reports

[JEV]

Was out Saturday. We kicked lots and lots of geese off the water when we made out way back into the marsh. It was looking pretty promising till the sun came up. After that there wasn't hardly a bird in the sky. We seen very few ducks. Pretty much all the locals are gone and I don't think any of the northern birds have come down yet. My dad took a walk in the same area this morning and said it was the same as Saturday. Lots of geese and no ducks. Hopefully a good cold snap will bring them down...

JEV

[Mark Christianson]

My worst season ever for birds in hand.

Friday we made a trek out to west central MN. Shot one drake greenwing.

Saturday I shot a single ringneck in the Battle Lake area.

Man, nothing to speak of for birds flying.

Next weekend might be spent entirely in the bowstand.

[icecold]

Had real poor hunting in minnesota river bottoms this weekend, 2 woodducks for the whole weekend, seen maybe 20 ducks for 2 days, worst weekend of season so far.

[Gissert]

ChuckN and I had a pretty good shoot on Saturday in Ottertail County. Two green wings, one 'bill, one ring neck, one goldeneye, and one hoody. We also saw good number of ring necks, some 'bills, a few mallards and gadwalls, and one flock of cans.

I sent the wife out on Sunday morning, and they got zippo. What a difference a day makes.

[mr wizard]

Hunted near Dent and shot 10 for three days for 2 guys. Saw only a few flocks of bluebills and cans. Shot 1 woodie, 1 gadwall, 2 bluebills, 1 mallard, 1 ringer and 4 cans. The fishing was great tho.

[jblabsnduck]

Why do people see the need to set up 100 yards from you when there is plenty of room on the slough? Blows my mind, these guys knew where we where and they where nice and quiet setting up so we wouldn't know where they where.

Not to mention they left there trucks right there at the landing when they seen our trucks parked up the hill, where you SHOULD PARK.

They proceeded to high ball every flock we had working us and then no one got a shot at the birds.

People need to pull there heads out.

We where the only two groups on the slough.

Weekend could have been better if we where not so picky.

Lots of birds around. Bluebills, ring bill, gaddies, mallards and a ton of geese.

Had a flock of ringers come in and 5 stayed with us on sunday.

Friday we watched hundreds of divers pile into the north end of the lake and of course we where on the SW end of the lake. O'well still fun.

SW corner of the state has a lot of birds right now. you just have to look for them.

[Dotch]

Sat in the slough yesterday with an old friend and his 3 year old lab. Cold, windy, wet and miserable. Nothing flying except the talk. Maybe next weekend. Always good to see my old buddy again and the dog entertained us by trying to retrieve the decoys.

[ironman]

Sat we saw penty of birds...ringbills, redheads...cans...woodies and mallards. None of them would decoy. The main reason...thousands of coots. every bird dropped right into the coots!! Frustrating, is there anything one can do about that? I went somewhere else on Sun....got 1 mall, should've been more but wasn't paying attention! Oh well.

[Flipnripem]

Yes there is a major coot flight this year. Southern Mn. has not filled up with mallards yet. Lots of gwt coming through and the woodies a filtering down on there way out of the state. Nice weather for the rest of the week isn`t helping things much but we still have time and lots of honkers around. Have not seen a diver as of sunday. Flip

[MIKE IN lINO III]

I was up to the Bovey area last weekend, saw 4 geese, no ducks. Seems all the locals are gone and the Canadians haven't dropped down yet.

Question for ya'll, with this warm weather coming in this weekend, would it be worth it to go back up north or just take my Dad pheasant hunting?

Mike

[gorrilla]

until we get some ducky weather I'd harass the rooty-poos...

[Mark Christianson]

Nice comfy weekend in the stand watching for ruttin bucks.

[Sartell Angler]

seems like most of the locals have moved out, the geese are feeding in select fields within city limits and returning to the "'fuge" in Sartell/St.Cloud unharmed, and the northern birds have yet to trickle into the area. Hunted solo Tuesday morning and saw one bluebill early on and one goose at sunrise. The goose locked on the diver dekes I had out and then finished when he saw the 3 goose full bodies on shore. Glad to get a little shooting (one shot) and a goose to bring home. Can't wait for the weekend...ducks/geese and roosters and of course a Halloween party to make getting up early on Sunday morning more interesting. Keep the reports coming!

SA/wdw

[SSSTaxidermy]

A buddy and I were out in Berry / Beardsley area and LOTS & LOTS of birds in the area. We were out Fri / Sat / Sun.

Friday we got 7 ducks and 1 goose (4 bills, 1 blue, 1 teal, 1 can)

Saturday we got 7 again (3 greenheads, 3 Bills & 1 blue)

Sunday only got 1, it was really windy.

We are going back again and hopefully a cold snap brought some birds down from up North. Clouds and Clouds of geese flying. Not to mention a good amound of ducks too. We didn't hunt any fields for them.

[R Buker]

Otter Tail County was hot this morning. Cans, ringers, 'bills and a ton of geese. I killed my two geese this morning and my wife killed her's tonight as they flew over the yard! Geese all over the place and enough ducks to keep me happy!

[mpester]

Hunted Pelican Lake near Monticello today and saw very few ducks and I only shot one green wing teal. I did not hear or see any geese. I guess I will need to hunt some place else this weekend.

[smallies24]

It's been getting little slower in the fields I've been working in Southern MN. Seems a lot of the big flocks are grouped up more and they're a little harder to work in. Last few weeks I've been taking a few greenheads here and there out of some cut corn and bean fields.

Most of the local woodies seemed to have moved out with a few trickling through from up north.

[koutdoors]

Mallards are here in good #'s in the fields. The last week has provided great field hunting under some nice tornados of greenheads!

[poutpro]

morning or night hunts?

[mr wizard]

Where are you?

[Old Guide]

just checked the Ark. game and fish HSOforum (thier sat. mallard tracking site) It appears that the mallards are still far to the north. It's really hurting for mallards right now around trf.

[HunterLee]

nothing around the ada fertile area this morning even hunted a spot that hasnt been hunted and still only 2 ring bils and 3 mallards before shooting light. was slow last weekend to. even with the north winds. probly start when we are hunting those deer like usual.

[shae1986]

Finally got into the mallards again, we got our 12 this morning and they just swarmed in, and didn't even circle, that was nice

Andrew

[Flick]

Nice Shae, there a fair amount of birds around? I only got out pheasant hunting this weekend, me and a buddy got our limit, time to shoot ducks again.

[RonZych]

Some mallards have moved in to the central MN areas. Many larger flocks flying around during the middle of the day. Just tough picking out the drakes in the low light.