New Birds?

[fishface5]

I wasn't able to hunt today, but part of my job is driving around, (sometimes very fast). In my travels today I noticed a lot of geese flying,(migrating?). Down on Mystic lake (yes by the casino) there were quite a number of ringbills. Was any one out today, and if so, what did you see and "generaly" where.

[HunterLee]

saw lots of geese flying south along with some mallards along with some teal. up around the mahnomen area.

[Guest]

My trusty lakes in Bemidji are dead. An unreal sight, believe me. Never have I seen a lull like this for late October. The conditions were perfect today.

Reports I read tonight is that there is a major push of birds right now in far, far north Manitoba. Some small sloughs are finally icing up up there. This week looks promising to gradually move the birds south.

My friend in Montevideo says the goose/mallard population is exploding around his place.

Another friend hunted Mahnomen the last few days and they got into a bunch of snows, blues and even 1 specklebelly. Not too much for ducks, but better than most areas in the north.

[This message has been edited by CD (edited 10-25-2003).]

[fishface5]

I was working south metro again today and there seemed to be alot of birds on the ponds (safe ponds)but not much in the sky. I have tomorrow off so if I can drag my butt out of bed in the AM I'll give it a try. I hope there are some new birds!

[IceHawk]

I saw some ringbills and bluebills around the St Cloud MN area this weekend, I also heard of some large flocks of mallards spotted feeding in cornfields around the Brooten, Belgrade area!!! With this cold weather the northern birds should start showing up in full force the next two weeks, cant wait because late season duck hunting can't be beat.

[Riverratpete]

Hunted Lac qui Parle and Marsh Lake this weekend. Lac Qui Parle - lots of geese but seem pretty educated to not be locals didn't see much in the way of Mallards. Hunted Marsh Lake this Am and some geese (bagged 2) but no ducks except for a Meganser, any ducks that did come by were extremely decoy shy and the geese wanted nothing to do with the dekes or calling, yesterday wind blowing to beat the band/ snow thought for sure we'd get a push but in typical fashion - nothing. I'm starting to think it's going to be one of them years where one day it's fall, the next day winter and the ducks are history and sunning themselves in Arkansas by Thanksgiving.

[Mark Christianson]

Battle lake area.
Worst weekend yet.
Yesterday saw few birds, high or low.
One shot taken, one Greenhead bagged.
Lots of geese moving all over, but nothing near us.
Today. Not a shot fired and VERY few birds flying at all. The shallow lake we were hunting was froze when we got out there.
Next weekend. Bigger water, and hope some divers come down.

[This message has been edited by biglakeba$$ (edited 10-26-2003).]

[fishface5]

Hang in ther guys. It's got to get better. Thanks for the info, I'm going to try to get out this week. Wright co. area I'll post what happens. Thanks again for the reports.

[jigglestick]

hey guys, don't feel bad. i'm glad to hear i'm not the only one who has had sucky luck this season, and that is at the old reliable spots.
my wife cleans ducks for some of the guys in the camps up towards winnie, squaw, round, bowstring, and surrounding areas. in the past she has had 500- 1000- birds by this time. this year less than a hundred.
saturdays push of snow and cold norwest winds got some birds in the area, and yesterdayswest, and south winds helped keep some of the birds in the area. we hunted a small lake off of winnie yesterday, and got SKUNKED. i was hoping the winds out on the big lake would kick a few our way like usual. i found out why. i looked out from bowens, and the dam, and the only thing i found was a group of divers 1/4 mile high, and heading south.
chin up though guys i did find birds, and i plan to take them at day break.
has anyone looked at the radar map of u.s. and canada this morning? might be a good time to use up a couple of those sick days by wednesday. a large downward spiraling front should bring us all the mallards and bills we can handle! this is my prediction, and i am pretty certain. they are predicting up to an inch of snow over by duluth, but i bet it may be more further inland.
don't put those decoys away yet. the best is bound to come. lets just hope it isn't so short lived that not very many get to enjoy it.
good luck, jigglestick!!

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summer is just the dog days of winter jigglestick I.B.O.T.#5 have you clamped today???

[Guest]

Saw more birds on Friday than on Saturday. Diddnt even bother going out Sunday.
Saturday saw maybe a half dozen flocks, all divers, very high and heading out.
Everyone must have thought this was going to be the big weekend with the cold front coming through, which was evident by the large numbers of hunters out....more than opening weekend where I was at.
It's gonna take a bit more than just one cold front to get these birds moving. Biggest fear is that when they do come down, there will be nothing to keep em here due to the fact that most of the crops are out and the fields are almost all tilled under...no food equals birds move through quickly.
Next week should be better with snow in the forcast. Might be another mega push that goes through quickly I'm afraid.

[bigdog]

Big Stone/Swift/Stevens county on Saturday. Plenty of hunters early in the day. Few Gadwall's on a couple spots but really no ducks to speak of. Lot of geese but all were high. Roosters were slower than expected and spooky. For two guys we managed 8 duck, 2 Roosters and 1 Honker but we covered many miles.

[Bogsucker]

Hunted pool 5 on Sunday. A few more greenwings, and mallards in the area, though no large flocks. Lots of small groups of divers flying high. Woodies are still around. Best hunting so far this year but not what I expected.

