2015 Waterfowl Season

[Neighbor_guy]

That's a nice bill!!!

i like the way you framed the picture too. 

[Dorkfish]

Went out Sunday morning and ended up seeing a lot of birds landing in the middle of the lake not wanting anything to do with decoys when there's already rafts of ducks sitting on the water

[SORNO]

Our whole weekend was like the above post. We seen some ducks flying but all had no interest at all. and then everything was done flying by 9am. Our year has been horrible.

[Dorkfish]

this warm weather isn't helping us out at all. Hopefully some northern birds start showing up

[MJ1657]

Check out the crazy ducks chasing Neighborguy in his attack yak. They were making quite a wake........ I thought Mollie was going to pass out from giggling watching it. 

[Ohboytimmy]

I like it when they put up a fight!!

 

 

S

[RK]

Went out Sunday morning and ended up seeing a lot of birds landing in the middle of the lake not wanting anything to do with decoys when there's already rafts of ducks sitting on the water

Yeah when you have real ducks out in the middle you find out in a hurry what's more convincing to a flock of birds - ducks or decoys and a duck call. About the only thing you can do is call hard and hope to swing a flock your way enough to get a passing shot within range. If you're lucky it'll also flush the birds in the middle and get them out of your hair...

[TylerS]

The other part about ducks landing in the middle is because they learn pretty quick that being close to the shore is a danger zone. I've seen ducks landing on whitecaps in 30-mph winds in the middle of a slough because they refused to fly near cover. 

Survival is a powerful instinct. 

[bwana_d]

Your stories about your dogs brought have brought few tears to my eyes; decided I should be grateful this season for a dog that I truly thought would not be able to hunt this season, a vet had even told me maybe I should consider new activities for him.

By the numbers, it has been good, just not a great season, my wife son and I have harvested quite a few wood ducks, some teal and some mallards. I don’t ever remember shooting so many woodies so late into the season.   Most of our hunting has been up in the Leech Lake, Winnie area.

What really makes this season memorable is my 20 year old son becoming addicted to duck hunting and leaving the video games behind, I was worried that would never happen.  I think a big part of it was him taking the old dog and going by himself.   The catalyst was when a friend from his from work told him he had lost 3 ducks the day before,  and wished he had a dog.  My son said he was pretty sure he could bring the old dog, they went, shot a couple of ducks, the old dog found them and they were happy.  Next thing I knew he was getting up early in the morning to hunt before going to class.  If he had to work on the weekend and stay home, he made me leave the old dog with him so he could hunt before or after work.   He bought some new calls, practiced and sounds really good now, made his own lanyard for his calls, looks so good I want one.  The first time he took me to one of “his” spots was fun for this old guy.  He was now the guide. He had found a spot in a wildlife management area using Google maps that we could walk into and he set the decoys.  He was loading his gun, got his glove stuck just as 3 mallards were circling.  Later he said that was part of being a guide, to let me shoot.

The old dog is prematurely gray, he is 7 but has had a rough life, he got Blastomycosis when he was 1, the vet had to talk me out of putting him down (I did not want to go through it again with another dog.)  Couple of surgeries on his chest the last couple of years to remove a 5”x7” patch of skin tags, something my vet had only seen once before.  I decided that would be the last serious money spent fixing up this dog, I love my dogs, but…..it is tough to keep spending money when they are going downhill. Then this summer he decided to stop using his back legs to swim, he preferred to pogo off the bottom.  I really thought he might drown hunting this year.  The first day of duck hunting Echo let the young pup Sirus do all the work (I thought he was done), he hardly had any interest in retrieving the ducks.  Sirus got an infection from the loon muck and was unable to hunt the next two weeks, Echo stepped up and did a great job.  Almost like he knew the day before I was still training Sirus for an upcoming test.  On the day my son guided, Echo retrieved 2 of the 3 ducks and was the better dog.  My son was sure proud of what is now his dog for hunting.  I was proud and grateful he took me duck hunting.

Looking forward to that perfectly timed cold front….and when our daughter slows down and can hunt with us again.

[jparrucci]

Your stories about your dogs brought have brought few tears to my eyes; decided I should be grateful this season for a dog that I truly thought would not be able to hunt this season, a vet had even told me maybe I should consider new activities for him.

