Morris area and to the SW of Morris

[delta hunter]

3 of us are heading up that way sometime in Nov. to do some hunting. I have been skimming the area with google earth and MN DNR Rec. Compass trying to figure out what areas are huntable and not. There are pot holes everywhere, but very, very few public access's. Does one just one just drop your boat in from the road? Just seeing what you guys think.

[Maxxed Out]

It's a tough year to scout water from Google earth. I have spots where we normally drop my boat in from the road, that are now either dry or the water is 50 yards from the road.

[Angry Irishman]

Although it can be hard to gain permission I would recommend field hunting. There are a number of large roosts in the area and if you put your time in scouting you can put together some good combo hunts for ducks and geese. Don't be afraid to go North and East of the Morris area either.

[the man]

If I were you I would spend much more time in the Big Stone County area where there is a lot more public access (WPA,WMA,etc) and more big marshes because you have to remember that it is really dry and a lot of the small stuff is either completely dry or barely holding water. And bigger water would be your best bet in November anyways.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

If you have a good boat, good field spread, and time to scout, you'll shoot birds. Depending on time of november, you can be flirting with freeze up on the wader-accessible sloughs. Breaking ice can make for some fast shoots, or long days w/o seeing any birds. Personally, I'd look for mallards in the corn, but if divers are your thing, I bet you can get some good shoots doing that too. The sloughs on our land up there were waist to neck deep when we put up hen houses this spring; they are ankle deep at best right now.

[delta hunter]

Thanks for all the info guys. Due to the lack of time to scout the area I don't think we are going to be heading out that way. We would be strictly water hunting, so driving up there on a Thursday afternoon and planning to go hunting the next morning without out scouting and with water levels the way they are. Just doesn't make sense.

[brittman]

Any hunting is better than quiting.

If you get up there before dark, you should be able to scout a couple sloughs and pick one for the morning.

Get out of the slough mid day and scout for the next day's hunt.

If the weather was windy and cloudy - you could even scout at first light.

We have had success driving around scouting and even setting up a 9AM with plenty of ducks in the bag by noon. Helps when weather pushes the ducks to fly all day or longer periods of the morning. At worst you will find a spot for an evening hunt.

Go for it.

[Finlander]

Brittman said it right! Get out there around 9am and setup for returning mallards and the same time every duck hunter who has been there since 5am are going in for breakfast leaving all the mallards to you!

[delta hunter]

I wouldn't say we r quiting on the idea. We had 2 plans in mind, one was morris area, second was NW of St. Cloud area. Bro-inlaw lives in Cloud and would be able to scout that area, unlike the morris area. You guys sure do bring up a really good point though. It going to be our "go big or go home" moment. Just going to have to keep doing my homework and see what happens. How much pressure does the morris area see on a giving day?

[carpshooterdeluxe]

Brittman said it right! Get out there around 9am and setup for returning mallards and the same time every duck hunter who has been there since 5am are going in for breakfast leaving all the mallards to you!

Depending on when in november a guy is in that area, the mallards can be down to feeding once a day. Bust them off the water even at 9 am and they might not trickle back.

[the man]

I wouldn't say we r quiting on the idea. We had 2 plans in mind, one was morris area, second was NW of St. Cloud area. Bro-inlaw lives in Cloud and would be able to scout that area, unlike the morris area. You guys sure do bring up a really good point though. It going to be our "go big or go home" moment. Just going to have to keep doing my homework and see what happens. How much pressure does the morris area see on a giving day?

It gets a fair amount of pressure throughout the year. Especially this year people are going to be concentrated on the bigger sloughs but I'm assuming in November if the smaller sloughs weren't dried up they would probably be in ice by then.

[delta hunter]

Can always hope for some rain, not sure how much it would help. I have a 16ft boat, but for its size it rides rather shallow, really don't need a lot of water. Done plenty of push poling and paddling before, running an outboard is alot nicer but oh well.

