2009 Waterfowl Reports

[surewood]

Slowest season I have ever had. Does'nt mean I'll quit though. Did manage shooting a banded goose awhile ago, so theres one bright spot.

[johnsd16]

Ended up making it to the cabin this am. Only the second time out in MN this year and we were at our camp in northern crow wing co. Less than 30 ducks seen while sitting. Two pairs of mallards, one single mallard, 4 GWT, a small flock of goldeneyes, one small flock of ringers, 3 woodies, 3 swans, and a couple of single hoodies. We managed to kill one greenhead, the only duck that came into the setup. Did hear a fair amount of shooting which was encouraging, but we didn't seen much flying at all.

We hunted our lake that is more of a puddle duck lake than our other piece of water which we see a lot more divers at. We swung in to check out the status of that blind on the way out and there were 30-50 divers sitting on the lake and some big mergansers, some of the divers were redheads, others were ringers with perhaps some buffleheads too. Very few ducks around for us but several groups were shooting. Little seen on the drive back to Ramsey.

It was more of a check on the status of the cabin trip but we did manage one bird and checked on several of our blinds.

Hopefully ice will hold off through deer season and the ringers haven't moved through central MN. Time will tell.

Reeds in Isle has 20% off decoys, all they have is a few boxes of GHG field stuff but we did pick up a harvester pack of OS FB mallards for $199 after tax, which we didn't think was too bad. They do have some of those left as well as FFD geese and cannda shells. First time there and strange they have no guns.

[no bait nate]

went out this morning in southwest MN, 12 ducks for 2 guys

3 mallards

2 GWT

7 BWT

very fun shooting today with the wind

my buddies dog is new to duck hunting this year and got 10 out of 12 for us today with a couple of blind retrieves, it was an awesome bonus to the day to see the dog finally figure it out after he's worked all year to get her ready.

[schr0563]

Been out 4 times this year on 4 different spots. Still have yet to fire a shot. Hit a lake west of Waconia on Friday and saw 1 duck off in the distance. That's it, 1 duck. Thinking it might be time to sell the decoys...

[nate larson]

A lake west of Waconia? No wonder you didn't see any ducks. You gotta drive further away from the cities than that!

[InTheSchool]

Spent the past five days at Thief Lake. Had a buddy with me that I hadn't hunted ducks with for around 30 years. My three daughters joined us at various times so we had 2-4 hunters on most outings. We had my blacklab Duke and his chocolatelab Boomer. Hardly anyone hunting there. Ducks flew well early and around noon. Then they would sit in the areas where no one was hunting. It seemed like numbers might be down. There was ice and snow Wednesday and Thursday. We shot about average (for us about 50%). We ended up with 50 ducks and one goose. Mostly ringnecks but we did get buffleheads, canvasbacks, scaup, redheads, mallards, goldeneye, widgeon, pintail, merganser, and the goose. Saw some gadwells and possibly a teal or two. Hundreds of swans (so be carefull). We also got to meet the new CO over there, a local boy who knows the area very well. He has quite the rig with a Go-Devil type motor. My poor Evenrude lost the impeller again! Over all a great trip with the dogs doing very well despite the cold conditions.

[Quackaddict9]

7 mallards- 1 band and 3 geese for 3 guys yesterday morning in field. Could have shot our hens but did not want to, most of the ducks did not come back. They were hard to get them to commit, one pass and they would leave... mojos must be getting used to their eyes in the area we hunt- Had 6 hunters hunting a field on Saturday morning next to the field we hunted that had good #'s of ducks and running their mojos.

We tried different things and it worked, some didn't. More beans are coming down so that could change things this weekend! Good luck and keep reports coming.

[Tyler23]

14 mallards and 2 woodies the other day in the feild. i think they were the refuge ducks where we are at. lots of birds but were hard to commit. then 4 widgen 2 teal 2 mallards on the water saturday. sunday only got 3 mallards in the feild was kinda slow. hopes the wind blows somemore down for this weekend

[BucksnDucks]

3 man limit of greenheads and honkers this am! Disced corn field in Nicollet county. Seen 100's of ducks and geese, mainly lessers tho. Scout Scout Scout!!!

[mudslinger]

Was out yesterday morning with a couple of buddies. We managed a bull Can for each of us. Also some ringers, mallards, and a pintail. It was fun to watch the canvasbacks swinging over the decoys once we had our limit. We had fun and i got to shoot up some of my old ammo.

[BoxMN]

Just back from 4 hunting days in NE NoDak. For 4 guys, we shot about 50 ducks. Mostly gadwall, but lots of redheads, and most of the mallards were young drakes, still looking like suzy

I bet better days are coming though, as we started seeing what we think are northern ducks and the first flocks of snows coming down.

