2008 Duck & Goose Migration Report

Quote:

---

Jake:

You’re killing me!!! Planning on being down to the annual pre-Thanksgiving hunt where we tried to freeze ourselves two years ago!!! Are you planning on hunting that far south during your upcoming hunts??? We are hunting the deer opener and will be down there Sunday night.

Mark

---

It’s been so windy there is still alot more open water today than I thought there would be. If it gets calm tonight or tomorrow night, there could be alot of ice quick, but if the 10 day forecast holds some open water will remain. Just a question of if the birds will.

Is Greg coming with you?

The ice has definitely been on a roller coaster ride on the river. Yesterday alot of stuff opened back up with the wind, but it got down to 10 deg last night….this morning .

I haven’t heard much yet, but doubt if much water was able to make it through the night (main channel had some small chunks this morning). Tonight it’s gonna be cold again.

We had a good week of hunting. Thanksgiving week we’ll be trying some “Different areas” though.

Lake Onalaska was 80% ice covered at 11:00 a.m. today. There are a few open areas, but not many. I am guessing anything with current will be alright for awhile yet, but shallow protected bays are going to be iffy. It was 6 degrees here in Holmen this morning and supposed to be the same tonight. The good thing is it will warm back up to the mid 30’s for the weekend

Moss:

Greg is coming with me Sunday night. He’s hoping to get his deer on Sat., then do some scouting on Sunday. If he does not get his deer, we will probably pick a spot based on the last two years hunts and then scout following the Monday a.m. hunt.

Wats:

You still got traps in the water and have you been seeing any areas with birds???

I have been speaking to a friend who go to school in P-ville and he says it looks like the start of the main migration has been happening in the last week. They have had good shoots since late last week. He is coming back down Sunday night as well, so we will have a scout in the extreme south.

Having ice on the water helps concentrate them, so it is not all bad. My southern boy said he had 3 degrees down there this a.m. and the WI River was frozen bank to bank in Portage on his way up. Also heard today that there are still birds way up north (Canada) that are still staging and haven’t left. My brother just got back from ND and they still had not seen the major migration up there before they had left two weeks ago. The two guys that help me Greg and John were seeing flock of mallards today, so there are plenty of birds to come down. Let’s hope the ice doesn’t overtake us for another two weeks.

Mark

Boy, you guys sure seem optomistic down in SW Wisconsin…
I have been pretty absent from the forum, because my hunts (and bird sightings) have been poor to fair.
I thought that I was one of the only guys that was down on his luck, but I’m hearing otherwise now.
Our migration chit-chat on this forum seems way down from years past.
We have seen a number of pushes through MN, but my timing was typically bad
I started getting my “major migration” calls on Monday November 17th, from northern MN.
Large rafts of divers were being sighted on lakes that are usually nothing more than transition lakes during the major migration. By this I mean that they raft up in areas that can not possibly be hunted leagally in MN and they are usually only there for one night.
Then on Tuesday November 18th it happened
From my office and business travels in the NW metro on up to the St. Cloud area all heck broke loose. The geese (of all sizes) showed up about 4:00 p.m. in the bumble bee swarms that we discussed about a month ago.
I literally watched thousands of honkers and ducks from my office window. They were visible in every direction and on the entire horizon.
By Thursday November 20th the ducks were completely gone and goose numbers appeared to be back down to normal resident numbers.
The guys that I communicate with that live up north, did actually pull together some quality duck/diver shoots this year. But, each time they revisited the site of a good shoot on the following day, thing were basically gone
I still plan to hit one of my river spots up north over the holiday weekend that normally pays off well after the lakes have frozen.
Unfortunately, my gut tells me that other than geese our MN hunt for at least the northern 2/3 of the state is over…
You guys that have the ability to scout and properly respond are probably going to be the guys that give the rest of us something to hang onto until next year
I’m interested in hearing from folks, what type of duck season they had?
Were the majority of you typically a day late and a dollar short like me or did you capitalize on some of the nice (but quick) pushes that we did see?
Good luck to you guys that are still givin’ ‘er heck!
Please continue to let the rest of us know how your season wraps up
Good luck
cheers

Last Wed. and Thursday were the days! I wish I was out there but a few of my buddies were and it was great for the 2 friggin’ days. I was out on Friday and POOF gone. After the ducks all over for 2 days, the friday was filled with empty skies. I still like the Dec. 2 stop time but the weather came too quickly. We went from hunting in comfortable light clothes to breaking ice in about 4 days.

