will the good ol days ever return?

[morefishplease]

I'm at the end of my rope with Minnesota duck hunting. It's a no brainer that the dakota's is the place to be. I live in an area in south central MN where the Minnesota Waterfowlers Associtation was established, notable lakes such as Bear, Upper Twin, Geneva, and Freeborn were all known for excellent mallard hunting. In the 80's Upper Twin was a maze of cattails and a duck hunters paradise, we use to go with my dad out there as kids, to young to shoot but he brought us, and I can still remember seeing all the ducks and the habitat on the lake was unreal, truely was a maze of cattails. Bear lake was another excellent waterfowl lake mentioned many times by a ODN writer. My dad use to take us with bow hunting right next to Upper Twin in the early and mid 80's and you could watch flock after flock of mallards leaving the lake near sundown, those days are long gone. The refuge outside of Albert Lea use to hold at its peak close to 10,000 mallards, only to see those numbers slowly drop each year through the 90's til present day. Last year it was not until the last week of the season that it may have been holding 2,000 mallards at most. Times have changed boys and if you were lucky enough to hunt the good ol days in the 70's and 80's you know what im talking about.

[fishersofmen]

I just missed those days. Sure would have been nice!!

[Mr.Outdoors]

I was too young to hunt back in those days (born in 81').. So thank god i missed those days so now wouldnt be so bad.... But with that being said I have hunted the lakes you have said besides albert lea because its a refuge and freeborn. But i have had 1 year that will go down as the good old days for myself and a few good friends. That was a few years back when we got all of that rain in sept.. we hunted a corn field that flooded and had a big drowned out area from that spring.. never seen ducks like that before and never since. picked ducks we wanted to shoot and sat back and watched them come in after we had our limit for the day.

I believe we shot around 8 to 13 differnt type of ducks that year out of that field.. no matter how many people we brought we limited out as quick or as long as we felt like. even seen a drake mallard hover right next to our lucky duck... needless to say we left him live for that day due to how hard we were laughing!

needless to say every hunt, if we get ducks or not will be the good old days for the memories we make in the blind with our friends and family. Its not always about seeing thousands of ducks or shooting your limit. I just love the fresh crisp air, the sun rise, watching the ducks and geese work the decoys, and the memories made.

[Gordie]

I remember hitting small lakes with my dad and grandpa in the new prague area and thousands of divers were flying around and the mallards were there also.

We may never see those days again but I have found at least one or two days a year that remind me of those days..

The Dakotas are now the waterfowlers paradise and I will have to settle for going out ther e a couple times a year to get my fix. I do hope to one day live in the Devils Lake area but by then I will most likely be only able to tell storys to my grand kids what the dakots were like in these good ole days

All I can do is enjoy what I love and that is waterfowling weather its in Minnesota or any other state that has ducks in it for me to hunt. I will duck hunt until I cant phisically do it anymore and then I will still try my darndest to get out hunting

[sdsufowler]

I have never seen the good old days in Mn, but I have lived in SD for 5 years. Since moving to Mn in 08 my best days here were equivalent to my worst there. I am worried that what happed to MN is going to happen in the dakota...the acceleration of tiling out prairie wetlands the backbone of the dakotas . Rumor has it that Prinsco Tile company is building a new shop out there, the federal farm bill is a joke for sod buster and SD has nothing to protect wetlands. So enjoy what's there now becuase your favorite spots in the Dakotas may end up like your good old days of MN.

Sincerely,

Depressed Waterfowler

[dan z]

was to young to hunt the "good ole days" but my "good ole days" were just ten years ago when I was just out of HS. the were lots more ducks and the tallies that I keep tell the story the duck harvest in the house goes down a couple or few every year. But I will hunt ducks until they take them away or I am not mobile. I get out on some of them dood ole days hunts a couple times a year so I have great memories every year. I know that conservation now days is a little different and thats the biggest issue to the numbers if there is no habitat on the ground there are no ducks in the sky. Me and the brother were just talking the other day when coming home from the blind and I said look at all the feilds that are being turned over and thought they should mandate that if you have a feild that is within a mile and a half of the center of a WMA you shouldnt be able to till until hunting is over or even better yet till next spring. One the same note a few years back they drained the "duck factory" swan lake of Minnesota because of fish, I havent heard the shootinh getting any better on that lake. they said it will bring in more cover "cattail" the only thing thats thriving there is rats. maybr they should have just left them fish alone.... We could all go on and on bout this topic but it is what it is and we try to help with buying or sramps and stuff and money gets put into some really dumb stuff IMO..................

