Any Northern Ducks?

[tearin' lips]

It would appear that some mallards have started to push down. We hit a private field that I have the only access to in Northwestern Minnesota. Hunting was insane!!! Thousands of Mallards, Honkers, and Snows/Blues around us for 4 hours in the morning. Shot a limit of greenheads, honkers, and some snows. Absolutely great!!!! All birds finished nicely in Sundays wind and our farthest shot was 15 yards!!

[kingr]

Well the flight started last Friday. We hunted north of Detroit Lakes around Tamarac Saturday morning and did very well. All ringnecks, but man it was fun.

The added bonus was that it was my labs first duck hunt. It took him two retrieves to figure it out for the most part. Very proud owner that day.

[kobear]

Seems like it was a Thurs, Fri, Sat. thing ahead of the front. A few birds Thurs, lots on Fri, tons on Sat, and now zippo almost none. Lots of ice today even mid sized ponds this morning. I saw alot of birds in central OT County but never saw them pass into Douglas, bad news for my slough. Good reports from West of Douglas Cnty and the Osakis area though.

I heard Christina is GREEN and duck free, anyone got a first hand report?

[Cody Lubeley]

i hunted up there over all of MEA and saw lots of ducks out there mixed in with the coots there was also about 500 geese roosting on the lake too

not sure how many there is now though

[CANOPY SAM]

From TRF...

I'm bankin' that either the counts are completely wrong,or we've got but a smidgin' of what's to come. We've had but one decent flight of Canadian geese move in and out (two Sunday's ago), a few curlytails, but nothing to speak of for noticeable migration.

I've observed, over the last 20 years, that the waterfowl simply do not come down in big numbers until Canada freezes solid, and they get one tremendous, Alberta clipper tailwind. Then they blow thru in a couple days and are gone. This usually happens in mid to late November now.

The birds are getting smarter!

I truly miss the days when the flight would trickle thru MN from early October thru mid-December.

[1runhotshot]

I said before fella's. Does this forecast look like the birds are leaving anytime soon?

http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/forecast/city_e.html?sk-40&unit=i

Weather patterns have changed and the "corn line" is further north due to the corn prices. With this years low pothole count in many area in the Dakota's they nested in Canada and have stayed there all year. Things can change in a hurry with a NW wind but the greenheads are locked in Canada with the economy being down that means less hunter which means less pressure which mean empty sky's in the lower 48. Don't over think it, it's pretty easy: Food, Weather, Water and Low Pressure. If I were a Greenhead I wouldn't leave until the last bit of open water is gone...

Good Luck!!!

[AngelicFatum]

Was out near Sisseton, SD this past weekend, fri/sat/sun were pretty slow, still mostly local birds, but new birds started showing up sunday night and monday we had a great hunt, shot a nice mix of cans/ringers/gads/greenies and buffles. Saw some northern snow/blues and some swans as well.

[ChuckN]

I agree with Canopy Sam and 1runhotshot.

I watch Canada weather very closely. These birds are up there and they are not leaving until they absolutely have to.

I've also read studies where ducks will wait for the jet stream to shift, catch the upper level winds and go...and fast, right over the upper midwest. It's sure seems like it's been that way for several years, and we just don't see the birds like we used to.

Not many ducks around right now.

My group saw lots of migrators the 1st week of the season. Bluebills, redheads, ringers, Cans (closed), buffleheads and even saw some Tundra Swans. We always see early migrators on this annual trip.

It's a waiting game for the real hearty birds.

[kobear]

Just did a loop in N OT County. Most of the birds that came in end of last week are gone. Ice formed on mid-sized ponds Sun.-Mon. and held all day yesterday, gone today for sure though. I saw one slough with 50 to 75 ringbills and buffles other than that nothing. Last night zig zagged from N OT to N Douglas saw two flocks, 5 ringbills and 12 buffles. This is down from a few hundred last Thursday and over a thousand birds seen last Friday.

Ouch!

[Quackaddict9]

I hunted by Thief River Falls with 3 others this morning in a field and I don't think I saw new mallards but maybe new geese, they kept coming and coming. Lots of birds around. Its still warm

[shnelson]

I'm thinking about heading out after work, is it worth the effort on a day as clear as today? Some of the guys I normally hunt with kind of chuckle when I tell them I'm going out when theres no cloud coverage.

I witnessed the locals packing up and bailing out last weekend in the areas I normally hunt, haven't seen much new movement come in but its been a few days since i've been able to observe.

[Shoot2Kill]

I'm thinking about heading out after work, is it worth the effort on a day as clear as today? Some of the guys I normally hunt with kind of chuckle when I tell them I'm going out when theres no cloud coverage.

I witnessed the locals packing up and bailing out last weekend in the areas I normally hunt, haven't seen much new movement come in but its been a few days since i've been able to observe.

Going out any time you can is better than not going and wishing you did. I've had some great shoots one blue sky days, it doesn't always have to be grey skies. You just never know! GO!

[dan z]

I go everyday I can but I really like the light north west winds with cobalt blue skies

[shnelson]

work had other plans for me today, didn't make it out tonight unfortunately.

We'll see how this weekend fairs, wouldn't mind bagging a limit for once!

[Jordyn Kaufer]

does anyone know if there are any way north flights moving into the leech lake area for the weekend?

or has anyone seen anything flying up that way??

[coolrider45]

First wave was here and gone. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Now slow.

[dan z]

had a good day we shoot 5 ducks and a blue goose. will post pics at a later date. the blue goose is going on the wall.

[buck 037]

My boys went out to jump shoot a pond tonight quick before going bow huntin and got three nice greenheads. One is a four curler debating about mounting it.

[Quackaddict9]

Dan- the blue goose a eagle head phase or a normal blue goose? I would find it odd mounting a blue goose but that's my opinion. I think it looks great if its got the eagle head. I had a good flock of snows/blues fly over our spread Thursday morning and a few were in the field next to us, fun to see but didn't try to get them in. The geese are thick in the area we're hunting.

Shot a 3 man limit this morning in a soybean field. Hunting Thief Lake tomorrow morning, I'll see if there's more birds that moved in than last time I hunted there. Good luck tomorrow everyone!

[carpshooterdeluxe]

reports from manitoba suggest that the big flocks of mallards are just starting to show up in southern manitoba. next good front should bring a great push of red legged greenheads!

[norwall]

Dan nice blu goose,looks like a lil min lk from tha pics? personally i would have had a nice din din consisting of that blu n buffy mmmmmgood

[dan z]

guess again dude it was not Min lake

[SledNeck]

Ponds and swamps were froze pretty good here this morning. Some still even had ice on em when it got dark.

[adamolson7]

Saw some buffleheads this morning just west of the cities. that is a good sign for me that there is some sort of migration

got a nice quad curl and a hen pair all the action happened in the first half hour or so.

[Jordyn Kaufer]

dad and i went duck huntin up near longville/remer. we got 3 ringnecks the 1st morning and today we got 1 golden eye.

We say tons and tons of birds but they just weren't gonna land anytime soon that we could tell..