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waterfowl updates?


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some friends and i are planning on doing some hunting somewhere between ortonville and morris this coming weekend (17th-19th). i have heard reports from friends hunting up that way that there are concentrations of mallards working the fields around chokio...any truth to those rumors? also, how far out from the lqp refuge are the birds flying to feed now with the pressure around the refuge? is it worth trying to scout some of these birds, or go farther north and try it up there? any info would be appreciated and if somebody is willing to give up some good locations we could probably use another gun in the field; ive got an extra layout blind....

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No there aren't. Honestly during the deer hunting this past two weekends its the least amount of waterfowl I've ever seen. Usually I see lots of birds and think "I should be duck hunting"... Never happened this time.

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Jeff,you have to look up in the sky and not in the woods and corn for ducks. wink.gif

The last two weekends in North Dakota I saw many flocks of honkers flying.

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This is the best duck year I've had in 10 years.

Maybe we're looking in different spots.

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I have to agree with boilerguy. There are lots of ducks around. This past weekend we shot lots of nice birds. I am having my wife mount at least five of them!!

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I've been told that duck mounts only stay nice for a couple years, then the colors fade out real bad. Any truth to this or is just bad taxidermy???

I've wanted to get a couple ducks on the wall but my previous statements have made me hold off.

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I have some birds that have been mounted for 10+ years and they still look good.Some times a good dusting will help.

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Well, like I said I was concentrating on deer but just didn't see birds like I often do while deer hunting. If they are still here, now I have to add that to the list of possibilities for Sat. Do I get up and sit in the tree with stick/string, get up and chase ducks or sleep til 9 and shoot roosters...DECISIONS DECISIONS DECISIONS!!!!!

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Do I get up and sit in the tree with stick/string, get up and chase ducks or sleep til 9 and shoot roosters...DECISIONS DECISIONS DECISIONS!!!!!


Get the ducks for the first couple hours, pack up and head out for the roosters for a couple hours, go home, clean the birds, then stick a big buck in the evening! Grand-slam for southwest Minnesota? grin.gif

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well guys im going to answer my own question here; after driving from aberdeen to sioux falls this morning to wrap up the work week, i hit the road in short order back to western minnesota for a weekend hunt; took back roads skirting the sodak/minn border all the way up to ortonville; theres a lot of birds on a shallow lake north of hendricks, snows, specks, mallards, and canadians packed in pretty good; then i hit the mother load scouting tonight. big stone county is holding LOTS of birds. didnt see anybody actively hunting while driving around tonight but saw a few other guys out scouting. there is still some great hunting to be had if anybody is willing to put in the windshield time; i cant wait for my five day weekend next week, as well as tomorrow mornings hunt. will post results as soon as we limit out!

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Well I sure didn't come close to pulling off everything mentioned for the Southwest Slam, but I did sit with the bow and then kill two pheasants before going home to soak my young pine trees all afternoon before disconnecting the hose for the winter...

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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