Waterfowl Report 11/13

[GullGuide]

Hello all,
The ducks have definitely NOT blown through Minnesota. This weekend was one of the best so far this season, but with a twist.
For the most part, there were not too many hunters on the marsh this weekend. Deer hunting could have been the main reason, but also, the empty skies in the morning sent many hunters home early. All weekend we sat in our blind without seeing a single bird until AT LEAST 8:15. We witnessed a few boats pull up and head for home only to have the ducks pour in shortly thereafter. The best times to be on the water seemed to be from 8:30 until noon. Yes, there was 15 minute to half hour lulls, but when they came, THEY CAME! Large flocks, some approaching 100 birds would seemingly appear out of nowhere with their wings locked and headed for the decoys. We got caught with our pants down a number of times including yesterday when Duck-O-Holic and I were just about to pick up.
Guns were unloaded and cased when I looked up one last time to see a very large flock dropping out of the sky. I gave a quick quack as we scrambled to get our guns out and load them. Duck's case became caught on the end of his gun while my zipper became messed up not allowing me to open the case. This flock did not give us a chance. They made ONE slight bank and came directly into the dekes without circling even once. I looked up to see the entire flock only 15-30 feet from the blind, feet down and backpedaling!. Watching Duck jump to his feet taking aim with his case hanging from the barrel is a sight I will not soon forget as neither will he forget me basically ripping my case open to get at my gun!Needless to say, we didn't even get a crack at them.
With this mild weather, the ducks do not have any reason to leave. Once the smaller pot-holes in the area freeze, it is going to be a very good shoot on the larger lakes. Also, the heavy rain that we received last night will prevent some farmers from plowing under their picked cornfields for awhile. Water + Feed = Ducks staying in area!
One thing that we have noticed over the last couple of weeks, and something that might be alarming, is that many of these larger flocks are almost entirely made up of drakes. Could the problem facing Bluebills be spreading to Mallards? Maybe it is just coincidence that there is a lack of hens in these flocks, but if there is something to this, it is now the time to be VERY selective and just go for drakes and let all hens pass.
Good luck to all in these final weeks of the season!
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[Guest]

Mille Lacs was full of bluebills this past weekend.

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MILLE LACS AREA GUIDE SERVICE
http://fishingminnesota.com/millelacsguide/

[Guest]

I hunted the Winni area and limited on bluebills on Sat. and Sunday. Monday we blasted some Mallards and had a great shoot on the largest, fatest Mallards I have seen. It was the best hunt I have seen in at least 5 years. To get the birds required a lot of driving, boat bashing and motor busting work. These birds were congregated in the shallowist water in the rice. I found a honey hole and the birds just poured in AFTER 8AM and throughout the day, all day! Not a bird in the sky before 8 am or an hour before sunset. The one thing I also was shocked to see was the amount of hen bluebills. I just sat back and watched the big flocks of birds come in, circle maybe once and land. I waited for single drakes to come in, and not shoot the flocks as they were tough to pick out flying so fast. Intense adreniline rush!

Also had a chance at two scoters (sp.?) believe it or not. Cool birds. They gave my spread a look at 10 yards from me. I didn't know what they were, so I didn't shoot. Later I learned what they were. Also saw several hooded mergansers, goldeneyes, buffleheads and few ringbills.

[mwktrapper]

Hey cd, About 3 years ago, I shot 3 scoters over by the fosston area. They have really thick feathers cause they're sea birds. I've heard from old timers that they used to get pushed into winnie every once in a while and they used to actually get quite a few there. Were you hunting the big lake at all? How is it? The last few years winnie hasn't produced like it used to. I'm heading to bemidji this weekend for big mallards and bills galore. Can't wait.
Good huntin

[EW6]

Hey CD,

Is your name Duck Dog on Waterfowler.com...?
I got an oportunity at a couple of Scooters last year hunting on Thanksgiving day...I didn't shoot right away cause I wasn't sure what they were, then they landed and wouldn't get up no matter what I did. They were all black and the drakes had bright orange bills, they were really cool looking. At the access another group had two hens and that was what they were, Scooters. However I did get to shoot an Oldsquaw last year and that was cool...hopefully I get a Scooter this Thanksgiving. Two more weekends and it should stay open until the end..I can't wait.
E.W.

