field reports

[Flipnripem]

Pimp, All I`ve seen in the morning is honkers leaving thier evening roost and flying back to town. Some ducken reports sound pretty good. Might have to head to the lake this weekend. I have a few fields that are going to be picked soon! Then we`ll crank er up.

[Flick]

Hunted western Mn this weekend and had pretty good hunting. On Sat. 3 of us had our limit by 9:00. Mostly teal still, 2 woodies, a mallard, gadwall and widgeon. Sunday was a lot slower, only got 3 teal and a mallard. Saw way more ducks though, most flying high. Also got 3 geese over the weekend, a couple monsters.

[Flipnripem]

Last two nights all my attention was focused on mallards dropping straight down on the robo`s. It has been a blast. Hey pimp what ya been up to? Are there any reports from Walnut? How about the Mankato area? Pretty sure I`ll be in the duck boat come sat. morning. Good hunting Flip

[Ozzy169]

Tues. night was awesome, had limit of mallards, pintail and wigion by 5:45 pm, wends night not as good , 3 mallards, but they were coming right at legal shooting. Hunting in so. metro

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Get 'er done

[RiverRunner]

Last weekend near Rogers was pertty good. Four hunters bagged 7 Geese and six ducks, 5 teal and one wood duck, that was on Saturday. Sunday not so good three hunters bagged one teal, tons of teal seen though. We were hunting on Pelican near Monticello on Sunday. Does any one have any reports for the Morris Area.

[Guest]

Flip,
Have'nt been to Walnut for about a week and a half. Hunted Hickory Lake the other eve. Saw lots of geese but no shots.
I have to work all this weekend if the weather stays fair. Planning on hitting Walnut next Tues.
No solid report from Mankato area all my friends are in ND for the next 10 days. I have been trying to study for upcoming tests but I can't focus because it has been so long since I have shot anything.

[Flipnripem]

Hey pimp, thanks and are you seeing any ducks on Hickory? I`m planning on Jefferson on sat. anyhow. Kinda gotta go. Elysion is worth a check if there are any divers down. I`ll let you know. For you fellas up nort, If you could send a, here they come, when them bombers start flocking south. Us duckers down south are looking for em. Thanks Flip

[fish_on_llc]

Fair success in the Crex Meadows near Grantsburg WI, Mostly teal and woodies until last weekend. All this week has been closed and the Bluebills & Northern Mallards are showing up in droves.

Morning seems better. I hope the nasty weather keeps them low to the ground this weekend!

Good Luck!
Hail the Flashlight King!

[Fisher Dave]

Finding some birds on the western side of the metro. Plenty of woodies and teal around but the divers are *petering* in. Haven't seen any good numbers of mallards yet, but it seems to be changing daily. I seen quite a few Canvasbacks today and had a pair sit 10 yards from my boat this morning. I also had a FAT drake bluebill sit down on the outside of my decoy line.

There are lots of birds sitting on lake Minnetonka .. makes it hard to pull them into your decoys 10 miles away.

[Flipnripem]

Checked most of the lakes south of Mankato to the state line and east. Saw some nice flocks of cans and a few ringbills. Not many ducks on the lakes this far south yet. Tomarrow is another day! Flip

[Guest]

Thanks for the update flip.
Hickory has good numbers of geese but I didn't see a duck the night I was there.
Have a morning goose hunt planned east of town. I think we have room it you want to jump in.

[Flipnripem]

Hey pimp, I`ll be out myself on the south side. It`s a pretty quick shoot so I may be cruising in the neighborhood? Don`t kill em all! Leave some for me, I mean seed. Ha Ha. Good luck. Flip

[I Like Worms]

We hunt by lowry, near alexandria, and it was a bleak weekend. I thought the front would push down the northern birds, but maybe there just aren't the numbers of northern birds anymore? Anyway, not a lot flying around. Did see a bunch of swans sunday morning. That means the season is drawing to a close.

[This message has been edited by I Like Worms (edited 10-20-2002).]

[Fisher Dave]

I had hunted the southern metro on 10/20 and it was far from fast and furious, but steady would be a good word for it. I hunted a well known local lake and there were a decent amount of ducks dropped. Northern flocks are coming around, including larger flocks of mallards and divers. There were woodies and teal mixed in... It seems the season should only get better from here.

