Opener?

[Shoot2Kill]

this is dan brother i hate opener. its over rated. why to many boats out that day. there to many guys that go out that day and just shot holes in the air. but sense the season is only 60 days long i go out a watch people fire away and all they get is a teal or two i would rather wait for a flock of northern mallards from miles up in the blue ski and suck into the decoys. there nothing like late season that what a i wait for.

and the other thing i hate about opener that guy who shows up at 9:00 and sits 20 yards from you what an a$$ thats what opener is about. and dont say it was not happen to you because it happened to ever hunter.

if it was not for a tradition i would not go out that day

well guys have a safe opener. and good luck

That was a tough post to read......

Find somewhere else to hunt then....there is water everywhere. Why do you go to the same place every year if it's like that?

I'll be on a 40 acre slough all to myself this weekend with nobody sky busting my ducks.....just gotta go out and find one.

[Jameson]

I have only been duck hunting for three years now. Two years ago my brother and I scouted out a WMA, and found a beaver pond with some ducks using it. After hearing about everyones horror stories on opening day we showed up at about 5 am to claim our spot. Well, we were the only ones to show that day. So last year we just showed up at 8, and again were the only ones hunting this area. Guess what the plan is this opener...

I guess my point is that there are public areas that do not get hunted, and if folks would get out and do some scouting in areas where everyone else isn't, they just might find one of these untouched gems.

Good luck to everyone this duck season!!!

[bassman222]

relitivly unknown lake in Wright Co. called pelican.

Not anymore.........

[5806]

John,

I know what you are saying, and you are correct that having private land/water to hunt is by far and away the best way to get away from the crowds. I too know this from personal experience. Having private land is not the norm though as I'm sure you know. I would guess that the percentage of hunters that have their own private slough is in the single digits, and having shoreline on a public lake isn't exactly private. There are many people that can barely afford their home let alone recreational land and the economy will probably get worse before it gets better.

In Minnesota we are blessed to have the amount of huntable public land that we do. Contrary to what many people think, duck hunting can be good, even excellent on public lands. The key is to be willing to go further, do your homework, and scout often.

Best of luck to you this weekend.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

the reason myself and a few of my buddies have to hunt public land until ducks start hitting the fields is due to a group of hunters buying up the slough we used to have permission to hunt. so theres always 2 sides to the "buy a slough" strategy. where i hunt you just simply cannot get onto private water the first few weeks of the season if at all. thankfully i look for new spots all year long and my wintertime coyote hunting really payed off in the form of a mostly unknown ducky little slough in the middle of nowhere. good luck this weekend guys; give eachother some space and try not to kick all the birds into iowa right away!

[John Swanson]

IT ALL ABOUT THE PRESSURE... THE MORE PRESSURE THE MORE BIRDS EVERYONE SEES..WE ARE ALL OUT THERE FOR THE SAME OBJECTIVE AND I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A WONDERFUL AND SAFE WEEKEND. AND I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THE PICTURES!!!

[icefishing21]

i am so pumped up for this weekend! i will be hunting a public land field, and this field is located about 1/2 a mile from rice lake (a very over presured lake, which has about 10 different groups blasting away on it saturday morning) so hopefully they keep the birds in the air and when the ducks get shot at they usually come right over us then. i totally agree with john, our best days usually come when there are a ton of people out hunting on rice. cant wait to hunt sunday morning. where we hunt there is always a ton of birds flying the 1st hour of daylight. also cant wait to see some pics! good luck everyone!

[WallyGader]

Originally Posted By: machohorn

relitivly unknown lake in Wright Co. called pelican.

Not anymore.........

Exactly that post should be deleted!

[5806]

I have got to believe the guy posting about Pelican was kidding about it being unknown. It is very well known. I drove by the access one opening day and not only was the access full (very large) there were rigs parked on both sides of the county road for 1/8 of a mile in both directions.

[machohorn]

It was just a jab ! Everyone with in 75 miles knows about the lake and the pressure, in fact I was at the MWA banquet 2 weeks ago and it was called Wright Co./Pelican lake chapter. about 100 plus people there. There also have been numerous posts about drawing down the lake level to make it a better waterfall habitat that ran about 20 some pages in length. So this is no unknown little lake. I have also been there for opener 15 out of the last 20 years. Pressure is great it keeps the ducks moving and everyone is happy.

[icefishing21]

i dont think i am going to be able to sleep tonight! this and the rifle opener are probably my 2 favorite days of the year. (duck opener is my favorite of course)

[JustLOVEit]

I THINK THE MORE PEOPLE OUT THERE THE MORE EVERYONE WILL GET TO SEE AND SHOOT BIRDS. THATS HOW ITS ALWAYS BEEN FOR US. DUCKS JUST HAVE TOO MANY PLACE TO HIDE AND NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE TO GO SPOOK THEM OUT.

WELL, HAVE FUN EVERYONE. I'M EXPECTING TO GET MY LIMIT OF 2 DUCKS. THATS ALL I CAN EAT! =D

[Shack]

I can not even count the duck boats, dog kennels, grass blinds sticking out the back of SUV's, gun cases sticking up in the back window of SUV's and guys in hunting garb today at around noon in Elk River. I counted 5 rigs waiting to turn north on 169 from the Wal-fart area at lunch alone.

You would of thought it was the deer opener .

Good luck to all you duck freaks

[Sandmannd]

This is the second year hunting for me. I didn't get out much last year and hunted carlos for the most part. Didn't have much luck last year. This year I met a fellow FMer with some private land to hunt. Really looking forward to that, should be a good time. Got the gun cleaned up tonight and all my stuff sitting by the door waiting on me.

[USPENAMC]

good luck to all

[chub]

Out the door.

Good luck, and keep the flat side of the boat down

[Tim Boomgarden]

Good luck to all! I only have a two minute drive on 4- wheeler for this morning so I am waiting till the minute to leave!!!