Waterfowl Report 10/8

[Duck-o-holic]

So how was everyones hunting this weekend?? Saturday was great for us, we saw a lot of birds! My Dad and I bagged 8 drake mallards (one of which was banded), a gadwall, and a redhead. My brother and a friend got 3 mallards, 2 gadwall and a redhead. There were decent numbers of divers in the Lac Qui Parle area, and the geese are STARTING to build up in that area.

Sunday morning, my brother and friend shot 5 ducks and a goose. I had the priveledge of hunting Mud lake with Gullguide and his father that morning closer to home! It was an educating experience to hunt with these two. For those of you who don't know, or haven't hunted Mud... there is a LOT of of tradition and culture surrounding the lake. Gull and his Dad are a part of that culture, dating back to when duck camps and guiding were mainstay on the lake! I was impressed with their blind system-- which I've never seen used on any other lakes. It, also is a tradition of many of the "Oldschoolers" on the lake.

In the morning, we tried to intercept some divers that had been using a certain part of the lake the previous day. The wind had changed from Saturday- and thus, did not cooperate. Following duck huntings Rule #1-- we moved to where the ducks wanted to be. The spots to choose from were pretty scarce due to the large numbers of other hunters already set up. Undaunted, Gull and his Dad carefully picked the next best spot available. A spot that a non-Mud hunting, hunter wouldn't have found. After setting up the dekes, we ended up getting 4 ringbills before heading back into town to watch the Vikings. I won't tell you who shot the ducks, but here's a hint... (I didn't clean any)

In all, it was a great hunt and experience! The puddle ducks which had been plentiful there earlier, had seemed to be gone for the most part. The early divers seemed to be arriving though!

So how did everyone else fare this weekend? How many are going to park the boat this coming weekend to take out the dog to chase roosters??

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

PS- We used TWO Robo's on Sunday... I'll let Gull post his opinion of them!!!

[BLACKJACK]

I'll be after the wily ringneck on Sat. I hate the 'opening day zoo' but I love following that Labrador retriever thru the grass and getting that heart-thumping rush when that tail starts going mad and her whole body starts quivering. Nothing better!

[Guest]

I hunted the Bemidji area and it was the slowest I have seen in years. Was on the water almost all day Sat. until 4 p.m. and we never shot a duck. Some people had success, but overall very quiet and several hunters out. Most local birds left and no new birds trickled in as expected.
Sunday was different as we located a nice spot and got more success with mallards and some divers. Missed more opportunities than we liked. My friend also brought his robo-duck on Sunday and overall it didn't make any difference, except for a couple mallards that circled around after the initial blast. All the birds landed in the diver spread and away from the puddle duck spread (with the robo duck in it).

Heading down to LQP this weekend for 4 days chasing pheasants, ducks and geese. Thanks for the reports! I guess I'll have to bring the diver deks down there.

[Guest]

I hunted near Litchfield on Saturday (I was too sick to go on Sunday) and it was very mediocre. I saw a fair number of ducks, but they were very leary. They'd give you a good look, but very few would commit. In fact flocks of 5-10 mallards wouldn't even land with other real ducks on the slough we were hunting. Talk about educated. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but there was definitely something that didn't instill confidence in them. Probably fear of death.

I'm hunting near Ortonville this weekend. The weather forecast doesn't look like it's going to bring much for fresh ducks in. But, poor duck hunting is just about better than anything else in the world.

[EW6]

Hey Duck-o-holic,
glad to hear that you did well on Mud Lake. I had the priviledge of opening the season there last weekend and there were many teal that made it a great shoot both days. The wild rice is really crazy out there this year. Are the ducks flying out to the holding ponds east of the lake before light like they were last year? When those ponds finally froze last year I heard that the hunting was amazing until Mud froze also.

This weekend I took out two friends that had never been hunting, to Calhoun and it was awesome. Must have been the cold front, we shot 17 for the three of us. Mostly ringbills and mallards. 17 was amazing considering one had never shot at a flying target before! One of the ringbills was even banded, kind of rare for divers to be banded isn't it? What is even more rare is that I managed to shoot my first banded duck, a hen woodie, on my first shot of opener day. I have probably shot over 150 ducks in my life never having shot a banded, only to get two in two weeks, better to be lucky than good I guess. After the great luck we had Saturday I couldn't wait for Sunday. Well as it usually turns out the ducks had found greener pastures and had left. I shot the only two ducks to come into the decoys, all in all it was a great weekend. Got to hunt with my buddies who had gone to different colleges, shot some ducks, and the weather was perfect.

