Opener Stories!!

[No_Net]

My cousin and I managed to shoot our limits each day. On

a private slough just south of swan lake. We shot 3 woodducks, 1 mallard, 1 spoonie, 1 widgeon, and 18 teal. One of the best openers I have had.

[aland147]

Had the worst opener in 20 years of duck hunting. But i have been saying that every year for the last 5 or so years. Saw a few flocks but nothing like the good ole days, shot 2 single ring bills that decoyed. Couple of the trends i am seeing in central MN are very very low water levels, which correlates with no wild rice, fewer and fewer hunters, and the few ducks around show absolutely no interest in decoys. Call me old school, but i still dont and have never liked this september opener thing. I am very frustrated.

[guppie]

The meterologists arent as dumb as they look! If they are forcasting rain and it is not raining when you get out of the truck, bring the waterproof coat anyway!

I got SOAKED!

[mr marbles]

I sure like that 9:00am opener, 3 guys 18 ducks, wind, rain, lightning, sittin in a big pot hole!and a few beverages after the hunt and a barbeque, it was perf!!

[Jarrod32]

Well, I shot AT some ducks, anyway...

[bluebill]

hunted with my 13 year old daughter both days could it rain any harder sat. shot at 3 mallards & 2 woodies came home with 3 mallards today hit a spot my brother and 2 buddys filled out on sat. 6 teal 1 woodie best saying was dad you folded that one nice shot dad she will be a waterfowler im so proud

[trailratedtj]

saterday 3 woodies, 1 blue wing, and a widgeon. 4 guys

today 1 woodie, 2 mallards, 2 geese, 1 green wing. 3 guys

saw lots of birds saterday. saw alot of birds early today.

hopefully more to come this week. Still need to get the pup out and see how he does.

[USPENAMC]

i can say that i at least tried.... two days saw a few ducks on sunday but too far away... i drove all over the place maybe i needed to stay put

went to Rapids lake unit on sat then went to a place near gaylord minnesota then i went to Buffalo lake on sunday all day and didnt see much. If anyone wants to share a spot or some tips let me know. I put alot a miles on as you can tell so i dont mind putting some more. If nothing else im already looking at booking a guided hunt maybe this weekend

[tacklejunkie]

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3 of us had no problem getting our woodies. Not much else around. Did manage one mallard and one blue wing teal. Hoping for more variety tomorrow!!

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VIVA VIAGRA!!!

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[swedishpimple]

Lots of woodies and teal in the Bemidji area. We got 6 woodies on Sunday and a couple of teal. We also lost a honker in the extremely thick wild rice we have this year. We pulled the pin after we filled on woodies and did not see any mallards or ringers around.

[Borch]

It funny how it varies based on where you hunted. In the entire weekend we saw 7 teal(6 of those in one flock) and 1 woodie. Lot of mallards though and a few ringnecks. Water levels continue to be low but in much better shape after all the rain the past two weeks.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Both Saturday and Sunday we had great hunting. It was rainy and windy. We shot our limits of ducks. 1 Redhead and the rest were blue wing teal.

One of the more fun openers I've had in a while. Water level is a little low but no where near what I thought it would be.

[BoxMN]

We saw a decent number of ducks, but less than I expected. Had 4 groups of guys on my buddy's farm in West Central MN. Sat were some woodies and a couple geese, and actually beautiful weather - strong wind, blue/cloudy skies. Had some fun "misses" that we got to hassle each other for.

Sunday was wet, and ended up with a handful of redheads and a goose on the lake point, a couple woodies on one end of the slough, and 7 or so ringbill shot on the other end of the slough. Quit by 9 am due to being wet and birds stopped flying.

Lots of fun was had, that is the main thing. Have a great season everyone

[ec30_06]

We got our limits both days. (2 guys) Mostly greenheads and woodies with a few teal and spoonbills. Hunted south of new prague.

[paceman]

My buddy and I got our limits in 20 minutes Saturday (teal and canvasbacks) and two geese. Sunday was much slower. Got 6 and a goose hunting until 9:00 am but it still was one of the best openers un many years.

[Ely Lake Expert]

3 of us went out saturday morning and got 10. We shot really bad, we should of limited out. 1 hen mallard, 1 hen woody, 2 drake woodies, 5 greenwing teal, and 1 bluewing teal.

Sunday was much slower not many birds in the air. We got 3 total, 1 hen mallard and 2 greenwing teal.

[bubs]

two of us got 9 rings,3 mallards, 2 red heads,1 bwt,1 pintail,1 bluebill, 12 sat 5 sun. we left the blind at ten on sunday with birds still flying I got a triple in the air with two shots after my buddy put his gun away .

[Sartell Angler]

saw as many ducks as on any opener I can remember (since about '99) and these are also the best reports I have seen on an opener.

Looks like a banner season!

[Rozman]

Those look like some big geese!!

[deadfeathers]

Finally made it out for the first hunt of the season on Monday. Went to a little pond on public land near my house and there was two hunters already there. Pulled up and asked if I could join them. Got the response of NOPE, we were here first and want to hunt alone. No Problem I can understand, two buddies out together hunting want to share the experienance together. SO I beat feet 45 miles down the road to a place I took my son on the youth hunt. Flooded bean field, the birds were stacked in there. Didn't want to hunt there initially, cause a buddy and I were going to hunt it later this week. Ended up with 3 drake mallards, 2 teal, and a spoony. Great day with me and the dog. Heading to the river tommorrow, down by kellog out of pritchards. Any reports on the river ?????????

[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.