Waterfowl Report 10/21

[GullGuide]

Hey all,
I actually took this weekend off from hunting to spend time with the wife, this should go a long ways in the coming weeks when I'll be out in the blind almost every day.
Did I miss anything, or was this a good weekend to stay home?
Let's hear it---
>"////=<

[Borch]

Oh I don't know... I spent 3 mornings in blind and didn't fire a shot. Not much flying in the St. Cloud area.

[EW6]

Hey all,

This weekend was terrible....at least for me. I shot.......2, count them 2 ducks. I hunted Mud and Calhoun and both were worthless. On Mud there weren't many ducks and the ones that were there landed in the middle of the expanse on the east side. To give you a clue as to how bad it was.....the first shot on Saturday for the entire Mud lake was 15 minutes after shooting time! No one could shoot early because there were no ducks to shoot. In fact this morning I timed an over 30 minute period, 7:45 to 8:15, where no shots were fired on Mud. That is time to be killing ducks not staring at blank skies. Overall the ducks have learned to avoid cattails and there was a severe absence of Mallards. There's always next week....hope the ducks were providing shooting somewhere else.

Gullguide, you picked the right weekend to miss. Did you ever get my e-mail....I've been having problems sending them...I wish you good luck over these next weeks, looks like it is going to get cold later this week.

[GullGuide]

Yea EW, I got your mail.
I've been having computer problems as well.
Sorry I did not call you back. There weren't too many ducks around so I decided not to hunt last Monday.
This is typically the worst weekend to hunt so I guess I didn't miss much.
The birds should start to filter in next week, hopefully.
We were right next to those idiots last weekend, could not believe how bad their calls sounded and what was worse, they wouldn't stop calling even though there were no ducks in the air!
We also watched you nail those Cans after we passed on em hoping for a better shot....good Job!
We'll have to hook up in the coming weeks, maybe we can get Duck-O-Holic to join us.
>"////=<

[Duck-o-holic]

Hey all! Haven't had a chance to be near a computer lately! Working out of town during the week, and hunting over the weekend. Did manage one day hunt on Tuesday morning West of Sunburg. My partner and I ended up with 8 mallards, a gadwall, and 2 geese. Pretty fun hunt!! Saw quite a few geese, and a decent number of mallards. Small bunches of divers as well.

Hunted with my two brothers on Saturday, and ended up filling out on mallards, gadwall, a pintail, a ringbill, a redhead, and a mistake shoveler The wind switched on us, and I made the decision to pick up the spread of 4 dozen dekes in the midst of birds all over the slough! Missed several opportunities during the switch-over, but it was well worth the effort to be where the birds wanted to be! Hunted the same spot this morning, but there were hardly any birds compared to the day before. Ended up bagging only 7 birds-- mainly gadwall, and only one mallard. The shooting pressure around the area was intense! I'm sure that a lot of the birds are flocking up on refuges or open, big water now. We need some weather to get the northern (and western) birds moving into the area. Over the weekend, we saw a lot of EPP geese, and greater migrators flying. Several of the earlier migrating divers were around as well. Lots of ringbills and redheads. Hope to see some good fowlin' weather soon!!!

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

[Guest]

I hunted around home in Moorhead all weekend. Sat. was slow, but some birds around. I just had a bad location. Hardly any shooting all morning. Got one Mallard.

Sunday was a different story (forecaster said NW winds! NOT!) with strong south winds with morning sun and then clouds rolling in later on. Filled on ducks in the first 15 minutes and then I waited for the geese. I waited until 11:45 and 4 came into my decoys, 2 seperated from the group and the other two I finessed for awhile and convinced them it was ok 2 shots later, the geese were mine and I could finally go home. They are going to be a good meal tonight.
I made a blind for my boat Sat. afternoon/night, and Sunday it did the trick. What a difference it made for Sunday's hunt!
Lots of mallards, redheads, widgeon, ringbills, buffleheads, cans, and very few bluebills.
This weeks big cold front will be a great help!

[Sartell Angler]

I hunted in west central Minnesota over M.E.A and had mixed results. Friday and Saturday morning we didn't see too much for ducks, but sunday morning they were all over the place. There were flock after flock of bluebills zipping over the lake, with several landing in the dekes. Personally, I just got 3 hen green wings and 1 hen wigeon. Our group also got some mallards, ringbills, woodies, and bluebills. Had a fun time, and hopefully next weekend will be good with the cold weather coming down.