Waterfowl Reports

[sheepheadslayer]

There is a pair north of Waterville that has been there for the last month. The local paper did a write up on them. I first reported the pair to a group that tracks Whooping cranes this spring and they were out of Wisc. They said the pair had been coming through the area for the past couple years on there way to and from there summer nesting area in Northern Wisc. I believe there is an estimated 400 birds on the wild she said. I have pics if any is interested not sure how to post.

[Maxxed Out]

Just got a call from Dave at the LQP Headquarters. He had called me earlier in the day after the wildlife biologist at Oak Hammock called him to say that waves of Canadas were in massive groups flying south over Winnipeg heading our direction. Said they should be arriving at Lac qui parle by this afternoon.

I didn't post just to be safe it wasn't a false alarm. Dave just called again saying that flocks of hundreds of geese are dropping in out of the atmosphere every minute! He said it is an unbelievable out there right now! Can't wait for this weekend.

[ChuckN]

Maxxed, I believe it. The migration is on big time here in West Central MN today. Ducks and geese high in the sky moving south with the cold NW winds. Put a pair of sunglasses on, look into the clouds and I could see birds in all directions. Get ready down south..

Canada has snow today and heavier snow tomorrow with accumulations, followed by below zero cold. These birds are going to run out of open water and food real quick. Time to hunt!

[Maxxed Out]

We have a very legitimate chance of going from 30,000 to 100,000 geese in the next day from what I'm hearing.

[slyer]

i was out there today phesant hunting, geese everywhere high in the sky you better hope they stop. i was about 20 miles n of laq. these are all the geese i hunt by winnipeg and they were thick this year with a limit of 8 a day!!! we will see if any are around by the weekend, i had to see at least thirty thousand myself in the few hours i was out there, shot my 2 roosters

[paceman]

I was in Morris yesterday for meetings and on my way home to Detroit Lakes I almost drove into the ditch while watching the skies. Geese were everywhere!

[Maxxed Out]

Glad to hear you got your roosters. I haven't had a chance to get out yet because of guiding but I know the pheasants are every where right now.

[Cheetah]

Went out Wednesday afternoon, the lake opened up with the breeze and warm temps during the day. Couldn't get any mallards to decoy, they were grouped up on a couple other sections of the lake.

Thursday morning seemed to be fewer birds flying around in general, still lots on the lake. Finally got two to come in close and we only managed to get one... Almost shot the mojo in the process, lucky. All the other mallards on the lake decided to leave and none came back... Hopefully this weekend is good.

[jblabsnduck]

Maxxedout, so did the birds show up?

Headed out there this weekend.

Have a friend who has a cabin on LQP lake.

Heard there are a TON of bluebills there right now also.

Side note, do you ever see any snow geese or specks?

Would it be worth throwing in a couple snow goose decoys?

Good hunting to you and all.

[Stringerless!]

Local cornfield this morning. Nothing . About 60 geese skirted the edge of the field but would not even give me a look. Obviously not new birds. Never saw a duck. Saw 3 trumpeters.

[BrdHunter01]

We broke through about a half in to an in. Not easy going out a small channel full of bogs and an inch of ice. Expecially when your the 1st boat Made it out, although worried the lake might be froze solid. Did find a couple patches of open water and some ducks. Not a lot of ducks. A few bigger flocks that wanted nothing to do with decoys. 2 of us did manage 7 ducks, 4 greenheads, 2 gadwall, and ringer. Needless to say we took avangtage of the few opportunities we had.

A few spots of open water we saw on the way out were not open on the way in... Busted ice almost the entire way in. Looks like the last day we will be heading to that swamp.

[Stringerless!]

Same field as yesterday. Geese never got off the private pond behind me. Got burned by about 6 mallards that were checking me out. Heard wings and jerked my head up to see. Of course I left mojo in the car cause I had not seen any ducks the previous 2 trips ! Never saw a goose in the air. Heard two shot volleys far awawy and that was it. No sign of any migration. Bad, bad roads!

[BrdHunter01]

Bad roads, not many hunters, and no ducks. Ended with 3 mallards. not much flying at all! 1 flock decoyed, we dropped 2 and a single drake came in we dropped. Also had a couple small flocks look but not interested. Of course people sky-busted em. Gotta love hunting at the zoo Didn't plan on going there but the roads were so bad we would have never been able to get to the other spot.

Saw one BIG flock of migrating mallards but they weren't interested in coming down anytime soon

[Cheetah]

I broke ice Sunday morning, only saw six or so mallards go by looking for somewhere to land, one migrating flock up high. I'm done for the season.

[MinnetonkaMan]

If anyone wants to head out to the LQP and Ortonville area. Fields are pretty locked up by hunters and birds are doing follow the leader to safe lakes. Tons and tons of divers every where small lakes frozen up Big Stone is literally covered with divers. Could not look up and not see either mallards or geese in every direction. Too many geese to get them to decoy at all. Quite a few snows in the area also. Good luck it is deffinatley peak migration for geese. Ended up with cans, redheads and bills for our group.

