Were close enough.

I guess somone needs to get this party started. At this point I’ve got the itch so bad the skin is all but gone from my body. This is the first year I can remember that there’s no meat on the table yet .

So who’s done some scouting? I have enough to add that a migration thread could be started. Is there anyone else ready to add some content?

We look too have a good crop of new guys this year. Lets make sure they get a warm welcome and we treat them as though they’ve been here for ever.

Drake,

I hope i’m not stepping on toes. The migration report was your brain child. (And a great one I may add.) But if I may we should all set a series of ground rules and let the new guys know what there in for.

1) Don’t accuse anyone of poaching! (Pictures are decieving.)
2) Never question what a man considers a mount. (What’s special too me may not be too you.)
3) Find Jake a wife so I’m not as jealous. (The new guys will understand soon enough.)
4) NEVER let Slider into your duck boat followed there after by Lip . (Unless you need a fall trolling trip. Then it’s OK to take Lip.)
5) Always rember this is supposed to be fun. You get out what you put in. Don’t expect the world if your not providing value to everyone.

Please add any rules you see fit too this list. I could add many more but I fear the repercutions would be dier.

Drake, If your ready please take the honors and start a 2008/2009 IDA Migration report.

Let the games begin.

Hello?……. Anyone?…… Bueller…..

i have been seeing alot of local mallards around. should be a good opener. need a few more storms like the on elast nite to get the water to where i would like it though. seen alot of birds during the youth hunt(they are still flying somewhere). looks promising. lets pray for a colder fall opposite of last year. i like the rules, expecially the one about the pictures. everytime i posted i got accused. so i quit posting as many. anyways, i cant wait!!!

Thanks Kris,

I’ve been watching a few VERY large flocks of Mallards out my way as well. It’s always fun to see the Juvis get together and start moving. In addition the geese have been moving abit more lately. There’s a few bean fields getting pulled out this way. Find them and you find the geese.

I’ve been seeing very good numbers of birds around, and our lease is absolutely LOADED this year! I’m going scouting in some new areas this weekend north of the cities.

I have been seeing few woodies on my trips out while I was scouting the southern part of metro and a few mallards, also a lot of geese! So lets just pray for the cold and get the gear ready!

South metro definantly has good numbers of ducks. Way better than last year. Last weekend out goose hunting there was still plenty of wood ducks around. I am all for a real fall this year. I don’t want a repeat of last year. The forecast after this weekend is looking good. I will be up north shooting ducks next weekend!

I have a buddy that is in Saskatchewan right now. They got there last Wednesday. They were really dissapointed when they got there. There were no ducks to be seen. Only snows. They got some cold weather over the last couple days and it was like somebody turned a switch on. They limited yesterday on ducks and geese!

There coming boys! And the season isn’t even open yet!

Saturday morning on the St. Croix and I was amazed by the numbers of ducks flying up/down the river. Expected to see more geese but was happy to see all the ducks.

Eric

Here’s one from Canada (I just got back last night).
We hunted 2 hours north of the North Dakota Border – in Manitoba. In our area of the hunt, water was plenteful. South of us (in Manitoba) however, the water was very sparse – and so were the birds. In our region of hunting, there were litterally “TONS” of Canada’s around. In fact, there were so many, we limited in about 1-hour’s time each day on those. We all did very well on the ducks each day too.
The Mallards are really starting to pile up up there with more and more trickling in each day. It took only 3 days for our group to limit on Canada’s, Mallards, and a few Gadwalls. If a person was not bent on getting mallards though,…. there are plenty of Teal and and other birds around to fill a great mixed-bag in the same time if you wanted. Either way, it would make each day a great hunt.
The snows are just starting to trickle in. We managed a few when they buzzed our decoys, but we did not have snow deeks out, so they would not get too close. We decided to not waste our time trying to hunt whites yet, because there were really not enought around to make an all morning shoot possible. I think we’ll wait until late October and head back to hit them again though.
On the way back yesterday, we saw a lot of birds piled-up in the waters around the Rugby and Devils areas too (ducks). We did not however, see many Canadas in those areas and I saw absolutely no whites around there.
Once the birds start to migrate down, there should be plenty around “if” they fly over Minnesota’s nearly all developed waterways
If anyone cares, gas up there was $1.29 per liter (3.8 liter per gallon) yesterday….. If you are going, be prepared, fuel costs for us exceeded every other expense by 3:1 We dropped nearly $100.00 a day into the gas tank!
We did see a number of other Minnesota Hunters at our base camp. It seemed like nearly everyone there also hammered the birds. I think everyone went home with limts of Canadas and ducks after only 3 days of hunting. In talking with all of them, I think nearly everyone hunted the grain fields for most of their birds – and most everyone said they had limited by 10 or 11:00 AM each day.
All-in-all, it was another great Manitoba hunt. I can’t wait to get back there in October! The people are/were great,.. freelancing still works,.. and hunt scenerly is absolutely fabulous! For now though, the dog is resting, and I’m re-packing, planning, and dreaming of the next big hunt. I just hope this one will be in Minnesota though
Splitshot