Waterfowl Reports

[carpshooterdeluxe]

Hey Carp ever been in the west metro during late season?? If not then thats why...

yes i have. but there isn't going to be some magical big push of birds after the end of the season. will there be birds still to come down? sure. there always is. but the mallards have been migrating since early october. we get waves of them coming through out here every time there is a north wind. any time prairie dakotas raise more ducks than prairie canada, MN is bypassed from the start. western MN is holding great numbers of mallards right now. I saw some huge feeds of ducks swirling on the horizon during the first weekend of mn deer season. I've duck hunted enough in MN this fall to know that the hunting has been consistant in the western and sw part of the state all fall. with the crops coming out, and the abundance of water, combined with timely fronts and mild weather in between, the season has shaped up very nicely.

[ChuckN]

This week Canada is forecasting cold, like 0 for lows and single digit highs by the weekend. There appears to be a distinct line of cold/warmer air near the border, I'm guessing the jet stream is the reason...it hasn't dipped to us yet.

There were loads of ducks not long ago in Canada (first hand reports) and they've been in the 50's for what seems like eternity to us duck hunters. The cold reality is going to hit in Canada and we could be in for some grand hunting if we stay milder.

It's no where near over.

[ItsaCrappieLife]

Saw just about every kind of waterfowl you could see while deer hunting near a lake in south central MN this weekend. Lots of Mallards, Geese, divers, a few swans and even a couple Whooping cranes! Was tempted to trade the slugs for Steel No 2's.

[Ray Esboldt]

Whooping Cranes! That's about as rare a bird as you can run across in Minnesota. Sandhill cranes are everywhere, but who else here has ever saw a whooping crane in Minnesota?

[chub]

but there isn't going to be some magical big push of birds after the end of the season. will there be birds still to come down? sure. there always is. but the mallards have been migrating since early october. we get waves of them coming through out here every time there is a north wind. any time prairie dakotas raise more ducks than prairie canada, MN is bypassed from the start. western MN is holding great numbers of mallards right now. I saw some huge feeds of ducks swirling on the horizon during the first weekend of mn deer season. I've duck hunted enough in MN this fall to know that the hunting has been consistant in the western and sw part of the state all fall. with the crops coming out, and the abundance of water, combined with timely fronts and mild weather in between, the season has shaped up very nicely.

+1

[Notcho]

Just got back from ND, snows are starting to get thick along with the cacklers and the big "northern mallards" are showing up. Scouting is always key; don't be lazy! Diver hunting was spotty with the high winds on Devils lake, big migration last week (sorry) cans and reds are almost gone but good amounts of golds and buffies and of course bills. Managed to get a nice greater drake bill. As of Sunday most of the small pot holes were froze solid.

[ChuckN]

Whooping Cranes! That's about as rare a bird as you can run across in Minnesota. Sandhill cranes are everywhere, but who else here has ever saw a whooping crane in Minnesota?

No doubt!! They are extremely rare, and I only know one person who has seen a pair. He reported it to someone (I forgot), but these birds are highly studied and tracked. Whoever my friend reported it to they wanted details...

[Cheetah]

Went out this morning before work NE of Mahtomedi. The geese that have been around through this past weekend all disappeared. LOTS of mallards though, had at least three large groups on the lake and many groups of 5-10 birds that were passing through, unfortunately they absorbed all the smaller groups that were circling and none would commit to my decoys. Had two land on the ice at first light, expected my coworker to take a shot, he didn't, they flew... I wasn't ready yet with the gun, still setting up my jerk string.

Going to be windy tomorrow, bad direction for my spot, so I'll let the wind hopefully bust up some ice and get back out there on Thursday morning.

[morefishplease]

Some mallards finally started to arrive on the refuge here, I'd say its holding probably close to a 1,000. Geese numbers are lower than normal.

[Will]

Hunted north of the metro last nite, new birds around, cans, bills,

Goldies. Had a great mallard shoot and ended up with a

Bonus blackduck ( there were three of 'em in with a flock of

20 mallards ).

[sheepheadslayer]

There is a pair north of Waterville that has been there for the last month. The local paper did a write up on them. I first reported the pair to a group that tracks Whooping cranes this spring and they were out of Wisc. They said the pair had been coming through the area for the past couple years on there way to and from there summer nesting area in Northern Wisc. I believe there is an estimated 400 birds on the wild she said. I have pics if any is interested not sure how to post.