Hunted in the Faribault area over the weekend and there was a guy icefishing.

Lars hit it on the head

The last couple weeks have been feast or famine….you’d smack em one day, and the next they would just be gone, or refuse to even look at you . We were able to string together some darn good hunts though….the kind that the law makes you stop well before you want to

There are still some birds holding on to what open water is left, but I have a feeling you’ll have to hit the right day (and time) to get them to really want to die.

nice jake. all i could manage this weekend was a couple limits of goldeneyes. cant find the mallards anymore

Quote:

---

nice jake. all i could manage this weekend was a couple limits of goldeneyes. cant find the mallards anymore

---

I’ve never shot a goldeneye.

Need a partner?

they are around here pretty thick this time everyyear. damn jake im jelous, i still havent shot a black duck yet!

very nice jake!!!

Looks like you’ve been on them Jake. Like Jake said. There are still some birds around.

Time has been short for me this fall but the last few days we had noticed alot of birds holding on big water adjacent to the river up here. (Geese, Mallards, Divers, the whole shootin match.) I’m thinking there staying close to the river so they have somewhere to go when things finish locking up. I’m looking forward too the next week. My uncle and I decided to giver her hell between here and monday. When all is said and done I’ll get a post up. For now know that there ARE birds in Central MN and there holding on big water adjacent to the good ole missipi.

i had a good day today… first and hopefully not last jack miner band!

Good luck
cheers

my opinion is we are on the tail end of the migration right now. ever since the close of 3A deer season here, we have been POUNDING the green on the river, and up until this monday we were seeing upwards of 2000 mallards a day, and shooting limits every day. ever since this monday, the numbers have been less and less, we are still shooting limits, but we are having to change up decoy spreads and work harder to fill those limits. the hunting will be decent until the end of the season, but the migration is winding down. But i’m sure people will still talk about the “Big Push” and how they are waiting for it…

Well, I visited my late season “go to” spots multiple times this past 4 day weekend.
I am specifically talking about the Brainerd/Nisswa/Pine River/Hackensack area.
My late season spots that are typically open and holding birds well after the lakes in the area freeze were all pretty much still open. Unfortunately, they were void of birds.
Other than a few honkers and green heads hanging out in the urban waters, the migration is over
Lets hear from some of the other areas
This season schedule was calendar perfect I feel.
I just didn’t capitalize on my oportunities the way I should have.
cheers

Prior to last wednesday my season was all but a bust. But Wednesday threw today was like getting a fresh start. On Tuesday last week I recieved a call stating. “Get your [censored] in the truck and Scout the area between Hasty and Clear Water.” I have a close knit group that hunts together and they had found some birds.

Being that it was a holiday week I took a flyer and closed my office down Wednesday threw this AM. What we found were big flocks of divers, a few Mallards and enough geese to make a guy giggle. “Yep Giggle.” Over the last few days we hit 3 lakes and the only thing we shot were divers and Geese. The whole Big Rig and trott lines is somthing somwhat foriegn to me. But boy did I settle in and enjoy the hell out of it. (Sorry Drake I still prefer my Green heads.) But man is that a good time when your set up for it.

Here’s the total.
Wed: 3 man limit of Geese and divers.
Thursday: Short hunt 2 Geese 5 Divers.
Friday: Full 2 Man limit of Divers and 2 Geese.
Sat: Game feed and additional Scouting.
Sunday: Hit the well one to many times. But we still shot a few.
Today: Two man limit of geese handful of divers.

