Central MN Waterfowl Hunting Reports by Great Day on the Water Guide Service

[Troy Smutka]

9/28/15     Lots of wood ducks and teal around central MN for the duck opener. Even with temps in the low 80's, we saw lots of ducks and harvested wood ducks, bluewing teal, and greenwing teal. In addition, saw mallards, pintails, shovelers, and a few geese. The first hour was best each morning of the weekend. Colder temps will make it feel more like duck hunting this weekend, and may move some more wood ducks and teal into the area from northern MN and possibly ND. Beans are coming out, so that may have some more geese leaving the parks and golf courses and flying to fields. Good luck, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[Troy Smutka]

10/18/15     Good duck hunting in the Hutchinson and Willmar area the past couple weekends. The big NW winds and cooler nights brought a lot of "calendar migrators" (what I call ducks that are just waiting for a good wind in mid and late October to get moving) from the Dakotas. This "Dakota duck" migration saw good numbers of mallards, pintails, gadwalls, wigeon, shovelers, green-wing teal, canvasbacks, and redheads moving through central MN. We harvested eleven species of ducks from a boat blind on a couple large lakes, and a couple geese as well. Our decoy spread consisted of two dozen canvasbacks and redheads, two dozen mallards, six wigeon, six pintails, and six geese. Kent Fasteel 3" #2 and #3 shot through Benelli SBE II's were the ballistics. Ducks responded well to calling, though they got more call shy as this weekend went on. Good luck, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[fish_hunt_guy]

Nice work Smuts look like your stayin on em. Keep up the good work and keep the reports coming!

[Troy Smutka]

[Troy Smutka]

11/9/15     New ducks in central MN after the cold front with NW winds and colder temps late last week. Hunted a strong WNW wind on Saturday with temps about freezing in the morning. Heard swans and snow geese migrating over us in the predawn darkness. Saw eight or nine species of ducks and harvested mallards, wigeon, and ringneck. Best time for the mallards was 10 am to noon, but saw ducks all day, morning and afternoon. Gusty WSW winds with slightly warmer temps on Sunday. Hunted until noon. Witnessed large flocks of migrating ducks on Sunday. Identified twelve species of ducks and decoyed ten species. Decoyed a mixed flock of 70-80 mallards, gadwalls, and wigeon, as well as a flock of 50 shovelers. Observed a flock of nearly 100 buffleheads, and a flock of close to 200 mallards. Harvested mallards, shovelers, a gadwall, a greenwing teal, a canvasback, and a bufflehead. Burned three times by flocks of ducks decoying while we were returning from picking up ducks. Best time was again between 10 am and noon (mallard thirty) although we saw ducks all morning. Another cold front mid to late week this week could get some of these new birds on their way, but could bring in some new ones as there are reports of large numbers of ducks in North Dakota and southern Canada right now. Good luck, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[Troy Smutka]

11/16/15 Central MN

Many of the new ducks from last weekend moved on, but enough remained to keep us busy this weekend. Plenty of birds worked us both days, but ducks definitely finished better in the sunshine on Sunday than in the cloudy conditions Saturday morning. The cold snap coming at the end of the week along with some snow showers north should get the final push of Canadian ducks and geese coming through MN by the weekend--could be some good hunting. The big question is if the water will stay open through the Thanksgiving holiday break with sustained highs in the 30's and lows in the 20's starting Friday. Good luck, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[clayton08]

I dont duck hunt nowadays but I used to guide back in the day in the glenwood area. Anyways the last two weeks I have been fishing and all i see are ducks. Yesterday on minnewaska we must of kicked up 2000 mallards that were sitting in with the coots. Also have been seeing alot of divers in the area bluebills,cans, buffleheads, wigeon there all over on numerous lakes so if anyone wants to hunt out that way find big water and setup there all over. I wouldnt recommend hunting waska but if you can find some water around there you might do good.

[Troy Smutka]

11/22/15     Central MN

     Hunted big water both days this weekend. Smaller stuff was icing over Sunday morning. Saw a lot of mallards and some divers. Divers were largely uncooperative, but mallards worked nicely. Even worked in a flock of gadwalls Sunday. Passed on buffies and hoodies both days, and both days felt sorry for a lone greenwing teal hen that started out the morning in our decoys and stuck around for a while. Both days the lone teal left with survivors from flocks of mallards we shot at. Not sure if it was the same one--two different lakes within a few miles of each other. Either way, hope she, or they, find their way south. Lots of geese up high in large V's heading into town both days--appeared to be new migrants and reports are of lots of geese and mallards working fields in the area today. Hoping some water left open to hunt Thursday--if not will switch over to fields. The water will surely be gone by Saturday. Good luck, and I will see you out there somewhere.

[Troy Smutka]

Finished the duck season with a bang on Thursday and Friday in the Hutchinson area. Shot lots of mallards and one canvasback. Saw thousands of mallards, and had two flocks between 150 and 200 that worked us, breaking up into bunches and dropping in from all directions. Like a tornado in a cornfield, but happening over our blinded duck boat in a small cattail island. Tried to shoot drakes when we finally called the shot, but had so many mallards crossing from different directions that some hens got in the way. Big, beautiful Canadian mallards with a true trophy greenhead among them. All water in the area froze up Friday night so spent Saturday and Sunday in a corn field over field decoys. Shot some more mallards Sunday and some geese both days. If we don't get too much snow, field hunting for geese should be good this weekend. If we get too much, that could be it for us. Good luck, and I will see you out there somewhere.