About 8-10 of them were smilin' mallards and rudy ducks, so we didn't get all good uns! But it was fun. Once again, the North Dakota folks were great and we had a blast with our farmer friends. They showed the newcomer to the group true NoDak hospitality. He will never forget the words, "Hey, is that a coyote in the ditch?..." and "Honey, get the gun!" while he was in the backseat of the pickup heading home about 3:30 am! hahaha!

Good times!

[airdriver]

Out today, saw a LOT of movement. Had two drake woodies in the deeks, mallards, teal, divers. Walked away with one Bufflehead. Most groups were decoys shy, but got some shooting in. The last four days have seen more ducks than I have in YEARS. They are out the you just have to find them. I have been very lucky this year.

[nate larson]

Airdiver, what part of the state were you hunting?

[Moonie]

Got out for the last hour or so of shooting last night and managed two greenheads. Saw lots of ducks and tons of big canadas. Hope they stick around

[Gordie]

Was on mille lacs this morning and saw a few birds flock of buffies and couple high flyin flocks of greenheads missed a buffie and as usall pushed out to pick up decoys and a flock of ringies buzzed the decoys. it was good to get out on the big water again.

[airdriver]

Nate,

You wouldn't happen to be Nate who worked out on the east coast a while back (2000-2004ish)?? I won't give to many details, but I'll give you the metro five county area. Sorry, I am usually the first guy to help out, but my last two years out have been so bad I'm surprised I haven't quit. Last two years a group of four of us got ZERO. But, a lot of birds in the metro.

[dan z]

was out the morning and

seen a few migrating flocks of mallards up high, first flock of swans migrating also. ended up with 1 redhead, 1 bill and a honker.

[norwall]

Just back from Thief.Hunting poor,very few hunters as well. Seen some high flying dark geese but no ducks 2 speak of. ended with some ringos,bluebills,gadwall,can.Most of the birds on the lake were flying in singles,pairs or very small flocks. I have definetly seen better days on Thief.

[nate larson]

Thanks for the info Airdriver. Just knowing that you were hunting the metro area is very helpfull. These reports are much more usefull when you have at least a general idea what part of the state they are coming from.

P.S. No, I have never worked on the East Coast.

[airdriver]

Nate,

The ducks we have been seeing are from the last weak front we had last week. They have been hanging around all week. I have been hunting the metro for the last seven days in a row, and the ducks just are hanging around the area. A biologist buddy of mine put it best, ducks are lazy and won't move until the weather forces them to. This next very weak weather pattern won't move them very much, still a lot of ducks in Canada waiting to move down. Talked to some friends in the arrowhead area and they still are seeing woodies and teal. Very weird season so far. Hope this helps people out.

[Scott M]

Haven't had a lot of sightings in south central MN. In fact, many birds moved out compared to last week. I too saw my first swan on Monday. Tons of coots took off. I don't have high expectations for Saturday but I'll be out there.

[Duckslaya]

Was up in the crow wing area last week wed-sun. Did decent on sat shot 13 for 3 of us mostly ringers, few greenheads and one blue winger. Hunted this morning in east central mn still a decent about of birds but very decoy and call shy. Managed 2 gadwall and 2 honkers. Hunted 2o miles west earlier this week and seen a total of 2o ducks. Definitely hit or miss.

[luckycrank]

spent some time scouting this evening glassed a few south central lakes, never seen a bird a few coots is all wil check again tommorow a.m and evening but I am confident there confident there are a few woodies around as I seen a some larger flocks last weekend I to will likley be out and solo

both my hunting buddies are working and I have a new rig w/a freshly made blind I am dying to try out

[sheepheadslayer]

Burch, Shoot me an email. [email protected]

[Lunker]

Hunted yesterday evening in central WI. Not a lot happening. Saw some large flocks of divers(up to about 100 birds), but sticking way up high or onto big open water.

[Stringerless!]

Hunted Carlos Avery Friday morning. Saw a small flock 5-8 birds get out of rice 10 minutes before legal. Saw 1 loner goose and a pair of ringies after legal. Of course I see a goose the only day I don't put the flag together ! That was it ! Never shouldered the gun. Keep in mind I hunt out on the edge where I stand a better chance of decoying birds. Only heard 3 shots from the refuge road.

[RumRiverRat]

Bull Can and 2 Bluebills this morning.

[nate larson]

RRR,

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

[hart0670]

I'm heading down to hunt outside Rochester tomorrow morning and then over to the Mississippi by Winona Sunday morning. Anyone have any reports for that area?

I'll report back Sunday night as to how we do

[jparrucci]

hart- I read elsewhere that the Cans are starting to really stack up throughout the Mississippi river.