The better hunting was closer to 11am .. early morning was very slow, possibly because all the hunters on the lake kicking them up.

[CANOPY SAM]

I was out in central ND this last weekend. The locals were pretty well shot up and movin' out. On our way back on Sunday afternoon there were many large flocks of honkers way up and movin' south fast. Some of the sloughs were startin' to freeze up around the edges, so if the weather doesn't warm soon the birds are gonna be movin south really soon. I'm willing to wager that if the weather pattern holds around these latest temps we're going to see a bonanza of ducks and geese in the next couple weeks!
Is anyone finding flooded corn or sunflowers west of the twin cities anywhere?

[Flipnripem]

Mankato lakes have ducks but there are scattered all over the area. Had a nice flock of cans, 40 to 45 birds, buzz the dekes. Cool to see that again. A few nice bunches of ring bills and an occasional small bunch of mallards. Not anything like I imagined spinning in bed the night before. Walnut had a good supply of high flyers, but everyday is a new day this time of year. Field hunted tonight and saw a number of migrators, ducks and geese, cruising by. I bet next week is a good time to really get a bad case of (duk-itus). IF you`ve never had this it can last as long as it takes to recover, the water is totally froze, and or the end of november. Gotta be out there cause it is not worth working if there is a chance the major flight comes to your lake. Quack Quack BOOM! Flip

[Benny]

Canopy sam, were you at Suak center truck stop and talked with me about hunting?I was coming in from Siseton S.D and the guy I talked to was coming from James town N.D.
Just thinking that by chance it was you.
We had lots of ducks out there, lots of Wideon,Gadwalls,and Mallards even some Golden Eye and Buffies of coarse there were tons of cacklers and greater canadas as well.I saw only a few ducks sitting in the ponds on the Minnesota side after Brownsvalley.
I did see lots of Minnesota plates over in S.D also, so there were a few of us over there.
Benny

[Guest]

Hunted a pond near Walnut Lake seen good numbers of ducks. Blew a shot on a pintail that almost made me cry.
Bagged a Wigeon and a teal. Had gun problems or there could have been more. But it should only take 1 shot anyway right.
Has anyone been on Swan Lake recently? Gonna try and get over there next week.

[Flipnripem]

Hey pimp, there are some more of them white ones in town again. I saw a pretty blue today. Which pond were you talking about? Is anybody hunting the blue earth, fairmont area? Flip

[CANOPY SAM]

Sorry Benny, Not me! Sounds like you had some pretty good luck though..

[Guest]

Have'nt heard anything from the Fairimont area. Blue earth has a few hunters on the weekends but during the week things are pretty quiet. There were 2 groups hunting the river on Tuesday. I could hear shots so they must of had some action. Much better than I did.
North Walnut had nobody on it.

[Flipnripem]

Any of you fella`s north been hunting in the snow? How far down are the birds? Are we going to see a big push this weekend? Hey pimp how`s the goosen going? Flip

[Lowe]

Starting to see a few big rafts of bluebills in the greater Duluth area. A lot of the potholes are completely frozen. One small, fairly shallow lake, maybe 50 acres, that I see every morning was completely ice-covered this morning. Very cold. They should be on the way.

[Flipnripem]

Lowe, thanks for the report. Were shooting a few local mallards down south. It`s a timing thing around here. The ducks come through in a day or two. They usually don`t stay very long. If you can`t get off work when there here your s.o.l. Flip

[bmc]

Me and 2 buddies were out yesterday AM from 6:30 to 11:30 and shot 10. We hunted the Mississippi River in Itasca County. We had 3 drake mallards, 2 buffleheads, 2 hen goldeneyes (probably should've got the one i shot mounted, but already have a pair of ringbills and a drake buffie in the shop), 1 gw teal, and 2 mergansers. We had to go through some skim ice in the slack water spots on the river, but we probably saw 300-500 ducks and about the same for geese (canadas, snows, and blues). We had 1 flock of about 100-150 mallys buzz us 2x, only to have 6 come in for a look and we dumped 2. Man, i need some off season practice. I was up to Bowens Flats the night before last and saw about 100-200 diver's flying around out near the gap, not sure of what they were though, but with a little luck, i'll find out sat. night. Good Luck and keep after 'em.