Any Northern Ducks?

[Fred_Bear]

Agreed... I hunted in that blizzard this morning. Saw two groups of 5 or 6 teal and the rest was nothing but mallards and honkers. Also noticed two flocks of a couple hundred bigger ducks sky high and heading south

[Quackaddict9]

I hunted this morning with another guy and did'nt see any new birds. All Mallards and Pintails, oh and a flock of bluebills buzzed. Ended up with a two man limit on mallards and geese with a bonus bluebill, two pintails.

[Tom7227]

Well there aren't any on Bald Eagle or Birch Lake. There had been a small number of coots around for the past couple of weeks but they're gone, as are a good percentage of the geese and mallards. In the past there were at least a few northern ducks stopping by but my guess is that they're all headed for Kansas City right now.

[brdhunter]

Mississippi Flyway was DEAD today! Got a few shots at some ringers. Saw a couple flocks of mallards, and NOTHING flying high. Winds were out of the S/SW. Waited all morning for it to switch to the North.....never did. Very few mallards in the area. Hunted until 1 o-clock and didn't even shoot at a mallard. All mallards seemed to be locals. No influx of birds in the Missippi flyway near the cities today. Still to warm in this area. We need a real cold snap to start freezing the potholes. I think they are still in Canada or thinking very hard about leaving, as this recent cold front came from the Rockies and not Canada. It is much colder in ND right now than Canada. And they received much more snow (9 in. in Bismark, But only a trace in Winnipeg). Maybe with these next few days expected to be highs in the 20s and 30 might finally freeze up the potholes and force the ducks to the river.

Also chased up a few deer while jumping some ponds along the river. Should be a good deer opener in the area. While jumping 3 diff. ponds, only saw about 20 mallards total. And 15 of them were on the same pond, but we were unable to reach them (They outsmarted us again). Seemed like their was no migration happening at all in the area. Heard very few shots.

[123fish]

Didn't see squat for new birds in the southwest corner either. Shot a mallard drake that came in with a small flock of seven mallards. That was all I saw. Talked to two other guys who were in two different places 40 miles apart and they didn't see anything either.

[dan z]

nothin round here either hunted a big lake to the east thursday night shot one blue bill went out yesterday and seen a bunch of GWT and shot three of them and that was west of kato

[luckycrank]

I never got the boat wet this morning I went west and at 4:00 a.m I was like boat four or five so I left and headed back towards faribo area

missed my turn to get back home, when I tried to do a u-turn in the center of the road at a field approach I ended up sliding in the ditch at 4:30 am and sat in the mud till about 7:00 am . (THE MORE i TRIED THE WORSE IT GOT)

out of about 75 people that passed over the course of the morning 1 stopped to help at that point I already had a person coming to help,and sent them on thier way.

only to find out my help had no tow strap or chain either so I was still S.O.L

tried to call a tow truck!... no answer

tried another ... left a message and waited for a response! guess what ? didn't get one !

after a few more attempts I finally got out ! detroyed the inside of my truck from all the mud but I was happy to get out.

I spent the rest of the morning scouting.

I seen a lot of buffies today by that I mean hundreds, none in the air but lots on the water as well as a few bills mixed in.

spent the afternoon in the water and seen lots of geeses as well as a few snows

seems there are a few more mallards in the area but they did not decoy real well

(Just a tip!!!! don't ever take off your hat and itch your head without looking over the decoy's first)

seen a couple flocks of bills also that did not decoy.

but It was late afternoon so I think they where just migrators looking to roost for the evening ?

TOMMORROW IS A NEW DAY!!!!!!

[ButchHero]

Lots of goldeneyes flying over my deer stand this morning...got out on the lake this afternoon- mostly buffleheads and goldeneyes in the bays, still no bills on the lake yet. Shot 2 White-Winged Scoter, though! That's a first- poor buggers must have got lost in the snow...

[luckycrank]

I have heard of it before ! I actually am convinced I seen aa flock of oldsqauw earlier this fall

[ButchHero]

Yeah, I know a couple of guys who have shot scoter in the area, and I shot an oldsquaw out in west-central mn in '99. They must come off of Superior once in a while...

[jeepguy]

We shot an old squaw in North Dakota a few years back. Must of been really lost.

[chub]

Yes

[Jordyn Kaufer]

anyone see any migrating mallards yet???

my dad and i are heading up to the cabin next weekend and hopeing that we're not to late..

[BigGrassBass]

We got 3 greenheads out by Litchfield yesterday. All were probably northern birds cause the skin was thick and had a lot of fat compaired to the locals we got 2 weeks ago. It might be to late for an upnorth trip.

[dan z]

very feew mallards around so the big push is still on stand by seen a couple hundred loons ta de so it cant be long maybe the next colbalt blue day will bring em down

[luckycrank]

I seen some large flocks of mallards in the center of a a local lake today (not typical for local birds to hang there)I will keep checking

last year the last weekend of the season they came to the same area by the last day there was well over a thousand ducks at this same location mostly Goldies and other divers but alot of mallards as well I wqs on the water the last day in the evening and it was a sight to see !

[Jordyn Kaufer]

ok thanks guys..

we are also going to grouse hunt too..

so if we dont get much duckin we'll try for some grousin

[trailratedtj]

lots of migrators coming through this morning west of the cities. Big flocks of Swans and huge flocks of ducks. Bluebills galore today, definately Northern Birds. It was nice shooting uneducated ducks.

[luckycrank]

BY THE TIME THEY GOT TO ME THEY WHERE EDGEMECATED!

[chub]

The fat lady is warming up. Been nothing but non-stop birds moving overhead for the last two days.

VERY few are stopping.

[winniewalleye777]

How many sloughs and ponds in the state froze up while we all wore blaze orange? thinkin about getting out tuesday and wednesday to chase some mallards. Will they still be coming through?

[Scott Stein]

not many froze up if they did just skim ice over the top. its supposed be warmin up this wk mid 40's so most likely some will stick around idk how much migration will happen dont know which way wind will be outta

[dan z]

this is dan bro i hunted southwestern mn and saw alot ducks and geese.

i drove by tilcot and alot of birds there too.

[123fish]

Saturday was a big moving day across southwest Mn. Like chub said we didn't have many come down though. We hunted the Badger Lakes area in the afternoon and didn't have any real action. We left there around 1:30 and saw ducks, geese, eagles, tundra swans all heading south. Saw virtually nothing moving Sunday where we were at. Big northwest winds coming Friday and Saturday again. Smaller sloughs are pretty much froze this morning. Need some thawing and clear skies with that northwest wind Saturday. Keep the reports coming.

[Cheetah]

I was out both Saturday and Sunday mornings on a lake SE of Hugo. Most of the local birds are gone now, but there are still a lot of wood ducks, which in the past never really stayed around as long as they have this year. A fair number of mallards were flying around, but nothing special. Fewer geese than a couple weeks ago as well. I took 4 mallards for the weekend, was slow for me because the wind wasn't cooperating with the spot I hunt.