Minnesota Migration Reporters

[Mike Walerak]

I am looking for help to establish a network of waterfowl reports.

Some of you that would be willing to be a part of the migration reporting team. Please feel free to join in with any observations and reports from your area.

Canada Migration Report - Click Here

North Dakota Migration Report -Cick Here

South Dakota Migration Report - Click Here

Minnesota Migration Report - Click Here

[Tyler Holm]

As of 11/6/05, the Geese in Rochester were pretty stale. There hasn't been a push of new geese for a couple weeks.

I suspect this front along with the strong wind from the North will move in some new birds, but that is not confirmed.

[Flipnripem]

Mike, I`m sure like you I am coming up with some new duck dishes to get through the rest of the season. Havn`t seen any good flights of mallards yet. A few divers showed up but not big numbers. Lots of geese in town spending time in the refuge. Flip. Oh you know it on the funeral, but I think I would of let that one fly.

[TNT4ME]

Get ready, here they come,

we've been in the deer stand since sat opener up here in extreme NW MN,

the geese have been flying fairly steady since sunday, but nothing like today, (11/9) from 7am to 9am it was steady waves of geese, catching a ride on the strong nw winds that were howling up here. no matter what way we looked out of the stand all that could be seen was lines of geese, every direction was just flocks of birds, what a sight to see, was hard to concentrate of deer hunting with all the birds moving. so get ready for late season birds they are coming.

tnt

[Old Guide]

Mike, as tnt said the geese have really been on the move! Quite a few stopped at the Fed. Ref. (Ag.) These must be the ones that were holding in the Winnepeg area. I don't think they will hang around too long. It's suppose to drop into the low 20's tonite. Still havn't seen any ducks to speak of. Good luck to you goose hunters down south. There's quite a bunch heading your way!

[Mike Walerak]

Great reports!

Keep them coming!

mw

[HunterLee]

lots of ducks an hour south of thief in the fertile ada area. shot my four from 9ish to 10ish. took longer to row out and get set up. only saw 3 geese though. couple flocks in the 50-75 range and 5 or so in the 10 to 15 and then some little pairs and threes. mostly mallards with a few wigion and maybe a teal to. they cirlced once and that was it. only shot one duck per bunch ended with 2 greenies one hen (got in the way of a greenie) and one lone pintail. nice color but no long tail. made for a good day after seeing no deer and 5 coyotes. nothing quite like those big northern birds. had most of them landed or about to before i shot. poor dog was getting bent out of shape watching them flapping over the decoys.

[g'eye pilot]

Mike -

An update on Rochester geese... Either some new birds have come into town, or ones that have been here decided to stretch their wings. We were shooting one here, one there, a couple over there. Now since Sunday, it's been smash mouth - especially on the north and West sides. We didn't have anyone hunting yesterday in the wind. But up till then it's been solid. As I mentioned, not sure if existing birds have redistributed, vs. new migrants coming in? But I will be gathering additional goose intelligence this evening, and going out in the a.m.

[eyepatrol]

I've been keeping an eye out here in the Sibley County area. Nothing much doing at this time. Saw a couple flocks of divers yesterday with the big nw wind, but that was about it. Slow on geese, very few mallards and any other ducks. I'm anticipating a pretty good movement come the first part of next week (Mon., Tues, Wed) as the temps are predicted to be in the low 20's for lows and mid 30's for highs along with nw winds. This time of year, those are the kinds of temperatures and conditions that will push ducks and geese through here. I'm already planning to take Tuesday off to go hunting. I'll report again after that.

[Flipnripem]

Wow do I feel suddenly ill. I really don`t think they will miss me at work for the next 10 day`s or so.

[B@ssDoctor]

Saw 5 large flocks of bluebills 10 miles south of Hutchinson. I would say all in all about 3-400 birds. About 100 of them came down on the lake I was fishing. Sounded like an F-14 landing. Comparing to what I say last weekend, seems they are starting to roll in..