[norwall]

I could care less about the fresh crisp air and sunrise,I hate being cold anyhow,However I do like to shoot ducks and geese and whatever else flies and moves. Good old days are longgone and dried up just like the tiled feilds of MN. Hopefully progress dosnt reach the Dakotas anytime in the near future. I only make it out a few times a yr now due to other responsibilties but IF there were more ducks maybe I would try harder,Yeah yeah or if I was umemployeed maybe I could scout day and nite and find the "x" and blow my horn how its real good ya just gotta know where to be

[TopGun]

"I could care less about the fresh crisp air and sunrise,I hate being cold anyhow"

Where's the unlike button? this is the main reason why i go out and enjoy the wilderness. If you want to stay warm and shot, play on a ps3. Just my .02

[BoxMN]

FWIW, these are "the good ol days" for goose hunting. It wasn't long ago (in my lifetime anyway) where it was something special to just get one goose a year, if you were lucky. Now it is just about easier to shoot geese than ducks in MN. Okay, that may be slight exaggeration, but not much.

I have watched the migration change in the past 30-35 years of my duck hunting. I even remember when the gov shut down duck hunting for a year. Also how the rest of the country had no ducks during the drought in early-mid 80s (about then) but we had incredible shooting in WC MN. We still had lakes, and the ducks came through like blackbirds! Was awesome!

I do think good days will come again, eventually. Probably not like the "good ol days" our fathers and grandfathers saw, but I think it can come back. It will take effort from all parts, including farm practices, but also a HUGE impact that is not directed at farmers is the developments that have been springing up like crazy, urbanization - so nobody should just blame farmers for tiling, look at where we all live now, people used to hunt there.. Also you see a LOT more boats on the lakes later into the year. It all makes a difference. Not saying any one is at fault, but things have changed.

But, turkeys, geese, deer, wolves, and the list can go on... many were once scarce in many places, and with changes in conservation and other practices, now there are plentiful popualtions. Migratory birds are a bit different, but still I like to think optimistically. I probably won't see a big change in my life.... but I can say this.... a buddy has a farm in WC MN that has a nice slough (that he restored) and a lake on the property. I watched it go from a no-duck area to "holy cow, look at the clear water and feed and shrimp" in two years after he put a buffer strip around the lake, and took two fields out of production and into CRP. They just shot 25 ducks out of the slough last Saturday

Long winded again... but I hope the good days will come again. In the past 5-8 years, it has been getting better than it was in the previous 8-15 years, I can say that with confidence, at least where we go, and many times a year that is metro hunting as well. (But to be honest, I do go to NoDak for a couple of weekends for my "fix" )

[life=outdoors92]

just in case some of you didn't hear yet, contrary to the massive flooding in the dakotas, the dakotas are actually drying up withing the next 20-50 years. this has been documented by scientists (this was in the MN conservation magazine a year or two ago, and Delta Waterfowl research also) that the majority of the central flyaway birds will shift into the Mississippi flyaway. the breeding grounds in canada will always be the breading grounds, but if MN can get good habitat for migrators, we could indeed see the good old days in MN

[Ufatz]

Norwall......I think you're just being silly, but if not, ya got a lot to learn about hunting and the outdoors.

Just shootin' and killin' AIN'T what its all about.

In your case the "good old days" wouldn't be good enough anyway.You'll learn.

Maybe

[TylerS]

Norwall......I think you're just being silly, but if not, ya got a lot to learn about hunting and the outdoors.

Just shootin' and killin' AIN'T what its all about.

In your case the "good old days" wouldn't be good enough anyway.You'll learn.

Maybe

Well said!

[fishuhalik]

i've been wondering why the numbers have gone down so drastically in the winni/leech/grand rapids area that i hunt. habitat hasn't changed, all the big rice lakes are still there. ringer numbers are pretty good (still down) but puddlers have gone WAY down. in the immediate area (nashwauk) i grew up there were never huge numbers in my lifetime but you could always find those little offroad puddles that held a couple hundred mallards and woodies. now there's nothing. last weekend i checked all my old favorite spots that always held ducks and the most we saw was 1/2 dozen mallards. my buddy that still lives in that area said its been like that for about 5yrs now. my dad said there's been very few ducks in the tailing ponds by the mines too. i remember the summer/fall i worked at hibtac there were THOUSANDS of birds in those ponds. and this has all happened in the last 8yrs since i moved. i dont hunt the dakotas, but has it gotten that much better in the 15yrs i've been hunting? even in high school i remember it being the place to be, but we still had good numbers.

[life=outdoors92]

if you were duck....what reason would you have being in the north central part of the state anymore??? think about it, if you could migrate 150 miles more west that would be much more suitable and easier to thrive. grand rapids area gets most of their ducks from the boreal forest which is in real trouble as it is. more and more boreal is being lost to Canada industry and just something we are gonna have to live with. also, ringers are always in the area cause they rice. it's their diet and when that goes, they go. bluebills want freshwater shrimp and when that goes, like it has, they go. we use to see a lot of mallards in the GR rapids too, and have noticed the decline as well. probably just went west with the better habitat. hardly see them migrating anymore in the area.