[Maxxed Out]

Just got a call from Dave at the LQP Headquarters. He had called me earlier in the day after the wildlife biologist at Oak Hammock called him to say that waves of Canadas were in massive groups flying south over Winnipeg heading our direction. Said they should be arriving at Lac qui parle by this afternoon.

I didn't post just to be safe it wasn't a false alarm. Dave just called again saying that flocks of hundreds of geese are dropping in out of the atmosphere every minute! He said it is an unbelievable out there right now! Can't wait for this weekend.

[ChuckN]

Maxxed, I believe it. The migration is on big time here in West Central MN today. Ducks and geese high in the sky moving south with the cold NW winds. Put a pair of sunglasses on, look into the clouds and I could see birds in all directions. Get ready down south..

Canada has snow today and heavier snow tomorrow with accumulations, followed by below zero cold. These birds are going to run out of open water and food real quick. Time to hunt!

[Maxxed Out]

We have a very legitimate chance of going from 30,000 to 100,000 geese in the next day from what I'm hearing.

[slyer]

i was out there today phesant hunting, geese everywhere high in the sky you better hope they stop. i was about 20 miles n of laq. these are all the geese i hunt by winnipeg and they were thick this year with a limit of 8 a day!!! we will see if any are around by the weekend, i had to see at least thirty thousand myself in the few hours i was out there, shot my 2 roosters

[paceman]

I was in Morris yesterday for meetings and on my way home to Detroit Lakes I almost drove into the ditch while watching the skies. Geese were everywhere!

[Maxxed Out]

Glad to hear you got your roosters. I haven't had a chance to get out yet because of guiding but I know the pheasants are every where right now.

[Cheetah]

Went out Wednesday afternoon, the lake opened up with the breeze and warm temps during the day. Couldn't get any mallards to decoy, they were grouped up on a couple other sections of the lake.

Thursday morning seemed to be fewer birds flying around in general, still lots on the lake. Finally got two to come in close and we only managed to get one... Almost shot the mojo in the process, lucky. All the other mallards on the lake decided to leave and none came back... Hopefully this weekend is good.

[jblabsnduck]

Maxxedout, so did the birds show up?

Headed out there this weekend.

Have a friend who has a cabin on LQP lake.

Heard there are a TON of bluebills there right now also.

Side note, do you ever see any snow geese or specks?

Would it be worth throwing in a couple snow goose decoys?

Good hunting to you and all.

[Stringerless!]

Local cornfield this morning. Nothing . About 60 geese skirted the edge of the field but would not even give me a look. Obviously not new birds. Never saw a duck. Saw 3 trumpeters.

[BrdHunter01]

We broke through about a half in to an in. Not easy going out a small channel full of bogs and an inch of ice. Expecially when your the 1st boat Made it out, although worried the lake might be froze solid. Did find a couple patches of open water and some ducks. Not a lot of ducks. A few bigger flocks that wanted nothing to do with decoys. 2 of us did manage 7 ducks, 4 greenheads, 2 gadwall, and ringer. Needless to say we took avangtage of the few opportunities we had.

A few spots of open water we saw on the way out were not open on the way in... Busted ice almost the entire way in. Looks like the last day we will be heading to that swamp.

[Stringerless!]

Same field as yesterday. Geese never got off the private pond behind me. Got burned by about 6 mallards that were checking me out. Heard wings and jerked my head up to see. Of course I left mojo in the car cause I had not seen any ducks the previous 2 trips ! Never saw a goose in the air. Heard two shot volleys far awawy and that was it. No sign of any migration. Bad, bad roads!

[BrdHunter01]

Bad roads, not many hunters, and no ducks. Ended with 3 mallards. not much flying at all! 1 flock decoyed, we dropped 2 and a single drake came in we dropped. Also had a couple small flocks look but not interested. Of course people sky-busted em. Gotta love hunting at the zoo Didn't plan on going there but the roads were so bad we would have never been able to get to the other spot.

Saw one BIG flock of migrating mallards but they weren't interested in coming down anytime soon

[Cheetah]

I broke ice Sunday morning, only saw six or so mallards go by looking for somewhere to land, one migrating flock up high. I'm done for the season.

[MinnetonkaMan]

If anyone wants to head out to the LQP and Ortonville area. Fields are pretty locked up by hunters and birds are doing follow the leader to safe lakes. Tons and tons of divers every where small lakes frozen up Big Stone is literally covered with divers. Could not look up and not see either mallards or geese in every direction. Too many geese to get them to decoy at all. Quite a few snows in the area also. Good luck it is deffinatley peak migration for geese. Ended up with cans, redheads and bills for our group.