2009 Waterfowl Reports

[thedanimalkmk]

RRR acording to antoher website you shot a bunch this morning? Your post is right about the rut man are the bucks chasing right now. Good luck to you.

Dan

[RumRiverRat]

RRR acording to antoher website you shot a bunch this morning? Your post is right about the rut man are the bucks chasing right now. Good luck to you.

Dan

Limits were had by all on the Private Slough.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

It doesn't take much more than a NW wind this time of year to have birds move into the state in general not just LQP. Most experienced hunters know this.

the count at the refuge isnt a very accurate of the whole goose migration in western minnesota right now. i could find half that count right now if i glassed 9 roosts within 40 miles of the refuge. if my eyes are correct, there were more birds at the refuge that actually moved back north, west, or east 50-100 miles due to better crop conditions and less hunting pressure. all last weekend there were more and more geese showing up where we were deer hunting. many times through out the weekend i thought to myself "what am i doing sitting here chasing basket racks instead of hutchies?"

there are plenty of ducks around still as well. you just arent going to find them using traditional spots. it takes a good set of binos or a spotting scope to find them, but they are around and dumb.

[Cheetah]

Wednesday night NE of Mahtomedi. Saw a few ducks, they knew better than to land on my decoys. Probably birds that have been in the area a couple weeks now. One group of geese, again knew exactly where they wanted to be, and not be. A couple more big flocks flew over after shooting time.

[WALLEYENUTZ]

Originally Posted By: Maxxed Out Guide

Most experienced hunters know this.

1 day of 5 mph out of the north for Winnipeg and a day and a half for Appleton up to 11 mph over the next week. It no doubt will push some birds down but not the biggie yet. Of course I'm not very experienced... but I do stay at a Holiday Express when I hire a guide.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL Now that is funny

[BigGrassBass]

You guys can say all you want about ducks, no ducks, whatever. I'm still hunting til Dec. 1st either way.

[Fred_Bear]

I live in NoDak and there seriously isn't much around for ducks right now. A few big flocks of lessers around but mostly big canadas right now. We were really on the ducks until about a week and half ago, when all of the sudden roosts that were holding 1,000+ are now holding less 100. Ducks are hard to come by now, the honkers are plentiful but are acting very odd. Flying back to the roost in the morning when they should be heading out to feed and always using different fields and such.

I think right now the last of the locals and early migrants have pretty much moved out. Ducks like widgeon, gadwall, pintail, etc. will probably not be seen too often for the rest of the season. With the next frontal system up north will come the BIG concentrations of mallards and BIG geese. This can be some of the hardest hunting of the year but when you get on em you really have a day. These are the hunts that always stick out in my memory throughout the offseason.

[luckycrank]

You guys can say all you want about ducks, no ducks, whatever. I'm still hunting til Dec. 1st either way.

me too!

[Jmnhunter]

I live in NoDak and there seriously isn't much around for ducks right now. A few big flocks of lessers around but mostly big canadas right now. We were really on the ducks until about a week and half ago, when all of the sudden roosts that were holding 1,000+ are now holding less 100. Ducks are hard to come by now, the honkers are plentiful but are acting very odd. Flying back to the roost in the morning when they should be heading out to feed and always using different fields and such.

I think right now the last of the locals and early migrants have pretty much moved out. Ducks like widgeon, gadwall, pintail, etc. will probably not be seen too often for the rest of the season. With the next frontal system up north will come the BIG concentrations of mallards and BIG geese. This can be some of the hardest hunting of the year but when you get on em you really have a day. These are the hunts that always stick out in my memory throughout the offseason.

same around bismarck FB; except the ducks have been down for more than 2 weeks around here; i found 1 good pocket of geese/mallards in a field, but cant get permission out there.

some guys aroudn the office are thinking the main push has passed us during the cold snap in Oct.

[Fred_Bear]

i found 1 good pocket of geese/mallards in a field, but cant get permission out there.