[Maxxed Out]

Maxxedout, so did the birds show up?

Headed out there this weekend.

Have a friend who has a cabin on LQP lake.

Heard there are a TON of bluebills there right now also.

Side note, do you ever see any snow geese or specks?

Would it be worth throwing in a couple snow goose decoys?

Good hunting to you and all.

You must be friends with Sveims. They have the only cabin that is left on LQP on the actual water front. If that's where you were headed you were just a 1/2 mile from our farm, (blue house with big evergreen tree right in the front.

There were a ton of Bluebills on the refuge, I don't know if they are still hanging around because I was in the field all weekend.

I have never shot a snow goose on Lac qui parle and I'm 32 and I just shot my first speck out there two weekends ago. Does it hurt to throw some out, I would say no. Would I go out of my way to put some in my trailer? Again the answer would be no.

I don't know if you got this late, hopefully you had a good weekend. It we absolutely slammed the birds this weekend.

[HYLANDLAKER19]

Hunted outside Big Stone Refuge all weekend. Huge migration of geese showed up Saturday afternoon. Yesterday morning was a goose bonanza like I've never seen. The geese rolled off the refuge for hours. Lots of ducks Friday and Saturday morning, but everything froze up Saturday and many seem to have moved on.

[CANOPY SAM]

Yea, that's just great. I wait for weeks for the big push, leave for business in Georgia last week, and while I'm gone they all blow thru!!! I think the good Lord might be telling me something!

[gurkster]

Good shooting for us in the Wyoming area this past weekend.

[Stringerless!]

French lake. Nothing. Broke 1 and a half inches of ice. Couple of very small open pockets. Saw 1 single duck and one single goose. Shot at neither. Oh yeah as we r coming in, about 60 geese are acting like they would land on us ! OF course ! If it goes down to 14 degrees like they are saying it should be curtains for shallow water.

[morefishplease]

Scouted the refuge tonight after work, very few mallards seen, what very few were here left. A few geese around. Lakes are ice free, bays have skim ice on them. Lakes will be locked up here by Thurs.

[Stringerless!]

Sad, Sad day. Put the duck boats away . Will scout towards TF looking for field oppurtunities. No four wheel drive to deal with icy boat ramps or I would be on the water still. Figures I get laid off 1 week AFTER the big push ! Time to grab the chisel soon .

[jparrucci]

With just about everything locked up, it looks like my year is done. All in all it wasn't too bad. My goal for this year was to get a Canvasback and a Pintail, the only 2 common ducks in Minnesota that I haven't bagged yet. I got my can, although it wasn't a real big bull so it didn't get to the wall. Opener up north jump shooting wood ducks was ok, have had better and worse opening weekend hunts. I received access to a private pond just south of the metro, and did a majority of my hunts there. That pond easily made up for the other poor hunts I had throughout the year, as the stupid city mallards would come right in without even calling them. Numerous good hunts were had on that pond, including a 4 curl mallard that I really should have mounted even though it wasn't retrieved by my dog. (one of my requirements for a bird to make the wall). I was in North Dakota when the huge low pressure system came though and left us half frozen and under snow. The system pushed out lots of local birds and brought in only a few migrating snows. We weren't really set up for field hunting, so we actually left early. All in all, not a bad year.

[morefishplease]

I just put my license through the paper shredder if thats any indication of how well the season was for me.

[norwall]

I was in the outhouse n there was no paper,so it was either my vikings jersey or my Lic,since the football season is still going and unbelievably better than my hunting season,use your imagination on what i used to wipe....uffff bye lic. thats sums up my season !

[Gordie]

I was in the outhouse n there was no paper,so it was either my vikings jersey or my Lic,since the football season is still going and unbelievably better than my hunting season,use your imagination on what i used to wipe....uffff bye lic. thats sums up my season !

wow you havent followed the vikings this year my lic is worth way more than any game they play

[dan z]

been having a so so year no big rally day but usually came home with something. so far 63 duck and 30 geese for me and the brother with this weekend to go. and till christmas for honkers those numbers will probably change...

[Maxxed Out]

Don't give up hope guys. Lac qui parle is holding a ton of birds. I can help you with guided hunts or field leases if you want to do your own thing. I'm not trying to advertise I'm just saying if you want to kill geese yet this December, I can help you do it.

[mozy]

Yep, still birds to be shot in LQP area. Had a good weekend of shooting mallards and there are still good numbers of geese. Will definitely be out this weekend before duck closes.

[fishduck]

Lake Minnewaska is full of ducks today,TONS of mallards and others, geese too!!Lake is freezing very fast but may still have a shot tomorrow. Gotta be 3/4 crazy to go.Lots of eagles feeding on the ducks, maybe I can scare one and he'll drop a duck in my decoys.Seen it before except it was a coot, even the eagle wouldn't eat it!!