2006 Waterfowl Migration Report Update

OK here’s the report to get everyones weekend rolling.

There are still a great number of birds around. The past few days have locked up all the small stuff and moved the birds.

Big water and moving water are where you will track down the birds. Most of what I saw yesterday seemed to relating to fields. Big water around tillable acerage held the majority. (Good numbers on Pelican.)

Bird: LOTS of Mallards with a few decent sized groups of Divers were spotted. And everyone knows the Geese are still thick.

Good luck and rip em up. This could very well be my last hunt of the year. My little girl is getting ready to make her first apperance and I don’t want to be late!

Hunted south of arlington on some bigger water. Water was open early in the morning but froze over our decoys. Despite our best efforts the ice stuck around. We did however get some good pass shooting at some nice northern buffleheads and bluebills we also got some nice mallards with them. Overall the birds were moving pretty well, these clear days have let them get up high and move south. If you can find open water get out and nail them while you can!

Lardy

Hunted south of arlington on some bigger water. Water was open early in the morning but froze over our decoys. Despite our best efforts the ice stuck around. We did however get some good pass shooting at some nice northern buffleheads and bluebills we also got some nice mallards with them. Overall the birds were moving pretty well, these clear days have let them get up high and move south. If you can find open water get out and nail them while you can!

Lardy

It seems as though the number of birds have declined the last few days, but they are decoying extremely well. Unfortunately, I have gotten a case of the shanks with the Super X2, but managed to boat a couple mallards and a pintail.

I have been using about 4 dozen dekes (all mallards), 2 mojos, and aggressive calling. It seems to be doing the trick lately.

Heading to South Dakota for the weekend. Hope to pound a few down there.

It seems as though the number of birds have declined the last few days, but they are decoying extremely well. Unfortunately, I have gotten a case of the shanks with the Super X2, but managed to boat a couple mallards and a pintail.

I have been using about 4 dozen dekes (all mallards), 2 mojos, and aggressive calling. It seems to be doing the trick lately.

Heading to South Dakota for the weekend. Hope to pound a few down there.

Well, I still have not had the time to figure out how to post photos. We will have to use them to message our memories after the season.
I have not been out shootin’ since November 12th.
The mallard and goose counts in the NW metro right now are unbeleivable. During the evening commute on I94, I think the large flocks are actually causing traffic problems with hunters watching the sky instead of the road. I darn near ran somebody off the road yesterday
For now, I have a question.
What are the ice conditions and bird counts in the Garrison/Lake Mille Lacs area?
I will be there with family for the entire weekend and can’t imagine myself going without the hunting rig.
Has anyone in the area been seeing any rafts of divers on Mille Lacs, Border, Bay, etc.?
Happy Thanksgiving to all
cheers

Well, I still have not had the time to figure out how to post photos. We will have to use them to message our memories after the season.
I have not been out shootin’ since November 12th.
The mallard and goose counts in the NW metro right now are unbeleivable. During the evening commute on I94, I think the large flocks are actually causing traffic problems with hunters watching the sky instead of the road. I darn near ran somebody off the road yesterday
For now, I have a question.
What are the ice conditions and bird counts in the Garrison/Lake Mille Lacs area?
I will be there with family for the entire weekend and can’t imagine myself going without the hunting rig.
Has anyone in the area been seeing any rafts of divers on Mille Lacs, Border, Bay, etc.?
Happy Thanksgiving to all
cheers

I bargained all weekend with Big Mama Boss Lady to break away from the family events and finish-up my season properly.
I did not get an opportunity to scout and paid for it.
I intended to hunt Indian Point on Mille Lacs. We had a suprisingly strong E-NE wind and a very shallow landing on Sunday morning.
Long story short, I educated myself on the area for next year, without even uncasing the gun .
Minnesota’s season is done tomorrow, so…..
I want to thank everyone that contributed to this forum/post again this year.
It has introduced me to new people, new spots and definitely improved my over-all enjoyment of the season.
Hopefully I am going to partake in some December goose hunting here and then off to Arkansas for Ducks after the first of the year.
Thanks again to everyone that participated.
Think about attending the IDA GTG on Mille Lacs, January 20, 2007.
Even if you do not fish, this event is a gas and you get to put faces on the names.
Hopefully I can look forward to meeting some of you.
cheers

