duck hunting

[Adam Steinberg]

I am a student at MSU and I am looking for a good place to duck hunt that is relatively close. I do have a boat but I didin't have the money to paint it over the summer, so I am walkin to the places that I hunt. I have tried some state land by Madison lake and have only shot 2 teal in five outings. I was out this morning and had one flock of 4 teal fly over and that was it. I had to bust a hole in the ice that was close a half inch thick. When I left I saw ducks flyin over a bigger body of water that is to the south of where I was hunting. If there is any good spots that can be walked to please let me know. Thanks for any input.

[Mossy19]

Adam, try around the Swan lake area near Nicollet, there are plenty of spots to walk to. The DNR just put up a new area on HWY 111 just North of Nicollet about 5-6 miles out. Look carefully because you will drive by it as it is kind of hard to see especially in the dark. There is also a couple of spots on Nicollet County Road 5 that you can walk to. There is Duck Lake and Wiwi Bay on that road. I would go and check them out in the daylight first, that way you don't get lost in the dark. Also it depends on what color your boat is, Middle Lake has been producing a lot of birds this year. I hope this helps.

[Adam Steinberg]

Thanks for the help I will have to check those spots out. My boat is a teal color so if I was using my boat I would have to walk a good ways from it.

[eyepatrol]

For as "hot" as the mallards have been these past couple of days, it would almost seem that boat color wouldn't matter (but it would). My suggestion - if you can afford it, buy some camo burlap or something similar to drape over your boat.

And if you're able to, now is a good time to be out there. The mallards we got today seemed as though they haven't been shot at much. One flock came right in even when standing out there knocking ice off decoys.

[Mossy19]

Adam, that color isn't that bad, just make sure you get into the weeds deep enough and bend some weeds over the boat. Two years ago I hunted out of a red and silver lund because that is all I had. One weekend we shot a limit both days between three guys in the boat. You just have to make sure you boat is well hidden. The suggestion that basscatcher made is also a good idea.

[pocketknife]

hey I wouldn't worry at all about the color of the boat if you can get into a place where there are ducks it does not seem to matter to these northern ducks, just have to keep still, I one time hunted on Rat Root lake during a low water year and we could not even get to the weed line so we pulled up a little bit on to the mud flats and sat in a 18 ft aluminum crestliner a real old one, but my dad and I shot 6-7 ducks mallards and bluebills. Good luck

[Adam Steinberg]

Yeah I will have to give that a try. I wont be able to make it out until Tuesday though.

[fish4cats]

Finisher blind by Fred Zink all the way, no doubt about it.