[This message has been edited by EW6 (edited 10-09-2001).]

[Duck-o-holic]

EW6--

Glad to know someone else is up this late! Also glad to hear that you had a great hunt this weekend! It's even BETTER to produce when you're the "Guide," and are trying to hook up your friends! I'm sure that day will be a long lasting memory for them!

I scouted Calhoun this morning on my "East of 71" scouting route, and also did not see much for ducks. Saw some geese south of Diamond lake though... also saw FOUR rooster standing together in the ditch!!! If it was only a week later!!

The DNR bands about every type of duck. Kudos on getting two bands in two weeks!! I was pretty happy to get one this weekend as well! When I called the 800 number, the guy that I talked to said that they had gotten a LOT of calls that weekend-- many from Utah (where it was opening weekend), and several from Ottertail county. From the post, it sounded like they were getting some up north as well (Sartell Angler maybe?).

So are you still working at Mel's?

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

[This message has been edited by Duck-o-holic (edited 10-09-2001).]

[GullGuide]

The pattern we are seeing on Mud is very typical. You are right about the lake being hot after most pot holes have frozen up. Unfortunately, Mud freezes up shortly thereafter as well because of it's depth, so the window of opportunity is quite narrow. I could not believe how much rice is out there this year, most in the last 30 years according to one source. This should help keep birds in the area once they move in from up north.
The teal have seemed to have left the area for the most part and the local mallards have wised up and seem to be out in the area pot holes. There have been a ton of hunters out on Mud lately, so the education process has been accelerated. Also, from what we saw on Sunday, the typical "sky-busting" has begun. It is amazing how some people think they can bring a bird down from a half-mile up! This is a big reason birds become as call and decoy shy as they are right now.
As far as bands go, they seem to come in streaks. About 10 years ago a buddy and I shot 10 birds with bands all in one season up around Bemidji. It took me about 8 years to get another. You just have to get lucky and have a flock or flocks that were banded come your way. It seems that the DNR bands ducks on the same waters year after year, so depending on where the birds from those waters go, the better your chances of getting some hardware.
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[Sartell Angler]

Glad everyone had a fun and productive 2nd weekend of duck hunting ( for the most part ). Since our high school had homecoming last week, and I had to work on Saturday evening, my brother and i decided to not go up to the cabin, although we did still hunt both saturday and sunday morning, on the mississippi river near our home. the first day, it was my friend and my bro, along with our 7 year old golden retriever that went out to a spot we saw 2 weeks ago when we were out fishing. my dog isn't very experienced-- he only comes out with us a couple times a year (mostly a family dog). But nevertheless, he did make all 3 retrieves PERFECTLY! It was the most enjoyable part of the hunt. We ended up with 1 Blue Wing, 1 Hen woodie, and 1 beautiful bufflehead. On sunday, we had the same people along, as well as 2 of my brother's friends. While my friend and I went pothole jumping, they managed to call in a couple geese (got 2). All in all a fun weekend. We'll be up at the cabin for the next 2 weekends though, so we'll be back on the river when the divers start moving in. Take it easy everyone!

[GullGuide]

Hey EW,
Long can be a fantastic lake, problem is that there can be just as many hunters out there as on Mud. Some places are better than others, all depends on the wind of course.
If you want, I'd be willing to take you guys out with me on Monday, since I kind of planned on hunting Long myself that day. Shoot me an email at [email protected] and we can talk about it.
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[Duck-o-holic]

EW6-

Long has many memories for me! During highschool, it was one of the first lakes that I hunted divers on. Had my picture in the Willmar Tribune after a last-day of the season limit of bills, redheads and mallards back in '88. That day it was one of the only three county lakes with any open water on it (and most of the lake was frozen). Another year, I killed a limit of bills and a wigeon without firing a shot! Now THAT was an interesting day!! If you end up hunting Long with Gull, he'll show you the good spots...

As far as Solomon goes, it also is a great producer. We usually hunted it late season for divers and geese. Success was usually great! I haven't hunted it in a couple of years, but Gull has gunned it already this year.

