hunting reports

[huntin and fishin kid]

I was wondering how every bodys been doing with this cold weather? I was out friday and we got 15 mallerds out of our legal 16 so I'm doing good on my honey hole.How about you?

[fishkid]

do you live around the centerville area?

[huntin and fishin kid]

no I dont but I hunt geese and ducks in a couple of the fields and ponds in and around the area.

[Sartell Angler]

huntin and fishin kid- wish it would get colder! We need everything to ice up in order to make the last weekend as good as we know it can be. My bro and I got 5 drake mallards on friday, and sunday our group of 4 shot 11 mallards (9 greenheads, 2 hens) and 2 buffleheads. The birds are starting to stack up around here (especially the geese and mallards) so the last week should be very good. Also can't wait til late goose hunting so we can utilize our pit.

good luck,

S.A. / Woodduckwizard from the MN Refuge Gang

[huntin and fishin kid]

yea I hope it gets really cold this week otherwise we will be sitting in the goose blinds with all the divers flying around. So let it snow if need be and get them ducks out of canada

[huntin and fishin kid]

I was out today only 3 but it was really foggy so they had to be low other wise i couldnt see them and if I cant see them I cant shoot them

[radke22]

This last weekend it was only me: 1 drake Bufflehead, 1 hen bluebill, 1 drake hooded merganser, 2 hen goldeneyes, 7 drake golden eyes. 2 roosters-1 had a 24" tail. Best weekend of hunting in my life. Key was just finding open water and wating it out.

[huntin and fishin kid]

wow that is great good for you I was hoping to get out tomorrow sometime.For my last day.But I cant wait foe late goose I think it will be great because after saturday it's suposed to get cold

[huntin and fishin kid]

It was tough this morning 1 drake 2 guys and it didnt help it was raining

[Guest]

I cant understand why people say its "duck hunting weather" when it's raining. I've NEVER had good luck in the rain. In the snow yes, in rain NO.

I've heard of some reports of bird movement, actually heard of a few large flocks dumping in around Cold Spring this morning. We might get lucky this weekend folks! Maybe, just maybe we'll get a good shoot in.

[duckbill]

Tom,

I have had some great hunts in the rain. Not pouring rain but the way it was this morning. I just talked to my hunting partner that was out in the rain(blind has roof) and he a great shoot this morning. Seems like ducks are easier decoying because they want to get down so bad. Seems like some new ducks have moved into the area. Good luck to everyone this weekend.

[Dean Schellinger]

I'm with you Tom.

Snow is great, I love hunting in the snow and it seems the birds don't mind the snow either.

Rain is a different story, I like you have never had a solid hunt in the rain. It doesn't seem like nearly as many birds are up flying around.

With that said I am really hoping this rain we are having will turn to snow by tomorrow morning.

[kpj5br]

Well, we had a pretty decent hunt this morning.

3 guys, 6 Canadas, 2 mallards.

Field hunting over bigfoots south metro area.

[Guest]

Geeze I wish I could get tomorrow and Tuesday off!!

Finished the season on Mud Lake near New London.

5 Mallards and a goose on Saturday...pretty much got everything we saw, not too many birds.

Today, missed a good chance at 3 geese and no ducks, but....

Many more birds flying and LARGE flocks- 30 birds plus working the lake. We were just set up in the wrong spot and the ducks did not want to decoy to anyone. Would just circle the lake numerous times and then leave. Lots more ducks and geese today than there has been in a while. I think tomorrow may be a good day.

Also got a report from Long Lake near Willmar from 2 different groups...Both groups filled out both yesterday and today on divers, mostly bluebills.

If you can, I'd hit either one of these two lakes for the last days, although I think Mud will be froze in the morning...ice was forming while we were out there and it's sposed to be cold... but if you are willing to break ice and make yourself an open pocket, you might be in for one heck of a shoot.

Good luck and have a great last 2 days.

[ironman]

Well I hope everyone else did better than me...couldn't do any worse. Two days...not a shot fired. Sat....saw one flock of geese, didn't even look my way...and two flocks of mallards...same as the geese. Did have a really nice drake Can...swimming in and amongst my deks for about a half hour...yeah sure rub it in. Sunday morning...lots of geese...but they knew where they were going and it wasn't down. One small flock of mallards...would not decoy, for anybody. Well that wraps up my season...already planning for next year...look for some better water. time to respool the ice rods. Done.

[Ufatz]

WEll boys, my season is complete. I fired two shots and killed two ducks. That was two days after the season opened. I have not SEEN a duck for three weeks. The coots left our place this morning. I guess the duck hunting really is over for this area. At least for the rest of my lifetime. Maybe next year!

[Seabass77]

Finished off my season with a limit of Mallards in Traverse Co. I hunted a bean field adjecent to standing corn. Good amount of mallards in the area.

Time to start thinking of Ice Fishing.

[duckbill]

Weekend report in Wright County was about average. Between 3 guys for the weekend the totals were.

11 Buffies

3 bluebills

4 ringnecks

1 goldeneye , awesome drake

1 mallard

1 redhead

1 wooduck

3 honkers

I am working today but tomorrow I will be hunting for the last day of the season. This morning I saw two bigger flocks of divers on the way to work. Also yesterday stopped and watched one lake that had about 400 divers on it. They were rafted up in the middle but it was nice to see some ducks in numbers so we just watched others add on the the raft for a while.

I was hoping to see more mallards but it was a very tough weekend for those. The one the we did get was the only one that I saw. That is a little depressing.

[Farley]

Finished the Minnesota season on a sour note. Set up on Sat. in a blind we built this summer, wind wasnt right so we tried to compensate with the dekes but they all landed on the west side of the pond (about 50 mallards).