The one thing I noticed were all of the Cans. At one point we had 10 dancing in our deke’s. Even though we couldn’t shoot any it was very nice to see the numbers making there way through.

All in all a great way to end the season. I know there are alot of guys who hate the late start. But I for one love it. Looks like I may need need to get set up for big water should the situation arise again. Then again I bet there’s a few guys willing to pull there rigs if a guy really needs.

Quote:

---

Then again I bet there’s a few guys willing to pull there rigs if a guy really needs.

---

One of these years things will click for us
Thanks for an exciting report
Late season hunts are what you make them, and guys like you and Jake and Kris sure had it dialed in this year
“a steady job has been the ruin of many a duck hunter”
Hopefully my career and family situation will allow me to get it dialed back in next year…..
I have to see some photos of the late hunts, colors are amazing on the divers and green heads right now!
Lets hear from some of you other late season maniacs, are you wrapping things up in style?
Good luck
cheers

We hunted Friday through Monday with very disappointing results. There are few birds left (comparatively to a week and a half ago), the birds that are left haven’t been flying or working well, and pressure has been un-real for this late in the year. Obviously everyone else is froze out, cause they’re all driving down here!!!

I did end up shooting my mallards and a widgeon Sunday in the snow by jumping a flock of 150+, throwing out 6 dekes, and letting them come back.

Today is the last day for MN, and right on time once again, the ice was filling the main channel this morning. WI goes through this weekend….we might try to get out one more time as a “Fair Well” to the 08 season, but we might not. Unfortunate we couldn’t get in one more great hunt before the long wait until spring.

Quote:

---

Unfortunate we couldn’t get in one more great hunt before the long wait until spring.

---

From the looks of things you had a number of great hunts this season. Be happy for that. Drake and i were licking our wounds up until last week. Now my wounds have healed, but Drake has to ride out another winter and summer before his are gone. (We’ve all been there Drake.)

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

Then again I bet there’s a few guys willing to pull there rigs if a guy really needs.

---

One of these years things will click for us

---

After our talk I have my ears to he ground for a late season goose hunt. Let’s keep in touch and see if we can salvage somthing yet. There’s an extra ground blind for you if somthing comes up.

i hear ya jake!!! i went opening day of deer season, and 3 of my spots had people in them!!! i hunted ten days in a row over thanksgiving break and only limited out twice. both times by myself. when i was with other people we didnt even come close. most days ended with 3 or 4 birds for 2 or 3 people. not very good. even the points that we smack the goldeneyes on every year didnt produce. o they were out there, they had to be 50 000 plus goldeneyes on the lake. they all flew out in the middle and down the main channel. any one got a tender boat and a few layout boats??? but the lake is pretty much frozen now from what i can tell. the only two cool things that happened over the ten days was the band and my girlfriend got a superb drake goldeneye for the wall. ive got a few spring fed spots, but some people ive never seen before there ever have been helping themselves to those now stupid minnesotans! didnt see much for geese lately in the spots i hunt either. i dont think ive killed a goose since october!

There wasn’t many people out yesterday. Set up poorly in the snow, and the birds wanted to be about 200 yards from us, so we missed out on an easier limit, but after we moved we got some good shooting and ended up with 7 mallards and a gaddy for the last day.

Had some really great days this year (thanks to Jake for the best one), and some really crappy days, and not alot fo average ones. Strange year and certainly not one of the best, but in the end OK. I hope we get more rain and more water for next year. I’ll try and dig up some more pics.

MossBoss, that is a dandy looking handfull
Hen mallards and a gaddy in December
Some great and some poor, this certainly was a peculiar year
Nice job guys
cheers

Last day of the season yesterday…..everything is pretty much frozen solid. Those southern boys should be happy, we aren’t gonna be short stopping many birds this year.

Overall we had a down year compared to the last couple. My personal bird per hunt average dropped by 1.6 birds….yikes . And we had more 0-2 bird days this year than the last two combined. Not sure if that shows how good the last two years have been, or how an “average” year around here should be.