[the man]

If I were you I would bring everything like said before but for a boat my first choice would be a canoe or something lightweight that you can walk in with.

[delta hunter]

Getting closer to our trip we have planned. Just curious if the water levels have changed much in the past month. Haven't paid much attention lately, cause I thought the morris area was out of the question. But my brother in law is starting to push for the morris area again. So i figured i would try to get some feed back again. Any and all info would be great.

[the man]

Water levels are still the same and depending on the temperature sloughs are frozen solid at night but open up during the day.

[delta hunter]

That's not what I wanted to hear, but that is what I figured I would hear. Oh well, I think we are going to go for it anyways and grind it out. We make do with what is giving to us, just hope to find some decent water to work with. First things first, going to have to see what this weekend storm system brings. Sound like is going to be pretty cold first part of next week

[mallardnwalleye]

Just go to Lake Emily put out your best spread on a point with cattails and watch where the birds are going and re adjust your location if necessary. Use a big spread, spinner(s) and call agressive to work the traffic going and coming.

Take some chances -good luck!

Some other options are

Marsh-Shallow rocks!?

Lac qui Parle mix of ok boating and shallow rocks (upper non refuged part )

Traverse-good with a boat

Big Stone N end-Good with aboat

Mud -Shallow-rocks!?

Artichoke-Good with boat

[carpshooterdeluxe]

Nasty rocks on Artichoke. I suggest anybody who fishes or duck hunts that lake yet this fall and hasn't been out there before to take it real slow through the narrows and north/south of there for 100 yards at least. We've hit rocks on the highest water years on that lake. Bring a spare prop!

[bignet]

there are plenty of ducks around the alberta chokio area ditch the boat grab the waders and hunt some of the state land everyday i drive by a state spot on hwy 28 between morris and alberta and its full of ducks it even had some cans on it everyone is deer hunting

[delta hunter]

We are bringing everything, so that we can hunt any situation. If its in a field, or by boat,or by waders, it don't matter. We are going to do what we have to do to grind out some ducks. Now hopefully this front coming thru in the next couple of days doesn't push alot of those birds out of that area.

[sartellangler05]

Was just out there last weekend south of Alberta 6 miles. Did A LOT of driving SW of Morris even out down to Ortonville. Ducks were almost non existent in most areas. Geese seemed to be more active and plentiful. We located some good sized flocks (100-200) mallards, however they were sitting on private land and the owner would not let us hunt. Saturday evening there were more ducks flying in the last 2 hours of shooting, but nothing committed to our decoys except for 2 green wing teal, of which we got 1. This was our only bird for the 2 days we hunted. We spotted divers on the north side of Artichoke and were going to jump them, however the shutting of a truck door spooked them. Was a good flock of about 80 birds. Dissapointed with the lack of ducks out there for this time of year...

[delta hunter]

Is a person able to hunt the South Dakota side of big stone and traverse? I can't seem to find anything in the regs about it. Maybe I just missed in there, but figured I'd ask anyways.

[Finlander]

No you cannot hunt the South Dakota side without a South Dakota license.

Just stay on the Minnesota side and you'll be safe. And the invisible border line that runs thru the lakes! Check out the Google or any such maps.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

Was just out there last weekend south of Alberta 6 miles. Did A LOT of driving SW of Morris even out down to Ortonville. Ducks were almost non existent in most areas. Geese seemed to be more active and plentiful. We located some good sized flocks (100-200) mallards, however they were sitting on private land and the owner would not let us hunt. Saturday evening there were more ducks flying in the last 2 hours of shooting, but nothing committed to our decoys except for 2 green wing teal, of which we got 1. This was our only bird for the 2 days we hunted. We spotted divers on the north side of Artichoke and were going to jump them, however the shutting of a truck door spooked them. Was a good flock of about 80 birds. Dissapointed with the lack of ducks out there for this time of year...

were you field hunting or water hunting?

And be careful on the north end of artichoke. There is varying opinion on whether co. road 10 right of way extends to the lake or not.