2009 Duck & Goose Migration Report

How true that all is! And even better if your a Metallica fan

Amen Brother
Who’d have thought that there was subliminal messaging in those Metallica Songs

Ok, its official, the ice can all melt now. James, how big was that fish! High 12’s?

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2005
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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2006
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.

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2007
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 2007 season!

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2008
Chriss, you are just the kind of gentleman (character ) that could provoke a “migration report” post before the season is even open
Once again I felt the need to copy forward the opening post from previous years, this is so cool
Chriss did a great job laying some ground rules in another post on the waterfowl forum. If BK, James or one of our other fearless leaders would be so kind as to provide a link into Chriss’ “Were close enough” post that would be great (BK, teach me, please…)
I’m going to skip the rules in hopes that we all have proper respect for one another and our quary. If you are confused please visit Chriss’ post.
This is fun, informative and as I have mentioned for the past several years, very beneficial to my overall enjoyment of the waterfowl season.
Our primary goal is simply to share as much information as we are each comfortable sharing, to provide vicarious enjoyment for those that are not making the hunts and improve the quality of the experience for those that are .
This post was originally started back in 2005 to track the southern edge of the migration through Minnesota and the upper midwest. Nothing more or less.
This post has become a sounding board, a bragging board, a photo album and a reference point for many people and I love it
Please join in and contribute towards your enjoyment of the season, and ours!
Let the season begin
Oh yeah, and may a wife be bestowed upon Jake, soon
Good luck to everyone in ’08!
cheers

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2009
As some of you may know, I have been unable to access the hunting site for some time. Brad was able to shed some light on this demon for me and I’m back in business.
Here I thought that you guys had locked me out
I have taken a good share of ribbing for my absense and it has been well deserved.
I can’t do anything about my schedule, but just like the rest of you, once the season is upon us I’m consumer by it.
I know that folks have been giving reports via individual posts, but hopefully now everyone will feel inclined to consolidate all of our waterfowl posts here for the season.
I will report alittle later on my traditional opener this past weekend.
Let ‘er fly.
Good luck to everyone this season!
cheers

Glad to see that you are back online drakesdemise! We look forward to your waterfowl reports!

Good work Drake…..we knew you could do it!

Opening weekend was fine for our group on the river. 4 of us got our woodducks and a few GWT Saturday and Sunday mornings. Overall I’d call it slower than the past couple years though. Second year in a row I’m not going to shoot a BWT…..those buggers are out of here already for sure.

Haven’t been able to locate any birds to hunt this week yet…..which is disappointing because we usually get a couple good hunts in the first week! Looks like we’re scouting in the rain tonight.

South Central Minnesota
Geese – After a very disappointing early season with near zero numbers in the area we have had a bit of new movement. As of this afternoon we had our ‘opener movement’ to the refuge. This is usually common clacture, however, this year it seems pertinent to make note of as it is the first build up of any degree in the traditional areas. Additionally, there were new birds that moved into the area in the last few days. There have been birds slowly filtering into the Mankato Region; as far east as Rochester, and as far west as Worthington.
Ducks – Bird numbers this year were relatively higher than the past few. However, it seems as though the cooler whether has evoked a bit of a build up. Still not positive on movements, however, birds in the last few days seem to be in larger groups and fewer distribution than average. Many reports of woodies and teal, as usual, but quantities of woodies seem to be down. Furthermore, big ducks seem to be almost non-existent as only few sightings and reports came back with Mallards, Gads, & Widgeons.

Central North Dakota
Geese- Reports coming back are average numbers of dark geese with similar results on lights.
Ducks- Word is is that the reports on population numbers from the USFWS are true. Numbers of birds are higher than the last few years. Big ducks are very prevalent and should be a positive number in the books after all seasons are over. Birds are averaging a little better plumage than last year at this time.

Central South Dakota
Geese- Goose reports persist to have higher numbers than average on dark geese. Limits seem to be common clacture in this region as they did during early season. No reports back on any movement of new birds as most were congruent with patterned populations.
Ducks- Similar results to the ND reports as far as the USFWS survey is concerned. Numbers seem to be up a bit from last year and big ducks are prevalent enough targets. Harvest limits here seem to be less occurring than goose limits, however, they are still a large part of reports.

