Waterfowl Hunting Reports by Great Day on the Water Guide Service

[Troy Smutka]

One of the warmest opening weekends I can remember. Most reports I heard from the Hutchinson to Willmar area were of modest success, with a couple better and a couple worse. We managed two mallards, two pintails, two wood ducks, two shovelers, and one goose on public water in the Hutchinson area. Not an overabundance of ducks in the area, but enough to keep us busy. The goose numbers look good. Ducks decoyed better to a large goose floater spread on Sunday than they did to a small duck decoy spread on Saturday. Both mornings we had more activity in the 9-noon window than early. Colder, more seasonal temps look to be in store for next weekend. Should be seeing some pretty nice fall colors as a backdrop in central MN by next weekend as well. Good luck, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[Troy Smutka]

The strong WNW winds and cold temps and snow up north late last week had new ducks arriving on Saturday and Sunday. We saw, decoyed, or harvested gadwalls, wigeon, spoonies, pintails, redheads, cans, ringnecks, teal, mallards, and geese. The Dakota ducks were definitely starting to trickle in. Gusty winds this week with no hunting pressure in the central and southern zones may have some new birds around for the weekend again. Good luck, stay safe, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[Troy Smutka]

10/12/14 Kind of slow in the Hutchinson area this weekend. Gusty NW winds the week prior must have blown some birds out, and not much new to replace them. Saw maybe 50 ducks total each morning. Harvested a couple woodies on Saturday and three ringnecks on Sunday. Reports from buddies hunting all around the area were similar--slow. Cold front coming in late this week, at least that is the forecast for now. Hopefully that will get some more of the calendar migrators (cans, redheads, wigeon, gadwalls, spoonies) moving in out of the Dakotas. Good luck, stay safe, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[Troy Smutka]

10/18/14 The big wind on Friday did not bring in ducks from the Dakotas like I had hoped. Some new canvasbacks did show up and we harvested some of them along with some ringnecks and wood ducks, but we need some new birds to move in. Good luck, stay safe, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[Troy Smutka]

10/26/14 Hutchinson Area

Despite 70's on Friday and 60's over the weekend, fair numbers of several species of ducks migrated through central MN with the gusty NW wind on Saturday and the light N wind and cold temps Saturday night. We witnessed flocks of bluewing teal up to 50 birds, large flocks of gadwalls, wigeon, ringnecks, bluebills, along with a few mallards and pintails. Most likely "calendar migrators" out of the Dakotas. We harvested some nice-looking fat ducks both Saturday and Sunday. The "trickle" has begun, and a good cold snap could bring a more significant push as it is getting to be that time. Good luck, stay safe, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[Troy Smutka]

11/2/14 Central MN

Not as many birds as we would have expected or wanted in the Hutchinson area this weekend, but we managed some. Harvested mallards, gadwalls, ringnecks, greenwing teal, wood ducks, and buffies. Saw a lot of hooded mergansers, but didn't shoot any. Still a low number of geese and mallards in the area for the first weekend in November. Good luck and stay safe. I will see you out there somewhere.

[Troy Smutka]

11/10/14 Central MN

Well, the weather switch has flipped. Once again we go from early fall weather to mid-winter weather in a matter of hours! The Canadian birds we were waiting for to migrate through arrived this weekend but will likely be mostly gone by tomorrow. We harvested lots of big northern mallards, a few divers, and some big Canada geese both Saturday and Sunday. Got a report from a friend who hunted in the snow this morning and two of them limited out on ducks on water with a goose added in in less than an hour. With a fair amount of snow on the ground in central MN and forecasted temperatures below freezing for the next 10-12 days, fields covered and water frozen will likely bring the waterfowl season largely to an end weeks early. Some localized pockets of resident Canada goose hunting will still be available, but that will be it. Once again we largely missed out on late October and November weather. It was a spotty duck season for our group, and goose hunting never really got started. If the forecast holds true, we will be ice fishing in a week. I will give field hunting for geese and hopefully some mallards a try this weekend and will report afterwards, but I may be posting ice fishing reports for the Metro, Mille Lacs, and Hutchinson after that.

[Troy Smutka]

11/17/14 Hutchinson MN

Water froze up Thursday and Friday, so we field hunted the weekend. Shot a lot of big Canada geese, but no mallards. COLD! My Dad, a friend, and I got three banded geese out of one group on Sunday. Tons of geese around the area--most I've seen in several years--like the good old days.

[fishersofmen]

Nice work Smuts! Glad they are showing up I saw very few geese this year.

[Troy Smutka]

11/23/14

We decoyed a lot of geese in a snow covered field again this Saturday, and harvested some. Sunday we harvested a couple in a mud covered field in the rain--what a difference 24 hours can make. Still a lot of geese and some mallards around in central MN. A fresh coating of snow and some colder temps again this week should keep them moving and feeding, although some migrators may slip south with the strong NW winds forecast for Monday. Good luck, and stay safe.

[Troy Smutka]

11/30/14 Not Ice Fishing Yet!

Finished the waterfowl season in central MN this weekend. Shot a few geese and a bunch of mallards in a snow covered corn field. Big, mature birds that decoyed inside of ten yards! Great way to end the season. Slightly below average duck season and about average for geese. Not bad considering warm weather switched instantly to snow and ice. Hope everyone had a fun, safe waterfowl hunting season. Time to get out on the ice and start the ice fishing reports for Mille Lacs, the Metro, and Hutchinson area. See you out there somewhere.