[fishface5]

I went out in western Wright co. this AM. Saw very few birds after 7:30 and not very many before. I took a couple of shots at a blue wing but she's still breathing. The most I saw was Buffle head. Wed. huh?

[Old Guide]

There are still plenty of geese in the R. Bog, Thief Lake and Agassis Ref. They are pretty concentrated in thier feeding areas. We got 2" of wet snow this afternoon just north of TRF. Some mallards are starting to show up but nothing to get excited about. Not much for feed in the fields to hold them here when they arrive.

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Old Guide Charters
Lake of the Woods
http://fishingminnesota.com/oldguidecharters/
Call Toll Free:1-800-952-(9484)

[Goldy]

Their coming! Hunted Big Stone Sat and Sunday, both days we got six bills, the rest of our ducks were a mix from woodies, teal, gadwall, mallards and if you wanted the flocks of spoonies kepted flying from one end of the lake to the other with boat traffic. I just took vacation for next week so hopefully I will time this one right this year.

[Ruttin' Buck]

Was up near Grand Rapids this weekend checking deer stands and grouse hunting. Jumped a few water holes....what was left of them! The water is lower than I expected, I snuck up on water that I've been jumping for 15 years and there was nothing but saw grass and beaver runs.

Of the ponds we found water in, we jumped some woodies yet! HOWEVER...the ponds froze over on Saturday night and did not thaw yesterday. Get ready...they're on their way guys!!

[bassman222]

Went out jump shootin' to some beaver ponds that usually have some mallards in them this time of year NW of Deer River, nothing! The grouse were sure out though, managed to bag a couple.

Bassman

[mwktrapper]

Hunted an hour west of Bemidji Sat. and Sun. Lots of birds moving down. Saturday we shot snows, blues, cacklers, and monster canadas. For ducks we shot mostly mallards and greenwings, along with wigeon, bufflehead, and our last pintails. Went back to the same spot sunday to see a nice solid sheet of ice covering the water. This week should be some of the best hunting yet this season. A lot of these birds haven't been hunted from the north and decoy well. This is when they show some very nice color too.

[jigglestick]

i went out this morning late. it seems that after i went to bed, the wife stayed up to get some late evening chores done( bless her heart) the power went out, and when she came to bed she reset the clock to the time the kids get up instead of 4:15 like i had it set for...DOH!! anyway, the way it was snowing, and blowing, i didn't think it would matter much. i was right. i went to a lake north of deer river, and found all the birds i could wish for. they were thick, and still coming in. there were some big flocks coming from the south too, which leads me to believe they are pretty much working all of the big lakes in the area though i did not look to research this.
2 ringbills in my pouch, and 5 more that crumpled to the water in the dekes only to pop up and dive under never to be seen again i hate that about those ****ed bills. the wind was so strong i could only manage a dozen decoys.
i decided to leave when i couldn't hardly open my eyes from being pelted with snow. i sure could have used a partner. picking up the dekes was next to impossible. it did help warm me up though.
a good time overall, and i would highly recomend getting out while the getting is good.

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summer is just the dog days of winter jigglestick I.B.O.T.#5 have you clamped today???

[fishface5]

Anybody close to town been out? I have to get some sleep, but maybe I'll try for a mid morning outing. probably Wright co. again.

[Lowe]

Went out last night on a smaller pothole between Duluth and Grand Rapids that was holding a few bluebills a week ago. Saw one flock of bluebills that buzzed the tower then kept going, one more flock of mallards (looked like locals and not the big Canadian ones) that came in way too late to shoot. Hunted up in Orr on Saturday and saw lots of ducks, but was only able to throw out 15 dekes by myself in the short period of time I had after pulling docks and boatlifts . Most of the flocks I saw had 50+ birds in them and would not decoy to my small spread.

Jiggle if you ever need a partner give me a holler.

[can it be luck?]

Wi. isn't much better. I went out this morning to a local flowage. Besides the usual large flocks flying a mile high for the first half hour, nothing much. Had a flock of about 10 mallards buzz my decoys then land behind a point I was hunting. Snuck around the backside and did manage one greenhead. Monday I shot one hen and two greenheads jump shooting. Nothing flying, and no migrants. Praying for ducks!

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http://groups.msn.com/canitbeluck

[honker23]

Was out this weekend, and like others shot 8 snows and blues between the two days. Couple cans, redheads and mallards. Went out on tues, same old thing, couple mals, and a can. No big flocks of mallards with S printed on their forheads that's forsure. But I'm in southern MN, so I'm still hoping.

[fishface5]

Man they should be getting here! I've heard from first hand reports that there are a lot of divers W. of us in S. Dak. May be they just aint coming through MN anymore. I drove by Pelican Lk. (Wright co.) this AM on my way home from work, One guy at the access shot 2 "little" geese, and saw ONE duck.? We have got to make MN more attractive to ducks somehow!

[bigdog]

Hunted South of Fergus on Wednesday, few more ducks than last week but the early flurry was over in 15 minutes. Then the sky was empty. Thurday hunted/scouted throughout Big Stone county. Many hunters, every public area had fresh vehicle tracks. Plenty of geese but not much for duck. Birds I found were on private land, and those waters did not have much cover around them. Very tough to get close to birds. Birds I saw on public land were few and far between, usually bare shores and ducks sat in the middle.