Late October Duck Hunting

[guy100]

Me and a couple buddies are planning a trip to Winne, LOW, or the Blackduck area. What do you guys think would be the best bet. We are going on the 21st of October and was wondering what we are to expect. What we should bring (decoys, boat, etc..), and where we should go. Not looking for anyone's secret spot, but for just a general area we should start scouting. Also should we bring a boat or is it possible to hunt from shore which we would prefer. Any help would be greatly apprieciated.

Thanks, Anthony

[duckbill]

Guy100,

I will be up there the same weekend staying in Squaw Lake, MN. We usually hunt Round Lake for the bills but I am going to try another lake this year that is close to there. The 3rd River area of winnie can be great for bills too. On the weekends some of these areas can get a lot of pressure from hunters too. If the timing is right it can be a sight to see. You will need a boat and a lot of decoys if you plan on hunting big water. The reason I say a lot of decoys is because the bills tend to raft up in the middle of the lake and unless you have a 100+ decoys you are not going to pull many away from the big raft sitting in the middle from my experiences up there.

[CRAPPIEBAIT]

How does it work for hunting on Leech & Winnie for "non-band" members ?Do I have the right to hunt on the lakes being white ?

I never hunt these lakes because I do not know if I am allowed to or not.THNKS FOR ANY HELP.

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Greg

[duckbill]

You have the rights to hunt on either. I have seen to many threads on this site about the issue of indian hunting rights. We all have views on it but this thread is about duck hunting in that area. I would like to say that I have never ran into any issues duck hunting anywhere up there.

[CRAPPIEBAIT]

Hey,Thank you DUCKBILL.

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Greg

[LABS4ME]

Leech Lake is an "open" reservation, so we have the privledge to hunt and fish within the borders without special regs or licenses. The state does make a yearly payment to the band to continue this. I think there has also been a large settlement or two to keep it going. In a nutshell knock yourself out, hunt on either Winnie or Leech, just make sure you stay out of the Red Lake nation if going North of Bemidji. That is a "closed" reservation.

Good Luck!

Ken

[CRAPPIEBAIT]

Yes,I have learned my lesson about Red Lake res.Thing is,most lessons are learned the hard way.Car broke down on the way to LOW,started walking to get help,guy from Clearbrook picked me up and gave me a ride well long story short,we went back to my car after being gone about an hour and it was a BBQ.That's right,burned to a crisp.Then the guy tells me they don't like state of MN plates in this area & avoid it as much as possible.

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Greg

[big drift]

I am a former Red Lake Police Officer. There is an area to hunt there for non memebers. It is in the rice farms just off the reservation. You do need all the required state and federal licenses and a either a $25 or $50 tribal permit. One is & days and the other is season. Further to hunt here you need to have a band member as guide. Contact Red Lake DNR for further details. This is an awesome area for ducks and geese. If you try to hunt there w/o guide and permit say goodbye to everything and be facing federal charges. Don't discount the reservation like everywhere else the majority are decent you only hear the bad. Or contact Red Lake Dept. Of Public Safety at 218-679-3313. And No I am not native.

[guy100]

Thanks for all the help. One more question though. Is there oppritunites to hunt LOW from shore? And if so how would the hunting be? We do have a boat a 14ft Lund with a 10hp motor ( little scared to use that one on any lake late in the year), and a 17ft lund with a 90hp motor ( is a fishing boat though, was thinking that we could use that one to scout, transport equipment, etc.) Would this be sufficent. Also we have many decoys, problem is that we only have maybe 3 doz diver decoys, and probably 12 doz mallards. Would we be able to use the mallards for diver hunting. Oh and one more thing is Round lake any good for duck hunting. Thanks for all the help.
Anthony

[duckbill]

Yes Round lake is good for duck hunting. 14 foot boat with a 10 hp is fine as long as the wind doesn't come up on you because then a 16 foot when a 40 gets banged around. Yes we use mallard decoys too. Bills don't seem to mind to much.