Today and tomorrow maybe the last push of the season!!!! :(

[kc0myy]

Checking the weather forecast. It looks like strong north west winds today maybe up too 30MPH. I am going tomorrow and friday. then I have muzzle loading for deer. but I might hunt monday and tuesday if there are lots out birds around. I went out last night and saw 2 ducks thats it. so I hope more down down with this wing for a good hunt or two before the season is over.

[East Rush Rules]

Walking back from class today in St. Cloud i felt that nice stiff NW wind, and im thinking the same thing!

[kc0myy]

Walking back from class today in St. Cloud i felt that nice stiff NW wind, and im thinking the same thing!

do you go to state or the tech college? I am going to the tech college for machine tool.

[East Rush Rules]

Naw, i go to State.

[MN Greenheads]

They weren't out there this morning, first skunk of the year.

[oilguy]

Lac Qui Parle to Marsh Lake to Christina to Ottertail this morning Saw 1 Mallard and a couple bunches of geese on the ground. Talked to solo hunter at Christina access. He said It was Bleak, He had a sawbill a mallard and a readhead. It doesn't seem right that you see more flocks of wild turkeys than ducks.

[PRFISHER]

Mild November affects duck season in Minnesota

By: Associated Press, Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The possible effect of climate warming on duck migration is a controversial topic among waterfowl managers and duck hunters alike.

But you can bet Minnesota duck hunters, realizing the season ends next Tuesday, are looking out the window this morning and asking, "What the heck is going on?"

An unusually mild November has stalled the duck and goose migration from Manitoba to Mississippi, and though some waterfowl hunters are finding birds in flooded crop fields, the lack of migration is a head-scratcher.

"We're getting an awful lot of calls about our goose count," said John Wollenberg, assistant area wildlife manager at Lac qui Parle Wildlife Management Area in western Minnesota, where the goose season ends Sunday. "Normally, we'd have 100,000 geese here by mid-November. We're stuck at 40,000. If it's not the latest migration we've had, it's one of the latest."

Are late migrations the new paradigm for waterfowl seasons? Should managers re-examine the dates when waterfowl seasons begin and end? Should hunters plan on taking their vacations in November rather in October? These and many other questions are swirling around the waterfowl-hunting world.

Michael Schummer doesn't have the answers, but he is tracking the migration trends that the duck world is talking about. He predicted in August that this would be a mild fall and a late migration, and he's telling die-hard mallard hunters in Mississippi not to take those hunting vacations in December.

"I'm saying embrace the shoveler and love the gadwall. Those mallards might not show up until the last week in January," said Schummer, a teaching and research associate in the department of wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture at Mississippi State University. Schummer and other researchers have developed a Web-based duck migration forecast, which is updated every Monday, November through January. It forecasts when migration is likely to occur for mallards and other dabbling ducks in areas from Jamestown, N.D., through Memphis, Tenn.

One thing you won't get Schummer to do is relate late migrations with climate change.

"It's an evolving science and in its infancy," he said of the climate change research. "We try to get students and researchers to weigh the evidence and information. It's controversial."

What Schummer and his associates have done is collect mountains of daily temperature and snowfall data from 1950 to 2008. The data, gathered from the Historical Climatology Network, is being compiled to create a Weather Severity Index that could be used to draw conclusions and make predictions on how temperature and snowfall influence waterfowl migration.

Similar research has been conducted in Minnesota and throughout the country to predict deer deaths during winter months.

In the 1950s, duck hunters experienced similar warm and late-migration periods as today, but trends shifted toward colder and snowy autumns in the 1970s and early 1980s — years that provided memorable seasons for waterfowlers.

But are the warm autumns in the 2000s occurring more frequently? Yes, said Schummer.

"It's the frequency of these mild events that is increasing," he said. "Last winter was pretty cold, though, but between then and 2000, we had some of the mildest years on record."

And 2009 has been very unusual. Schummer said the U.S. experienced the wettest October ever recorded in 115 years, an event that caused ducks to spread out over a vast area, especially in the Upper Midwest. With mild temperatures in November, those ducks are feeding and aren't interested in moving because "there is no reason for them to go anywhere," Schummer said.

"This is a very good year for ducks," he said. "There is a lot of food out there and a lot of places to hang out."

So how did Schummer predict this late migration? It's an El Nino year, when there is a warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific waters. That pattern brings rain to the Southwest and warm winter weather to the northern states. How mild can El Nino make the Midwest? At 3 p.m. on Nov. 18, weather stations between Memphis and Jamestown reported temperatures varying only five degrees, from 43 to 48.

