field reports

[Guest]

Thanks for the update flip.
Hickory has good numbers of geese but I didn't see a duck the night I was there.
Have a morning goose hunt planned east of town. I think we have room it you want to jump in.

[Flipnripem]

Hey pimp, I`ll be out myself on the south side. It`s a pretty quick shoot so I may be cruising in the neighborhood? Don`t kill em all! Leave some for me, I mean seed. Ha Ha. Good luck. Flip

[I Like Worms]

We hunt by lowry, near alexandria, and it was a bleak weekend. I thought the front would push down the northern birds, but maybe there just aren't the numbers of northern birds anymore? Anyway, not a lot flying around. Did see a bunch of swans sunday morning. That means the season is drawing to a close.

[This message has been edited by I Like Worms (edited 10-20-2002).]

[Fisher Dave]

I had hunted the southern metro on 10/20 and it was far from fast and furious, but steady would be a good word for it. I hunted a well known local lake and there were a decent amount of ducks dropped. Northern flocks are coming around, including larger flocks of mallards and divers. There were woodies and teal mixed in... It seems the season should only get better from here.

The better hunting was closer to 11am .. early morning was very slow, possibly because all the hunters on the lake kicking them up.

[CANOPY SAM]

I was out in central ND this last weekend. The locals were pretty well shot up and movin' out. On our way back on Sunday afternoon there were many large flocks of honkers way up and movin' south fast. Some of the sloughs were startin' to freeze up around the edges, so if the weather doesn't warm soon the birds are gonna be movin south really soon. I'm willing to wager that if the weather pattern holds around these latest temps we're going to see a bonanza of ducks and geese in the next couple weeks!
Is anyone finding flooded corn or sunflowers west of the twin cities anywhere?

[Flipnripem]

Mankato lakes have ducks but there are scattered all over the area. Had a nice flock of cans, 40 to 45 birds, buzz the dekes. Cool to see that again. A few nice bunches of ring bills and an occasional small bunch of mallards. Not anything like I imagined spinning in bed the night before. Walnut had a good supply of high flyers, but everyday is a new day this time of year. Field hunted tonight and saw a number of migrators, ducks and geese, cruising by. I bet next week is a good time to really get a bad case of (duk-itus). IF you`ve never had this it can last as long as it takes to recover, the water is totally froze, and or the end of november. Gotta be out there cause it is not worth working if there is a chance the major flight comes to your lake. Quack Quack BOOM! Flip

[Benny]

Canopy sam, were you at Suak center truck stop and talked with me about hunting?I was coming in from Siseton S.D and the guy I talked to was coming from James town N.D.
Just thinking that by chance it was you.
We had lots of ducks out there, lots of Wideon,Gadwalls,and Mallards even some Golden Eye and Buffies of coarse there were tons of cacklers and greater canadas as well.I saw only a few ducks sitting in the ponds on the Minnesota side after Brownsvalley.
I did see lots of Minnesota plates over in S.D also, so there were a few of us over there.
Benny

[Guest]

Hunted a pond near Walnut Lake seen good numbers of ducks. Blew a shot on a pintail that almost made me cry.
Bagged a Wigeon and a teal. Had gun problems or there could have been more. But it should only take 1 shot anyway right.
Has anyone been on Swan Lake recently? Gonna try and get over there next week.

[Flipnripem]

Hey pimp, there are some more of them white ones in town again. I saw a pretty blue today. Which pond were you talking about? Is anybody hunting the blue earth, fairmont area? Flip

[CANOPY SAM]

Sorry Benny, Not me! Sounds like you had some pretty good luck though..

[Guest]

Have'nt heard anything from the Fairimont area. Blue earth has a few hunters on the weekends but during the week things are pretty quiet. There were 2 groups hunting the river on Tuesday. I could hear shots so they must of had some action. Much better than I did.
North Walnut had nobody on it.

[Flipnripem]

Any of you fella`s north been hunting in the snow? How far down are the birds? Are we going to see a big push this weekend? Hey pimp how`s the goosen going? Flip

[Lowe]

Starting to see a few big rafts of bluebills in the greater Duluth area. A lot of the potholes are completely frozen. One small, fairly shallow lake, maybe 50 acres, that I see every morning was completely ice-covered this morning. Very cold. They should be on the way.

[Flipnripem]

Lowe, thanks for the report. Were shooting a few local mallards down south. It`s a timing thing around here. The ducks come through in a day or two. They usually don`t stay very long. If you can`t get off work when there here your s.o.l. Flip

[bmc]

Me and 2 buddies were out yesterday AM from 6:30 to 11:30 and shot 10. We hunted the Mississippi River in Itasca County. We had 3 drake mallards, 2 buffleheads, 2 hen goldeneyes (probably should've got the one i shot mounted, but already have a pair of ringbills and a drake buffie in the shop), 1 gw teal, and 2 mergansers. We had to go through some skim ice in the slack water spots on the river, but we probably saw 300-500 ducks and about the same for geese (canadas, snows, and blues). We had 1 flock of about 100-150 mallys buzz us 2x, only to have 6 come in for a look and we dumped 2. Man, i need some off season practice. I was up to Bowens Flats the night before last and saw about 100-200 diver's flying around out near the gap, not sure of what they were though, but with a little luck, i'll find out sat. night. Good Luck and keep after 'em.