By the numbers, it has been good, just not a great season, my wife son and I have harvested quite a few wood ducks, some teal and some mallards. I don’t ever remember shooting so many woodies so late into the season.   Most of our hunting has been up in the Leech Lake, Winnie area.

What really makes this season memorable is my 20 year old son becoming addicted to duck hunting and leaving the video games behind, I was worried that would never happen.  I think a big part of it was him taking the old dog and going by himself.   The catalyst was when a friend from his from work told him he had lost 3 ducks the day before,  and wished he had a dog.  My son said he was pretty sure he could bring the old dog, they went, shot a couple of ducks, the old dog found them and they were happy.  Next thing I knew he was getting up early in the morning to hunt before going to class.  If he had to work on the weekend and stay home, he made me leave the old dog with him so he could hunt before or after work.   He bought some new calls, practiced and sounds really good now, made his own lanyard for his calls, looks so good I want one.  The first time he took me to one of “his” spots was fun for this old guy.  He was now the guide. He had found a spot in a wildlife management area using Google maps that we could walk into and he set the decoys.  He was loading his gun, got his glove stuck just as 3 mallards were circling.  Later he said that was part of being a guide, to let me shoot.

The old dog is prematurely gray, he is 7 but has had a rough life, he got Blastomycosis when he was 1, the vet had to talk me out of putting him down (I did not want to go through it again with another dog.)  Couple of surgeries on his chest the last couple of years to remove a 5”x7” patch of skin tags, something my vet had only seen once before.  I decided that would be the last serious money spent fixing up this dog, I love my dogs, but…..it is tough to keep spending money when they are going downhill. Then this summer he decided to stop using his back legs to swim, he preferred to pogo off the bottom.  I really thought he might drown hunting this year.  The first day of duck hunting Echo let the young pup Sirus do all the work (I thought he was done), he hardly had any interest in retrieving the ducks.  Sirus got an infection from the loon muck and was unable to hunt the next two weeks, Echo stepped up and did a great job.  Almost like he knew the day before I was still training Sirus for an upcoming test.  On the day my son guided, Echo retrieved 2 of the 3 ducks and was the better dog.  My son was sure proud of what is now his dog for hunting.  I was proud and grateful he took me duck hunting.

Looking forward to that perfectly timed cold front….and when our daughter slows down and can hunt with us again.

 

Did pretty well jump shooting in NC MN.  Group of 5 with our limit of wood ducks both Saturday and Sunday,  2 mallards, and 2 ringnecks.  It was WAY too hot for what we were doing. My oldest dog grabbed a double and even tried for the triple.  My younger dog did okay too.  He doesn't have the drive of the older one and will just watch unless he is alone or it is a cripple.  He did have a great find on a live woodie that sailed into the weeds and woods.

FYI,  they make dog life jackets in camouflage.  Both of my dogs wear them while duck hunting.  I don't trust the legs on my older brittany and he will chase a crippled diver forever. The ones I bought are from Onyx outdoors, less than 20 bucks.

Edited November 6, 2015 by jparrucci

[Lunker]

My brother and I ventured to ND for a few days Oct 25-30. Neither of us had been there before. Stayed in a small town in the pothole region. Drove out the evening of the 25th, scouted the majority of the day the 26th. Got an evening hunt in on the 26th, hunted 27-29, a short morning hunt the 30th and then returned.

Overall had a great hunt, scouted a bit each day and most of the first. The hunting was terrific by my standard but I could tell it was mostly early migrators and some local birds. We brought the equipment for both water and field hunts. We did see some fields swarmed with mallards but couldn't get access, and very few geese in the area. We ended up hunting water.  Shot a mix that included mostly gadwall and mallards, as well as Widgeon, Pintail, Redhead, Ringneck, Canvasback, and shoveler. The weather was up and down and included sunny and 60s to a blizzard and 60 mph winds. 

I brought my oldest lab Willie, pictured, who did awesome.  Overall a great hunt, and I'll be back.

 

[Ufatz]

Mr. jparruccci.....keep in mind those dog vests can get very hot on a dog after a few hours activity..  Maybe take them off for a break now and then.  But you are right, they are a good idea......especially to keep your pal from running full bore into something sharp, i.e. broken stick etc..

