Waterfowl Reports

[fishersofmen]

Is it just me or is there a ton of swans around this year? Non stop flying right over my head every time I'm out. This weekend there was a goose flying in the middle of a flock and I swear it was smiling at me.

[Matt Breuer]

Piles. They decoy so nicely...

[fishgutz77]

Did a diver hunt on Whitefish last Saturday and it was slim.

We are a week or so early, only got three the one morning.

Still waiting like everyone for the freeze up on the boarder.

Saw a few geese and some mallards but no new birds coming yet.

[bmc]

Diver hunted today in the Winnie area. Only saw about 50-70 ducks, but my shooting was ON for the most part and I ended up 1 short of a limit.

I passed on some hooded mergansers, got "flock" fever on a flock (15-20) of butterballs (buffleheads) and only dropped 1.

Then had a suicidal squadron (10) of bluebills dump into the decoys while I was on the phone. Threw the phone down, they flushed and I dumped 2 drakes, much to my surprise! The survivors came around for a 2nd look and I dropped a hen 'bill.

Also had a pair of hen goldeneyes drop in and dumped 1 of them.

Should have had a limit easily and of course after my limit of 3 bills are in the boat, another pair set down in the decoys and checked things out. Fun to watch and see them flush with that 'OH Sh!!" look in their eyes. LOL

1,000's of swans migrating through today.

Brian

[leechlake]

hunted pheasants and ducks about 70 miles southwest of Aberdeen Wednesday-Saturday last week. I have never seen so many ducks in my life. We shot limits and at around sundown each night we sat on the porch and watched flock after flock of ducks moving North to water for 30 minutes or so. I couldn't even guess the number of birds. 25,000? 100,000?

There's where the MN ducks are.

[dukhnt]

Hunted near Hutch this morning. Not a lot of birds around. However what was around wanted in my decoys. Had two woodies want to land with my goldeneye decoys. Then a lone mallard. Shortly after that a flock of 4 bluebills checked out my spread, dropped one. Then at 7:45 had a flock of 20 or so gadwalls come in, dropped two and my limit was done.

[BoxMN]

Hunted NE metro. Saw a decent amount of birds, way more than Sunday, but not "rafts". Got 3 bills, should have had 3 more, and a mallard. The bills decoyed perfectly, so that was fun seeing again. Our lead was too long at first, so we had them landing too far out...

Saw more real high flyers, and the biggest flock of swans I have seen yet this year. Butterballs came just out to far for us to shoot, but almost A good morning before work!

Geese never got up from the shore before we had to leave.

[lindy rig]

Just got back from central South Dakota. Pothole after pothole filled with ducks. Crossed the border back to MN and no ducks.

[luckycrank]

All right who gave em the map!!!!

[onthefly]

Just got back from NoDak last night - spent 5 days.

Field access around Devils Lake is very tough - almost everything's posted.

We managed one ok field hunt for geese. Then, hit sloughs for ducks. Seemed like divers were most willing. Mallards were there, but grouped up in big flocks. Found a spot on East Devils that had 2,000 mallards using it. No boat, so no way to get there.

All in all, did well but could've been better. Hit a few really nice drake redheads, nicest drake gadwall I've ever seen, and some bluebill, mallards, etc.

Snows were in by the 1,000s, feeding in whichever corn field was picked yesterday.

Small stuff was frozen/freezing. If you're gonna go, the time is now!

[Kettle]

On the range lots of the small ponds have frozen over and lots of lakes that hold rice are freezing in the area where the rice is. Seeing a lot of goldeneyes and buffleheads in the area though

Kettle

[CANOPY SAM]

Looks like it's gonna wind down pretty fast now, at least up north.

We don't have much for open water in the area now, and there is cold and snow in the forecast over the next couple days.

I had good shooting this morning for local geese, and took home two fat ganders for my efforts. I'd wager there's a couple thousand geese around TRF right now, but only a few ducks that I've seen.

Much of the river above the dam is frozen over, so we've got lots of geese south of town where there's still moving water. Tons of birds working picked corn fields in the area, but the two big fields where the birds are working (at least in my neighborhood) are both off limits to hunters.

Funny thing, I could probably fill out everyday just sitting on my deck, but I don't think my neighbors would appreciate it much!

The boat is going into storage, the birds are moving south, and our family is switching gears to big game this weekend. Once the venison is in the freezer we'll likely chase a grouse or two, then it won't be long till we're walking out on Lake of the Woods!

See ya'll here next year!

[fishgutz77]

Thanks for the report Canopy, looking forward to all those birds moving south a bit.

some divers showing up with mallards and lots of geese. Ponds are freezing up fast in the northwest counties out from the cities. I will be deer hunting mornings and duck hunting mid day as birds arrive and need a place to sit. Reports to follow.

[Stringerless!]

On the way home from work George Watch looked completely frozen. Back bay of Peltier was open. Some ice on mud lake. Not enough time to get out after work since time change.

[Stringerless!]

