2004 Year in Review....

[TV BOY]

How did everyones duck season go (or not go)?

Personally, I didn't get out nearly as much as I usually do. I didn't get any time in ND If it wasn't for a great opener the season was very unproductive.

I hope to get out at least one more time during late goose.

[Fowlguy]

It was a BUST

[Seabass77]

Very hit and miss. Either really well or skunked. My close to metro spots were awful.

[Eric Wettschreck]

1. Didn't get out nearly as much as I wanted to.

2. When I did get out, it wasn't good.

3. Still had a darn good time.

[Mark Christianson]

Early season was very poor

Mid season we had a couple great weekends

Late season was pretty much a bust.

[Ray Esboldt]

Not exactly the way I would have layed it out before the season, but I had some memorable moments.

- I purchased a puppy the weekend after opener, so that did kill some of my trips. But it was time well invested.

- Got to watch a friend introduce his year old pup to waterfowling on opening weekend. That was fun.

- Shot a banded drake mallard on an otherwise duckless day. Took 20 years to do that.

- Unintentionally parked my truck under a guy's deer stand on deer opener. I apologize to that guy. Sorry to blow your hunt that day.

- Got to hang out with good friends, not as much as I like, but quality time nonetheless.

How can you call a duck season, barring tragedy, bad? The worst days are good days in my book. How many days until the 2005 opener?

[Mark Christianson]

Let me rephrase Ray. (I took the context of the topic as to what we thought about the ducks. Not the overall hunt. My bad )

My duck harvests were:

Early season was very poor

Mid season we had a couple great shoots

Late season was pretty much a bust

The hunting season was great though. I got out with Dad, the kid, and even FM'er ChuckN a few times. And I had a great time in each outing.

[lawdog]

well, mine was bad. Only got out twice (once was barely even out though so really once) how pathetic is that????? Missed the opener because I got stuck at a family wedding. The one day I tried hard I only shot a goose. No ducks were even around. The flight is just starting and its over...what a crock! Not glad those hillbillies down south will be killing all the ducks again after I'm sure they've been whining about our hunting them first all fall...

[ChuckN]

It was one of the best years for memories. Had some excellent outings with friends this year.

Early season was great.

Mid season was pretty slow, but not a bust by any means.

Late season...well, I'm still waiting. No, last week was pretty darn good and made up for a lot of dull moments.

It did seem that some of my most intense hunts were with Biglakeba$$. The ringbill (I mean Merganser) slough and the mallard dump were fun! Thanks bud.

[Finlander]

Hunted around 20 days and totaled 4 ducks!

What else can I say!

[so haaad]

As far as productivity, this was a poor year. I only shot about 10-12 ducks and a goose this year. Never did limit out in a day this year, which was the first time in about five years. On the bright side, I was able to spend more quality time in the slough with my dad and brother. And my lab continued to amaze me with some amazing retrieves, even in his ninth year.

[Roosterslayer05]

Well for me it was one of the worst years ever. I hunted 19 days of the season and only shot 13 ducks and 4 geese. Early season was horrible. I had a couple decent mid season mornings and the last weekend of the season was great. The goose season was better than expected for the couple days it was open in the west zone! I was goose hutning for 1 week while the season was open and me and my dad both shot our possesion limit of 2 geese easily then watched as more geese decoyed into our duck spread. This year I shot a mixed bag of ducks i got

3 drake mallerds

3 gadwall

2 widgoen

1 drake pintail

1 BWT

2 GWT

1 Wood duck

I did have a good time though and had some trips i will never forget. I shot my first widgoen and first Pintail this year. My dad also shot his first snow and i got my first shot at a snow. But it was a preaty poor year. Hopefully the late goose season can salvage the year.

[Sartell Angler]

Well, I can't believe another season has come to a close...seems like they go by faster and faster every year.

Started out the year in mid-august hunting some crows at local farms over a couple crow dekes and an E-caller...that was probably good because it got us used to shooting again. Ended up with probably 15 or so crows from about 4 times out hunting.

Dove season was a blast....never imagined that I would enjoy it so much. Once we found the honey hole on the afternoon of opening day (sept 1), it was basically constant shooting as the doves decoyed in until we limited. Ended up dove hunting about 5 days this year, and don't even know exactly how many we shot but know it took us a while to clean them / grill 'em up.

Early goose was our best ever. Opening day 3 of us got 7 geese, and then the following sunday we put 8 in the dirt. Ended up shooting a few more on the last weekend, one of which over water. Hunted 4 days of the early season.

Duck season started out somewhat slow but picked up bigtime since deer season started. The first few hunts were saved by the wood ducks, as I suspect was the case for many hunters. Noticed a lack of teal in the spots that I hunted this year, as I only managed to shoot 1 gwt and a couple blue wingers...saw a fair number of divers and did well on goldeneyes and buffleheads this last month. Never saw a canvasback or a redhead all year, or a pintail for that matter. The mallards saved us in the end of the season, since the bluebills never cooperated. Our new honey hole on the big water kicked out probably 25-30 mallards to us these last couple weeks. Between my brother and I, we probably shot around 75 ducks this season and 25 honkers....but that figure is a little low if you consider what the total would be if we counted the ducks that other people who were hunting with us shot.

