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2009 Waterfowl Reports


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RRR,

Did you see many new birds moving around? Congrats on the bull can. I haven't shot one yet this year...

A good sized raft of Divers in the middle of the bay I was hunting.

I have shot 6 Cans this year, 3 I consider Bull Cans, 1 Hen and 2 immature drakes.

I should have had my limit of 6, but I missed a lot this morning. mad

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I only had once chance at a Can before, right at legal shooting time a long time ago, not sure what it was and didn't shoot. That what you get for not being up on your waterfowl ID. By the time I figure out what it was, it was already over the cattails and I didn't want to chance shooting and losing it. Lets just say I brused up on my waterfowl ID since then. Canvansback and Pintail are 2 species I've never even pulled the trigger on..and the are 2 of the mounts I want the most.

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Me and a buddy shot two bull Cans yesterday along with some drake mallards, and ringers. It was my slowest morning in a while (still smiling though). I felt sick when I heard there were two guys at the landing taking pics with 4 cans! Also not impressed with other hunters' attitudes or landing procedures. "Ca mon guys. Havent you heard of OTHER PEOPLE"

Why is everyone at the landing such a sourpuss???

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Hunted Central WI solo this morning. We got some new birds around here.(As well as a lot more hunters this morning). Should have had a limit. Ended up with 4. 2 drake redheads, mallard, and bluebill. Missed some "easy" shots at bluebills and had a "dead" mallard get up and fly away.

There were a few mallards and gadwall, some bluebills, and a lot of redheads around. Had a flock of 50 or so redheads decoy, so that was fun to watch. After I got my two, I watched quite a few other flocks work.

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Went to a local lake this a.m. and seen maybe 25 ducks and 4 geese. Had one shot at a woodie and thats it. Very very slow. No ducks high or nothing.

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Pretty slim around here as well. My son and I went out this morning and got one woodie. Missed on another and of course had the one come in and set on the water just on the other side of a falen tree while we were on shore having a sandwich and coffee! Ain't that the way that it always goes! That is about all that we saw. We heard very little shooting anywhere this morning. Gonna have to find a new spot now that the wood ducks have left as that is about all there seems to be at the lake we were at. take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jibmo

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No hunting today went north to do some deerstand work but did some scouting by longville and sat at a lake with four groups of hunter on it at almost sunrise and didnt hear a shot and not a bird in sight was stupified then was up by Grand Rapids area this evening and saw a bunch of ringies and bills on a couple of lakes. wishing I was hunting them hope to be there next weekend hope there still there or more there.

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This evening, while doing chores around the homestead, I noticed a pretty good number (2-3K) of greater Canada Geese milling around our area fields. These are definately new birds to the area as we haven't had much around now for the last week or so.

I've also begun to see more ducks flying in the evenings, bigger groups and bigger birds!

I could be wrong, but it appears the migration may beginning to move down into Northwestern Minnesota. I wish the DNR website would update the count estimates every few days, instead of just once weekly. Things can change pretty quickly now.

Bring on the Big Curls!!!

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Hunted the northwest last weekend, six guys had shooting all morning on big greenheads with lots of curls, and tons of geese. I agree with sam, not only thousands of geese, but the mallards are just as nuts!

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Tough Morning.

Fog, Drizzle and almost no wind.

Large rafts of divers in the middle of the lake laughing at me and the 20 other boats on the lake.

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Had an ok weekend. me and my brother shot 5 yesterday and 8 today. Mallards, blue wing, buffs, ringers, bills, and a bull can.

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got out on the mississippi by Winona today, saw quite a few mallards, lots of individuals and pairs that were willing to set in to the decoys at least to start but often decided to keep flying once they got close. A lot of competition out there, but we did alright, 8 mallards for 2 guys. Also saw a ton of trumpeter swans flying south, and a few large flocks of high flying mallards, so maybe a push of northerns is starting.

Also hunting up north of Rochester saturday for geese in a picked field, got a few, but did really well on woodies.

Great weekend of hunting

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Slow Saturday. Didn't fire a shot. Shoulda went with another buddy of mine...limited out on pheasants not too far from where I was duck hunting.

I'll have my eyes on the local waters to see if we get any new birds.

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what beautiful evening managed two drake bluebills it was great two came in and two fell into the decoys. love when that happens. didnt see lot of birds but they are around.

RRR and Cutter big water let me know but if it doesnt freeze might be a bit to early but I would still give it a go.

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i will talk to my brother and see what he thinks and let you guys know. as of right now i don't have anything planed so we might be able to get something lined up.

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I went out to the Ortonville area this weekend to hunt ducks in the morning and pheasants the rest of the day.

Very few birds to be seen. The Big Stone Refuge has hardly any birds in it, and the water level in there is at least a few feet up. Nothing like past flocks where you couldn't even count them there were so many. Some of the cut fields held small flocks of geese and ducks, but not many. While driving around I don't recall seeing any good sized groups of ducks or geese on any ponds and lakes I drove past.

Water level everywhere is high, the ponds I hunted were probably a foot or two up. Most dried ponds and grassy areas the last two years were completely full this year. Almost all crops are still standing, only a few bean fields have been cut, far too much water and mud.

The handful of ducks I had come by me made it past unscathed. Little buggers zipped over the reeds and by the time I knew they were coming they were on top of me and flying out of range before I could get the gun up.

I heard some shooting, but the guys close enough to me to see what they were shooting at were obviously skybusting geese that were way out of range.

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Two days after seeing more ducks then I've seen all year, I saw the fewest all year this morning. It was warm, foggy, and zero wind. No shots fired.

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yep didnt hardly see any ducks this morning but did manage three goldeneyesd and one buffie I was on pelican

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I am going to Pelican on Wednesday but it is not in wright county. I think it is in Kooch county.

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Hunted Pool 2 yesterday afternoon south of St. Paul Park. From 1:30 until sunset we saw 8 ducks buzzing the main channel. Count that.... 8 ducks total. Also saw 2 flocks of geese flying out to fields before shooting closed.

Anyone else have any recent Pool 2/Spring Lake reports?

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yep didnt hardly see any ducks this morning but did manage three goldeneyesd and one buffie I was on pelican

For Hardly seeing any ducks you did good.

LOL

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I was up on the Vermilion River this last weekend. Three guys and all shot were two wood ducks and a lawn dart. Cold Front this weekend. Let there be ducks.

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Was out by ortonville at the farm, saw lots of ducks and geese a liitle further north.(2 person hunt) Shot 2 wiedgon, 2 cans, 2 spoonies, and 2 roosters. should have had more. but they were short landing the decoys alot, and a couple misses. then made it back for the crappie bit ended up with 30 slabs (5 people fishing). all in all a good weekend.

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Had about 1000 ducks leave the lake and fly north this morning.

For a good 10 minutes it was flocks of 10 to 30 ducks in almost every direction we looked.

Wish I knew where they were going.

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