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Waterfowl Reports


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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.

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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.

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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!

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

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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

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 eek 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.

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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!

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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 grin 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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!!! crycrycry I think the good Lord might be telling me something!

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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.

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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.

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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 .

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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.

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

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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 !

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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 laugh

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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...

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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.

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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.

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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!!

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • 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
      On the South Shore...  The focus for many this week is the ongoing deer hunting season which is a big tradition in these parts, even for avid walleye anglers.  There were some that either already harvested their deer or are more into catching fall walleyes than hunting.     Those that are fishing are taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and excellent walleye and sauger bite that is happening across the lake.  Cold weather is in the forecast in the upcoming days and weeks so that is also getting many excited. The best depths on the south end of LOW are 22-28 feet of water.     Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners is catching most of the walleyes, saugers and jumbo perch.  Depending upon where on the lake you are fishing, some slots and big trophies are in the mix as well, but most reports are talking about good numbers of eaters.    Jumbo perch are coming in good numbers this fall which will serve ice anglers well.  Watch out for an occasional pike or even lake sturgeon mixed in with the walleyes.      There are good numbers of walleyes and saugers across the south shore which is setting up nicely for early ice.   On the Rainy River...  There continues to be good numbers of shiners in the river, and consequently, there are good walleyes in the river as well.     Walleyes along with saugers, pike and some sturgeon are coming in up and down the river.  Most walleyes are being caught in 10-25 feet of water in various stretches of the river.   Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners is the key. Some anglers are also still slow trolling crankbaits upstream to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing remains strong.  The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle...  As temps are getting colder, most are in the woods hunting and not fall fishing, however, for those who bundle up, fishing continues to be excellent.     A nice mixed bag with walleyes, saugers, perch, pike and crappies being caught. Very good muskie fishing with the colder water temps and shorter days.  Some big fish and some good numbers are being caught amongst the islands.  Both casting and trolling is getting it done.  
    • 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
    • Wanderer
      20 ga has become a real popular deer round in the last 5 or so years.  The rifled barrels are zinging those sabot slugs with rifle like accuracy out to 100 yards easily.  Some go so far as dialing in for a 200 yard shot but really, by 150 they’re falling off pretty low.   I have a single shot Ultraslug in 20 ga that shoots really well at 100 yards.  Most everyone I know that has bought a slug gun lately has gotten the Savage 220 in 20ga.  Problem can be finding the shells you want.
    • leech~~
      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.  
    • 11-87
      That’s almost exactly what I was thinking.  Have slug barrels for both   One for turkey and one for deer.      I have a 20ga mosseberg as well. (Combo came with the scope but never used.   I always liked the 12 better
    • leech~~
      Wanderer is right on the money and covered it well.  I was wondering too if you had a slug barrel for one of your guns?  If so you could make that your slug gun with a scope, and the other your turkey gun with the Red dot.  As you can afford it. 
    • Wanderer
      Kinda depends on if you want magnification or quick target acquisition.   More magnification options and better accuracy with a scope.  You get what you pay for too so get comfortable with a budget for one.  Tasco and Bushnell work but I find they lose their zero easier, have low contrast and don’t gather light well in low light conditions.  That said, I’m still using one I haven’t replaced yet.  Vortex has been the hot brand for the past several years for bang for the buck.  Good products.  Nothing beats Swarovski though.  Huge dough for those.  Burris is another decent option.   There are some specific models for shotgun/slug hunting in the economy brands and bullet drop compensation (BDC) reticles.  Based on experience I’d recommend not falling for that marketing ploy.   Red dots are usually lower magnification and easier to get on target.  Reasonably accurate but don’t do well with definition, like searching the brush for your target.  I put a HAWKE red dot on a .22 for squirrels and it’s been good.  For turkey, that’s probably the route I’d go.     If your slug shots are normally not too far and too brushy, I’d think a red dot could work there too if you’re only buying 1 scope.  You’ll be better off dimming the reticle to the lowest setting you can easily use to not over shine the target and get a finer aim point.   If you don’t have a slug barrel, you might appreciate one of those.  I had a browning with a smoothbore slug barrel that shot Brenneke 2-3/4 inch well.  The 11-87 would well fitted with a cantelever rifled barrel. 
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