"That's typical of an El Nino year," Schummer said.

But Schummer said there's a change in weather approaching. The migration forecast predicts a major movement of dabbling ducks other than mallards during this week, and that migration will occur out of higher latitudes and into mid-latitudes, like Missouri, of the Mississippi Flyway.

In other words, you might want to be in the marsh starting on Thanksgiving and through the weekend.

[BrdHunter01]

Walking back from class today in St. Cloud i felt that nice stiff NW wind, and im thinking the same thing!

DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP! I also go to state... Had one class canceled today so I decided to skip the other one to go out hunting. Got one! saw a decent amount of divers, swans, and seaguls but very few mallards or ducks period. Hopefully tom is a little better but my hopes are not very high..... We miss the flight once again

I believe I stated something earlier.... LATER SEASON LATER SEASON LATER SEASON!!

[RumRiverRat]

It will be the start of the push, it also will be the last push because the season closes Tuesday.

I am sure we will have to deal with hoards of Mallards during Late Goose.

[Gordie]

hoards of mallards LOL I may have to plan a trip to missouri in a week or so

[Tyler23]

i love how anytime we have to dif weather than usual everyone jumps to global warming.. like its all of asudden the end of the world....i will be hunting hard all weekend all day. the last few days of the year, gotta go all out....goodluck to you all!!

[lindy rig]

Later season may help a little, but mainly by rivers and other small pockets of open water. The ducks just aren't moving through MN like they used to. If you haven't been to the Dakotas drive through and see for yourself.

[riverrat56]

Not to hi-jack this too much, but no, a later season is not the answer to shooting more birds in this state. Most of the time it's frozen up by this point, hardly anyone is hunting past October anyways.

My opinion, lets open the season earlier and shoot the teal and woodies when there here along with some early, ugly, no color malards.

Unless everyone is happy waiting every year for this mythical migration that we never see?

[castmaster]

Funny how different people see different things. With a state the size of MN why we arent split into zones is beyond me. I'd gladly give up shooting a few teal and woodies early in the season in order to shoot big northern greenies in December. I can guarantee you come down around the Mississippi River come mid-late December and you'll see piles of northern mallards. Once its cold enough to push those birds south all of the smaller ponds and potholes have frozen over and the birds return to following the river south. It is getting really tiring to go a whole season without hardly seeing any birds, only to watch fields full of mallards once the season is closed.

[longbeard34]

I agree, a few years back we were down at Talcot in mid to late December and the lake was frozen so we checked the river and it was filled with thousands of geese and mallards. Have never seen a river so filled with greenheads like that, was really cool to see although we couldn't hunt them.

[BrdHunter01]

Not to hi-jack this too much, but no, a later season is not the answer to shooting more birds in this state. Most of the time it's frozen up by this point, hardly anyone is hunting past October anyways.

My opinion, lets open the season earlier and shoot the teal and woodies when there here along with some early, ugly, no color malards.

Unless everyone is happy waiting every year for this mythical migration that we never see?

In the last 10 years how many times has "everything" been frozen? "mythical Migration" you must be blind or never hunted late goose or anytime in Nove when its actually frozen out and the mallards are really coming. As for opening the season earlier to shoot the woodies/teal.... MN DOESN'T RAISE DUCKS ANYMORE!!! Get a clue buddy! Your so called "mythical migration" is REAL! Obviously you've never seen it....

BTW: Frozen means MALLARDS! Sometimes it takes even more than frozen lake to push these mallards... Thats called SNOW! Then they cant get at the food they need, they can always find some open water somewhere to get a drink no matter how cold it is. Get a clue!! If you don't think theirs "hoards of mallards coming yet this year, I'm sorry to say but your horribly mistaken and missing out on the best hunting MN has to offer!

Ovbously you don't hunt past Oct.... This "mythical migration" is actually "mystical" once you see it....

BTW: Yest and Today SUCKED! Nothing is froze, and no snow means the mallards are still in CA The season ends to soon AGAIN!

[kc0myy]

well I am done for the year now. i shot one mallard and shot at a bluebill (man are they fast) lol. I didn't see anyother birds. I am going deer hunting this weekend so I am done duck nothing. as far as the "early season". once you pull the trigger on the wood ducks and teal they are gone.

