Who went out today? 10/11/06

[Trany]

I was out with superfish2 and we saw tons of ducks flying in SW metro. Not many geese. I love this weather, now if we can get the push.

[buckpredator]

Well I was out bowhunting on my dads farm and I saw around one hundred mallards pile into one of his plowed corn fields so I went back to the truck.( I basically live out of my truck in the fall with all my hunting crap in the back.) Exchanged my scentlock gear for my shadowgrass gear, my bow for my shotgun, grabbed a couple calls and a bag of dekes. I was able to sneak close along a fenceline and managed to get two greenheads out the birds already on the ground and I finished my limit with a couple woodies.

Like you said trany there were many ducks flying. On my way out I had two honkers thirty yards sraight up, but didn't want to scare off the ducks. Later in the night though there was two large flocks of geese that landed on the neighbors plowed field.

[Dean Schellinger]

I did! And all I can say is that it finally felt like DUCK HUNTING AGAIN! COld, snowing, wind, overcast. Awesome hunt with a mixed bag of BWT, GWT, Mallards, Ringbills, and Redhead. Wish I didnt have class because we had to pick up pretty early before the geese and mallards came back from the fields. On our way out a nice flock of 40 geese locked up but the guns were already cased! Awesome hunt nonetheless.

[whitewolf6647]

I went out on some public land this morning and it was AWESOME!!!! I could've been limited out in about 15 minutes if I wanted to but I only wanted to shoot drakes and I couldn't tell them appart right at shooting time because it was so dark so I never fired a shot until about 0745 I just watched and admired all the birds and that was just about if not more fun than shooting. Ended up with 2 big greenheads, 1 drake spoonie, and 1 beautiful drake gadwall. I love this weather for duckin.

[RonZ]

Huntin in snow in October! It could't get any better. My son hunted at sunrise and hammered them. I hunted at sunset and got mine! Snow,Wind,Rain,miserable everyday weather but just what the doctor ordered for us waterfowlers.

[JEV]

Well, I'd say that a majority of our local ducks are now gone and in the southern part of the state. I went out yesterday and seen just a few lone ducks flying and one group of teal. I ended up shooting one teal, and it was the most plump teal I've ever seen. Most likely not a local bird. All a guy can do now is wait for a flight of northern birds to come through.

JEV

[doser]

Talked to my bro. this morning who hunted today 10/12. Said it was awsome. Ringbills, bluebills, mallards teal, etc. Everything decoyed nice. He limited by 8am .Said he could have sooner if he would have shot straight.

[eyepatrol]

doser...your bro hitting areas around here?

[stretch]

me and a buddy went out yesterday afternoon and shoot our limit of bluebills and finish off on 4 big green heads. it was awsome, we were only out for a hour and a half. seen alot of birds flying which was great to see.

[doser]

Yes Basscatcher. I also talked to another guy who said last night they were shoot like crazy on a sibley county lake he bow hunted next to last night.

[eyepatrol]

Interesting. I know yesterday there were a couple guys on the lake here that were banging away from shooting time until at least 4:45pm. Thought about calling the TIP line because that was a full day of shooting for 2 guys.

Took a few minutes to look over the lake at lunch hour, but didn't see anything flying.

[doser]

Talked to a kid here at school this afternoon who lives on titloe and said they were shooting like crazy out there this morning.

[tealitup]

Went out on a little creek/river in central MN this am. Cold, wind and snow. Not alot moving - Shot a goose at 5 feet decoying in Yea it was that close - and a teal committed suicide by landing in my decoys.

Couple mallards flying buy nothing much. Maybe tomorrow wil bring some more.

[iamgmc]

If your sitting at your desk reading this and didn't get out this morning you missed out.3 of us limited out in a corn field in 45 minutes.WOW about sums it up!!11 greenies one sally.

[eyepatrol]

Yeah, I can hear from my office that I've been missing out on some good hunting out there. Tooooo busy at work for that right now. Where's my priorities?

There will be plenty of good days left though. This is only the initial, premature push. The best is yet to come.

[tealitup]

Field hunting or hunting on water - what do you prefer? I have never done a field hunt, but love being on the water when the sun comes up in the AM. Even better this AM with the snow

[eyepatrol]

I'm a water man. Grew up that way and it's in my blood. Of course, it makes it pretty easy to be a water guy when your folks live on the lake you hunt such as mine do. Tried field hunting geese a couple years during early season and really didn't like it at all. Screws up my depth perception when laying down, had to lay down in mud or maneuer(sp?) from time to time, bugs are just terrible early on in the year. I just didn't like it. I'm made for the water.

