Is it over?

[GullGuide]

Hey all,
Was thinking about making one last hunt this weekend, but with the low temps, is there any open water anywhere other than the rivers?
Will travel to just about anywhere if there are birds. Heck, if ya want to hunt, I've got a 16 ft boat with plenty of dekes.
Any ideas?

[doubleUcubed]

Gull, I was taking my dock out Wed. just at sunset and you should have seen and heard the geese on Kandi.!! Man there were a lot of them. I don't get to see what's going on during the daylight hours during the week, but the weekends I've seen a lot of birds around, some of the smaller sloughs have opened back up but with the colder weather tonight they may freeze again only to reopen early next week!! I'll be deer hunting the next 4 day's but I may try to make it to a computer to let people know what there are for ducks, geese and open water around. Good Luck!

[Fisher Dave]

We have the geese in the southern metro also. Mallards were everywhere this week .. Wednesday as I posted in an earlier post (2 days ago) the water was still open so if it is iced up it should still be crashable. Late morning hunts have been nothing short of excellent .. afternoon depends on the weather .. birds flying very late when its clear.

I'll scout it out today sometime to see just how much ice has formed .. should be easily crashable.

Judgeing by your name you probably dont live near the metro area .. if your that intent on getting some more good hunting in I will let you know exactly whats going on. I'll be scouting at the least this afternoon and will be hunting tomorrow morning. I always have extra room in my boat (14' V hull).. and plenty of decoys.

Any questions email me at [email protected]

[Guest]

Gull,
I just spent the morning scouting around Fergus for open water. A buddy is thinking of coming up to my place for a hunt all day tomorrow.

I found larger, deeper lakes completely free of ice and some small rafts of ducks. I'm leaning to get back out for the ducks over sitting in a tree all weekend...again. I still have another week for the deer!

There aren't any real numbers of birds around, which sucks. In fact, I am thinking that I would be more successful ice fishing some lakes and catching a fish over bagging a duck! Talk about a bad "duck" attitude!! I would still like to get out though.

Do you have a blind on your boat? If you do there are some decent places I have in mind. I accidently left my boat blind in Bemidji, but I don't need it for some lakes.

Something to think about, and maybe take a trip?

I just looked at the forecast and it appears to be occasional flurries and cloudy for tomorrow. Might be my last duck trip! It's better than sunshine.

[This message has been edited by CD (edited 11-15-2002).]

[EW6]

Gullguide,
I am thinking of coming home one last weekend from school to hunt one last time in the New London Area, but I am not 100% sure just yet. The reports my brother gave me are that I've got open water with a few ducks, it sounds like there are not a lot at all. Mostly Bluebills and Goldeneyes and it is completely hit and miss but it is duck hunting. My brother will be hunting deer and so I'll be by myself on big cold water...a partner probably wouldn't be a bad idea. If you are interested in teaming up for a possible hunt Sunday morning you can e-mail me at [email protected]

Eric Korman

[Fisher Dave]

I just got back from scouting out Louisville & Rice near Savage.

The slough on the south end of Louisville has about 1/3 inch of solid, clear ice on it. The creek to access rice lake is still completely open although it appeared that the main lake is iced up .. probably the same as Louisville (same area, same lake characteristics). Shouldnt be bad for crashing.

I'll be out crashing ice tomorrow morning... seen plenty of birds around everywhere there was open water... This should be some of the best shooting of the year. I'll post to let people know how I do at the least.

For those who hunt Louisville and have been avoiding it over poor road conditions .. they have repaired the road. It should be accessable by just about any vehicle with a little ground clearance now.

Good luck to the few duck hunters left this year.

Dave

[Bryce]

Just got back from your camp area Gullguide. 3 whistlers, a buff and 2 mallets. All mountable. Been pounding the mallets in that area and west on and off for the past 3 weeks. Seen so much green and gold I'm rooting for the pack tommorrow. Will fight to the death before I let them open the season earlier. Let the hacks go to Iowa to shoot teal. They can learn to eat boolhead and we'll send them a patch: CERTIFIED SPOONIE WACKER. Big sloughs are froze over. Saw 2 rigs on mud's public on my way back to TC. Will be back next week for some big water gunning.