I hope this, and subsequent reports, help you guys out and I hope to hear back some reports. Unlike other sites (whom don’t seem to have this kind of following) I truly hope to help work towards keeping track of an honest migration report.
Flatlandfowler

Got our 6 woodies, a gaddy, and a goose on the river this morning. Very minimal duck movement at all…..only heard a handful of other shots. Some geese flying around though…..a little more patients and we would have the rest of our geese as well……but had to get to work!

Might do a couple quick jump shooting expeditions, but don’t plan on much hunting from now until WI second opener.

Rain has hampered routine scouting for Upsala/Grey Eagle area. Fair numbers of wood ducks are still hiding out here and there but you gotta work for them since there is now beaucoup water. I think the forecasted frost will shoe them out by the weekend for sure. Mallards have completely “left the building”.

with the dropping temps and NW winds starting tomorrow, this weekend should produce some migrating birds.

Quick update out of Nodak. (I was supposed to be there but work happened.:( The boys are in Central Nodak just out side of Medina. They are telling me theducks are thick but the darks are not. They filled out on Red Heads, Blue bills and Mallards yesterday mroning. In the afternoon the set up in a field to shoot geese but only closed on 3. Not a bad day for the first run.

The water is up in this area but not flooded like many other areas in North Dakota. This will probably be a good thing the next week or twowhile it’s primarily local ducks. But once the big flights get here I would probably look elsewhere. The scouting thet’ve done is leading the NE when they return in a few weeks.

I’m sure I’ll be able to provide more info later this am as they like to send me picture messages. (monkeybutts)

I just got a phone call from a few buddys who are hunting nw of winnipeg a few hours. They have been hunting since wed and with the snow and wind new birds are arriving hourly. He said that all days have been good but with the heavy wind, clouds and some snow they destroyed them today. He said they shot over 80 snows this morning and could have shot ducks and darks all morning. I guess its in the upper 20’s. Lots of mallards and pintails. He believes a large group of birds will be moving into ND in the next day or so. Man I should be out there.

The nasty overnight and daytime weather and an inch of snow around Grey Eagle/Burtrum sent a lot of new birds into the area. There was double the amount of shooting heard and made compared to opening weekend. Small flocks of mallards, gadwall, ringers, and a few wigeon were seen all through the day. A tad early but the first flock of swans toiled about as well. The local wood ducks seemed to have stayed around for the most part but it won’t last long. There seems to be very, very, few geese around here for some reason. My son and I rounded out the day with 2 mallards, 2 gadwall, 3 BWT, 1 GWT, and 4 woodies. Best 2nd Saturday in a long while.

A great day captured in a great photo.
I knew that not being able to hunt this weather change this weekend was going reduce me to tears
Good Luck
cheers

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Best 2nd Saturday in a long while.

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AGREED!

New birds showed Thursday-Friday. Two man limit Saturday. 7 and a goose (and a snipe!) Sunday. A complete mish-mash of random puddlers.

Our hole was frozen all the way across Sunday AM……wow, that’s early for a first freeze. Gonna be a strange year.

Congrats Sloughslapper on a great outing!

Jake:

They (BWT) should be, but last weekend we had a couple of flocks still in our area. Since then you got to believe they have left our area!!!

Mark

Man, nothing seems to be happening
I haven’t gotten out. Like usual, I’m waiting for things to get a little more nasty.
The folks that I have spoken with aren’t talking much about numbers or an influx of new birds. Plenty of them are talking about the birds that are disappearing though.
It seems peculiar to me that the NoDak hunters are whacking so many divers this early. Does this schedule seem typical?
Good luck eveyone on your MEA hunts. This weekend holds fantastic memories from my childhood.
Hopefully we will all have some activity to report after the weekend.
Good luck.
cheers

No activity in the Grey Eagle area. There are a few nocturnal flocks of Mallards and some smart divers around but other than that it looks like a typical mid-season slack.