I bargained all weekend with Big Mama Boss Lady to break away from the family events and finish-up my season properly.
I did not get an opportunity to scout and paid for it.
I intended to hunt Indian Point on Mille Lacs. We had a suprisingly strong E-NE wind and a very shallow landing on Sunday morning.
Long story short, I educated myself on the area for next year, without even uncasing the gun .
Minnesota’s season is done tomorrow, so…..
I want to thank everyone that contributed to this forum/post again this year.
It has introduced me to new people, new spots and definitely improved my over-all enjoyment of the season.
Hopefully I am going to partake in some December goose hunting here and then off to Arkansas for Ducks after the first of the year.
Thanks again to everyone that participated.
Think about attending the IDA GTG on Mille Lacs, January 20, 2007.
Even if you do not fish, this event is a gas and you get to put faces on the names.
Hopefully I can look forward to meeting some of you.
cheers

I think the ice finished off our WI season on the river today…….

All the big water refuges are frozen over from pool 4-pool 9, and the ducks have boogied on out……The main channel had the large ice flows rolling down it this morning……and with the current temps it’ll most likely be locked up by tomorrow……even finding a usable boat landing tomorrow will be tough…….pretty amazing how fast it happend this year, from no ice on Wednesday to locked up (and guys ice fishing) by Sunday morning.

Went south and managed one last good hunt for the year today though…..8 greenies and an AWESOME Blackduck/Mallard hybrid ……lotta work breakin up to 3″ of ice.

I was planing on going tomorrow, but with time constraints limiting how far I can travel, and no secret spots that will stay open through this weather I’d say my 2006 duck season is done…….ahhhhh, but it sure was a fun one

I think the ice finished off our WI season on the river today…….

All the big water refuges are frozen over from pool 4-pool 9, and the ducks have boogied on out……The main channel had the large ice flows rolling down it this morning……and with the current temps it’ll most likely be locked up by tomorrow……even finding a usable boat landing tomorrow will be tough…….pretty amazing how fast it happend this year, from no ice on Wednesday to locked up (and guys ice fishing) by Sunday morning.

Went south and managed one last good hunt for the year today though…..8 greenies and an AWESOME Blackduck/Mallard hybrid ……lotta work breakin up to 3″ of ice.

I was planing on going tomorrow, but with time constraints limiting how far I can travel, and no secret spots that will stay open through this weather I’d say my 2006 duck season is done…….ahhhhh, but it sure was a fun one

In 3 days out around Goose Island area, there has been a total of 5 shots fired. I myself have only seen maybe 6 ducks and 1 swan. The interior of the refuge is locked up tight and the ramps are pretty much frozen up every morning. Every day I have been out there, there has been a lot of hunter’s still out, but most are reporting poor results. There is very little open water except in the bigger bodies of water that are most affected by wind. Just thought I would give a heads up to anyone heading in that direction before the close of season

In 3 days out around Goose Island area, there has been a total of 5 shots fired. I myself have only seen maybe 6 ducks and 1 swan. The interior of the refuge is locked up tight and the ramps are pretty much frozen up every morning. Every day I have been out there, there has been a lot of hunter’s still out, but most are reporting poor results. There is very little open water except in the bigger bodies of water that are most affected by wind. Just thought I would give a heads up to anyone heading in that direction before the close of season

Jake & Wats:

An amazing weekend for Dodge Boy and myself as well. We were down on P9 Sat. and Sun. After the Sat. a.m. hunt we were really disappointed and were considering a trip back to Minocqua to icefish although we could have done it down there. We had friends who were hunting P8 and complaining about the general lack of ducks there and considering the a.m. hunt on 9 probably we were going to be going home to fish.

At the landing we heard more reports of poor duck sightings on 9 and were less than positive about the p.m. After checking out the new area, we set up diver dekes on the south side of an island and crossed our fingers. Turns out to be one of the best shoots I have ever had on the Miss. We took a hen mallard along with a drake early figuring that might be the only two puddler ducks we would see that p.m. What followed was simply fantastic. Being careful not to shoot another hen mallie, we ended up with a hen pintail, and 6 more drake mallards. We saw on drake pintail, but he didn’t give himself away until he was out of range(bummer).