Nice looking bunch of dogs.  People.....uhhh....not so much.   Ha Ha Ha.  Glad you had fun.

[Bryce]

Had it all figured out. Flurries earlier in the week in nodak and wnw wind. Called in to work with a Dengue Fever type excuse and headed west for a spot that I have 25 years of experience shooting greenheads on. One hen as time expired. Area is covered in snows and specks. Way more in one evening than seen in all my years combined.  Weird migration year.

[Bryce]

[chub]

[Neighbor_guy]

Is that a scooter???

[chub]

Is that a scooter???

yes

[Neighbor_guy]

Sweet!!! Well done. Decoy him to diver decoys or puddles???

[chub]

 

 

Is that a scooter???

yes

pair came into mallard spread.  They were apparently confused on more than one level.......lol

Edited November 8, 2015 by chub

[CANOPY SAM]

Had it all figured out. Flurries earlier in the week in nodak and wnw wind. Called in to work with a Dengue Fever type excuse and headed west for a spot that I have 25 years of experience shooting greenheads on. One hen as time expired. Area is covered in snows and specks. Way more in one evening than seen in all my years combined.  Weird migration year.

You aren't kidding, Bryce.  I have yet to see anything in NW Minnesota that might loosely be described as a migration this fall?  Is everything still up in Canada?  I don't even know what to think anymore this year?

[Bryce]

I don't know. We've had 2 big blows out of the north. One on Thursday, the other mid October. My money one would say the majority of the birds hopped a free ride and all we're going to see from here on is a trickle. It has been a very strange weather year so my money would be substantially less than most years. It was very strange to see all the snows and specks but very few mallards and darks. I did hear some reports of good diver numbers this weekend  and we actually saw quite a few working the bigger water. 

[Neighbor_guy]

I think I would disagree with that. A one day pair of one day blows a migration does not make. Even the 2day blow we had around October 15th. It might have moved a few. But there was no mass exit. 

I think what we have had instead was more of a slow trickle. Even the calendar migrators are coming down slow. My friend on Big Stone said there was a nice raft of spoons out there this week. That's almost 2weeks later than they normally arrive. And the big flocks of reds  have yet to materialize. 

My contacts on Lake of the Woods are telling me the local buffleheads and marina mallards are still around, but the ringneck flocks and other divers are just trickling through. No big push has come down the lake yet. 

Here at home we have had between 1k-3k Canada's roosting on the lake for two weeks now. There is so much food within 5miles of here they have no reason to leave. 

The dabblers may be gone, but as long as there is open water there will be ducks. 

[TylerS]

Neighbor_Guy is spot on. Many, many birds still stacked up in Canada. My Portage la Prairie, MB friend is piling up bills, green heads, green-winged teal...you name it. 

As long as it stays nice up there, and there's plenty of food in the fields (which there are) the birds have no reason to move. 

I tromped around south of Devils Lake and in SE ND this weekend. Few Canada geese and some cacklers, but ducks were virtually nonexistent. There are pockets, for sure, but you're going to need to burn some petrol to find them. 

It's getting below freezer over night, but highs are in the 40s to high 50s for the next 10 days. Don't expect anything soon...

[MJ1657]

Neighborguy, goose, Moll, and myself decided to chase ducks this morning instead of deer. Had some action and brought some birds home.  

Wow can two girls that age talk....

[O.T.C.]

IDK, woodies left and there's zero mallards around or at least through many deer hunting AM's and PM's not seeing or hearing them at all in East Central MN nor in OTC near the city of Ottertail, Rush,  Buchanon, McGowan off then toward Wadena and Hewitt, all deer camp members totaling maybe 30 of us not seeing much, need things to start freezing up some maybe idk. very mild compared to a year ago, a year ago tomorrow my swamp was totally froze solid, hasn't been a film of ice in there yet this year. Best is certainly yet to come but days to do it are winding down also.

PS. The local honker flocks also are very small compared to most years. The lessers never really showed up to stay the past few years either talking along HWY 10 from Perham to Staples let say. Geese about 1/2 of what it normally is idk.