Opener Stories!!

[hanson]

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Those look like some big geese!!

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I'm going to guess you are talking about the geese in my photo as its the only photo in this thread.

They're our resident greaters, but I wish they were bigger.

Its amazing what happens when you put the scale to the birds. 2 of the geese were right at 10lbs (+/- an ounce or two) and one was at 11lbs weighed on my Rapala digital scale.

Nice birds but there are much bigger ones out there.

[BarTender]

Typical public hunting opener for me and my dad. Got out on the lake didnt see anyone so pulled up on a spot, then a guy stands up when we are 5 yards away. Oh someone is here, ok lets go over there. Sit outsid the cattails and wait for 8:00 and set up, 5 other groups in the bay and spread out pritty good. Shot some ducks, but were waiting for the geese that were there earlier to come back. First flock we dropped 2 and a little while later we had the mother load comming well over a hundred birds all cupped and wanting down, only to have a group shoot at them and not drop one, only if they would have waited anothe min or two, the geese would have been close enough for everyone, out of all the birds, only one was dropped at the end.

[WollMan]

great opener, could have done without the lightning. over all for 3 of us we got 1 greenhead, woodies (one of which is at the taxidermist) green wings, blue wings, spoonies, honks.

over all it was 27 ducks and 3 geese.

where are all you guys at that are shooting the divers. i am in south central MN and we never get any divers there it seems. i want some ring bills, red heads and cans. can someone PM me? thanks.

[Hammer Handle]

Got my limits Saturday and Sunday.

On Monday, shot once...got one duck (woody).

Lots of woodducks around!!

The highlight of the weekend: My brother North of Alexandria raised some mallards and released them about 3 weeks ago. Many were banded with bright orange bands with numbers. These were released 60 miles from where I hunt...and I got one of his ducks!! I will have to rub it in....

Not a lot of shooting and caught two groups of hunters tresspassing on Sunday and kicked them out. Heard another group shoot, but got there too late to catch them on private land....

[Huntin&Fishin]

Between 4 guys we got 28 ducks and 1 goose, mix of malards, teal, two pintails, two megansers,two shovelers, a wiegon, and a gadwall. We had a great time.

[Scott M]

Oh man. Opening day, myself, Lip Em, and Lip Em's dad go out to a public pothole WMA. We meet at 4:30, somebody is already there but not in "our spot." We slog through 100 yards of boot sucking mud that is up to our shins. Each step requires the strain of your legs to lift and replant, life and replant, all while inching the boat forward with all your might, 2 feet by 2 feet. Once we get enough water we hop in and push pole for 250 yards around a point. Pushing gets you half a boat length for each push, and your back and arms are getting the workout now. Around the point we go and we can finally row. Still the water is so shallow that we are still technically sliding along the bottom, creating additional drag that means each oar stroke only sends you 3/4 or 1 boat length at most. Finally after an hour we reach "our spot."

We settle in and wait things out. For two hours after sunrise, the marsh is as full of ducks as the youngest in the group have seen it-mallards, bluewings, greenwings, wood ducks, widgeon, pintail, gadwall, shoveler. It's an incredible sight. The action trickles slowly to a halt, 8:50 rolls in, when some yahoo usually starts shooting. Nothing. 8:55....nothing. 9:00...nothing...At 9:05, the first shot rings out, and then the whole lake goes up...But the problem is we have a 30 mph wind to our back. The flight path of the birds going around the lake puts us in a spot where the birds are turning the corner on the wind. We either pick them off before they turn, or don't have a chance on the swing. Complicating things further is the fact that we are more centrally located on the lake. Those in the north and south end have things to themselves. Birds come over us, but dodge, dive, and climb when errant shots ring out around the lake. Getting good shots is tough in the first hour, despite everything coming at you constantly. In the late morning, the rain turns on and doesn't truly ever stop. Things slow down and towards noontime we are getting closer to a limit. Despite all the birds we saw, we really have only bagged teal for the most part. The mallards have been hanging high. Around 1:00 a couple small flocks of mallards come into range, and my cohorts drop 3-4 greenheads. I have to bail early to move (I spend the rest of the weekend doing this in the rain BTW) from one suburb to another. Last I remembered on Saturday, our 3 had 6 teal, 5 mallard, and a couple woodies. One goose came in and the whole lake was honking. This little guy was suspended right above me, but was too high. He was probably trying to find where all the calls were coming from since I didn't see too many people that brought along goose decoys. He was flapping pretty hard but just hovering in that tornado-like wind. I slipped in a T shot shell, but he never came down...He sorta turned and got the heck outta there.

We scratched out enough shooting to make ends meet, but getting in and out of that mess wasn't worth it. Not to mention rowing into the wind on the way back...Took me about 1.5 hours to get out and I had to stop in that mud, I think it got thicker and more viscous on the way in. I didn't have particularly good shooting, but the royal "we" of the three of us did knock a few down. We've had better and we've had worse. The weather didn't do us too many favors. Things can get better and I'm looking forward to lakes with more depth and less mud!

[walleyefey]

Hey vexilar man, I'm not ripping on your great day, just curious how four guys are legal to shoot 28 ducks. 24 would be an awesome number but 28 sounds a little naughty We ended up with 20 birds between 4 guys and one kid. Full mix of mallards, teal, wood ducks, gadwall. Good luck to all.

[HunterLee]

Me and my buddy got 12 ducks today, 4 wigeon, 4 teal, 2 mallards, pintail, and a blue bill

[tearin' lips]

There wasn't as many ducks around on Rainy as there normally is, but be still managed to scratch 18 for for guys. 8 scaup, 8 ringnecks, two drake mallards. Nothing beats a great day hunting divers! It will only get better. At mid-day were were seeing some migrants starting to push down. flocks of 20-40 birds, mallards and divers. Great reading all of these stories Keep 'em coming!!!!!

[Ely Lake Expert]

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Hey vexilar man, I'm not ripping on your great day, just curious how four guys are legal to shoot 28 ducks. 24 would be an awesome number but 28 sounds a little naughty

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I thought that for a second too, but I would bet that is a 2 day report.