Went back out Sunday to open a spot in the ice and then watch divers fly the channel. At 9 a.m. we decided to pull the plug on the day to drive home. At the landing we heard of places to get after them as frustrated hunters returned to the landing not wishing to toil in the deep freeze any longer. We considered it also, did some truck scouting and headed north. Jake, your picture and report is reminescent of the entire river that morning. If we had had any open water to get to, we would have stayed to surely have another fantastic outing, but it just wasn’t worth it having had a great shoot the p.m. before. I hope to get some pics up, but the camera disk may have died on me in the cold weather as I cannot download any pics taken. I hope to get help on the download, but am not too optimistic in that regard.

I managed to get down there to hunt a record 8 days this season. Having the time to do a little pre-scouting got us two great days and several decent days and of course every day down there is truly special any way. Almost every day I was there we saw pleanty of ducks even if they wanted nothing to do with our setups. One of the best duck seasons for me, period.

Mark

Jake & Wats:

An amazing weekend for Dodge Boy and myself as well. We were down on P9 Sat. and Sun. After the Sat. a.m. hunt we were really disappointed and were considering a trip back to Minocqua to icefish although we could have done it down there. We had friends who were hunting P8 and complaining about the general lack of ducks there and considering the a.m. hunt on 9 probably we were going to be going home to fish.

At the landing we heard more reports of poor duck sightings on 9 and were less than positive about the p.m. After checking out the new area, we set up diver dekes on the south side of an island and crossed our fingers. Turns out to be one of the best shoots I have ever had on the Miss. We took a hen mallard along with a drake early figuring that might be the only two puddler ducks we would see that p.m. What followed was simply fantastic. Being careful not to shoot another hen mallie, we ended up with a hen pintail, and 6 more drake mallards. We saw on drake pintail, but he didn’t give himself away until he was out of range(bummer).

Went back out Sunday to open a spot in the ice and then watch divers fly the channel. At 9 a.m. we decided to pull the plug on the day to drive home. At the landing we heard of places to get after them as frustrated hunters returned to the landing not wishing to toil in the deep freeze any longer. We considered it also, did some truck scouting and headed north. Jake, your picture and report is reminescent of the entire river that morning. If we had had any open water to get to, we would have stayed to surely have another fantastic outing, but it just wasn’t worth it having had a great shoot the p.m. before. I hope to get some pics up, but the camera disk may have died on me in the cold weather as I cannot download any pics taken. I hope to get help on the download, but am not too optimistic in that regard.

I managed to get down there to hunt a record 8 days this season. Having the time to do a little pre-scouting got us two great days and several decent days and of course every day down there is truly special any way. Almost every day I was there we saw pleanty of ducks even if they wanted nothing to do with our setups. One of the best duck seasons for me, period.

Mark

Well, I have throughly enjoyed this post since it’s beginning in late August. You have kept us informed with notes, articles & pictures on the migaration like no other. A lot of you put in some tremendous effort to get yourself in position to have quality hunts and then did a super job of telling us about it. Thank you for a job well done this has been just fantistic. Keep posting pictures!!! I can’t read that well but sure like the pictures.

Gundy

Well, I have throughly enjoyed this post since it’s beginning in late August. You have kept us informed with notes, articles & pictures on the migaration like no other. A lot of you put in some tremendous effort to get yourself in position to have quality hunts and then did a super job of telling us about it. Thank you for a job well done this has been just fantistic. Keep posting pictures!!! I can’t read that well but sure like the pictures.

Gundy

This post was created by Drake in 05. For me it has been a great addition to this forum. Thanks to all that comtributed and to Drake for getting things started.

BTW I still think MN should have a split season and there is such thing as a 30# goose. (Sorry Matt & Dave I couldn’t resist.)

Thanks to all and thanks for the reminder Gundy.

This post was created by Drake in 05. For me it has been a great addition to this forum. Thanks to all that comtributed and to Drake for getting things started.

BTW I still think MN should have a split season and there is such thing as a 30# goose. (Sorry Matt & Dave I couldn’t resist.)

Thanks to all and thanks for the reminder Gundy.

I know that things are officially over now in Minnesota, but I finally figured out how to post photos
A few more photos will help keep the memories alive until next season.
So here we go.
Good luck
cheers

I know that things are officially over now in Minnesota, but I finally figured out how to post photos
A few more photos will help keep the memories alive until next season.
So here we go.
Good luck
cheers

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