Waterfowl Reports

[koonie]

4500 was the count the refuge did last Wednesday. They are doing another count Friday after the big blow. I'm guessing they will come up with 30,000 to 35,000.

[morefishplease]

Hunted this morning, not many if any new ducks pushed down here. Seen some buffies and ringers in small flocks. Needless to say not enough ducks to wad a shotgun. Very few shots fired from the lake.

[nate larson]

morefishplease,

That is definately not the report I was hoping for! I will be heading down that direction today. Hopefully some birds move in sooner than later. They are saying a south wind tomorrow! What the heck is up with that? NW wind on Saturday though might make for decent hunting.

[mozy]

whats "good numbers"? there was only 4500 geese on sunday...

I don't know exact numbers, but compared to what I was seeing a couple weeks ago, there are a lot more birds. Before I would see maybe a 2-300 birds in a morning sit, now I'm seeing thousands and thousands all morning long. This is west of Randall's. Also saw quite a few large flocks of mallards like Maxxed Out Guides was seeing.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

That 4500 number was WAY too low. I would say the populations was closer to 15000-20000. There was about a two hour morning flight with waves of birds on Saturday morning. We were straight west of Randalls resort off the refuge about 4 miles.

The numbers of ducks I would say is accurate. Saw a couple different wafts of thousands of Mallards last Thursday on the west side. It was unbelievable.

it should be good up there from here on out. i noticed new birds showing up sunday afternoon when we drove through on the way back to sodak.

[Lunker]

Hunted in WI on Lake michigan yesterday afternoon and this morning. Was tough in the wind yesterday, but today was just a good breeze.

1 mallard, 1 teal yesterday.

2 mallards, 2 woodies, 1 teal, 1 goose this morning.

Were expecting to hunt more divers but with the west wind most of the water is away from the shoreline so we hunted backwater areas.

Not seeing much for larger flocks/northern birds or even big flights of divers.

[mixxedbagg]

Went out Wednesday and Thursday afternoon to a local river and hit a large lake from dawn to 1pm today. Way tough. Saw almost nothing at all on the river....only bagged a mallard. Saw good numbers of waterfowl on the lake, but my inexperience and/or the pressure on this lake bested me. I don't think I was set up well, because the birds seemed very uncomfortable coming in. They circled a lot, flared often, and generally presented me with lots of distant and difficult (at least for my level of experience) shots. I have much to learn. I only bagged one goldeneye, though a better shooter might have had a couple of mallards and at least a ring-necked to go with it. I was facing into the lake where there was a pretty good raft of ducks, but I did not anticipate that all of the birds would be "sucked" in toward the raft. Instead of coming from the lake and vegetation to my dekes, many of the birds came from my back...apparantly pressured from other nearby hunters. Today was a learning experience for sure.

On the plus side, I had a party heading my way this morning and I gratuitously displayed boat lights. They saw me and veered off to a different spot and set up, which I appreciated. Soon after, a flock of ring-neckeds flew by within calling range but seemed possibly interested in their spread. I passed on calling at them, they dropped on the other guys, and I think they took 4 from the flock judging by what flew away. Kind of felt like I paid 'em back for giving me some space.

[fishin4fun85]

looking to go out sunday morning...not many opportunities this year so I'm looking for some advice on good areas....thanks!!

[buckx37x]

went out this morn. 1 wood duck seen a few mallards but very few. Our area very few birds now pretty much done for us. Always would be nice to see the birds from canada but ive been around enough to no its not likely good luck to the rest of ya.

[fishinalot]

Did well last weekend on divers and mallards, NW part of the state.

[123fish]

Was out this morning on a mile and three quarter long WMA. Saw one mallard leaving, and one wary wood duck. Pathetic! Nobody is hunting this place either so pressure has nothing to do with it. Change of tactics coming for sure. Far southwest corner.

[morefishplease]

Over the years I have seen the decline more and more. The area of Albert Lea has notable lakes such as Bear, Upper Twin, Geneva, Freeborn, and Minnesota lake just northwest of the county. Also the Albert Lea area has a state game refuge that encompasses Albert Lea lake and the state park. I can remeber when at this time of the year the refuge would hold 4-6,000 geese and around 5-7,000 mallards easily when it was in its prime years back. Now there aint more than 1,000+ geese and maybe 500 mallards at most out there right now. The lakes mentioned are the same, Upper Twin use to be known as a mallard lake and would hold mallards, Freeborn would hold a good raft of 1500+ mallards late in the season. Now nothing. Geneva was dead a few years back, once noted for holding divers such as redheads and canvasback because of the natural feed including sago pondweed. Geneva was reclaimed about 5 years ago in partnership with DU, MN DNR, and other organizations. The lake was drawn down for a couple years, the dam was replaced with a new controlled dam that can lower lake levels, and rotenone treatment was applied to the lake to kill off carp. Bullrushes, cattails, and other feed filled the lake and shorelines and the water clarity was excellent. After hunting the lake this week the water quality is not as crystal clear as it was after being reclaimed, probably due to not all the carp being killed off which test netting proved dissapointing after the rotenone treatment. From most of the hunters I have talked to this week most seen spotty hunting, very few mallards seen on the lakes, small flocks of ring necks, buffleheads, and an occasional canvasback being mixed in. A few geese have pushed down and are on the refuge. All I know for sure is that things have changed, especially in my area. Good luck everyone

[Stringerless!]