[GullGuide]

Bryce,
What day did you see the 2 rigs on Mud?
Stopped and visited with the 2 rigs on Friday evening, told me it would be impossible to get out there Saturday morning because of the ice....I took that as a challenge.
Got out there on Saturday morning to see that a rig had come and gone...freshly broken ice at access and wet ramp, but no rig in lot. Took this as a sign that the lake was froze over...goody goody I said to myself. 2 weekends before we encountered the same conditions- had to break ice for over a mile, break and push ice in large area in front of hunting spot, and were well rewarded for it with a total of 4 limits and being the only boats on the lake.
Well, luckilly the boat that left broke through the worst of it...almost 2-3 inches of ice...out to a little open water. Ended up braking a path out into the bog a ways where we had to open a hole. Sat there until 10:30 and saw zero ducks until we had a flock of 6 or so drop out of nowhere right into our dekes...big northern birds full of corn. Sat there until Noon and did not see another duck. Another boat did come out around 8am, but they left before we did. Did not go back this morning, but with the wind, maybe she opened up a bit more. Might be huntable all week with the warming temps as long as someone keeps the ice broke up at the access and out a little ways.

[walleye wisher]

There still out there. 4 of us limited out on greenheads Sunday night. What a rush. They were litterally dropping into our laps out in a picked bean field with chopped corn right behind us. Had to quit shooting 1/2 hour before shooting time was over and we were only there 40 minutes. We were 35 miles east of St. Cloud.

[Guest]

Tom-
The lake I scouted that was wide open Friday was solid ice 1" thick Sat. morning when we arrived. For the first hour of hunting it was solid bluebills in our face. Absolutely incredible, and the birds were flying so close to us we couldn't hit em. We didn't expect that kind of a hunt at all. We thought we had shot our limit with all the excitement, when we only had 4 dead on the water by the end of the barrage. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

We then finished the day ice fishing! Now I caught a virus and I'm paying the price for all my fun.

[EW6]

Finished off my season with one of the biggest geese I have ever seen and a bluebill. Should have nailed a mallard for my last bird but when I put the bead on it and pulled the trigger nothing happened. The old auto froze up from all of the spray splashing up on the rocks I was sitting on, guess that will be good motivation to get ready for next year. The ducks were there, but they chose to fly off the lake and not over me, oh well I guess. I would guess that hunting will still be possible next weekend but I will be running a race in Iowa and so it is all over for me. It was a good year for me although short, we'll have to get a sort of how your season went post going when it is for sure all over. But to those of you still hunting you are the true duck hunters and I am proud to share this site with you. Good luck battling the cold and ice for however long you can still get out there.

Eric

[Duck-o-holic]

CD--

I hope you're not sick at home reading this! I was just up in your neck of the woods, but was hunting deer and not ducks (I feel like such a traitor!)

I did see some mallards, geese, and goldeneyes near Detroit Lakes. Shoot me an email if you want details. Maybe we can still get out for a hunt this year? I know I'm still planning on gunning. Maybe we can hook up with Gull for a shoot somewhere. Keep in touch bud!

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

[GullGuide]

Duck,
Let's plan for a hunt this Sunday. That should be the last day I'll be able to get out.
"Lake X" was pretty much open on Sunday and there were a ton of birds out there. Scout it out and we should plan. Have to do the "Mother Spread" at least once!

[Bear_arm]

Hey y'all, I was wondering if any had a little extra room sometime this coming weekend?--I'd love to get one more shoot in. Can add 2 bags of dekes, dog, and a good call to the hunt. I'm available Fri., Sat. and Sun.(metro area)
-Bear

[Flipnripem]

Extreme southern Mn. is still yet to see a good nunber of divers yet. A few buffies and ring necks and lots of mallards. Spent the past weekend wondering why there were know more hunters on the lakes. Needless to say I need to make a run for more bullets. All greenheads and more showing up daily. We need about two more weeks of season to hunt. Everybody must know how much work it is to get out attempt to hunt these birds. Whew, man it`s fun though.

[Fisher Dave]

Flipin.....

Sounds like your shooting at alot of the birds we had in the metro until recently. The south metro locations that were so hot got pretty much shut-off by the cold snap. 2" of ice formed over a couple days and well .. as devoted to duck hunting as I am. its just to much to crash when motors arent allowed. Them mallards had so much down on them the only efficient way to drop them was with BB's .. #2's were just plucking a few feathers most the time.

Its over for me this year. Have the best of luck for the last week of the season.

[Flipnripem]

Fisher Dave, thanks for good wishes. I will do what it takes to find open water and ducks. Temp`s were in the 50`s today and should open up some more lakes. Need more bullets.

[DCICE]

I guess marsh is full of mallards, a friend went yesterday and watched a few groups shoot their limit in less time than doing the deek's. The right spot syndrome was going on. Those guy's were going out to Norway today, there was a report of a fair amount of birds on the lake. Wish I would have been duck'n instead of deer'n last weekend!
DC