Waterfowl Photos

[fishuhalik]

Wow, what a day today!!! Went out with bottom-bouncer today and lets just say the migration is on like Donkey Kong in Western NoDak right now!!! Tens of thousands of snows and just as many mallards. We started out on a big slough that I had seen thousands of mallards at earlier in the year, and this time the mallards were sitting in the limited open water (everything else is frozen) along with a MESS of snows. We watched the snows get up for a while, heading to a field to feed, and decided to follow them. After a couple of miles, this is what we found. Sorry for the poor quality, but all we had was our cell phones. Those little dots are all snows, and this is about 10% of the birds.

Bottom-bouncer dropped me off at the field since he didn't have a license and watched from a distance. I just layed in the field next to a haybale and watched as they circled all around me, just out of range. Finally a few came in range and I let loose. First 3 rounds hit 1 bird but it was a little far away and only took some feathers off. They kept circling. Next volly was only 1 and again, a couple feathers but no worse for the wear. Next volly claimed a snow and spooked the birds a little. I got up, ran 100 yards to where they started circling the field again and just laid down in the 8" tall stubble. They contined to circle and I dropped another one. Now they were finally spooked and took off.

We drove around for a while and found another 10,000+ snows in a field but were denied access for tomorrow. We started driving some more and found a field just next to the slough that was FULL of mallards. I belly crawled up to em and when I was about 60yds away they spooked. I pulled the trigger twice and on the first shot dropped 1, second drop hit 2 birds. I left em alone after that and will be returning tomorrow to see what I can get actually being set up in the field. Wish me Luck!!!

All day there were thousands of birds in the air. Every time we looked there were birds flying all around us. Mallards, snows, lessers, greaters, and a few divers but not very many. All around it was just an incredible day to be a waterfowl hunter, and one I won't forget any time soon.

[fishuhalik]

And Tyler, great pics! It's not always about how many you kill, but the experience. Kill pics just can't capture the feeling of fully committed mallards coming into a spread!

[Todd Caswell]

A snowy morning in the blind

[walleyeking19]

Here is a group shot from our trip to North Dakota from 2 weeks ago. Camera batteries died so this is really the only pic I got. This was our first day up there and we got our 8 man limit. The coolest part was that we shot 14 different species of ducks that day. Coming back to MN and seeing a fraction of the ducks sure is depressing!

[rbs]

wow that is a beast of a black lab!

[Quackaddict9]

A snowy morning in the blind

Great pic...You will remember that one!

[Lunker]

Awesome pic Todd!

Here is my first Black Duck, a monster drake i shot on Lake Michigan on monday. Also killed a really nice bull can the evening before but failed to get a pic.

[TonkaBass]

You gonna mount it?

[Vikings_59]

Lots of birds flying through Central/East Central ND.

We had a great few days of hunting in the snow. If you have the opportunity, now is the time to be up there.

[fishersofmen]

Awesome. Buddy got one last year and had it mounted.

[Waters]

Few pics from the last few days southern mn

[Deet]

Last Friday.

Did the same saturday except the ringers were replaced with bluebills.

[FishandFowl]

Here are a few from Manitoba in October

FnF

[Matt Breuer]

Was fortunate enough to get out with the local diver freak and had a 4-pack of scoters buzz us. We each dumped one. Awesome memory!

Following morning we lit up the ringers with a few hoodies and bluebills mixed in...

[shortfatguy]

Matt, Is that Tim on the right?

[Matt Breuer]

Yup, and another Tim on the left. Equally poor shooters... Kidding.

[CANOPY SAM]

That second pic is cool, but you guys must have held your breath for a long time to stack all those ducks under the boat!

As always, great pics Matt. Glad to see your still chasing waterfowl!

[Bryce]

Nodak 2012 is a wrap.

[Kettle]

Awesome photos Matt, hopefully those divers make it down my way soon Congrats on the scooter, thats a big one. Happy Hunting

Kettle

[Ray Esboldt]

Bryce,

Good to see Jez is still in action. Diamond retired - arthritis. Pepper - the replacement dog - (middle of the 3 below) is doing very well in her first season.

A day in Nodak 2012:

[mrg]

divers here!

[TonkaBass]

I see that Matt shot a nice scoter, and I thought I would post the one I got last year. Looks different but for sure a scoter. Any ideas of what type?

[luckycrank]

ruddy duck ..maybe not look a bit large and bill looks wrong for a ruddy

[poutpro]

looks a lot like a ruddy duck

[dan z]

Ruddy in my eyes also

[TonkaBass]

Nevermind, I found it. It's a Black scoter hen. It was larger than a canvasback, so that rules out ruddy.

[TonkaBass]

The orange inside the nostril is almost blaze when they are freshly killed. You can kind of see the orange nostril on the duck in the photo on the top.

[TonkaBass]

Also, ruddys average 1.2 pounds and black scoters average 2.5 pounds.

[the man]

The look and the upright tail feathers tell me it's a ruddy. They are cool ducks though.

[luckycrank]

still leaning ruddy .... come to faribault theres about 100 scoters then I am no sea duck expert . however I see your case size and nasel post still not that of a scoter.

but bill and size doesent really match a ruddy either . scoters are not that un common throughout Mn I have seen a couple killed ..evan took an oldsqauw personally last fall in southern mn. and nephew took a surf hen last fall also 50/50 on the matter