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Southwest MN water levels?

311Hemi

By 311Hemi
in MN Duck Hunting - Geese - Waterfowl-Sandhill Cranes

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311Hemi Mentor

311Hemi

Posted
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Does anyone know the current water levels in southwest MN (or where I might get a btter idea)? We are heading to Marshall for duck opener and wondering what condition (water wise) the slews are in...

Any help would be apprecitaed!

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walleyewacker Rising Star

walleyewacker

Posted
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I worked in Pipestone for the summer and they didnt seem all that bad, considering the dry summer and I dont have much to compare to from previous years. There has been a few good shots of rain lately and I know there is some standing water in spots with a good amount of ducks near Ivanhoe the past couple weeks. I have really seen a lot of local ducks west of marshall everywhere.

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311Hemi Mentor

311Hemi

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Thanks for the info!

Anyone else in the SW have any info. Unfortunatly I wont be able to scout out our area before we get down there.

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Eric Wettschreck Grand Master

Eric Wettschreck

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All the small ponds are dried up. The Des Moines is real low. Lime creek is a dried creek bed.

The bigger sloughs and the lakes still have water so it's not a drought, but it's dry.

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Eric Wettschreck Grand Master

Eric Wettschreck

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Update, it's been raining for the last 2 days. So far we got a little over 2 inches of the wet stuff just in time for harvest. Not supposed to stop raining until Saturday night. The creeks, ponds, rivers will appreciate it and maybe some of the smaller ponds will actually be ponds and not dried up holes.

I'm like a half hour south of Marshall. If you come down this way gimme a ring. I'm always looking for new people to shoot ducks with.

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311Hemi Mentor

311Hemi

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Thanks for the update Boiler, thats good to hear! We actually must hunt right around your area! Been going down there for the past 7-8 years with roughly the same group. We will have a fairly large group this year, plus it's my pups rookie outing. I can't wait!!

How has the duck population looking lately down there?

I keep sitting here at work on the NOAA and two other weather sites....waiting to see what next weekend will have in store for us (bad idea this far out either way). Then go to Local Live (Contact Us Please) and look at the slough we hunt. Man I am getting antsy.

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Eric Wettschreck Grand Master

Eric Wettschreck

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Do yous guys hunt state ground or private???

I pretty much stick around the Avoca, Slayton, Hadley area. That's about 1/2 hour or so south of Marshall. We've got a lot of slough land and lakes to hunt here so why go somewhere else, ya know?

I sure wish I could give you a duck update but in all honesty I have no flippin clue. I've been workin and workin on the house and workin at work and workin in town and I haven't been out much. We had a real wet spring so there was good nesting for the little duckies. The opener should be decent for shooting the local ducks. Once the locals are scared Shi&&less and leave it may be a different story.

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311Hemi Mentor

311Hemi

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We hunt public land....up around Gavin, Balaton, Flourence area.

No problem on the Duck update. We have usually had shooting at locals at least the first weekend and any more is always a plus. I guess we will see next Friday when we get down there what it looks like. I don't blame ya for sticking around that area....thats what I would do if I lived there!!!

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Eric Wettschreck Grand Master

Eric Wettschreck

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Garvin/Balaton has some good sloughs.

I'll keep my eyes open and let ya know what I see around here.

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lawdog Veteran

lawdog

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Plenty of rain the last couple days should help as the boilerman says...

I drove to Marshall for a court hearing yesterday and went through some hunting stops on the way home. There was some water (not a ton but not dry either) and I saw decent numbers of ducks for just a mid-day drive by...

If it doesn't stop raining til tomorrow night like they are saying, there should be a good amount of water going to refill the creeks, sloughs and little potholes.

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Rost Mentor

Rost

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Quote:

I drove to Marshall for a court hearing yesterday and went through some hunting stops on the way home

Now what did you do??? grin.gifwink.gif

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Eric Wettschreck Grand Master

Eric Wettschreck

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Another update. It rained for like 40 days and 40 nights around here. Ok, maybe only 4 days but it seemed longer. Depending on where you're at you're looking at 2 to 5 inches of rain. Most of the creeks and smaller ponds have some water in them again. However, it's supposed to be blue bird kind of days until next week so that standing water may be gone by the weekend.

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