The year in review

[Kettle]

Just thought how others would rank their waterfowl seasons, this was my first year duck hunting since I was 16 so roughly 10 years ago. I followed the forums closely this year (as close as a man can w/o internet at home.) I got out roughly 16 or 17 times, not as much as stringless that man is dedicated! I hunted roughly 95% public and feel like I did well tons of scouting though, not much for gear, a dozen mallards, a mojo, 12' flatbottom and a 14' with a 6hp motor and a really old wingmaster. Thinking I might have hit the 50 bird mark averaged about 3 per guy this year, got to introduce a lot of people to waterfowl hunting this year, which I enjoyed. The split seasons worked well for me, the woodies hung around really late and got into some fantastic mallard hunts late.

Next year 15 days in Canada and 8 in Nebraska for ducks and geese, something that has been on my mind lately is besides the designated youth waterfowl hunt is there anywhere in the state where they actually set up a hunt for youths? Like volunteers with gear to take youths out who might not normally have the opportunity to do so? I really like taking people duck hunting who haven't gone before, if anyone has any info on this it would be great! Lots of woodie houses and hen houses to build this off season.

Kettle

[fishersofmen]

Nice! Just shows a guy doesn't need a ton of gear to have a decent year duck hunting. I had a fun year, it was my sons first year shooting and the best part of the season was just hanging out in cattails with him and enjoying the comradery. We usually shot a few birds every time out so that was a bouns. I was able to teach him many things such as picking up other peoples trash, never shoot anything you don't intend on eating, and don't get frustrated if you don't get birds every time out. He had no problem sitting in the blind all day long and going home empty handed. I'm trying to pound it in his head that the main concept is to be outside and take in the beauty of the things God created. If we are fortunate enough to bring a few birds home with us that is a bonus. There have been plenty of examples from others for him to learn from as well. We watched a group next to us drop a Swan on opener and he said it made him sick to his stomach. Also had to deal with the party atmosphere one day with the yelling and cursing going on and was able to tell him, you know that is never acceptable as it is disrespectful to others. We didn't let it ruin our day. On the positive side we got help dragging the boat and gear from some kind folks on a couple occations and had many good conversations with fellow hunters as well. Everything in life is a learning experience and this was a good year......

[BrdHunter01]

I thought this year was fairly good. I would say last year was a little bit better for us.

The woodies provided most of the action early in the year. As for the mallards it seemed we were always in the wrong spot at the wrong time but did get a few good mallard shoots in.

[chillincarp870]

I'd say this was the best year i can remember, mainly hunt swan, 4-5 days a week on average, early season was a lot of fun with good numbers of teal woodies. Late season brought some good diver shoots, and we got more mallards this year than i can remeber. We had 3 days straight with 2 man limits in my boat. Think i limited around 13 times this season. WE also hi the migration perfect in ND where we shot 4 man limits 2 out of 4 hunts. Got in on the geese in ND early season taking advantage of the 15 goose limit. All in all it is a good year when you can hunt til close. A lot of memories made and already planning for next year

[dan z]

Had a average season brought home

97 ducks

16 honkers

15 wanton waste

Prolly hunted 35-40 days

Had some great early/mid season action

Mallards outsmarted me in the late season yes I did shoot a few but not like normally.

I think I got my limit a few times but most times 2-3 birds

[zeeLandy]

Had a farely well season as far as ducks go. Hunted ducks about 15 times or less. Mixed bag of birds, lots of wood ducks early in the year. Maybe 40 mallards killed the past month. As far as honkers go, my buddies and I have been wearing em out big time. Killed 8 bands in our group. Been eating gesse in every way possible! We hope to reach 200 by season end!

[otterman91105]

I don't get out duck hunting much but do lots of field hunting for geese. It was a very good year with the guys that i hunt with we ended up with about 150. Hopefully next year will be just as good. Not a single band.

[mallardnwalleye]

Had a fair year that was great in October with more Mallards in October than November which is unusual. November saw wiser birds than normal that didn't finish well and back doored the spread a lot.My Last hunt was a dissapointment. This year also saw geese early but none late which was quite unusual. Numbers wise was far lower than my "salad days" years of the 90's but overall was happy just to get out and enjoy some nice paddles out, well set up spreads and workin birds tight with the old call.

[Green///////////]

Had a great year, but had to do a lot of scouting to have the year I did. Me and my brother shot a lot of birds this year and had a lot of mixed results in a normal year we shot about 90 ducks which most are divers, but this year 136 ducks and only 11 were divers. Average amount of honkers 34 total.

[squeeb27]

Had the best season of my 15 year career this year, got my first banded bird, and my dog made his first retrieve!! I got out more than normal this year, thanks to my wife first off.. I introduced a new "addict" to water fowling this year as well. This year I also kept a journal for the first time. Early goose was good shot 26 getting out 5 times. Duck season was good as well we got 57 ducks for hunting 21 days this year, majority of them mallards in the field late season. All in all I got out 26 times, got 40 geese, and 57 ducks. I tried telling my new "addict" friend not to get excited, shooting this amount of birds is not "normal" for us. Then we would go out and shoot more than the time before!! I think I found my new good luck charm, and his name is Jason, lol!!!

[Quackaddict9]

It was a better year this year than last year, got to hunt way more since work didn't hold me on Saturdays.

Early Goose was decent it was two of us on every hunt except one hunt we had 3 guys. 7 hunts, 47 geese, 5 bands, ate a lot of goose jerky and goose pasta.

Duck/Goose Season wasn't too bad for us either, Two of us every hunt and shot 8 more honks with 2 bands and 41 ducks. Did not get in any field duck hunts like in the past. It was a fun year, hope I can get to hunt this much next September and October!

[No_Net]

It was one of my better years. Ended up getting out goose hunting 10 times and duck hunting 21 times. Also got to hunt with a bunch of different people this season.

We ended up with 77 ducks in MN and 108 in south dakota. Goose hunting has been average shot 76 so far. The best part of the season was probably thanksgiving when my buddie and I each shot are first speckelbelly within 15 minutes of New Ulm. Also ended up with a goose and mallard band.