Overall, the season was probably one of my best ever in terms of overall enjoyment, finding new / good spots, and getting out quite a bit. Ended up hunting 23 days of this season, which is the same as last year. Looking forward to pheasants in the coming month as well as late goose action in the pit we dug again this year.

Can't wait til next year...projects for this winter include camoing our new canoe, fixing up the boat a little w/ camo, etc, working on the blind (it got kinda messed up the last few times out), and also maybe painting some decoys.

WDW

[Dean Schellinger]

Well said Brutha. This season, although slow, and with dangerously warm temperatures, did still serve a purpose!

WE did had a great time this season. And I think the thing that saved our season was our remarkable shooting. How many times did a duck or a flock come within 50 yards and actually leave, maybe once or twice. OH YEA. What only 300 days or so until opener? Counting the days down already.

[whitewolf6647]

Not all that bad I guess considering we never got into the late season diver flight like we normally do but it wasn't to bad. My numbers are as follows:

Mallards 18

Bluewings 14

Widgeon 4

Ringbills 1

Bufflehead 3

Spoonies 7

Greenwings 9

Bluebills 6

Hooded Mergs 3

Canvasbacks 1

Pintails 3

Goldeneyes 2

Woodducks 3

and 1 ruddy duck

Total of 75 not to bad but way way down from the last 2 years. I'm not posting gooses numbers cause late season isn't over yet. I don't keep track of how many times I go out but I woudl guess I was out close to 30-40 days of the season. I do know that I got skunked 9 times out I did keep track of that.

[Flipnripem]

It seemed that the local duck numbers were up this year. We had way to much water in the southern part of the state for the first part of the season. The bigger lakes never had a chance to be consistant. For those of us that were able to access a flooded crop field the shooting was really good. But that dried up and the locals wised up and new ducks never had a chance to get here in the numbers we would like to see. We really need a later season. Flip

[Jmnhunter]

u want to know my numbers?

-about 100+200+50-20-30-100-200=0

0

I went out a total of 3 times, but didnt see much, once by my house north of the cities,-too warm

couple up here at school in bemidji,missed a couple

didnt get out enough.

[tealitup]

Lets just hope for a nice warm winter - at least til the southern states season closes. What would everyone think of one year with drake/male/bull ect... season only. Kinda like a buck season. Understanding that this would make people more aware of the ducks they shoot and increase the bird awareness.

Anyone have a Stealth Boat they want to sell???

[Mark Christianson]

tealitup,

How the heck are you gonna shoot only drakes on the teal early in the season in MN?

I don't ever see any state going to a "male only" duck season. As much as the idea is a great one, it just is not as easy to identify males like it is with pheasants. Some species it is, but with others it is not.

It's only gonna make a lot of females get tossed in the weeds. No good.

[mwktrapper]

We had a pretty successful season this year, but it was far from the best by numbers. Between my brother and I, we shot 128 ducks and 49 geese. We shot every species of duck in the Miss. flyway and were surprised to shoot a lot of rare species this year, including several blackducks, cans, and quite a few pintails along with some of the most beautiful wigeon I ever seen up until the last day of season. In our group of duckers we shot over 90 geese on one lake in early goose season and 130 ducks off of another. That's the beauty of big lake hunts, northern birds just keep filtering in. We'll be hunting southern MN here soon for late geese and then I'll be heading to Indiana over XMas for some mallards in the timber and corn fields. I just can't stop now

Ducks are like nicotine, the first time you see 'em all cupped up, you're addicted...you just can't quit.

[ChuckN]

Hey trapper, is your brother Matt in Bemidji?

[mwktrapper]

Yeah it is. How do you know him?

[MasterGophHunter]

My season wasn't too good. Went out a few times, a couple with Jmn. Although I beat him and got 2 I hope next year is better (I don't know if it could get worse). Hopefully they will set the opener back a week or so and then the end of the season will be later.

Good luck next year!

-MGH-

[set the drag]

Really good season for me and my brother. shot a lot of ducks in places were we do marginal at best. limited out just twice during the year but only left the slough three times with a skunky smell in the boat. most birds came of the same lake with a few from creek "x"

mallards 13

green wings 12

blue wings 7

ringnecks 9

canvasback 2

wood ducks 7

redheads 2

bluebill 2

widgeon 5

Gadwall 2

pintails 2

buffies 1

freebies 2

wanton waste 11

goose 1

totals for me 36

totals for bro 31

totals for the year 79

next year should be a goal around 100 that would be fun to do but sounds like a lot of work also.

[B. Amish]

some of you guys must eat a lot of duck to stay under your possesion limits