Sunday got out there a little late but set up on the west side with the wind and had mallards landing in the dekes right away but my buddy was trying to spin the boat around in the cattails so his gun wasnt even loaded and I was trying to get my gun unjammed with no pliers or any tool whatsoever. So I didnt even get a shot at the first two groups that came into the dekes.

After messing around with my gun for about a half hour I finally got it unjammed (using my cold fingers) and shot through the 10 shells I brought out and ended up with one bird. Couldve limited out if everything went right, but when DOES everything go right? And I got to get over getting so excited, my first two shots are usulally point and shoot, no aiming. I drop birds when I aim but I get too excited. Good thing we have a Kansas trip in December.

[stayman79]

Duckbill,

I sure am curious about where you hunt in Wright county! I do a majority of my hunting there as well, but mostly on smaller waters due to my small boat and familiarity with them. Lately the number of birds on the smaller lakes I go to has been sparse. Do you hunt bigger water in Wright county? I'm not asking you to give out your spot, just curious about what you might be doing different. I've got tomorrow off and 4 of us are planning to hit the Mississippi, hopefully for some migrating mallards or geese! Good luck to anyone going out the last day!

[duckbill]

Stayman--

As you can see from my name tag I live in Howard Lake. I hunted 90% of the time within a 10 mile radius. The lakes that I hunt are all about 100 acres. Not getting a lot of pressure but big enough to get divers in. Also we use at minimum 50 bluebill/ringneck decoys plus a couple spinning wing. I don't think that I am doing any special compared to other hunters but I have spent some time scouting lakes and watching in the evening to see which lakes the ducks are heading into then hunting that lake the next morning. Good luck to everyone tomorrow morning.

[stayman79]

Duckbill-

I usually hunt around the Maple Lake area, but did venture down near Howard Lake last Tuesday. After the fog cleared we only saw a flock of 8 goldeneyes (3 times), a drake hooded merganser and one high flock of mallards. I'll have to try to do more scouting next year, but it's always that time issue. I'm not far away living in Maple Grove, but it's not exactly on the way home from work. Thanks for the reply!

[Eric Wettschreck]

Duck season for me was a let down. I'm done for the season. Waders are hanging up waiting for next year.

Good to hear that others out there got some shooting in.

[duckbill]

Stayman--

10-15 miles west/southwest of me there is a lot of good hunting too. I was out scouting and saw a lot of birds just west/southwest. There is a ton of public water around there too. Sometimes it pays to drive and extra 15 minutes.

Duckbill

[Farley]

Duckbill-

Do you ever hunt Shakopee Lake?

[duckbill]

Farley,

No I have never hunted there. I see that you are from Cokato though. We are nieghbors. Have seen quite a few ducks just south of cokato this year. I read your post about having a jammed gun when those mallards came in..had to be a bummer but you can look back at stuff like that and laugh. I got burned a couple times last weekend where we just looked at each other and started laughing.

Duckbill

[Roosterslayer05]

Boilerguy- If you can get out for the last day I would definatly do it, I had a good weekend. Friday I had good shooting in the rain. I got three ducks and lost 2. Had a miss fire when a flock of 10 gadwalls came into my spread that messed my whole shot up. I shot my first double ever but only found one of the two, they both were hit good and the one i lost only dropped 25 yards away from me, its so hard to lose a duck that lands so close. Saturday had thousands of mallerds go over me that were too high, did get one drake mallerd though, only shot all day. Sunday I found a different spot where there were around a thousand bills. There were two big flocks and small flocks were flying from flock to flock so i set up a spread of 10 mallerd decoys and decoyed a few bills and shovelers. A hen widgoen broke off a flock of bills that my dad dropped. My dad also got a hen shoveler that decoyed. I had a horrible day shooting, i just got a new gun that im not used to yet. I missed 3 flocks of bills, a flock of ringers and a couple shovelers. There were thousands of mallerds flying over this hill so my dad went over there to hunt and a flock of 150 snows went over him at about 50 yards and he got one. First snow we have ever shot at. This morning we hunted the same spot, i couldent hit anything again. Missed 2 flocks of ringers, a lone bill and a shoveler. Me and my dad missed a cripled blue that was flying 30 yards lower than the flock. Had a broken wingtip coming into the lake, he was about 50 yards high but we should have nailed him.

All weekend we got 6 ducks and one snow. 2 Drake mallerds, 2 gadwall, 1 widgoen and a shovler.

There were thousands of mallerds around and thousands of diver, lots of birds. There were also probly a thousand snows around also. Most birds iv seen in 2 years but all the mallerds were in big flocks 50-500 and were way too high to shoot at. I was hunting in SW MN. Boilerguy if you can go hunting tomorow i might be able to tell you where to find some birds.

[MasterGophHunter]

I was thinking about heading out tomorrow morning to finish up my season. I hunt around Bemidji and I was wondering if anyone has seen any birds around. Is there much ice out on the smaller lakes? Is it even worth going out or should I just sleep in? I sure would like to get out one more time though.

-MGH-

[Guest]

I heard that some guys were seeing over 10,000 mallards up by Bemidji. They were feeding in the cornfields.

[Dean Schellinger]

Finished my season today! Ended it on a memorable note, with my 10 year old golden retriever with a perfect retrieve. Although we don't usually bring him with late in the year on the Sippi cause it gets awfully cold for him. I decided to bring him with because I was going by myself. With very few birds in the air I didn't think I was going to get anything to come into the decoys.

But a lone hen mallard swung around many times and I had to give my dog a chance and dumped her with my only shot I took all morning. Great way to end the season. Also it was my 30th duck of the year which was my pre-season goal.

Late goose and ice fishing here we come. College and basketball is keeping off the water on the last day. But oh well my season is complete!