[Sartell Angler]

this sounds encouraging guys!!! i wasn't planning on doing much more duck hunting this year, because i had been told by several people that the majority of the ducks had already passed through mn. i knew this didn't sound right, especially with the lakes and everything open. i'm going pheasant and goose hunting this weekend, but i'll probably make some time to head out the the blind at least once more this year. good luck to everyone this weekend, except the hunter's in the southern states -- they probably won't need it because they get a 45 day hunting season, average approximately 15 ducks more / hunter than us, and are probably going to get an extension on their season. we hunt ducks as they're passing through, southern hunters get to hunt 'em where the ducks want to spend the winter. greed greed greed.
-please excuse my rampage about southern hunters.

[GullGuide]

Sartell,
Not to worry, there are still plenty of birds in Canada mainly in Manitoba. They have no reason right now to move south. If we get another storm, we'll see some pretty good hunting.
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[Guest]

EW6-
Yes, I am Duck Dog. Where do you hunt when you got the Scoters last year?
Trapper-
The big lake Winni had very few to no rafts of birds on it, that I could see. You are right, it hasn't been good for at least 5 years. That was the last good diver concentrations were there...that I saw, and I hunt all the way through Thanksgiving.
These birds were rafted way back in shallow areas, like in the flowage in the NW corner of the lake.
It was probably a fluke thing we experienced, and we would be lucky to see it again. I will be back up there this weekend, no doubt about it.
Get ready for the cold front that is moving in early next week. Doesn't look like it will push everything through as I saw the forecasts for northern Manitoba and Ontario was warmer than our forecast. They won't totally freeze out for awhile.

[Guest]

I agree with Sartell 100%. If anything those greedy rednecks should have a shorter season. Look at the data for harvest per hunter!! Thats unreal. The avg. for MN hunters is around 5 or so and down south their up into the twentys.
Just my 2 cents

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If I'm not in the duck blind or the ice house I'm thinking about it!!

[Duck-o-holic]

The only mallards that Gull and I shot that day, came when we had our guns cased! We had each dropped a ringbill out of a high-flying flock of four in the morning. It was slow after that until 10:30am, when we were just starting to take down the blind. Looking up, there were three drake mallards coming down hard from ahigh! We managed a few quick quacks while ripping the guns out of our cases. On these, we had time to get them loaded, and the cases ALL of the way off! The birds came in, and all of them were dropped. Although I had to get to work, we decided to "Give it a few more minutes..."

Only seeing one more flock enter the lake, we again, started to rip down the blind, after casing up the guns (lesson #1 not yet learned). This is when Gull looked up to see the 30+ birds dropping down. I can't describe the ADRENELINE rush that I had after pulling up on them, only to have my gun case caught on my barrel!! Probably much having to do with be caught so unaware! I can attest to Gull actually destroying his case zipper trying to get his unlimbered!

We stood in awe, looking dumbly at each other as we slowly tried to comprehend what had just happened! Again, the phrase "...let's give 'er a few more minutes." stuttered out of our open-gaped mouths. Work was completely foreign word at this moment!!

Again-- after watching birdless skies for a long while, we decided to tear the last of the blind down. Knowing now, to keep a SHARP eye on the sky while doing this, I saw a lone drake mallard coming in. Again the gun was cased, but this time my shells were handy. I just had time to load it, and was about to pull up, when Gull Says: "Hey... you're case is caught again!!" (which is was). Luckily, I had time to exticate if before dropping the decoying bird.

Lessons learned:

**Don't buy zippered gun cases
**When you "Give 'er a few more minutes..." you should always "Pretend" to take down your blind, or do some similar task, having a readily accessable, LOADED gun in close proximity!
**Mallards have a highly developed sixth sense to know EXACTLY when to catch you with your pants down!!!

All the more reason to laugh, shake your head, and agree that... "That's why DUCK is a four-letter word!!!"

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic