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Waterfowl Reports


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Deer hunting Sat and Sunday and then headed out to hunt big water out west Weds, Thurs and Friday. Hope the lows on Tuesday night don't lock up all of the water. Think we should still be fine the middle of next week.

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Went to Onamia Thursday evening. Flock of mallards in the distance. Pair of ringbills with one down and another paid out too far. Spoke to a local who hunts nearly every day and he said it has been slow. Said the one he got the day before had corn in the crop. Not much rice on the lake and a lot of shallow water that had enough weeds to choke up the prop a few time. I thought it would have been better with the cold coming in. Anyone have any reports about ice further north?

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Ringie hen,Mergie hen,Woody hen. Saw about 100 ringies. Birds that have been here long enough to shy away from the hunting spot. Geese too. Locals that know exactly where they are safe. No migrating flocks noticed. Geese or ducks. Only heard 2 single deer shots. Ringie hen had some mono line on her. Swivel and split shot too. Not tight just wrapped around her body once. Weird.

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Mopped em today. More shooting than whole season up to this point. Steady stream of high flying migrants all morning. Ducks and geese. Birds we got decoyed perfectly. Feet down. Worst season so far, forgotten in the first flock of decoying birds. Shooting locals still yesterday. Today, migrants. Shame the majority of it will be over in a few days if the wind lays down at all during the nights. Maybe we should have " rollover" days from season to season because of ice cover.;) Ha.

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Saturday and Sundays was out deer hunting with no luck. Was watching the weather and realizing the duck season was coming to an end. Couldnt resist the water. Went out yesterday and the birds made me forget how miserable my season has been to this point. Birds worked beautiful and decoyed nice. Ended up with my first Bull Can is 7 years and 2 drake Buffies, 1 hen, and a bill. Was out today and the wind cut right thru, birds worked great again. Before we had all the deeks out birds were trying to come in. Swans and geese were flying south by the flock. Finished with 3 bills, one greater and two lessers, 3 buffies 2 drakes and a ruddy. Should of had more birds but it seem that we would only hit one bird per decoying flock. What a great last two days. Hoping for one last mallard hunt.

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Nice!

I took an extra large hen woody last Friday while scouting for deer in central MN. Was surprised to get her at this time of year. Also jumped a flock of about 20 mallards to soon to be in range but I was perplexed by what I saw. Most all of them were big, beautiful drakes but one with them was black - like all black and roughly the same size.

I asked die hard duck hunter friend what it might be. His best guess was a lost scoter. He sees them from time to time in western MN. If it was, glad he got away. Not enough taxidermy funds available right now.

Pretty good numbers of divers whistling through and lots of swans

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Could have been a black duck as well. Drakes are very dark especially this time of year. I see them come through this time of year with mallards. Just a thought.

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Cold as snot on the range, lakes are iced over, will be hunting the river the next week or so to see if i can pick up any stragglers, got a buddy coming up Sunday to hunt Monday, the low is 7 degrees with a high of 17. Anyone ever have a motor freeze after you ran it and sat foe awhile. I am running a standard outboard.

Kettle

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Ye ive had an engine freeze but was my own fault keep the lower unit under water at all times .and either start engine every once in a while .. to help prvent it feom freezing .. if it would lock up remozve engine cover and rotate fly back and forth by hand till impellar breaks free. And pray you dont brake it

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That's a much darker black duck than the couple I've seen so far this year. I know blacks and mallards will hang together and that makes the most sense. Hard to say for sure but my memory recalls the bird to be darker yet than the one pictured. I guess between the two, I'd have to ask how much a person sees the white of the scoters wings while in flight? I don't recall seeing white on the wings.

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Had my old Evinrude freeze up when I had it in the tilt position one time on a day like we have been experiencing. It was beached and waves were hitting the back of the boat and freezing it in the tilt position. Took some serious chipping to get it to lower again when we wanted to go. Something to remember.

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The Birds are really pouring through north central MN right now. We pounded out 2 limits in a couple hours this morning(all G-eyes). I think that will do it for me this year. It will be difficult to get on any lake around here after tonight. As much as I hate to say it I might have to organize my ice fishing gear this weekend.....

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Finally!!! Had a great mallard shoot today. Went out for a mid day try, set up about 10:30. Stretched it out as far as I could till 1:00 to take my fourth fat greenhead! I needed a day like this, landscape was stunning and birds were flying!!

Find ANY open water and you have a chance at some nice birds.I hunted tiny flowage with some lil open pools, when they showed up, they come in nice!

Birds seem blind to white camo! grin

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Found some open water this morning and it was a big bust. Saw some ducks. Had a couple flocks of g-eyes buzz us. That was it. Barely any mallards and very little geese.

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After a great shoot two days ago, the last two have been a different story. Only seen a handful of ducks today and yesterday, geese are thick! But, I want ducks !! Over water!!!

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Solo hunt in Rosemount in a field with cut corn. Geese and mallards were thick, can't wait for tomorrow morning.

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Drove through Fergus Falls today and I saw thousands and thousands of geese. Most were high fliers, but I did see some working a cut corn field not too far off the road. Wish I coulda been hunting!

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This might be a long shot but a buddy and I were planning on Lake of the Woods this weekend, however, the water is a little hard up there. So we are looking for other options. Anyone down south have suggestions? We are open and have decoys for geese.

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heartattack- PM me, I live in hibbing and could point you in the direction of some birds that I found in the general area. I packed all my stuff away for the year.

Kettle

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  • 10 months later...
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

The morning started off slow me for, but it sounded like a war zone. Then about half hour after legal shooting hours it started. First shot first wood duck made a splash.  Then a pair of mallards came in locked up and 3 shots and no splashes. I do not how missed them they looked like geese compared to the young wood duck. Then had some screamers come by and did not even waste a shell they looked to be bluewing teal.  Then a pair of wood ducks came and well they to nice splashes. I miss a couple teal and called it around 9 am. I do not want to burn the pond out. I know my camera date is off by a day but I do not know how to fix it. 

Duck Hunt 2015 #1.jpg

Duck Hunt 2015 First morning results.jpg

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Overall slower than usual opener for us in south central mn. Between the 3 of us we shot 6 woodies and 3 teal.  Few mallards flying but didn't get a chance to commit with others on the slough taking pot shots at them as they circled. Few small flocks of geese flying but none of them even gave a look to any groups on the slough. 

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I shot my first banded duck this weekend. It was a drake woody. I called the number and it was tagged in KY, last march. Pretty neat and they are sending me an official certificate.

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Hunted SW of Morris. Kicked up a bunch of teal and a few larger ducks at sunrise. Got a few shots in the first hour, dropping a couple teal, 2 mallards, and a wood duck. Was absolutely nothing flying after 9 am. Will wait another month until birds come down.

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  • 3 weeks later...

IMG_0506.thumb.JPG.60295209db8d4f4812e52IMG_0526.thumb.JPG.e81577c1d9ee0466972ecIMG_0545.thumb.JPG.a3ea2577c36d1d959275aIMG_0541.thumb.JPG.e2ec5478bca82ea9609e3Have been hunting the St. Louis River pretty heavy this year with success. Made a trip out to WInnie last weekend and did very well. It has been a good year so far, can't wait for the upcoming weekends when it really starts to pick up!IMG_0470_(1).thumb.JPG.79f4cade7ffa387beIMG_0498.thumb.JPG.b04145692f2e205477bbb

 

Edited by nlayne882
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Nice pics nlayne! You ever get or see any black ducks up in the northeast part of the state where you hunt?

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