Waterfowl Reports

[Stringerless!]

One Suzy. Break half inch ice the whole way. Saw about 40 ducks total and 20 geese.

[BrdHunter01]

Found some open water this morning and it was a big bust. Saw some ducks. Had a couple flocks of g-eyes buzz us. That was it. Barely any mallards and very little geese.

[water rat]

After a great shoot two days ago, the last two have been a different story. Only seen a handful of ducks today and yesterday, geese are thick! But, I want ducks !! Over water!!!

[Fowlmouth]

Solo hunt in Rosemount in a field with cut corn. Geese and mallards were thick, can't wait for tomorrow morning.

[Stringerless!]

Nice. Fowlmouth. Got a friend in Cannon. Hope to get in on some of that action.

[walleyeking19]

Drove through Fergus Falls today and I saw thousands and thousands of geese. Most were high fliers, but I did see some working a cut corn field not too far off the road. Wish I coulda been hunting!

[heartattack22]

This might be a long shot but a buddy and I were planning on Lake of the Woods this weekend, however, the water is a little hard up there. So we are looking for other options. Anyone down south have suggestions? We are open and have decoys for geese.

[Kettle]

heartattack- PM me, I live in hibbing and could point you in the direction of some birds that I found in the general area. I packed all my stuff away for the year.

Kettle

[BoxMN]

Wow, no reports lately...

We are headed to NoDak (NE) later tonight for a few days. Will report back what we find.

[DLD24]

We hunted around Mcville area this last weekend, a lot of posted land found spots with a lot of ducks, but we couldn't hunt a lot of them...we limited out 2 out of 3 days by 930, we could have limited out the other day if we would have stayed another 5 minutes ha... Put a lot of scout time in and you'll limit out pretty easily

[BoxMN]

We just got back and did okay. About 75ish birds, but that was for 7 guys and 4 days, but one guy didn't fire a shot in anger (stayed up late and got up late everyday) and two guys left two days early. Also did lots of riding combines with farmers and just hanging out with friends. But when we did get serious (two mornings) it was limits for three of us pretty quick.

We did one field hunt and did okay on mallards, but the geese never really came back. We got 9 species of duck and lots of redheads and the usual suspects (gadwalls). It is wet out there! 

Had a great time, great weather, some of the best decoying ducks we have seen in a long time. I am trying to go back in two weeks, we shall see if I can swing that.

[O.T.C.]

Duck has been insane, I wish guys obeyed possession limits though, they limit out every day same field same spot, found hundreds of empty shell casings, I have permission there and 1 other guy but he brings 3-4 guys and they pound it Monday-Friday so by the weekend it isn't so great anymore but it just refills with greenheads but oh well, it's been a crazy duck year, poor farmers no corn coming off here at all and with last nights rains just re-filling these depressions in the standing corn it'll be awhile for sure unless they want to combine the parts of the fields they can. Saw dozens of mallards going to their deaths this AM again. Now come Saturday when I can finally get out it won't be so solid, they are getting pummeled, but man what a sight really, looks like 1985 again.

[Bryce]

Maybe give them a rest on Saturday? You seem to think they need a break.

[Neighbor_guy]

@O.T.C. do you ever have anything positive to say??? And how is it possible that it's always the other guys fault??? on top of all that, how do you know these guys aren't eating their ducks??? I'm sorry to hear that you are having such a negative experience. Perhaps you should spend less time worrying about the other guy and more time making your experience more of a positive one. 

Thank you for sharing your report. 

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in other news:

the calendar migrators are on the move with this full moon. It is strange to see some bluewings and buffleheads sharing the same waters, but ringneck and buffleheads have been whitnessed in the north metro area this week. The flight is going to be sporadic again this year. With any luck we will find consistency instead of a mad rush. 

Still lots of season to be had. We are only 25 days into a 60day season. Lots of ducks and lots of sunrise sits to go. 

[Lunker]

After our split season reopened I had my first sit Monday afternoon here on Pool 8. Lots of singles/pairs and small groups moving. I was not set up well and didn't fire a shot until the last minutes when a big honker made the fatal mistake of passing by a few feet above the water.

[BoxMN]

Just did a quick "before work" shoot in north Metro. 6 honker decoys in a small bean field with my buddy who has a broken leg, and got a goose and 4 mallards. Should have had more geese but I forgot to to reload after a couple ducks   Saw LOTS of ducks and pretty decent amount of geese, but they knew where they were headed and didn't really give us much of a look. We were in next field south and just hoping to get some curious birds, and we did

 

We heard lots of shooting around us, hope you guys did well!

Edited October 20, 2016 by BoxMN

[Bryce]

Specks showed up on the the sodak border this morning. Wind forecast to turn north. Could bring some fun and be one of the first real duck migration days.

[Neighbor_guy]

The first hand report from LOW is its very quiet up here. I was told there were redheads and cans on the bay last weekend. Not much moving here at all today. The marina mallards and even a few bluewings are still hanging around. But most of what was tolling the decoys this morning was buffleheads. Most birds in pairs or singles. No real flocks. Very little in the way of shooting by me or anyone else. 

[Wanderer]

Must be slow at LOW iffen your headed here to get some shooting. 

 

There haven't been new birds around the little Falls area that I've seen yet.  Just what's left of the locals.  Sitting at the river now I just heard one far off woodie.

 

[Neighbor_guy]

It's not just about the shoot. It's about the adventure. 

[Bryce]

Weird mix of birds. Lot of widgeon in this morning mixed with teal. Very few gadwalls. Specks were almost non existent. Be interesting to see what the morning brings after the wind dissappears. I found out shortly after this shot that everyone wanted to pull the pin. Pretty helpless what I can do myself so that's a season. Next up is watching honkers in Rochester. 18 weeks of chemo. Last few days photos will get a lot of inspirational views.

[fishersofmen]

Good luck Bryce hope everything goes okay. Always enjoy the pictures.

[Neighbor_guy]

Keep your head up Bryce. A positive attitude pays big dive dens when it comes to healing. We will all be pulling for you. 

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Little falls had no shortage of adventure. That area never disappoints from that perspective. Short on birds there too. No new birds in the area. Most locals are gone or decoy/Hunter wise. Lots of season left to go, just need the weather and migration to play along.  Have gun, decoys, and kayak, will travel. 

 

You did remember to send out the meeting notice right??? 

[Wanderer]

What was the venue again?

[Wanderer]

Bryce, 

 

By my terms you've been having great shooting!  That might make it even tougher to call it a season but maybe be thankful for what it's been so far.  I'm sure you are but I guess I'm saying the harvest isn't just birds, it's the memories of the seasons that go past that keep that burning desire to see the next one come!

 

You'll be out there hitting em again - focus on that.  It should help - I hope it does anyway.