We floated miles of streams and creeks with little to show. The MEA weekend was close to a bust for us.

South Central MN:
Ducks- Teal numbers seem to have evacuated last week as reports of birds dropped drastically after last weekend. Still seeing a few groups of woodies here and there but definitely less teal and woodies than just one week ago. Some larger birds are slowly moving into the area as a few groups are seeing and shooting some numbers of mallards, which were nearly non existent earlier in the season. Color on Mallards this weekend was good, probably better than normal this time of year, but not much for condition yet. One sighting of divers this week, most likely the warmest blooded ringnecks. (Seems to be the beginning of the mid season lull here)
Geese- Numbers of geese are slowly growing day by day, but no serious influxes. Refuge is holding around 2K+, with several hundred each on select lakes in the area. As of late last week there was allot more small Canadians (lessers/cacklers/hutches) moving into the Mankato to Worthington area. Flock size seems to be standard for this time of year with small darks in the 100-200 range and large in the 1-50 range. Furthermore, a few sighting of light geese are occurring around the area with the highest concentrations spanning west from the Windom area.

Central NoDak
Ducks: Some significant movements were noted with the first snow just a little more than a week ago, but were most likely just local birds moving out. There are still good number of ducks in the region at this point. Flock sizes seem to be in the larger category as far as field activity is concerned. Divers are being seen regularly but no numbers on group sizes were given.
Geese- There has not been much mention of dark geese in the area. However, it is reported that light geese numbers are growing daily, and in numbers. Also, several reports of specks moving into the northern part of this region.

Central SoDak
Ducks- There were reports of movements coming in with the first storms just over a week ago, however, I have not gotten any reports regarding numbers or influxes since last weekend. Divers were shot on opening weekend but more were seen/shot this past weekend. Condition on these birds is still moderate to poor which marks the beginning of future movements.

Good Luck to all in this upcoming week and keep the reports coming. Look forward to seeing every ones success when the migration hits full swing.

flatlandfowler

Flatlandfowler,
Nice comprehensive report
I covered about 400 miles today, so I will report later tonight on my sightings.
cheers

Reports from some friends who hunted Canada last week:

Pothole lakes up to 15′ deep or so are pretty much locked up with ice, with a lot of mallards still remaining with easy pickings in the fields. Lots of other ducks migrated south, and northern ND and far southern Canada holds lots of ducks, something never seen before this time of the year in their opinion. These birds aren’t going north again. More ducks trickling south can only happen.

West Central MN, I’ve seen more ducks lately and especially today. Mallards and divers.

No real cold fronts in the forecast yet, so unknown what will happen. When that big front does come, better find time to hunt!

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I covered about 400 miles today, so I will report later tonight on my sightings

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Well, i didn’t get back to complete my report on Tuesday night
But WOW are things starting to change
The report that I would have given, regarding my sightings from the twin cities, up to Fergus Falls area and back, via a different route, would likely be unimportant now.
I’ve spent quite some time on the laptop and phone, and I feel confident that our first good wave of new birds will hit northern MN on Sunday or Monday.
Now is when I start to get excited
I will be heading north with the family for the weekend, and continuing north when they head back home on Sunday.
If the stars continue to align, frozen water and unstable weather fronts in Canada will continue to push the birds down.
MN weather trends for the next 5 days or so may keep these birds from pushing into central MN.
I have been getting several reports since last weekend of hunters filling out daily on big water divers, on numerous waters. This immaginary line seems to run from approximately Fergus Falls East to around Grand Rapids.
I will report back when I have more solid information or some dead ducks to report
Good luck
cheers

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No real cold fronts in the forecast yet, so unknown what will happen. When that big front does come, better find time to hunt!

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Love it when people say this……its white outside boys!

Hunted the Donnely area Friday. Didn’t see much at all in the way of migratory or staging flocks. I did have a flock of at least 100 ringers or scaup that cruised me at first light. God I love that sound! I remember when it was almost a constant sound in the 70’s and 80’s until the MN DNR decided to start raising walleye fingerlings in natural water bodies (but I digress).