[Guest]

Glad to hear everyone is getting some action.

Have seen another increase in goose numbers around Austin over the last few days. I think the migraters are finally making it here. Rochester goose numbers are going up daily as well.

Hope to hunt the Blue Earth area all weekend. Since you guys think they are on there way.

[This message has been edited by Walleye Pimp (edited 10-25-2002).]

[Flipnripem]

WalleyePimp, how was your hunt? Did you make it out west? The geese were crazy today around town. Tomarrow morning should be very good. Back at ya tomarrow. Flip

[Guest]

Hunted Watkins Lake near Waseca. We seen numbers of Mallards and a handful of divers. Did'nt see any flocks that appeared to be migraters. Bird flew the best between 8:30 and 9:30. Only shot a mallard and a blue wing. Let a few hen mallards fly by.

There were quite a few people up in Moonan Marsh and they all did better than us.

Won't be able to hit the honkers for a few days. The corn doesn't get picked by me out duck huntin!

[Ozzy169]

Mallard numbers are really jumping around. Wends night 3500 ducks, Friday night 500, Sat night 1500. What would make them fly south? Hunting pressure is minamum, food source excellent and have open water. Theory ia that locals flew south and northerns coming in.? Hunting so. metro

[Fisher Dave]

The mallards dissapearing may be mother natures way of telling us what the weather is going to be like pretty quick... just a theory. The swans are coming in full force now which is also usually a signal that Jack Frost is knocking.

Hope they're moving tomorrow. I'm going to try a spot west of the metro.

Small potholes not too far north of us are freezing at a pretty good pace and the water temps are dropping here fast. I have gotten lots of mallards in the past crashing ice... but it never seemed there were that many in the air when doing this, but what is flying isnt hard to convince to decoy.

Just a theory .. but all in all I dont think wer're going to have any open water by the end of the season. I'll crash ice as long as I can.... and then I'll pretend I'm Robin Hood and try to stick an arrow in a deer or two. Any luck that will keep me busy until ice fishing.

[I Like Worms]

Just back from three days of hunting near lowery, 3 days of breaking ice. And given the forecast, the last weekend hunting there. Didn't see many birds at all Friday and Saturday, but started to see more on Sunday. Saw a lot of ringbills on Sunday. Saw many swans too, even had 1 loner circle 3 times and land in our decoys. What a site. I don't like to get into kill counts, but we did well all three days, Sunday morning limiting out in 1/2 hour. Unless we get warm temps again, this will be the end of the season. The lake will freeze up tight.
See ya next year!

[This message has been edited by I Like Worms (edited 10-28-2002).]

[Guest]

Was field hunting Mallards in So. Metro, lots of beautiful northern birds! Got the biggest drake of my life, 4 full curls with magnificent color. Should've been a mounter but messed up its head on the shot. Saw literally thousands of birds every morning and night. Also noticed a weird trend, we aren't seeing any Canadian geese, but tons of snow geese. We hunt this field every year once the northern birds are coming down and I've rarely seen snows. We actually took one blue phase snow this weekend, first of our lives. Has anyone else seen this or know whats up with all the snow geese coming through the South Metro this year? Think it has to do with the abnormally cold weather?

[Fisher Dave]

Hunted the west metro today and managed to bag a bird for every shot taken ... too bad we didnt have anything to shoot at. We only saw about 15 birds in view all morning. The south metro seems to be the most steady that I have seen, but most the birds are using fields and not the lakes.

Things could change in a hurry when the flooded fields freeze up .. but with the weather the shallow sloughs wont be far behind.

Keep alert for swans ... they are coming in full force in the south metro. Geese seem to move in force when they do but nothing regular.

[fishfearme]

Man are there ducks on Mille Lacs! By the 10's of thousands. Yesterday morning there was a giant black cloud of ducks over the middle of the lake. They were in the air for 3 hours before they settled back down or migrated. Mostly bill and buffle heads, and a few golden eye. The mallards pushed through the area on monday. The bills decoyed well in the morning, but wouldn't come within a 1/4 mile or shore in the afternoon. No ducks anywhere else in the area. They are all rafted on Mille Lacs. I got 3 bills and a bufflehead yesterday.

[fishermann222]

I was in Missouri for the opener down there all weekend. Shot lots of ducks. we limited out sat and sun. the ducks must be migrating fast as we shot ringnecks, bills, and some REALLY nice mallards. definately northern canadian mallards with puffy heads and lots of curls, 4 was the most. I hope to hunt the west metro tomorrow and see what happens. anyone been out on some of the lakes in the west metro???

[Fisher Dave]

The west metro has been a bit spotty at best. Some locations are consistant but most arent. The Minnesota river Valley is pulling lots of mallards near town ... lots of ducks on the river also but im not sure if your allowed to hunt it because its Wildlife refuge on both sides.

Best hunting times have definately been late morning into mid day .. and then at dusk. North of the metro has been picking up. Many of the lakes seem to be * skimming * overnight .. going to be breaking ice everywhere soon.