[Scott M]

I'm glad it's not just me. Misery loves company I guess. I'm with you south central guys...it just plain sucks in our area. I hear from so many old timers about the good old days and how great the shooting was. We have a bunch of the old lakes that were famous Minnesota wetlands. Bear, Twin, Geneva, Swan, Buffalo....on and on. Might as well be drained like the rest of them.

Then I head up north to the family cabin in the middle of wild rice country, and can't hardly spot a duck. I know people are talking about an impending drought cycle in the Dakotas, but I'm sure not seeing it now. I guess it's a good question for a behavioral waterfowl biologist...do birds learn a specific flyway migratory route and stick to it forever and pass it down? i.e., are all the birds out west and our only hope is things dry up for a long time and the birds are forced to go through MN and learn that migratory route? If so, we are better off putting our state duck stamp dollars into building churches

I could care less about the shooting, I just want to see some birds. And like others, I worry about what's happening with ag. practices in SoDak and NoDak. They can turn into Minnesota Juniors in a hurry.

[HugoBox]

Like many of you I remember the good old days of 20 years ago. BoxMN and I have been lucky enough to hunt with some old timers who saw the real good old days. The interesting thing is that our oldest hunting buddy who is now 85 remembers some great days but also remembers plenty days when the birds didn't cooperate and they're still get blanked now and then, even on lakes like Christina. Clearly we don't see the big flights now (unless your timing is great) but I still drag my tired butt out of bed right until we get froze out just for the chance at a glimpse of birds cupping into the blocks. Someone a bit higher up in the thread said it best that now the goal is a chance at a good day.

Also, my brother and I lost our dad three years ago and when we sit in the blind remembering past hunts we rarely focus on how many birds we got but rather the funny chit that happened along the way. Maybe I'm getting old and sappy but I do enjoy the experience enough that I'll put up with bird less days and just enjoy a sunrise while hoping the whole time for just one flock of bills or cans to work the dekes and make my knees shake.

[123fish]

Well said HugoBox.

[Stringerless!]

Very well put Hugobox. I agree !

[SledNeck]

It is about killing for me. A day with little or no shooting is a day I could have spent fishing or grouse hunting.... Rather than getting up a the crack of dawn and setting up decoys and all that other [PoorWordUsage] for nothing.

Northern Mn hunting is hit or miss. Last I saw the most ducks ever in my area. This year, the least. Gulf spill poisoning???????????????? Maybe????????

Thank God I go to Arkansas for a week every year. Even if cleaning 150 plus ducks a week sux.... I'll endure it.

[icecold]

I started duck hunting when I was 11 years old ,Im now 48, I havent missed a season yet, I have been hunting the same area on the minnesota river and surrounding slough area ever since I started, now my 2 sons hunt with me, I remember in the late 70s to early 80s my dad would set up with 12 decoys on the river and we would have wooducks 100-200 in a flock come in ,it was like shooting into a big flock of blackbirds and the mallards that we saw just off the river in a small slough. we would bust ice with the boat and the mallards would drop in and looked like a tornado couple hundred mallards at a time, the ducks just kept coming and coming, Those are the days that will always stick with me, My sons and I have done okay this year, but the ducks are just not there,When my sons go Boy there are alot of ducks around I think back to when there really was alot of ducks around, I tell them this aint nothing. Im hoping my sons will keep hunting long after im gone, but with duck conditons seeming to get worse every year who knows, Well gotta get ready for deer hunting

[theharvester]

there a house on every lake pond and slough they are driving mud motors where nobody went years ago. people fishing now in the fall a lot more then back in the ole days ,ducks dont like houses around their areas or any disturbing noise. plus you have years where the ducks dont always stop on their way down even in the ole days there was a lot of empty skys at times

[#fishhunt#]

I had a "good ol days" hunt on opening this year on a public slough. More birds than I have seen in a long time. With 9 guys we shot 54 birds in 2 hours. Of course after week 2 the party was over. I can't complain. We had 2 kids with us their first year of hunting going through 3 boxes of shells. They may think it is like that all the time. They may not get to see that again. Scouting and going to where the birds are is the most important. If you think you are going to drive up to a hunting slough and shoot a bunch of birds without scouting or someone telling you there are birds around you are sadly mistaken. There just isn't that many birds around after the 2nd weekend until the migration starts.

[morefishplease]

My whole point to this thread is that things have changed and there is a major lack of ducks. Yes the opener and the first week or so you will shoot a few ducks, all local ducks. After that is the same story year after year. You can scout all you want til the tires fall off down here in S.C. MN and you won't find ducks, I don't care if you check every lake in the county, you won't find ducks. Personally I'm not after the teal, woodies and the occasional mallard on the opener....I want the bull cans at freeze up, the bluebills cupped in feet down while its spitting snow, and the BIG green heads raining in on that stiff NW wind. What duck hunting in MN use to be!!!

[Musky Buck]

No. And boy do I want to eat those words.

[browndog]

No and No. At least not as long as the DNR manages for duckhunters and not ducks.