Too Risky???

[kc0myy]

I was listening to noaa weather radio going ou to my duck boat and they were talking about 50-60mph wind gusts. step out of my truck and thought. No not today too risky I'm not going to risk my life for a few ducks. I Just want to know if any of you other guys thought the same this moring. I have a 14' V hull boat but I'm just not too carzy about my handle skills in weather like this. So was a being smart by staying in or not this morning?

[orangestew]

Was going to go out field hunting this morning and decided to go back to bed. Not sure if we could keep the decoys staked down. Can the birds even fly in 50mph winds? How could you even lead them if they were flying with the wind? 5 feet?

[kc0myy]

I have heard that if the birds are flying into the wind you have to lead them more for the wind blowing you shot off. but how much who knows.

[SledNeck]

I used to hunt in winds like that in Southern Cal. Ducks hanging in mid air into the wind in front of the blind. YES you still have to lead them.

[Corey Bohn]

Better to be safe than sorry. I would think you're typical duck boat would be completely out of the question in these winds unless you're on the lee side of the lake and can stay out of open water. I got completely dressed this morning and was ready to make a long walk out carrying a bag of dekes instead of oaring the boat, but decided against it because the waves would be crashing in where I would be hunting. I anticipate that the big point this morning could have been tremendous because there's diver ducks in the area, but I'm not willing to subject my older lab to these conditions trying to retrieve ducks in this wind, and though I could toss weighted keel dekes out, trying to retrieve them in waist deep water in this wind would be an extremely wet, cold experience. Besides, it didn't get all that cold last night, and while I suspect some new ducks came with this wind last night and today, the real cold temps aren't due until this evening and tomorrow night (20-22 degrees). The wind is suppose to roar again on Monday so Tuesday a.m. could be good and a lot safer. Hope those who went out are being extremely careful because this is precisely the kind of wind that can get you in trouble in a real hurry.

[101winchester]

Went out this morning, clear skies, 39 degrees and windy. Came home this morning, 30 degrees, really windy, and near white out conditions. Started snowing as soon as we got the dekes out and hasn't stopped, so much for flurries, looking at the radar we could get several more inches. Think Jake is getting out of school for a couple of hours in the morning. Good luck to all.

Tim

[Corey Bohn]

Tim,

Any birds before the dekes turned white? Curious to know if the divers were doing their thing this morning in this wind. I hunt in your neck of the woods as well, or I should say within a 10-35 mile radius. Just curious.

[101winchester]

Birds were on us before we knew it with the visibility the way that it is but they didn't hesitate to come into the dekes. Even when they were white birds came in. We shut down early with cold fingers and toes but Jake got two nice Mallards and the divers we seen, well lets just say we both need to work on lead and follow thru with heavy clothes. We didn't see a great number like I had hoped but when this stuff lifts it will be interesting to see if there was any large number of birds pushed down. The grill is showing at least 3" of white stuff and still coming down, how about down your way Cory?

[Corey Bohn]

It's a full blown blizzard here and I'd say we have about the same amount of snow here in Glenwood as you do there, and it's still snowing hard with sustained winds at 35 mph and gusts to 50 mph. From the looks of the radar the brunt of the storm has yet to even arrive. Thanks for the info, I can just see those divers cuttin' into the wind as they bank and scream by the dekes. Hopefully Tuesday moring there's a 15 mph breeze or so and it's not dead calm because it's suppose to roar again tomorrow. I can hunt Tuesday a.m. so I'm getting ready. I'll provide a report Tuesday night.

[Farley]

I said screw it too this morning. Tossing out dekes is tough enough with a moderate breeze, it was a little too much to handle today. Waiting to hear from my roomate who went out this morning to see how it was.

Went out Saturday morning and saw a lot of ducks and some big flocks of mallards way, way, way up there. Got them to come down about 3/4 of the way but they wouldnt finish. Also had a bunch of bills in the pond yesterday a.m.

[Neighbor_guy]

I was listening to noaa weather radio going ou to my duck boat and they were talking about 50-60mph wind gusts. step out of my truck and thought. No not today too risky I'm not going to risk my life for a few ducks. I Just want to know if any of you other guys thought the same this moring. I have a 14' V hull boat but I'm just not too carzy about my handle skills in weather like this. So was a being smart by staying in or not this morning?

