Reports-- 11/5

[Sartell Angler]

Hunted the Lac Qui Parle area for my first time today. My brother, myself, and a hunting buddy left home at 3 am, and headed for Appleton. We saw no other duck hunters on Marsh, LQP, or Artichoke Lakes. We were astounded with the number of geese we saw, and we also saw a large number of bluebills, but they were too high. Managed to bag a drake goldeneye and a hooded merganser, 2 of the total 4 ducks that came in range. We expected to see a lot more mallards, gadwall, widgeon, or maybe some GWT. Does anyone know where these ducks are, if they aren't already gone? Didn't bring the dog due to the crowded boat, but wish we would have -- could have gotten a few roosters. Managed to scare up 1 hen pheasant and 1 prarie chicken. Nice to see they may be making a comeback. Would like to hear some reports, my season ain't over to the fat lady sings on Nov. 17, and then there's still late goose season!

[Guest]

I hunted Alexandria area and man, did I see the ducks and geese! WOW! Unfortunately these birds were very educated and would not decoy very well. They also sat and roosted all day on the area refuges, and feed at night and move to the fresh fields after sunset. The sky just turned dark with tons of mallards and geese just after sunset. Lots of divers around too. With the absolute beautiful weather those birds had no reason the investigate our decoys and calls.
On Sunday morning up until we left at 10am there wasn't a ripple on the large lake we hunted. No wind, just sun. Unreal and great to be outside watching a great sunrise. Sounded like the deer hunters did real well over the weekend with the nice weather.
A bright side of the weekend brought us to shoot at about 20 pheasants and 10 chukar. The birds were everywhere! On the Elk Lake game farm that is. I was a guest and I never have hunted a game farm before, boy was that fun!

[Duck-o-holic]

I too, hunted southwest of Alexandria and saw great numbers of birds, especially geese. Haven't been posting any results lately, as I don't have a laptop to haul with me to the sloughs Took off four days of vacay over the 1st to the 4th. Hunted the first two days with my brother, and we bagged our limits of mallards and wigeon. Added our limits of geese on one of the days. On the 2nd, we guided for two friends, and ended up witih 15 ducks, two geese, and two roosters. Also hunted with them on Sunday, but the number of birds seen was drastically less! Did manage 4 mallards, 2 wigeon, and a gadwall before calling it quits. HATED THE WEATHER those days!!! No wind and too much sun over the weekend... Can's wait for cold temps, wind, snow, and overcast skies!!!

Saturday I got another banded mallard, which was pretty cool! Called it in, and the lady on the phone said that it was banded in Manitoba in 1999. Still think there are lots of birds yet to come down. Believe the weather kept birds around that were pushed in from the previous weeks wind and weather. Birds are becoming educated fast, and finding friendly water-- whether it is private, posted sloughs, or actual refuge waters. Need to see some fresh birds arriving to mix things up a bit!!!

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

[GullGuide]

Wow, finally get some time to sit down and write a report!
Last weekend was THE weekend to be hunting. Flock after flock of Mallards, huge flights of divers that stretched from horizon to horizon, BUT......
The weather was anything but perfect.
Both Saturday and Sunday the lake was like glass, absolutely NO wind to create movement in the dekes. The mallards were dropping straight down like kamikazes into the spread, but after noticing the lifeless nature of the decoys, and after circling them for 5-10 passes, the birds decided to land out in the middle of the lake. If there was only the slightest of a breeze, we would've had one of our best shoots ever.
The birds are definitely around, but now for the bad news....next weekend is supposed to be just like last. Sunny and warm....YUCK!
Well, got to go and remember there will be a duck hunting chat scheduled tonight, just check the chat schedule forum for times.
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