any new ducks

[norwall]

anybody have any new reports from being out this wk so far? I thought maybe wit this lil front it would push some new birds into N. MN. Went out in the W metro today..zip headin up north sat tho

[swedishpimple]

Last night I shot 2 teal. My guess is they were the last of them. My office is right on Lake Bemidji (which is all refuge) no birds on the lake today.

I think the cold and snow may have pushed some of our birds....hopefully if it clears and warms we will get a flight in, but our woodies and teal are all but gone.

[HUNTFISH69]

From what i've heard/seen the Chipewa National Forest region is cuurently holding over 100,000 ducks, while refuges in W MN are holding 5,000-10,000 so the migrators haven't came through as of yet. We need some cold weather and a couple days of a solid North wind to push them down here. As far as teal and woodies the warm weather as of late has held them down around the STC area. Those have made up a majority of what we've shot lately.

[surewood]

They have started to push the last couple days. We've had a couple good shoots it's been fun.

[norwall]

well that encouraging news,what kinda ducks did ya get in2? were rollin up in2 the theif river falls area later this wknd. going out again in the w metro tom. mornin.100k birds in the chip. thats quit a few. was there in few in. of snow in Bem. 2day?

[tearin' lips]

Seine Bay in the Northern reaches of Rainy Lake had about 7,000 ringnecks and lesser scaup on it this weekend. It won't be long if this weather keeps up.

[swedishpimple]

I saw a huge "J" shaped flock of what I think were ring bills on lake Bemidji this Morning. I am guessing 1,000-2,000. Hard to say but the water was black there. Hope they were not coots...but it is open and deep there..no weeds..looked like bills.

[surewood]

We've been shooting ringnecks, mallards, and teal mostly. Today there was definately new groups of mallards. Let some groups of ringnecks go through to wait on the mallards and they decoyed awesome. Looks like it will warm up next week it could get slow.

[norwall]

seen some new birds in the w metro but they were coots and spoonies....ish

[Scott M]

Good to hear surewood. I'll be up north of Rapids by tomorrow night. Sounds like lows around 33, and next weekend accuweather is predicting snow and sleet.

[bassman222]

Quote:

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From what i've heard/seen the Chipewa National Forest region is cuurently holding over 100,000 ducks,

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All refuge ducks......

[surewood]

Da chise, went out today and they're was'nt half the birds as tues, and wednesday. I still think that they will be moving in again though the way the weather is looking.

[Scott M]

That's the nature of the beast. Here today and gone tomorrow. Hope springs eternal. Keep on them.

[HUNTFISH69]

Was out this morning between Alex and Herman, caught the front end of the main migration, green wings, ringnecks and a few redheads. 9 birds for 2 guys not a bad day. And as far as my last comment went about the Chippewa forest those aren't refuge ducks, they're migrators

[ec30_06]

I sure hope there are ducks north of Grand Rapids this weekend.

[bassman222]

Quote:

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And as far as my last comment went about the Chippewa forest those aren't refuge ducks, they're migrators

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Refuge ducks=ducks that sit on refuges.

[norwall]

yeah really,Ihope theres ducks up n of GR as well(crossing fingers)

[Boedigheimer]

norwall and eco, I hunted about 40miles north of grand rapids two days ago and it was very good, I seen mostly divers but I also seen the biggest flock of blue-winged teal I have ever seen, 200+ birds in one flock, when they banked with the wind the blue on the wing flashed like a neon light, it was awesome.

[HUNTFISH69]

I know what refuge ducks are, but there aren't that many ducks that stay there year round the migration is starting and that is a main stop for them because it's a refuge area. I haven't checked the migration report lately but you could tell that the front end is starting to push into West MN.

[Bryce]

Refuge (fuge) ducks are migratory birds that jump from fuge to fuge cause they know the program.

[ec30_06]

There are zero ducks north of Grand Rapids right now. Hunted by big fork all weekend. 5 guys two boats and zero ducks. I only saw one duck.

[blue_healer_guy]

Hunted in southern mn the past 2 days, 3 ducks sat. (my sons 1st duck- widgeon). They were the only ducks we pulled on, Sun, never fired a shot.

[icecold]

Hunted minnesota riverbottoms got 1 mallard 2 wooducks today, seen very few ducks this morning, took my youngest son out this afternoon didnt see a bird, , compared to last year it is very dead.

[Huntin&Fishin]

Any buy Park Rapids.

[Scott M]

Deadsville up North.

Holy crud. There was nothing, I mean nothing up there. I hunted near Bigfork and we didn't see a single duck that was killable. Sure we saw a few flocks 1/2 mile up, but there was nothing like what was reported around Grand Rapids, Hill City, northern Itasca county on this website earlier in the week or the 2nd weekend DNR C.O. hunter check reports.

Ran into a friend of mine while filling up gas in Garrison. He said after the big north winds on Wednesday he didn't see any ducks Th, Fri, Sat, or today. Guess I was a few days late, because earlier in the week he was cleaning up on all sorts of ducks.

I'll be back up next weekend, sure hope things turn around

[hanson]

My dad hunted on "our" spot in NW MN Friday morning and got 2 geese and a couple ring-necks. He said the ringers were everywhere but he couldn't hit anything that flew by the dekes! Thats my dad! According to him, the ring-neck activity was unbelievable compared to opening weekend. Dad mentioned he would have limited in no time flat if he was in the water swatting mood but thank God he didn't! Sometimes you can't keep them critters out of the dekes, what a problem! !

Dad's 2 geese were a continuing experiment with hunting ducks over a minimum dozen GHG Oversize Floater decoys in addition to our regular set of duck decoys. The floaters struck again as I guarantee he did not send a honk out whatsoever on a goose call!

Anybody hunting on water needs to get themselves a bunch of floater geese decoys! It works man!

[thaJman]

Hunted about 75 miles SW of the metro on Saturday and there were a lot less ducks around then the previous weekend. Probably because the majority of the teal were gone and the weather was not perfect with the blue bird skies and 0 wind. 2 of us still managed 11 but we hunted until 1 PM. The bag was made up of 4 ringbills, 2 mallards, 2 gadwall, 1 woody, 1 pintail, and a widgeon.

[magnum mike]

As we feared, this season has been a bust. When the "experts" predict a good year and an increase in duck population, we do poorly. Last year, on the heels of a "bad" report from the "experts", was one of our best seasons in many years. We are averaging 1 duck a day for the entire camp. We are in the Winne area and have tried every combination from big water to backwater. Our own reports from north of the border would be encouraging but we are in for yet another week of moderate weather.

[Guest Kyle]

This cold spell has definatly pushed out birds up here in St. Cloud. I was out duck hunting on saturday morning and didnt see a thing. Hunted until noon for pheasants and still didnt see a duck in the sky anywhere and we drove around a little bit.

[LABS4ME]

Nothing in the Cass Lake to Motley area... and I mean nothing! Seen a total of 8 ducks all weekend. Many different waters were scouted form big to small to small lakes in the woods and all were empty!

My buddies were out by Ivanhoe - Canby area for a duck / pheasant combo... it turned out to be a pheasant only trip as they could've couted the birds seen on their fingers. We need a real weather push!

Good Luck!

Ken