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Waterfowl Forecast


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Well boys what does anyone think? How do you believe we are going to fair up around here versus other parts of the state? I've seen some promising areas but others that are totally void of birds. Early season with all the roost pressure was rather a dud for some I have talked with.

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I think it's going to be better than last year judging by the numbers of local birds I've seen this year compared to last. I almost didn't buy my stamps this year but have seen enough locals to make me a bit excited for the season, which hasn't been the case for the past few years.

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Not sure what part of Sibley County you live in BendnSend, but on the lake here in Gaylord I haven't seen much of anything. Went out goose hunting one day and saw a couple flocks, but nothing worth writing home to mom about. Another guy I talked to said he hasn't seen much on Schilling near New Auburn.

Hopefully they're around. I'll be out there regardless.

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I've seen more birds on the smaller bodies of water lately. Also some of the private sloughs that I know of seem to be holding a fair amount of fowl. Im noticing alot of teal have already started to move out of the area, it was cold but man not that darn cold! Geese seem to be settled down alittle more now within the last few days to.

Oh basscatcher Im just down the road about 7 miles west of you. Alot of dove hunters around Mud lately to huh, how to you think that affects that ducks on there or do you think they just jump across the road and sit on the s__t ponds?

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Hoping it will be good since we will be hunting private ponds for the first month or so. Opening up on the pond next to the golf course in Cokato, we have seen a few birds in there latley but nothing spectacular, hopefully they'll get pushed around Saturday. We built a big blind out there a few years ago but now all the cattails have drifted away and it's out there in the middle all by itself on a mudflat and I dont think we can use it this year so we have to improvise. We call that blind "The Executive Series", it's 6X12. There is also a "Signature Series" (4X8) on that pond too.

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I had no idea people went dove hunting out there. I haven't hunted Mud in 20 years, but from what I've seen in years past before opening day, the ducks bounce back and forth between the sewage ponds and Mud. Some will head to Titloe also, which is where I'll be, but in the past 5 - 7 years, there hasn't been many ducks that head to Titloe.

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We have been hunting private land that is connected to Lake Severence. The hunting last year was ok opening day becuase off the guys that are on the main lake. I think that the local birs are going to get a rude awakeing come opening day. After that hunting will be slow in that area until late in the year. Titlow usta be awesome, not so much anymore.

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It's been 10 years since we had a good opening weekend on Titloe. Kinda sad, but some of the good hunting on Titloe took a dive when the dam at Mud broke and drained the lake down, or whatever happened there. Mud used to hold a good 4' of water and would be loaded with ducks, many of which after the first hour of opening day would head to Titloe. Now you can barely get a flat-bottom boat in Mud from what I've been told.

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I have a few of my buddys that hunted it a few years back. Now they dont go there anymore cuase like you siad its a sad to say but its horrible that its all went down hill.

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Hunted Mud sat. and sun. 12 ducks 2 honks sat. same thing on sunday. Heard you guys roaring away up on titlow. Sounded pretty cool where we were sitting. Some yahoo's of course were sitting on the road and walking into the ponds jumping birds every 15 minutes or so. Then when we left on sat. noticed they threw all there birds, spoonies and teal into the ditch. I mean who does crap like that anymore? Doesnt anyone ever say nething to ppl who ignore the no trespassing signs out there. I've seen that happen almost every day during early season now for about the last 5 or 6 years.

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I have no idea who would be doing that, but if I find out, there'll be hell to pay! We heard a few shots over on Mud also from Titloe. You guys must not have had much shooting on Sunday until 8:00 or 9:00am??? Almost seemed like Mud didn't get going on Sunday until well after sunrise. Sounded like you were banging away pretty well on Saturday though.

Titlow on the west end was more active than where we were on the east end on Saturday. Probably guys on what we call "The Big Island", which is the long one located closer to the neckdown in the lake. On Sunday I think we had probably some of the best/most shooting on the lake. Got our limit of ducks for 3 of us by about 8:10am along with one goose. Stuck it out until 10:00am to try and get more geese, but nada. If you heard 3 shots on Titloe right at shooting time on Sunday, that would have been my dad wiffing at a goose about 25-30 yards out. blush.giftongue.gif He redeemed himself with the one goose we got later in the morning...it was about a 50 yard shot. Go figure.

Most ducks I've seen in probably 7 - 10 years. Lots and lots of teal this year too.

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Hey, Bendnsend. I'm in Sibley County as well and can definitely do something about the yahoos you described due to the nature of my employment. In fact I dealt with someone out there 2 years ago who jumped the ponds and shot a couple geeese well after the season closed. I'm kinda dumb about how this works but if you can PM me I'll let you know what you can do. Thanks!

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

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