Cold Front pushing birds?

[Willy]

Has anyone seen any notice of new birds in your area? I would think that with this cold front and high winds, some new birds would be showing up.

[duckbill]

They are moving. Last weekend was teal and woodducks. This morning there were a lot of mallards around and not one teal. This cold should start the push.

[Willy]

What area are you hunting in Duckbill?

[Old Guide]

Willy, I hunted geese/ducks by Thief Lake this a.m. Cold N.W. wind with mist (early)34 degrees. I saw quite a few migrateing flocks of canada's and one big flock of crows way up there. I.d say thier next stop would be Lac Q. or Iowa!!

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Lake of the Woods
http://fishingminnesota.com/oldguidecharters/
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[Tour. Pro 175]

I was also out this morning. Hunting was slow, we shot a one man limit for two guys, but didn't see alot of birds. We shot a greenwing teal so I'm guessing there are some northern birds trickling in The highlight of the morning was a banded drake mallard that I shot. I felt bad for my partner he missed it twice before I folded it. Looking forward to tommorow!!

Good hunting

[hunters7]

Scouted Mud-Goose and Bowstring at sundown Friday night - not much flying

[Jason Boser]

hunter7 I heard that bowstring had some ducks? we hunted on a pond by mud and goose sat morn not alot flying around but we had some shooting its going to be our typical 2nd week duck season up here with not much around.
Jason

[Fowlguy]

Hunting by Lake Benton on Sat, was SLOW. Six guys 4 ducks.

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Fish on, pass the Jager!!

[Nitebiter]

Gettin tempted to clean the gun and put it away for the season.. there are NO ducks in this county.. i didnt even hunt today, just put about 150 miles on my truck scouting and i saw 2 woodies.... no birds in the air, nothing in the ponds.. just geese.
Hate to break it to ya boys, but this just isnt a duck state.. all there is to look forward to now is divers hopefully the weather stays nice and cold or its just gonna be crappy like this for the next few weeks till we get some REAL cold weather.

looks like its time to start goose hunting again.. ohh boy.. 1 goose.. cluck cluck, moan, bang, go home... hardly worth my time to set up decoys even, but i suppose its better than sittin at home watchin tv..

[Guest]

Seen very few ducks yesterday and not the influx of new geese I expected to see. Seen some lessers and a snow goose show up mid week so I was hopeful for some new birds. We got 1 goose and shouldn't of let a flock take one more swing, 6 geese landed in the spread 10 minutes before shooting time- I hate when they do that!!I took my first weekend day off since early goose opened, have to work so not able to hunt during the week.

[mwktrapper]

Still a lot of birds around in the Grand Rapids area. Places like White Oak and the area are pretty slow due to hunting pressure but if you can get away from the crowd there's a lot of ducks to be had. I've noticed a lot of teal and woodies around still but have been getting into more divers and a few northern mallards each day. A lot of ringbills around also. Shot 11 different species of ducks and geese this weekend along with a nice bracelet off a drake mallard.

[Hubcat]

Remeber guys this years duck opener was a week early. This weekend would have been the normal opener.

There's alot of hunting left

Bob

[Mark Christianson]

If this were the normal opener, it would have been my worst ever.

Granted, ducks have already been shot at prior to this weekend.

We had 3 guys this weekend, and 2 ducks.
Yiippppeeee
Actually, I opted to bowhunt this morning instead of wasting my time on birds that are not around.
I bowhunted an area with a big private lake surrounded by CRP in my sight.
I saw less than 10 ducks go near the lake.

Normally, I am taking a lot of shots at ducks on this body of water. Sad, very sad......

[TV BOY]

We hunted within 3 miles where we hammered 'em last weekend. I hardly saw any birds flying or sitting on any water! Virtually no teal compared to a week ago.

I sat in the rain on Fri only to get my 2 woodies and a mallard.
NOTHIN on Sat or Sun! Not even a chance to miss.

Heard a ton of pheasants That might be a better season than the ducks!

[Powerstroke]

I went out today for my first time in a few years. Just all by my lonesome. I checked a few areas west of the cities with little luck. Not much great public land around, but I did find some good WPA's.

Saw 3-4 dozen ducks, about 50-50 mallards and teal. I missed a few shots on some mallards when I jumped them up while entering a small pool. Nothing worse then taking that first shot and making it your last shots for the day.

Can't wait for some colder weather.

[Willy]

Two of us shot 16 this weekend but we had to work for them. Still a few teal and woodies around and didn't get too many or see too many mallards. There isn't much around here in south central MN. If you can get back into some dug in slough holes you can find a huntable number of birds but it's work. It won't be good now around here for a while unless we get a real cold snap. But like someone said it's early yet.

Late in the season is when the big king mallards will light up the skies!!

[honker23]

I think there are birds around, but you can't find em all day because of the water everywhere. Flooded fields and rivers hold a lot of woodies and mallards. Last night I watched 50 -100 woodies land in 6-8' standing corn. If the water dries up, or freezes we will start seeing more in the sloughs, lakes.

[jblabsnduck]

Fowlguy,. where about where you hunting by Lake benton?
We hunted right around there on opener.
This weekend we where up in Canby. We did OK.
We saw a few flocks of blue bills, was suprised to see them already. I am sure they where just some early ones.
We mainly shot green wingers but did get a nice wood duck for the wall.

[Sartell Angler]

nitebiter...what are you talking about this isn't a duck state? this is one of the best states in the U.S. for ducks...you just have to know what you're doing. Duck numbers aren't increasing by any means, and habitat isn't getting any better, but we have it better than a lot of states here in MN. Granted it isn't like North Dakota anymore, but you can still get a good duck hunt in if you hit it right. And don't mention the geese, because we have an excellent goose state (more shot here than anywhere else).

S.A.

[Nitebiter]

Dont tell me i dont know what im doing, ive been all over this area and by this time of year i usually have shot over 20 ducks MYSELF.. spots arent producing, there ARE NO BIRDS HERE!! Ive got a pot-hole that the ducks LOVE and we shot 1 on there sunday of opener, between me and my hunting buddies we shoulda killed right around 40 birds on that pond by now. beleive me im in an area that should be holding plenty of ducks, but its SHOT. I havent even hunted yet this week, im still trying to find some birds.. looks like im gonna have to put some real miles on the ol' truck and head further west..

There ARE plenty of geese around, but its not really worth it to go out and shoot 1.. its alot of work to set up decoys for a 10 minute hunt..

[Sartell Angler]

sorry, not trying to rip on your hunting ability nitebiter...just got a lot of pride for our state and know that it can be great for all kinds of hunting.

S.A.