Back in the game

[TopGun]

Being in the mid 20's, i remembered when i first got my firearms saftey and my pops and I would go to Carlos Avery area for ducks, we barely got any since we never had a boat or a dog but I think it was just to enjoy the wildlife. Well times have changed and I finished college, found a decent paying job after school, and now on track for hunting again. First off, i bought a 12ft jon boat and a dozen or so decoys. Secondly, i bought myself a duck and geese call but still learning how to use them. I'm Glad that i found this site but would like recommendations on locations. My pops and I had tried out George Watch by centerville for about 3 weeks with little success, I know it'll be hard for people to give off locations but would like a hint on which direction we should go for for WMA or WPA's. We also hunted carlos avery last week but only luck was with coots. We probably are going to try out this friday/saturday morning but need to scout some spots first. Any tips appreciated

TG87

Edit: We live in the Blaine area and would be willing to drive 40 miles each directions roughly.

[kc0myy]

most important thing to learn is scout scout scout. I am still learning how to scout. sometimes i get lazy and just go to one of my spots. guess what I don't see much for ducks because i didnt scout to see where the birds are landing and what kinda of birds i.e. puddle, diver.

[BrdHunter01]

I doubt many ppl will give out areas as many places are hunted very heavily in the metro and they don't need "more" hunters there. These heavily hunted spots can be very good including Carlos Avery as u mentioned, although they are only good when we have migrating birds. If u want to get on birds when there prob isn't much of a migration going on ur going to have to scout. My grandpa and dad use to watch the geese get up in the morning from there roosting area and litterally follow them in there car until they found out where they were landing. This was in to country though not in the metro....

From my experience this is the lull in the season. We haven't had much for weather systems and cold fronts moving through yet. The beginning of the year was above average for us (considering how bad the last cpl seasons were). Every year there is a lull in mn from the early migrators to the late season birds that start coming through when things start to freeze up.

With deer opener this weekend there shouldn't be to much pressure on the swamps. With the big snow storm there predicting in the Dakotas and northern mn and parts of Canada, combine that with the strong winds there also "predicting" (we outdoorsmen all know how the weathermen are never wrong) it could be a great weekend for ducks moving. Good luck!

[gurkster]

Yep, scout. I had a spot that was real good early on, but now doesn't have any ducks in it. It had a decent population of locals, but once they moved out that was it.

[dan z]

TG, its great that you are back in the game, but I see you are missing a few things. a motor, robo ducks, a few dozen decoys ducks/geese, blind, calls... I know everyone hunts a little differents but look around the slough and how many guys have a dozen decoys. dont be "one of them" as in the other day there were 2 groups of guys that had a dozen decoys and said "thats pathetic" at the landing and we didnt far to bad. other groups had ducks not limits but ducks.

like I said we all have our own techniques.

[Gordie]

TopGun welcome to HSO and the waterfowl forum its tough for people to give out locations for ducks as they are not like they way it used to be and as stated scout ,scout ,scout there are plenty of ponds and off he path places to be found just have to put the work in. As it starts to get colder dont forget about rivers no matter how small its a form of H2O for the birds and if the ponds are frozen you know where they will be.

The north still hold birds just have to travel for it.

look on the MN DNR site for WPA's and puplic land they lay it out for you all you have to do is check into it.

Good Luck and again great to have you on board