Haha same thing around here. Every bird from the only 2 roosts in 1 area have all been flying to the same field for about a week. The lady who owns it said she's been asked by about 30 different people now and gives no one permission to hunt it. Very frustrating always having to watch them feeding out there in their little sanctuary.

[dan z]

not much flyin for ducks today, however the geese were thicker than molasses(sp) shot three for three yesterday and did the same today different lakes too...

[Ray Esboldt]

1 shot, 1 green-wing, East-Central, MN. I was a little too slow to catch up with the rest of the flock. That was it. No geese today. Never even heard a cluck. They've kind of been our mainstay this year. I'll try it again tomorrow.

[BigGrassBass]

I figured the teal were all out by now. Note to self, bring a couple GWT decoys tomorrow morning.

[Lunker]

I thought the same thing until I shot a nice drake GWT in November on Lake Michigan, go figure.

Went out this afternoon, very slow. Besides one high flying group of goldeneyes, only saw six birds. Those six thankfully came right in, and I managed two mallards.

Heading out in the morning, but have not heard good things from the guys at the bar...

[goblueM]

there were woodies and GWT in SE North Dakota 2 weeks ago, and the weather has been pretty balmy. I'm pretty sure they've stuck around. What a weird year for weather!

[nate larson]

There always seem to be a fair amount of GWT around until about now...it's only the blue wings that bug out early.

[Lunker]

Another slow day out on the water. Hunted this morning until about 10. Saw a total of about a dozen birds all morning. We managed one mallard and one ringer. Also had a flock of 8 or so mallards work our spread over and over but would not commit. Besides the ringer, all the birds we saw were mallards. Heard very little shooting from the other 4-5 groups I saw go out, besides one group who shot quite a bit.

[joekleinjr]

Ididn't bother going go out today, ain't been enough duck around to bother with.

[tylor]

Hunted this morning on an area where seeing a bunch of ducks has never been an issue but getting them to come in isn't always the easiest, and we saw very few ducks. There was still a fair number of geese around but ducks were almost non-existant and that has never been the case before even on warm blue-bird days.

[joekleinjr]

we are still waiting for the northern ducks to come down, been too warm around here, this week is supposed to be cooler, and rainy maybe next weekend i'll try

[tweedlap]

If they are going to come it will be early next week..Winnipeg forecast... Looks like a high of 26 Monday and 22 on Tuesday..with a low of 7.

I hope they are correct with the forecast.

tweed

[BrdHunter01]

Cooler? Highs in the 40s and 50s just isn't going to cut it. Hope they come before the seasons over but its looking very bleak right now...

[Dentedk]

We spent this evening just south of Hastings.....we saw one duck and one lone goose off in the distance.....and just about every sea gull in the state! It was a great evening even though we didn't shoot our guns.

[BoxMN]

Hundreds if not thousands of hoodies on Lake Christina right now. Only saw three cans in the rafts, so only woodpeckers out there now We saw more deer than ducks in the area... good thing we were deer hunting

[BrdHunter01]

Tweed, Where are you getting this forecast? All I have found is a high of 4 and a low of -1 for Winnipeg on Sun. O and thats celsius... For one I don't think they can tell that far out and for two were going to need about 4-5 days in a row of sub-zero weather up their along with strong N winds to move anything.

[Cheetah]

Slow morning on Saturday, no shots and nothing would come near my decoys. I slept in on Sunday.

[strait-meat]

Hunted Pelican yesterday PM saw about 12 mallards in a flock and 30 blue bills rafted up in the middle and 6 hooded mergs. No shoots and nothing looked at our decoys. Need cooler weather to get another push of birds down before season closes.

[tweedlap]

BH,

CNN Accuweather. Type in the city and it will bring up the current and the 10 day forcast.

tweed

[Lunker]

Tried an afternoon-evening hunt today, did not even see a duck. Saw some geese after shooting hours closed but that was it. Terrible.

[joekleinjr]

i guess i doesn't matter what the weather is like this comming weekend, i'll be hunting, it's better than watching my wife clean house. lol