w2 info please

[duckbuster]

w2 are the northern bills on LOW now? What about the goldeneyes? Did you shoot'em up this weekend? Let me know!!

[Guest]

Duckbuster, last weekend was great, a lot like the good ol' days of bill shooting. There is nothing like bills making the "death" swing and pitching into your decoys. A lot of ducks on the lake. I think the hens and juveniles are here now as we shot a lot more of them then as we had been shooting mostly drakes which seem to always come first. The big winds really had em' moving around. The nice thing about LOW is we can hunt em' until the lake freezes up. The last couple of years the real crazy shooting has been in latter November and the first part of December. Those are those big "macho" bills, ringnecks and mallards that wait until the last possible moment to move south. I'm headed up the 25th for 10 days. Do you hunt up there also?

[Guest]

Duckbuster, I forgot you asked about the whistlers. Not many yet, we generally don't shoot them anyway!

[warrior]

Hey guys,
i got a place up on l.o.w., going up to hunt ducks and fish. are there any bills on the south end??? appreciate any info, new to the l.o.w. duck hunting...thanx

[Guest]

Warrior, sorry I'm on the east side in Canada. I hear that 4-mile bay aroung pine island can get good late as well. You might want to check with Billy at the WigWam on duck hunting down there. Good Huntin!

[Duck-o-holic]

w2--

What area are you hunting now, if you don't mind sharing? I have a buddy who wants to take a trip somewhere for some whistler and bill shooting later on in early November. I've never gunned LOW, but would love to give it a try. No idea where to start though. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

[Guest]

Duck-o-holic, LOW is a great duck lake but can be treacherous at any time but even more so in the late fall. We have big boats and chase them pretty much from Sabaskong to Sabaskosing to the West Side of Big Island. Usually before the bills get ready to leave they start using some of the shallow bays to gorge themselves(I have seen many times where they get to fat to fly). The Bays in the Basil Channel can be good late. If the wind permits the two big bays on the West side of Big Island can be good. If you don't have big boats the bays and Islands in Sabaskong can be good as well. As always so much depends on the weather. Last November there were a million ducks on the lake just sittin in the middle of the big water doing nothing. Didn't even flitter at all. Weather was warm and no wind. Oh well thats why they call it huntin! Hope this helps and Good Luck!

[Duck-o-holic]

W2--

Thanks for the reply. I've only got a 14' duck boat, but I have access to a 16' lund that I've gunned divers from before. A friend recently sold his 21' x 7' Jon boat that we had diver hunting up on Lake Manitoba. That was the ultimate for big water. We hauled 7 guys and a pile of dekes in some pretty rough water.

So do you see lots of Goldeneyes later on in the year? I love redhead, can (when legal), and bill shooting... but my buddy LIVES for shooting whistlers! He was thinking about hunting Mille Lacs, but I would think that LOW would be a better bet.

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

[duckbuster]

If you are going to go as far as Mill lacs I would recommend going a little further and try Winnie. I think november brings out the best of this big body of water. The northern bills usually fill this lake up!! The Butterballs and the Goldeneyes are right there with them. Fun, Fun, Fun.
GODD LUCK and GOOD HUNTING

[Guest]

Duck,
I've been gunning (at) Goldeneyes since the weekend in Fergus Falls area. There was a major push, and I saw some of the most beautiful drakes with the nice white spot behind their beak. Saw several flocks last night dumping into a big lake near my house. I am very surprised to see these birds this far south this time of the year.
I would only shoot a whistler to put a nice drake on the wall. They taste absolutely terrible!!

[duckbuster]

I couldn't agree more. When you get that mount don't do what I did. 2 years ago on the deer opener we had 6 big northern Goldeneyes drop out of the sky and we dropped 5. Each bird my dog brought back was bigger and better than the last one. Absolutely snow white bellies and head spot. Instead of being patient and waiting the 2-3 years it would have taken from our normal TAXI man I took it to someone who as I picked it up informed me that "this was only the 2nd Goldeneye I've done". Needless to say if there would have been a dumpster between his door and my truck the bird would have ended up at the bottom. 15 years I waited for something that good and my need to have it back as soon as possible cost me huge. I can only hope it's not another 15 years before I see that bird again. GOOD LUCK and GOOD HUNTING

[duckbuster]

CD,
Do you have snow up there? I really think this will be a weekend that alot come down. The wind has been blowing out of the north for a week now and its cold. Please keep me posted on the lake freeze up conditions and the northerns. Thanks

[Guest]

I live on a 50 acre pond that is about 4' deep throughout. It is frozen solid as of this morning. A boat could still bust up the ice, but there's almost too much ice to decoy birds. Any pond/lake over 5' deep are still pretty much open water. We were supposed to have temps into the teens last night, but it was in the upper 20's instead. Tonight forecast temps into the teens. That could freeze more water.

I haven't seen many birds around at all. There was a lot of migration over the weekend from all the hunting pressure. No new flights that I have seen, but there is still plenty of water available for the birds. More migrations are to come.

We got about 8" of snow on Sunday. We still have about 2-3" on the ground, and it looks and feels like December.