[lawdog]

It always seems to happen. The ducks come when I'm deer hunting...

Been some geese moving through SW Minnesota the last few days. I haven't seen much for ducks yet though.

[iamgmc]

my plan was to duck hunt the next 4 days but warm weather has kept the migration to a trickull,western mn.been hunting the same ducks most of the season seams like.temps dropping into the teens mid next week should freeze up the puddles then look out.nows the time to use tour sick days.

[myzee13]

After hammering some geese in that big wind last week, I figured I'd have some decent shooting today on my favorite pond......wrong!! Saw 3 'bills and a handfull of mallards, with nothing presenting a shot. Hopefully next weekend will be the one!

[icecold]

I left Bismarck N.D. yesterday afternoon after a funeral we had to attend, and on the way back to minnesota it was snowin and blown and raining and the ducks and geese were flyin like crazy, There was alot more geese than ducks ,but i was wishin i was out in those feilds with the snow comin down and the geese and ducks piling into feilds Looked great, hope there coming this way

[mitch]

I saw 4 or 5 big flocks of ducks flying around Albert Lea. They are the first ones I have seen for a while. The cold weather must be starting to push them down.

[Fish_Off]

Got out tonight on a slough in Le Seur, but nothing. Saw a flock of bills come on the lake but they didn't circle like they usually do. It seems to me that the big push has yet to present itself

[ironman]

Zippity doo da day, in east central MN. Same local birds coming in after dark as usual.

[delta hunter]

South central MN today, their has been a big push of meagansers, little more mallards today then there has been, seen alot more flocks of geese in the past couple days then I have have seen in a couple weeks, and didn't see any divers at all this weekend. Thats all I shot (divers) last weekend.

[Dotch]

SC MN : Nice group of 20 honkers on the pond this AM that took off after chores were done. Must've come in during the moon lit skies over night to rest. They weren't there at sundown.

[frabillfisher]

Just saw the first flake of the day(monday) as i looked out the window...shouldnt be long boys with this snow and all there on the way! keep the reports comin

[Crusty old Swede]

I was out until noon near Spicer on Sat. and noticed several big flocks of divers heading to the southeast. Didn't see much on Sun. until the drizzle stopped then the swans started passing on their way east and the canadas were heading more to the southeast. If there's going to be a "big push" of ducks this year, get ready.

[Rick]

In downtown Owatonna my wife Cheryl and her camera noticed Cans and an eagle in the downtown park area.

She was quite happy about her shots in the wild.

[BouncinBottom]

There are definetly some new birds in western MN, too bad most of them are geese but we were able to scratch 6 mallards for 2 guys tonight(should have had our 8). Hopefully things don't freeze up the next couple of days.

[Borch]

While deer hunting in NE MN I saw flcok after flock of northern mallards. Flocks of 50-400 birds. Also lots of geese(both Canadas and snows). I didn't notice a lot of divers through.

[Flipnripem]

Faribault county, Sat was an awsome mallard shoot. At least 2000 ducks on the water. Sunday was a little different. We wouldn`t attempt to cross the lake in the wind so we hunted where we could. Gaddys, widgeon, redheads, ringers, and mallards. Must have seen 500 or so snow`s and blues. Dad went today and picked out greenheads and a pair of drake buffies. Work sucks! Flip

[duckster]

Hunted this morning 11/15 near I-Falls. Thought this weather coming would have birds moving,was wrong again. Very few ducks around, managed to shoot one large greenhead.

Was nice to be out, no one else hunting.

- Duckster

[eyepatrol]

Was really hoping to get out and give it a go yesterday, but the wind was a bit too much, the boat full of ice from the rain, and ice was forming around the boat at shore. Took 5 glances of the lake throughout the day and didn't see much though to my surprise. Just 2 flocks of bluebills and 3 flocks of geese. Didn't see any high flocks moving south such as mallards, divers or geese. I'm a little baffled about that!

As predicted, the lake has froze up tight now. Will need warmer weather to thaw it out again.