[iamgmc]

I don't disagree but I can't move my water holes to where the waterfowl wants to land.Scouting is everything to stay on ducks.If your burning off the same water every weekend you need fresh ducks all the time.I'll bet Saturdays are better than Sundays if your hunting the same water.

[Rost]

I bought a brand new pair of waders last August and have not even taken the tags off of them! So far this year we have bagged exactly 100 geese and about 60 ducks all in fields. I hate trudging though muck.

[buckpredator]

I,ve had some great hunting this year also, all in fields. Like said before though scouting pays big dividends no matter what you are hunting.

[eyepatrol]

Back in my college days at SDSU me and a buddy would do quite a bit of scouting sloughs and then would hit the best one we found. Definitely was tough drudging through all the muck, etc. I've just never gotten into the field hunting. Maybe I'd enjoy it more if I had a laydown blind or something, but laying in the mud and manuer just wasn't my thing. Hunting on the lake all the time can be like deer hunting from a tree stand where you have to wait for the action to come to you. It's hard to say if Sundays are any better than Saturdays though....all depends on the weather. Sometimes a Saturday will be 50 degrees with a strong south wind with little ducks around, then Saturday night a cold front blows through and Sunday the ducks are here. It varies. What I like about our situation though is we have a 14' boat, the lake is about 5' deep and most of the lake bottom where decoys are set out within range is hard muck to sandy bottom. Very nice walking, except you sometimes have to watch out for a stray rock or you'll become a certified member of the helldiver's club!

[Flick]

Yea field hunting in some parts of MN is just downright tough because of the competition. And then in other areas you cant count on a good hunt because you're worried if someone is going to blow them off the water in the morning. I guess you have to do the best you can.

Cant wait for tomorrow....field of 1K+ mallards and then leave for a 3 day trip to hunt some roosties and ducks, this weekend is setting up to be amazing.

[sdstate]

Hey Rost, I go to school out here at SDSU. I was just wondering if you have found the ducks have started feeding in the beans yet or if they are still feeding in the sileage. Goin out tomorrow morning west of the 81 sloughs so hopefully this weather pushed some new ducks in. Any info would be appreciative.

[Rost]

Hey SDSU- I saw a flock of geese in cut beans the other day, but no ducks yet. I hate hunting bean stubble! I have not been up around the 81 ponds yet, but I'd bet there are a few birds eh?

[doser]

Hunted last night after work. Tons of divers, but only managed one ringer. Did a lot of shooting and missing. the biggest problem was a huge raft of diver/coot/mallards about 500 yrds from where we were set up. Hard to compete with live birds. Shoot at and missed a nice Drake Can.It was fun to watch them though. My Bro. went out again this mornig. Last I talked to him he had three birds and was in the process of finding his forth. GwTeal, 2 mallards and goldeneye. He said hardly anybirds there this morning. Said he was fortunate to get a few to pass by and shoot.

[eyepatrol]

Goldeneye...NICE! I don't see many of those around here. In fact, I got my first one ever last year which was sweet. Sounds like I'm missing out on some nice action. I've got the afternoon off, but that's to take care of my sick daughter. Oh well.

[sdstate]

Rost, a buddy and i hunted some public land near the 81 sloughs and did pretty good. We didnt see a lot of birds but the ones we did see decoyed pretty well we ended up with two bull cans, three drake mallards, 2 gadwalls, and a spoonie. All of the birds were nice and plump and beautifully colored. You definately cannot beat a day in the slough like that. p.s. there were a lot of canvasbacks flying around. we had numerous flocks of 10-15 land in the dekes. Go get em SDSTATE

[Rooster Chaser]

Hunted in the stiff wind today and got 3 widgeon and a spoonie west of the cities. Ducks hung nicely in the wind, made for good shots. A lot more ducks this weekend than last from my observation - no teal or woodies, mallards were wary and saw some ringbills and goldeneye too.

[fishinalot]

Went out this morning between the kid and I shot our limit of 4 woodies, 2-teal and 2-ring bills. Didn't see that many, just made our shots count. I did see more woodies then I expected after this cold snap.

[Sartell Angler]

10/11 was a great day to get out...nothing like freezing temps before October is even half over! We could only stay 'til 9:30 but had a blast. Here is a pic: