2007 Duck & Goose Migration Report

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Hey folks,

I do not know about you guys, but I have not been too pleased with the quality of the migration reports available on-line.

We are down to the best (last) 3 weeks of the season.

Lets try to ride out this season with some open discussion about significant migration evidence.

I am not asking anyone to divulge their secrets, just discus where the south-bound line appears.

Here we go:

French Lake, Hennepipn County; Minor numbers of both divers and mallards, flocks upto 20 ct.

Clearwater Lake, Wright County; Approximately 2.3 million coot, no flock counts.

Gull Lake, Crow Wing County; 75-150 Northern mallards comfortably residing at the Hwy.371/Co.Rd.115 boat landing, hunted grassy point on Sunday, 5 Buffleheads, too much fog for flock count.

Lake Bemidji, Beltrami County; Great numbers of Ringnecks, Bills, Goldies, Buffleheads, Mallards and mergansers, unfortunately this is the refuge, no flocks on neighboring waters.

Leech Lake, I have not scouted and can not get a report from anyone?

I will provide more when I have it. Please do not forget to ask the fishing population what they are seeing. Most all fishermen are hitting big water right now!

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That preceeding quote was the start of our 2005 forum that exceeded 125 replies (not to mention the hits) with only 3 weeks left in the season!

I have made mention to several people that that forum did add significant enjoyment to my late season, and likely some additional success as well.

With early goose upon us and some folks already commenting on local populations, I think it is time again

Good luck this season to all of you

No secrets need to be exposed in this forum, refer to the quote from last year to see the explanation that seemed acceptable to everyone.

cheers

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Here we go guys & gals.

The 2007 season is under way in some of our bordering states and will fire up this weekend in Minnesota.

I’m looking forward to another season of sharing my observations and success stories as well as reading yours.

As we have emphasized before, nobody should/needs to disclose any specific location information. Just share your experiences and help us all work together to track the migration (once it starts)

Good luck to everybody in their 2008 season!

cheers

Drove through the Forest Lake and Taylors Falls area yesterday to scout around and it is very dry up there but the ponds holding water have a lot of ducks on them! Also some of the smallers lakes and ponds south of Lakeville on 35W were holding a lot of ducks too! Should be a decent shoot for opener with the cool weather coming in tonight.

Drove through the Forest Lake and Taylors Falls area yesterday to scout around and it is very dry up there but the ponds holding water have a lot of ducks on them! Also some of the smallers lakes and ponds south of Lakeville on 35W were holding a lot of ducks too! Should be a decent shoot for opener with the cool weather coming in tonight.

Let the games Begin! Drake. Is there a way to pull my post on ND into this thread? Or should we leave it over there as an additional state?

Let the games Begin! Drake. Is there a way to pull my post on ND into this thread? Or should we leave it over there as an additional state?

The migration is the migration, pull it in here and we should be able to track the entire midwest movement!
There is a lot of discussion regarding which route the birds will take, ND vs MN?
cheers

The migration is the migration, pull it in here and we should be able to track the entire midwest movement!
There is a lot of discussion regarding which route the birds will take, ND vs MN?
cheers

I have a question about the Faribault area. Not that I need any specific spots. But, how many lakes/ponds are open to public hunting in that area? I am pretty sure that a large majority of those lakes are county owned. As long as you hunt the correct distance away from a house, you should be able to hunt most of them, right??? Thanks for the info.

I have a question about the Faribault area. Not that I need any specific spots. But, how many lakes/ponds are open to public hunting in that area? I am pretty sure that a large majority of those lakes are county owned. As long as you hunt the correct distance away from a house, you should be able to hunt most of them, right??? Thanks for the info.

Prieser,
You were looking at the post that was quoted from 2005 or 2006, but if you have a question about a specific lake or lakes, just ask.
Outside of the city limits of Faribault, there isn’t much that you can’t hunt. Proper set backs with vegetation to “partially conseal” your rig and you are good to go.
There are plenty of good spots in that area!
cheers

Prieser,
You were looking at the post that was quoted from 2005 or 2006, but if you have a question about a specific lake or lakes, just ask.
Outside of the city limits of Faribault, there isn’t much that you can’t hunt. Proper set backs with vegetation to “partially conseal” your rig and you are good to go.
There are plenty of good spots in that area!
cheers

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Prieser,

but if you have a question about a specific lake or lakes, just ask.

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OK off of Hwy 21 or 23???? (the airport road) there are ponds and lakes-a-plenty over there. How about boat traffic, I am sure as populated this area is and as many boaters that fish those lakes, the more remote the better. Is any part of Cannon out of the city limits?? Why don’t one of you just take me with someday. Or better yet we can take one of you.

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Prieser,

but if you have a question about a specific lake or lakes, just ask.

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OK off of Hwy 21 or 23???? (the airport road) there are ponds and lakes-a-plenty over there. How about boat traffic, I am sure as populated this area is and as many boaters that fish those lakes, the more remote the better. Is any part of Cannon out of the city limits?? Why don’t one of you just take me with someday. Or better yet we can take one of you.

How about Kelly Dudley, Mizaska, Shieldsville, Rice ect. Again these lakes are populated, but there has got to be areas where typical fishing boats are not going. Just curious.

How about Kelly Dudley, Mizaska, Shieldsville, Rice ect. Again these lakes are populated, but there has got to be areas where typical fishing boats are not going. Just curious.

Prieser,

I have actually hunted all of those lakes

Don’t worry so much about getting away from the boat traffic. Outdoorsmen in these areas are plenty familiar with hunting activity and normally give you all the room and respect that you deserve.

On those particular lakes, the common thing that I would recommend focusing on is the rice or reed islands/clumps.

Kelly Dudley has much more cover to offer, but that brings with it more competition as well

Cannon has many good options, look to the backwaters though, West of I35 towards Warsaw.

Most of the ponds along Hwy 21 out towards Hwy 99 are surrounded by private property. This does not mean that you can not find successful hunting there, but you have some doors that you need to knock on first.

If you are refering to the Rice Lake that is actually closer to Owatonna, that is a popular staging lake for the late season divers. It is easy to scout if you have a park sticker. Getting in and out of that landing can be problematic though. On any given day, if you do get out into the lake, the floating bogs can plug the access before you try to get back out.

Good luck this year and thanks for you post

cheers

Prieser,

I have actually hunted all of those lakes

Don’t worry so much about getting away from the boat traffic. Outdoorsmen in these areas are plenty familiar with hunting activity and normally give you all the room and respect that you deserve.

On those particular lakes, the common thing that I would recommend focusing on is the rice or reed islands/clumps.

Kelly Dudley has much more cover to offer, but that brings with it more competition as well

Cannon has many good options, look to the backwaters though, West of I35 towards Warsaw.

Most of the ponds along Hwy 21 out towards Hwy 99 are surrounded by private property. This does not mean that you can not find successful hunting there, but you have some doors that you need to knock on first.

If you are refering to the Rice Lake that is actually closer to Owatonna, that is a popular staging lake for the late season divers. It is easy to scout if you have a park sticker. Getting in and out of that landing can be problematic though. On any given day, if you do get out into the lake, the floating bogs can plug the access before you try to get back out.

Good luck this year and thanks for you post

cheers

Drakesdemise Thanks so much for the info. I have talked about hunting those lakes for years. Just never asked the question. I have hunted Rice lake by Claremont. Those floating bull rushes have wrecked more than one decoy spread. And I know that getting back to the landing is a lot harder than going out. I can never find the opening on the first try. I was under the impression that they were doing some work on that particular lake, did they drain that last year or maybe two years ago, to clean up some of the bull rushes? It should be plenty deep this year with all the rain we have had. Good luck to everyone this weekend.

Drakesdemise Thanks so much for the info. I have talked about hunting those lakes for years. Just never asked the question. I have hunted Rice lake by Claremont. Those floating bull rushes have wrecked more than one decoy spread. And I know that getting back to the landing is a lot harder than going out. I can never find the opening on the first try. I was under the impression that they were doing some work on that particular lake, did they drain that last year or maybe two years ago, to clean up some of the bull rushes? It should be plenty deep this year with all the rain we have had. Good luck to everyone this weekend.

Well, just like any other year, there are great success stories and those folks that think the duck population is disappearing.
We toughed out the weather, for the most part, in central Minnesota and ended up with about 30 ducks for 8 hunters.
Blue Wing Teal & Woodies made up most of the bags. some mallards and one beautiful mature drake redhead.
The number of ducks seen in this traditional opener spot for me, has decreased significantly. But even more noticeable is the decrease in hunters! Sure I can get a little more sleep these days, but additional people sure helper keep the birds moving too.
What are others seeing for hunting presure?
Hope everyone was safe and did well.
cheers

Well, just like any other year, there are great success stories and those folks that think the duck population is disappearing.
We toughed out the weather, for the most part, in central Minnesota and ended up with about 30 ducks for 8 hunters.
Blue Wing Teal & Woodies made up most of the bags. some mallards and one beautiful mature drake redhead.
The number of ducks seen in this traditional opener spot for me, has decreased significantly. But even more noticeable is the decrease in hunters! Sure I can get a little more sleep these days, but additional people sure helper keep the birds moving too.
What are others seeing for hunting presure?
Hope everyone was safe and did well.
cheers

Presure was light up in the Forest Lake area. Heard some banging away about 8:30am Sat. morning. Not to much was moving where we were. I never even got to pull the Trigger .

Sunday morning I was hoping that the 9am B.S. wait from Sat would make Sub. different. Not really ended up folding a Lessor and that was it for the day. Saw a few mallards. Mostly woodies were floatin by…………….

All in all I did not hear a ton of shooting or see good numbers of Ducks.

Presure was light up in the Forest Lake area. Heard some banging away about 8:30am Sat. morning. Not to much was moving where we were. I never even got to pull the Trigger .

Sunday morning I was hoping that the 9am B.S. wait from Sat would make Sub. different. Not really ended up folding a Lessor and that was it for the day. Saw a few mallards. Mostly woodies were floatin by…………….

All in all I did not hear a ton of shooting or see good numbers of Ducks.

Its hit and miss in the south metro. I heard the shooting was excellent on saturday(I was fishing), Sunday was slower ont he birds(my opening day), but still a good variety of birds flying and the harvest was good… It might have been great for us IF I REMEMBERED THE OUTBOARD FUEL LINE … it was a nice morning to ROW.

Today was decent. Lots of birds flying, mostly woodies and BWT. We had a few opportunities on Mallards back in our pothole. Folks on the other side of the slough managed an excellent variety of birds with mallards, ringers, redheads, woodies, and a couple teal. Lots of geese dropped saturday, sunday and today they were avoiding us like a plague.

Its hit and miss in the south metro. I heard the shooting was excellent on saturday(I was fishing), Sunday was slower ont he birds(my opening day), but still a good variety of birds flying and the harvest was good… It might have been great for us IF I REMEMBERED THE OUTBOARD FUEL LINE … it was a nice morning to ROW.

Today was decent. Lots of birds flying, mostly woodies and BWT. We had a few opportunities on Mallards back in our pothole. Folks on the other side of the slough managed an excellent variety of birds with mallards, ringers, redheads, woodies, and a couple teal. Lots of geese dropped saturday, sunday and today they were avoiding us like a plague.

David,
Sounds like your season is off to a good start
I was suprised at the number of diver spottings down south?
Thanks for the report
cheers

David,
Sounds like your season is off to a good start
I was suprised at the number of diver spottings down south?
Thanks for the report
cheers

drakesdemise…

I was very surprised to see a number of ringers this early, and especially the redheads. I think i saw a few cans this morning(still too dark) which isnt uncommon where I was at.

Today there were a ton of large high flocks already moving until about 9 a.m. I have never seen that many birds move this early in the season. We may have only seen 100 birds(today) that we had any chance to decoy, but I have no doubt we seen 2000+ high flying ducks(today) in flocks of 15-50? One would expect to see good numbers of woodies and teal, but not an abundance of other species yet. I never seen as many drake teal as I did today either.

Needless to say, I will be spending lots of time in the duck blind in the coming days

drakesdemise…

I was very surprised to see a number of ringers this early, and especially the redheads. I think i saw a few cans this morning(still too dark) which isnt uncommon where I was at.

Today there were a ton of large high flocks already moving until about 9 a.m. I have never seen that many birds move this early in the season. We may have only seen 100 birds(today) that we had any chance to decoy, but I have no doubt we seen 2000+ high flying ducks(today) in flocks of 15-50? One would expect to see good numbers of woodies and teal, but not an abundance of other species yet. I never seen as many drake teal as I did today either.

Needless to say, I will be spending lots of time in the duck blind in the coming days

I was working in pine island today and saw about 300 geese and a big flock of leesers hopefully they are on there way down can’t wait. Keep the info coming. good luck to
everyone.