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Waterfowl Reports


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I tried going out this morning and all 4 lakes I have been hunting were completely locked up. I'm hoping with the warmer weather this next week they will thaw out and stay open over night. Talking lows of 40 early next week........

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Blew it this afternoon. Fell asleep in my layout blind and woke up to 100-130 geese screaming in my face. By the time I got my wits about me they had flared and were out of range. Would rather they come in smaller groups ! Saw 7 Tundra swans. No ducks. Not while I was awake anyway ?!?!

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There's a few birds still around up north, but if you're still waiting for the "big push", I'm afraid you may have slept thru it. If you don't have birds in your area now, they likely blew thru on Sunday night.

There was a MAJOR migration starting early Sunday evening, that kept going thru most of Sunday night. They had a stiff cold tail wind pushing them hard southeast.

Most of our water is frozen over in NW Minnesota. There are still straggling flocks of greater Canadians and big old Greenhead curly tails, but the fat lady has sung, she's tired and sweaty, and she's pulling out her winter wardrobe....at least in our region.

Pretty typical migration for the last 20 years. The masses hang tight in Canada until they can no longer, then they blow thru in a couple days with everything freezing up behind em'. Thanks to everyone responsible for ditching, tiling, and draining 85% of our original wetlands during the 70's and 80's! frown

I happened to request Monday and Tuesday off work a month ago. Yes there was a major migration of mallards. Flock after flock coming down Monday morning. Tuesday morning was thick with birds also but I'm sure those were birds that came down on Monday as after 9am it slowed greatly.

Plenty of open water, fresh cut corn, and no snow in the area. The birds should stick around for a little while... I'm sure there are plenty yet to come as well! This is just the beginning! Good Luck!

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Dont be bashful about posting up pics. Im laid up right now, post artificial disc surgery, and would love to see them smile

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Back to field where I took a nap yesterday. Only bird I saw was a lone seagull. Heard 4 shots. Saw 4 geese flying 20 minutes after shooting closed.

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Have been watching around 600-700 geese west of he Princeton airport and the field they are landing in is a no go for hunting but its still great to see that many birds around.

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I seen some decent numbers of geese on Lake Fremont off the island and the like with mallards mixed in with them.

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I seen some decent numbers of geese on Lake Fremont off the island and the like with mallards mixed in with them.

HMMM grin

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" Big " water. Well 400 acres is big for around here. Had one mallard drake decoy. Missed. saw about 75 ducks total none of divers came in range except the 3 Goldies that burned us. Gonna try leaving mojo home tomorrow.

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Hunted mn river this morning not a duck or goose in the sky, pretty depressing as we normally do real well on river this time of year frown

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One hen mallard today, missed a drake. Probably saw 1500-2000 ducks very high flying onto to the lake that I was hunting a backwater of. No boat to get to them so looks like the season is done for me. Too much ice on the small water I hunt. Godd luck to the rest of you with the last few days of the season.

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4 guys, 10 mallards, 2 geese. We had ducks literally land on us in the field blinds ten minutes before shooting time. That flock of about 300 never came back, and we never got a shot at them. My friend had a mallard standing on his face. Pretty funny stuff.

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Same lake. Less birds. Nothing in range. Never shouldered gun. Heard about 4 shot volleys . Not much at all. No birds around or no one hunting ?

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Went out today with a friend, Got 1 nice drake mallard. It was the only duck close enough to shoot. seen about 500 geese other then that nothing much.

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Still plenty of birds up here on the bigger waters. Good mix of mallards and divers of assorted varieties!

Can't wait to get out and crush them the next 2 days!!!

Brian

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Went out this afternoon and it was completely dead, not 1 single bird in sight. I thought well this is the end of the road for the season for me. Then about 15 minutes before sunset the mallards came out of hiding and were flying everywhere. Got a couple beautiful drakes and missed a couple as well. Will definetely get some more hunts in this week.

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Field Hunted a field in Farmington Sat and Sun afternoons.

Lots of geese in the area and a couple nice flocks of mallards.

Ended up with four on Sat. and nothing to show for Sundays hunt.

Not sure what it was but had a couple of flocks coming but they caught the wind and where gone.

Sifty

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Hunted out west yesterday and shot a couple mallards and a bunch of spoonies and a goose. Lots of mallards flying but would flair at about 60yds. Was using a mojo...first time ever and I am thinking this might have been the problem. Anyone else having this happen?

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hunted north metro lake this morning, saw about 16 mallards none of them came close enough to shoot, one group skirted just outside the decoys and just out of range. Still ducks and geese around but it seems like they've found the safe spots. Might venture out again Wednesday but this weather isn't great for hunting.

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Lots of mallards flying but would flair at about 60yds. Was using a mojo...first time ever and I am thinking this might have been the problem. Anyone else having this happen?

Were you hunting in a boat? Do you have a "blind" on the boat?

My guess is they were seeing something or someone they didn't like, not your Mojo 2c

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Always a good day out of the house.  Hey moose, what kind of gun do you have a few grouse pictures back?  
    • monstermoose78
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    • Kettle
      Walked today and yesterday, flushed 9, shot at two and got two. Hopefully next year I'll have a dog to hunt with. Still warm up here, skim of ice on ponds. Weather has been nice. Hopefully walk a bit more the next few weeks. Been pretty cautious walking for birds to not interfere with deer hunters. There sure are not the deer hunters there used to be 
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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    • gimruis
      I hunt in the rifle zone so I don't have a need to use a shotgun to hunt deer, but I would be looking at this if there was ever a need to.   There could be state legislation introduced next summer that eliminates the shotgun zone completely.  It has bipartisan support.  Wisconsin removed theirs years ago and MN is usually later to follow.  They've tried to pass it more than once and it came up just short both times.  Probably just a matter of time.
    • Wanderer
      Oh, h e l l no! 
    • leech~~
      Screw that, here's whatch need!  😆   Power-Shok Rifled Slug 10 Gauge 766 Grain Grain Weight: 766 Shotshell Length: 3-1/2in / 89mm Muzzle Velocity: 1280
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      My son always bugs me about getting a nice light over-under 20ga for grouse hunting.  I say Heck no, I'm getting a 3 1/2" 10ga so I can put as much lead in the air that I can!!     So, I'm keeping my 12ga.  
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