South Dakota Duck Opener Report

The 23rd had almost perfect duck weather..Overcast, 40 degrees and breezy. For some reason the ducks just werent flying. We didnt see the first flock untill 10 minutes after shooting and didnt get our first shots until 20 minutes after shooting. Not a traditional duck opener at all. The action did pick up after about an hour and we got some shots. Out of 4 hunters we ended up with 10 ducks. A lot of pintails and redheads were flying along with gads and widgeon. Few mallards and NO teal. Its hard to imagine that the bluewings have already moved out. There was barely any shooting around us too. I think the birds were finding safe areas and were just staying put.

Day 2 came with a lot better action. Partly cloudy and about 60 degrees. Between 4 hunters we took a total of 12 greenwings, couple redheads pintails and gads. We used 3 patches of about mallard dekes about a dozen per group. The birds were decoying well until the wind shifted towards us. The 6 in 1 whistle worked suprisingly well for the greenwings I might haveto try it more.

overall there were a good amount of ducks even with the absence of the bluewings. There were a suprising amount of pintails and redheads at least in the area we hunted.

Lardy,
Nice report man
Sounds like you enjoyed your weekend regardless
This whole topic will be much more a-buzz after the Minnesota boys get their crack this next weekend.
Do the SoDaks ever talk about the birds shifting to the East on years (like this one) when the Dakotas are so dry?
I have certainly heard the opposite for as long as I can remember. On years when the Dakotas are wet (coupled with their pristine habitat) Minnesotans will always talk about a good portion of the birds either coming down into NoDak rather than Minnesota or claim that they shifted to the West, somewhere in route.
Cheers

Lardy,
Nice report man
Sounds like you enjoyed your weekend regardless
This whole topic will be much more a-buzz after the Minnesota boys get their crack this next weekend.
Do the SoDaks ever talk about the birds shifting to the East on years (like this one) when the Dakotas are so dry?
I have certainly heard the opposite for as long as I can remember. On years when the Dakotas are wet (coupled with their pristine habitat) Minnesotans will always talk about a good portion of the birds either coming down into NoDak rather than Minnesota or claim that they shifted to the West, somewhere in route.
Cheers

I heard similar results from my buddies. However they got a limit of decent canadians on top of the ducks. They were in the central region of Eastern SD. Sounds like they saw a ton of birds.

I heard similar results from my buddies. However they got a limit of decent canadians on top of the ducks. They were in the central region of Eastern SD. Sounds like they saw a ton of birds.

Drakes, I dont think that was the case. There is still a ton of water around and very few potholes have dried up despite the summer drought. Well have to see where the canadian birds go later in the season though. Im sure it’ll be pretty simialar to last season.

One more thing I forgot to mention is the hunters choice regulation gives a whole new importance to duck identification. The first bird I shot opening day was a pintail. That meant I couldnt shoot a hen mallard the rest of the day and with all the gads around it made it pretty confusing, but we ended up okay and had a good hunt

Drakes, I dont think that was the case. There is still a ton of water around and very few potholes have dried up despite the summer drought. Well have to see where the canadian birds go later in the season though. Im sure it’ll be pretty simialar to last season.

One more thing I forgot to mention is the hunters choice regulation gives a whole new importance to duck identification. The first bird I shot opening day was a pintail. That meant I couldnt shoot a hen mallard the rest of the day and with all the gads around it made it pretty confusing, but we ended up okay and had a good hunt