Ringo is not the hunting lake that it used to be! I believe you could probably get early season woodies and local geese on it, but I wouldn't even try it for divers anymore. Gull passed on an interesting theory about how aeretors keep more fish alive, which in turn eat more fresh water shrimp, which in turn make some late season lakes less attractive to migrating ducks (especially divers)! I know Ringo used to be a hot diver lake when I was in highschool, but it sure isn't anymore... Gull's theory could be the reason why!?!?!?!

Good luck on your four day vacation. Let me know which days you'll be hunting, and which lake. Maybe I'll stop by the landing to see how you did! I live less than a mile from Long, and 3 miles from Solomon!

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

[This message has been edited by Duck-o-holic (edited 10-10-2001).]

[Roop-Dogg]

EW6,

have to agree with gull and duck-o-holic. long lake certainly has its moments but my experience has been that it is a little more productive later in the season. seems like you could say that about most lakes tho. hafta agree too that it can be a busy lake also, being so close to willmar. there are a couple of weed islands and a few good weed points. usually lots of competition tho.

when you call the band numbers in, you have to wait for a week or two and then you will get a nice certificate from the United States Geological Survey (north america bird banding program). this certifcate will tell a lot about the bird you shot. it tells the band #, date banded, species, sex, age of bird,location banded, bander, where and when you shot it, etc. obviously you will already know a lot of that info (ie: species, sex and recovery info.) but it is still fun to see how old and where it came from. it is important to call band numbers in because they use that information in their studies and research.

as far as the thoery of aerators affecting the duck hunting? whose to say? the fish eating the shrimp sounds like a good one to me. my theory, along the same line, is that since the aerators are in those lakes, the fish live and grow, and people that used to fish other lakes in the fall, are now spending time on these lakes when they never did in the past. in the process, they inadvertantly put the run on the ducks that would like to also use that lake.

good hunting

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Roopy

[EW6]

Hey duck-o-holic, Gullguide,
Do either of you know anything about Long Lake near Willmar, like how do you hunt it, is there any numbers of birds out there now...etc. I have a four day fall break from college coming up this weekend and I would like to try someplace I had never hunted on Monday. I have always thought the lakes in that area, Long, Ringo, Soloman would be good but I have never hunted them...got any advice.

It would make sence that you would have streaks of bands. Both of the bands that we got were from Laruel Maryland, I don't know if they were banded there or if that is just where the bands were made. I called in the one but the opperator really didn't tell me anything.

Last year I hunted on the very east side of Mud Lake and saw the greatest flight of ducks I had ever witnessed. Five minutes before shooting time on several different days I saw litterally thousands of birds heading out of the lake to the east. Found all of them covering several Green Lake sanitation ponds. They would stay there all day and return after dark..smart birds for sure.

I'd love to hear more from you guys, I now go to school in Morris and don't get to scout during the week. Kind of have to rely on other's reports to make good decisions on where to take my little brother and friends. I am finally getting the hang of it though. For years I had always gone with my dad before I was old enough to hunt, but then dad quit and now my brother and I have kind of had to learn it on our own. We have a little 14 foot boat and we hunt all public water lakes, Mud, Calhoun, Koronis. A lot of 3:30 risings to get the good spots, and I wouldn't trade it for a thing. Nothing like having it all come together under a beautiful sunrise.

I haven't worked at Mel's since I left for school but plan to work there over the Christmas break so you'll have to come visit sometime. Thank you two for sharing your knowledge to the rest of us on this site. Keep it up. E.W.

[GullGuide]

Another comment on Long Lake,
The last few years the mallard shoot has been pretty good out there right about this time of year. Also, with all the divers around- Redheads, Cans and Ringies, Long might not be a bad idea. I'll post my results when I get back Tuesday.
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[Guest]

I had great success hunting ducks this past weekend. The mallards, ringbills and even some teal were really coming in. Unlike some people on this forum, I did not use "robo-duck", will not use robo-duck but DO NOT think that robo-duck should be banned. I find it very entertaining that some feel that robo-duck should be banned and yet they USE them.

[Flick]

EW6-I will be heading to Morris area this weekend. Do you have any idea what the duck numbers are like. The front on Sunday might move something in. Thanks

[EW6]

Flick,
I'm not real sure on the numbers of ducks, seems like there aren't really that many around. But I really haven't been able to see the places where most of them would be. I know that goose numbers in the immediate Morris area are very good. I am sure that there will be some good numbers of ducks moving down by Sunday sounds like at least a bit of a front anyways. If it keeps up like this we may finally get that steady push we have lacked in the past several years.
E.W.