Good luck this weekend

[outdoor ran]

For those who are hunting the northern Wi. duck opener tomorrow good luck. I can't wait till noon Pulling the kids around in the boat while they throw the dekes, brats on the grill, getting burnt by the same blue wing teal all day. Should be a good day. Its been a long off season. Be safe

[outdoor ran]

Wow, what an awesome morning of hunting. Wydlwal, the old man and I teamed up and hit the water this morning after setting up 91 dekes we were wondering if we had over done it. Soon has it got light flock after flock of bills started to circle and come in. I haven't seen this kind of bill numbers for a few years. Flocks of 50 up to a couple hundred gliding in. After taking our limit on them it was bird watching time. Did get a red head, mallards, and pintails. Got some canada geese and even had a snow goose come by. I've never seen this kind of a push this early in the year. With the wind and rain it felt like the end of Oct. Seen some megansers too. Most of the bills were greaters. I was expecting some buffles to come whiping in the way it was going.

Great to be back in the blind with family and friends.

[wyldewal]

Saterday was slow but sunday morning was great. Putting out 91 dekes did pay off. With huge flocks of bills around like that I do think more is better. The day would have been a little better if I wouldn't have had gun problems. Not that I was needed, the other guys did fine without my shooting. I guess we know who the better shots are now.

[outdoor ran]

Wal, I was glad you got it back together in time to take your bills, I thought I was going to have to give you the 870.

[Dean Schellinger]

Wow, that is early in the year for Bills, sounds like a fun hunt. Its been a couple years since I have seen any number of bills working the dekes consistantly. Definitely a good sign. I simply cannot wait for our opener Sat. baby, YEA!!

[outdoor ran]

I'm still shaking my head has to why there were so many bluebills around. Reminded me so much of the good old days. I wonder if its one of them things where they flew east or west before going south. They would drop over the trees and fly outside the dekes with the wind and then turn into the wind and come right in. Has soon as they made that turn your heart would just start pounding. Most of the flock would just skim the tops of the dekes and 4 or 5 would sit in a pocket. Just an awesome sight!

[Wild Thing]

Outdoor Ran....

Are you positive those were bluebills you were seeing? I've talked to a lot of folks and no one else has seen a bluebill south of Lake of the Woods yet. Is it possible these were ringnecked ducks, also called ringbills? They look somewhat similar and have the same flock flight characterisitcs and they are around now, very common. Ringbills have a white ring at the base of the bill. Ringbills are found in marshy areas with wild rice. Bluebills are usually big water ducks.

It would be extremely unusual to have bluebills anywhere this far south this early, they simply don't do it. Post a picture if you have one...

good hunting!!!

[Nova]

Wild thing, I was thinking the same thing only usually ringbills don't fly in that large of flocks. He said 50 -200 I think. I would really like to know because that many bluebills would be very cool to hear about. I haven't seen that many bluebills in the last 2 years combined and we hunt some pretty big water. We do however have some local bluebills in the fergus area, but very few. I saw a flock of 6 sitting on a lake last weekend.

Outdoor, not questioning your ID of ducks, but some people catagorize blue bills and ringbills as "bills". I would love to hear that there are truely that many bluebills.

[outdoor ran]

i know its strange. they were all bluebills. its easy to tell between the bills and ring bills. We took 6 bluebills for 3 hunters. All 6 were bluebill greaters. No rings on them bills. In fact we were trying to find some rings on them when we were watching them swim next to the blind after we had our bill limit. I dont have pics, but 20 years of experience. I could understand if they were ringbills, but they were all bluebills. Just awesome to see again.

[Sartell Angler]

thats great...

hope this weekend is as enjoyable for us!

SA/wdw

[outdoor ran]

Heres a couple of head shots from the carcasses.

[Nova]

Outdoor, them sure are Bluebills and that is GREAT news. thanks for passing that along.

[Wild Thing]

Wow, I stand totally corrected. I'm just amazed they were around this early. Greaters usually do come first.

Not sure what you mean by the old days, but a big reason Minnesotans and Wisconsinites don't see many scaup (other than their overall numbers are way down) is because they are not hunting when they come through. Scaup have always been a Halloween and later bird down here but many hunters already are focusing on deer by then. In the old days, many duck hunters hunted well into November (Armistace day blizzard) but with earlier deer seasons, many folks are out of the duck swamps by then. Especially with the trend to warmer fall temperatures, try hunting in November if you want to see and shoot more bills. Also, head north now cause they are staging by the thousands as we speak on their resting grounds where they fatten up for the rest of their trip south.

Good hunting!

[Nova]

Wild thing, I hunt in the Fergus area and have for 35 plus years. The last 5 years atleast we have not seen many bluebills at all. We keep records of all ducks shot and we hunt EVERY weekend of the season. In the last 2 years we have only shot 18 bluebills for a crew of 8 or more. Have you been doing better than that lately and if so do you hunt the west side of MN or elsewhere. Thanks for the info.

[wyldewal]

I would have been in doubt myself if I hadv't beed there to see it. I just wish you were still allowed 3 or 4.

[Wild Thing]

Nova,

I hunt the Fergus area for geese a few times each year, especially the December season!!

I can't say here where I hunt bluebills, but it is in Canada (not far) and we do very well. The sheer numbers are down, continent wide, but we see many thousands of bills and shoot many limits (still six daily up there.) The problem is, with such warm falls, they have no reason to leave up there so they never get into Minnesota until into November. Send me an e-mail sometime and we can chat about it. I'll be there this weekend!

Good luck all and be safe!!

[mwktrapper]

I was wondering where all our birds went. Sounds like they made it to Wisconsin

That sure is neat to see those pictures. Sounds like the days we all dream of going out on a diver hunt. Nice work.