAMMOCK MARSH FIELD OFFICE - LOCATION: STONEWALL, MB

Reported that on 11/13 that there are only a few pockets of water yet open. Those cooler temps have now pushed over 90% of the birds south. It was reported that there are still some birds in the area, but not many left at this point in the season.

CANADIAN WILDLIFE SERVICE REPORTS:

WADENA FIELD OFFICE - LOCATION: QUILL LAKES REGION

Reported on 11/14 that the vast majority of ducks and geese have now left the area. There are still a few small localized pockets of bird left, but with the cooler temps freezing the water, and some snow on the ground most waterfowl has now left.

WEYBURN OFFICE - LOCATION: WEYBURN, SK

Reported on 11/14 that with the cooler temps that have frozen up a lot of the water in the area that the majority of ducks and geese have left the area. Office staff did report that there are some Mallards and Canada Geese left but very low numbers.