Hunted a local bean field with a little water hole in the middle. Fired one shot at the only mallard that came in range. Saw one flock of high migrants. Saw quite a few mallards but they were done with our field apparently. Back to water tomorrow.

[Notcho]

Went out on a public marsh in central MN today only to have a "hunter" set up 65yds away. Apparently he was blind and def because he did not see my flashlight in his face or me telling him that there was plenty of marsh to go around... Only got a merganser and a goldeneye, not much in the air. Saw 2 geese some educated mallards and had 3 bills drop in the dekes but didn't shoot, didn't want to Arkansas them!

[Quackaddict9]

Went out on a public marsh in central MN today only to have a "hunter" set up 65yds away. Apparently he was blind and def because he did not see my flashlight in his face or me telling him that there was plenty of marsh to go around...

I think you meant to type in "deaf"... you do know that Deaf people hunt like myself? I mean I would have not heard what you were saying but I definitley would have seen your flashlight and use commmon sense to set up further away.

[Stringerless!]

Carlos Avery this morning. Had one bird fly over the dekes 2 minutes before legal. I think it was a Mergie. Turned out to be the only duck I saw ! Heard a greenhead but never saw it. 6 Coots in pool. Only heard 3 shots towards refuge !!! BAD ! Never saw another duck and never heard any geese! Skim ice was kinda thick. Never heard any wings or anything in the dark.

[BULLETBOB]

Most amount of ducks I have seen in years yesterday in Westren MN. Almost all were Divers and they kept coming all day long. Not to many geese hanging around the area but saw numerous big flocks heading south. Did see some snows mixed in with the canadas and had one small flock take a look at our diver spread. Saw very few mallards.

[paceman]

Hunted a flooded cornfield with some friends south of Alexandria. Got a few mallards and geese. Not steady action but a few birds at least. Really hard work walking across the sloppy fields.

[ducksnbucks]

Hunted a pond around Appleton over the weekend. Friday saw lots of big flocks of birds high in the air, Saturday not as many big flocks but more smaller groups that came to take a look at us. Ended up with 8 birds for the 2 days, should have been more but we didn't shoot straight. Fair number of geese around as well.

[Angry Irishman]

20 mallards, 5 gadwalls

Western, MN

[CANOPY SAM]

Eastern shore Lake of the Woods: this weekend was surprisingly devoid of ducks and geese in the area.

Saw one large group of geese in a field on Wheeler's Point, and a very large group in a field just outside of Warroad.

Saturday evening we watched perhaps 500 mallards flying NORTH along Pine Island, and I saw a few small flocks of divers heading south out over open water.

There are more ducks and geese around the TRF area now, but still not remarkable numbers.

[Quackaddict9]

Lots of geese in Fosston...well like always! Some snows and blues but not huge numbers like I seen in some areas last weekend. Didn't get out last weekend due to work. Hope you guys smacked em!

[Stringerless!]

Carlos Avery tonight. 3:30 - 6:00. Did not see a duck ! Did not hear any duck ! 4 coots in pool 8. one kept me occupied by spending the whole time within 10 feet of the boat. Heard 2 geese and saw them fly over pool 6. Saw 2 snipe. Not even any high flyers. Heard shooting but I think it was ppl sighting in shotguns for deer. Bang, long pause,bang. all afternoon Never heard any shot volleys like someone was shooting at ducks. Just the single shots. Time to take the big rig and hit some big water.

[Swampbusters]

Hunted hard on the river bottoms this weekend and all three days limited out on woodducks and teal, the mallards were nonexistant. But as of this next saturday our hunting spots will be overrun by orange so our season down on the river is over. This has been the first year in a long time that we eat duck all week long so we are able to hunt on the weekend. Awesome year! Now if it could flood every fall it wouldnt be so sad to see this year ending

[CANOPY SAM]

Qa9 - did a drive by of Fosston yesterday. Boy, there sure were ducks and geese stacked in that little pond by the golf course! Wish I could get permission on that cut corn field to the south. My goodness!

It's depressing how few birds I'm seeing around TRF this year. The big wind last week blew everything out of here.