I have found that if you think it is to risky to go, it is. I have gone hunting and though "what the H am I doing out here" no duck, deer, goose, whatever is work hurting or killing yourself over.

[Fish&Fowl]

Just gotta use common sense on days like today. Obviously big water is not going to be worth it, but that's when you gotta change things up if you can. A buddy and I shot 6 ringnecks and two woodducks (of all things) coming down a diver line right to the mojo.

We packed it up early because my buddy had a lot of homework to do, but there were still birds buzzing around. We had sideways snow falling almost all morning with winds about 35 mph. We were on a pretty small lake in NW MN. Definitely glad we didn't sleep in, I've been waiting to shoot ducks in sideways snow since June!!

[Lunger]

We had a great shoot this morning on cut corn, had to get up a few times to put decoys back up that blew over but it wasn't too bad, the geese just locked and dropped in, even with snow covered decoys. Also saw quite a few ducks as well.

[dan z]

yesterday was just a test to see if your in for the real duck days soon to come we hunted big water and had know problems I did have the life jacket near by tho.

[jeepguy]

It was our last day of our annual North Dakota Trip, woke up to rattling windows and the sensation that the roof was going blow right off the house. We were about halfways down US2 between Grand Forks and Devils Lake. The weather channel called for 40-55 mph winds with gusts up to 65. Out of 5 guys 2 of us braved the weather. With near white out conditions we figured we were just going out for a cold walk. We got to our spot exited the truck and walked to our pond. To our suprise ducks were around in the fields and the ponds. RIght away I got a good shot at a Blue Bill, I dropped it "feet up" dead, but the wind was troo strongs and the dog could not make it to the bird. We called the dog in, we did not want that dog to get too far out there of it would be curtains for her. We decided, even though they were around, it was going to be impossible to retrieve so we pakced it up.

[The_Duckslayer]

Got up Sunday morning and went out to the kitchen and poured a cuppa coffee. Sat there for a bit listening to the wind and knew that I did not want to try to cross the lake to where I would have to be to hunt so I went back to bed. Lil ole 12Ft duck boat would be no match for the white caps on the lake. Now if I had the blind on the big Jon boat (18FT) I woulda been out there! Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[Roosterslayer05]

I went out in the morning and hunted in the blizzard until 1 pm. A few ducks were flying but not too many. We got 3 ringbills, a widgion, and a hooded merganser. The wind was so strong we had to lead cripples on the water because the wind was blowing our shot.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

went out yesterday afternoon and evening; western minnesota. great conditions; horrible shooting. ive never shot so bad in my life. missed 2 widgeon, 2 honkers, and 1 ringer. excellent push of birds last night however, so i was entertained all evening and didnt set the goose call down much.

[kc0myy]

yes I love hunting big water bit not with 50mph gusts i'm not going to risk my life for a duck. I love duck hunting so much i want to keep hunting ducks and not die from it. sure call me a wuss i don't care I like living more than duck hunting.

yesterday was just a test to see if your in for the real duck days soon to come we hunted big water and had know problems I did have the life jacket near by tho.

[poutpro]

had the best hunt of the season on Sunday morning in the snow and wind. 2 of us had 12 ducks down by 930. A mixed bag of mallards and gaddys.

[Scott Stein]

guy i know from kato was on hanska sun morning went to pick his dekes up and wind capsized his boat he crawled on top but it was blowing to the middle so he figured he better get off and swim so he did then relized he was gunna have to ditch the waders so he did swam to shore then had to walk around the lake to some guys house. said he just wanted to quit while he was walking cuz he was so cold but he kept on and said almost fainted when the guy came to the door. that could have turned out bad!!!!

[wallter]

Scary story but certainly a STRONG REMINDER to be careful.

We hunted in eastern MN and where I think the winds were around 30 mph not 50. The night before I carefully scouted out a lake with an access and a spot on it's west side. We were able to stay away from the middle of the lake and we hunted the middle portion of a point that rose up into about a 30 foot tall hill directly behind us.

It was pretty cool as we had calm water in front of us and we weren't bothered by the wind. The gusts would whip over head and then quickly funnel down (kind of like the snow fence effect) and it would make the deke's dance.

Ended up with 1 ringbill and 1 bluebill both drakes. They came in together and were both awesome looking birds.