[lindy rig]

BrdHunter, no need to get so angry. I understand if you had another crappy hunt and are venting.

My experiences would tend to agree more with RiverRat.

The whole state of MN can't hunt on the Mississippi River and it sounds like that is one of the very few areas that holds birds after freeze up.

P.S. I'm not saying the season shouldn't run later. Maybe it should. Just saying that's not the real problem with successful duck hunts in MN for the vast majority of us.

[BrdHunter01]

Crappy hunt? more like a crappy season... And the ducks I've waited all season to shoot haven't come down yet...

Lindy, So your saying you rather shoot the few teal and woodies we raise here in MN rather than the big old Mallards from CA?

You and RiverRat should move down to Florida... Its warmer down their for you guys.

[Gordie]

I personally think that the season should run later but thats me and I know the vast majority dont hunt that late into the season because they are not set up for it and alot of people are intiminated by big water and river hunting because thats whats open typically this time of year.temps and deer hunting also play a big part in it also.

It would also be nice to shoot those woodies and teal early but after a few of those seasons it would probally be no differnt than the season we have now.

this season was a very strange one as for weather hopefully we have a better season next year.

[MN Greenheads]

Open Sept 1-5 special MN teal season Open sept.21-22 close then open Sept 28. close during a lull by special proclomation of dnr when warm weather is on. then reopen and run until Dec 12. LOL LOL.

[Gordie]

Good one MNgreenhead

[strait-meat]

I am going to be going out the last 2 days of the season and hunt out in West central MN---hope there is some action out there--if not better than working.

[Tyler23]

Unless everyone is happy waiting every year for this mythical migration that we never see?

[Tyler23]

i completely agree with brdhunter01.. it seems to me that only the hardcore waterfowlers would apprecate a longer season. for the guys that only go out a couple times and didnt do well and suddenly think that ''oh well MN is just over for duck hunting and what not and why do we even bother with the late season''.....well go deer hunting then ill shoot the big CA mallards and geese over ice and snow...

[dan z]

open aug 25- labor day. close till oct 15 and reopen till dec 10th

split season would be okay to have the northern guys start a week to 10 days earlier and let the southern guys shoot a week to ten days later.

later the season the better it is IMO

My avatar is a bruiser of a day dec 1st last year. I LOVE LATE SEASON

[Quackaddict9]

Quote:

later the season the better it is IMO

May be that way for you but I find Mallards feeding fields all season long, maybe its just a northern thing!

A little chilly out tonight, the birds will be moving in certain areas tomorrow morning. Good Luck and be safe!

[mnfisherman09]

Quote:

later the season the better it is IMO

May be that way for you but I find Mallards feeding fields all season long, maybe its just a northern thing!

A little chilly out tonight, the birds will be moving in certain areas tomorrow morning. Good Luck and be safe!

definately a northern thing which is why there is this whole debate on the migration. All of us in Southern MN wait all year just for them couple days them big mallards come down. We usually get one little push of mallards by the 3rd weekend otherwise we gotta wait till late Nov. or Dec.

[mnfisherman09]

As far as the season dates changing I wouldnt mind a split season at all. I would love for it to open a week later to shoot the teal and woodies that are still around as they left real early this year. Maybe take out the 4th week in oct. and 1st week in nov.(which would give us bowhunters a good slot to hunt the rut!) and have the 2nd part of the season even go a week later than it is. If you don't see or shoot any ducks dont complain about the season dates your the one going out to hunt. I go out late season hoping to shoot nice ducks if I dont shoot anything it doesnt bother me one bit. Just gotta love being out there!

[CANOPY SAM]

It's kind of amusing how many folks on here were gung ho about shooting little ducks earlier on this season (shooting teal and woodies)(and moving the season up), and now all the talk is about pushing the season back to catch the late flight.

Up here the northern flight still isn't down. When they do come they'll be scattered all the way across the state in one or two days, and then they'll likely be gone.

I've seen this happen many times over the last 20 years. It's nothing new. I just miss the days when the flight was less dramatic, more drawn out, and we had pretty good gunning throughout the whole season.

Quack. You must do your homework and spend a ton of time in the field. More power to ya'. I remember when I had that kind of time to spare. Wish I could get it back. We simply don't have mallards around our area this year. Too many wetlands have been drained, and the refuges and WMA's get pounded so hard nothing sticks around very long. There's no place they can hide where they're not pestered constantly.

I'd be content to bag a couple big greenies and call it a season at this point.