First hunt that I did not even see a duck this year ! Had 5 geese come in and stop short. Home for a bite and back out to new spot.

[booger]

Hunted the N Metro ended up w/ 2 mallards, 2 ringbills, 2 geese. Not many ducks around, tons of geese.

[grey ghost]

Southwest Mn 3 guys this morning ended with 6 ducks...BWT, GWT, Mallard, and Shoveler in the mixed bag. Not many ducks flying but more than I expected to see.

[BoxMN]

Three groups on a NE metro lake this morn, each of the other two got one butterball each, and we got one goose. Not too many ducks flying, lots of geese, but they are moving from one non-hunting spot to middle of lake and back... I am not getting up early tomorrow

We did hear quite a bit of shooting on the lake to our north. Hope they saw more than we did, by the sounds of it they did!

[Stringerless!]

Went to Carlos in afternoon. Saw a group of mallards that toyed with me the rest of the day. I figure it was the same flock plus or minus a pair.Anywhere from 8 to 12 birds. They would get up when they heard a deer shot and disappear for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes but then come back. Got my gun up a few times but never pulled trigger. Did not want to drop a bird that I cannot find in the weeds. Never saw any flocks migrating and never heard a single goose honk.Not pleasant picking up decoys alone in a canoe in this wind. Only control I had was while going backwards.

[icecold]

Tryed hunting friday before deer hunting opener on my honey hole, not a duck to be seen, sat in deer stand along river all day yesterday and only saw 3 wood ducks fly, heard 1 goose ,pretty pathetic for ducks, atleast I did get my deer late afternoon

[fishersofmen]

Got 2 mallards and a gad this morning. Some birds moving around but not great by any means.

[Sifty]

Sat in a field nw of Belle Plaine saw one high flying flock of mallards and had four mallards at about 70 yards . That was it for the day ,pretty bad

[Stringerless!]

Carlos. Managed a pair of mallards. Should have had a limit of mallards. Terrible shooting and a gun that misfires every other time. Good thing I have 2 in the boat. No geese seen or heard. Couple flocks of tundra swans migrating. Besides the few small flocks of mallards that stay in refuge, nothing else seen. Not one shot volley heard. No one else out.

[Proskier2038]

Remer area- fri things were frozen up and we busted a hole to give her a go- sat things opened up but everything was high- today we got into the lawn darts thick and they were everywhere- fun to watch- not to eat - could have grabed one they were coming in soo close and heavy! also squeezed out a few ringnecks- we had more luck than anyone in the deer stand

[Troy Smutka]

11/10/13 Central MN

Cold front with 30 mph WNW winds Saturday brought a migration, mostly divers. We were on a long reed point on a large lake. Saw thousands of divers, some puddlers, and some geese. Had one 10 minute period of pandamonium where we decoyed a flock of bills, shot some, then had flock after flock of bills, ringnecks, and redheads trying to come in while we were swatting a couple of cripples and while we had empty guns. Did some speed loading and got a few more before we decided to stop shooting and watch the show. Ended up with ten divers and five woodies out of a nice bunch first thing after shooting time. Slower Sunday with a light SW wind, but managed two redheads, a mallard, and a ringneck. Geese are showing up in better numbers in the area, but still only a modest number of mallards.

[steve1111111]

Hunted Carlos myself Sunday afterdoon at the stacey pools. I was the only one out which is nice but did not get any. Saw about 30 birds and almost had a group of 15 come in but they did not finish. I fear it may be over for carlos after tonight with lows predicted to be about 19 degrees and 16 tomorrow night.

[CANOPY SAM]

Last night, during the snow squall we had up here in the NW, the geese were coming thru in rafts. There were geese even setting down in tall alfalfa fields to get out of the wind and snow.

I'd wager what I saw last night was the big push. It's near 10 degrees F. up here this morning, with about 1-2 inches of snow covering everything. Supposed to be very cold again tonight, so it's almost a sure thing that all our water will be frozen up solid.

I shot two nice geese on Friday morning, and a nice 8-point buck on Saturday morning. If we have any geese left in the area, wherever they might find a little open water, I might take another swing at em', but I'm bettin' there's a PILE of birds in central and southern Minnesota this morning!

[CANOPY SAM]

Sitting here looking out the window at flock, after flock, after flock, after flock of geese moving south. THIS IS THE BIG PUSH! They're coming boys. They're coming now!

[123fish]

Hunted far southwest Minnesota this morning. My partner shot a drake and hen mallard that came in as singles and that was it. Saw flock after flock of honkers sky high and headed into Iowa and maybe Missouri the way they were rolling. Just a few small bunches of migrating ducks and I mean very few. Crows, eagles, gulls, the biggest bunch of Sandhill cranes I've ever seen and no ducks. She is going to lock up tight tonight when the wind lays down. Should have been better.

[dan z]

Hunted a bigger lake today seen migration of geese and divers. Shot 5 greater bills and seen the first 2 common lawn darts and 2 golden eyes. Loons were on the move also. Were are the mallards????