The numbers of Mallards seen I could have counted on my two hands. There were small groups of spoonbill, gadwall, teal, and pairs of Cans around but they looked as if they knew the area quite well. This is not typical for this location and I know the flights have not come through. Ended the morning with 2 GWT, 1 Can, 2 spoonies, and a gadwall. I put on some miles scouting eastward and found about the same kind of birds on the waters as well. Where are the Mallards?

Well, not much talk about migration lately
Some things have been happening, but depending upon where you are located, they may not be too favorable.
Birds have moved, but mostly out of northern Minnesota, without replacements really showing up yet.
Last weekend I was in the Brainerd/Walker area. Morning hunts were almost senseless. evening hunts consisted primarily of honkers. Oddly enough, the woodies and teal outnumbered the mallards on Saturday. Saturday night the light rain and wind continued through the night. The honkers could be heard passing over the cabin all night long.
Sunday morning came and all but a few woodies and teal were gone. New honkers and mallards showed up in relatively conservative numbers, but brought some new divers with them.
By Monday around Noon, one of the areas that I monitor annualy to gauge the migration, had begun filling up with ringnecks, a few buffleheads and some redheads. Zero bills, cans or goldeneyes.
Monday afternoon my travels took me to the Thief lake area. They too saw a push similar to the Walker area. Weekend shooting consisted of numerous teal, woodies and mallard, but on Monday evening things were very slim.
Tuesday morning reports from the Winnie area were of good numbers, but almost exclusively buffleheads and ringnecks. Most people that I’ve talked to, including my own experience, report larger sitings and harvests on buffleheads this year than ever before.
Reports from Cass Lake to Grand Rapids were consistent; Most people are going back to bow hunting until more new birds show up.
Wednesday morning die-hards generally had very poor shooting accross Northern MN. I realize that there are good secret spots in every area. But, the folks that I talked to that hunted there usual haunts on Wednesday morning reported that birds had all but disappeared.
I did drive around Thief Lake and all over Agassiz WMA and refuge during the last 2 hours of day light tonight. Bird numbers are very low. I was surprised by the number of BWT still basking in the refuge, but overall numbers are way low right now.
If someone could offer up a Canadian report. that would be great. I had heard that the majority of water shallower that 15-20′ had froze up last week?
The Fargo news tonight is talking about a chance of substantial snow this weekend.
Oh yeah, wind direction was NW, N and NE throughout the weekend when I experienced bird movement. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday had 10-25 mph winds out of the SW, S and a SE.
The next weather front starting on Thursday is supposed to include a northerly wind again, so another change may be in store for us this weekend.
I have not had any contact with fellow hunters in southern MN or western WI, but hopefully they got a crack at some of the birds that did a mass exodous from northern MN early this week,
Good luck.
cheers

i will get a report up as soon as i get some pictures from my buddys camera. we have been doing pretty good. bunches of mallards can be found in the right places, but i have been shooting more gads this year than any other year i have ever hunted. shot a bluebill and had a can skirt my decoys in just a small pond that you can pretty much shoot across. not sure if they were lost or what. have been seeing and hearing of a few cans bills ringnecks and even a few ruddy ducks being shot on the river. still, very slow for this time of year. the water is up which is GREAT for the places i hunt. just need them to fill up with some birds

hunting in the stearns county area has been really good so far this year opening weekend was the best i have seen it in a long time. right now we are getting big numbers of geese for about a week at a time they stop feed in a few fiels and are gone agian. tommarow morning we are hunting in a field with about four hundard geese and some mallards coming into it..ill get a report on here and let ya guys no how it went.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Finally spent a lot of time chasing fowl this weekend where I’m at in Otter Tail County.

Hit a popular waterfowling lake on Saturday and saw lots of ducks, but didn’t shoot a lot. Mallards, ringbills, Canvasbacks and geese primarily. These birds were skittish and they didn’t appear to be too fresh. Not much hunting pressure with only three other boats on the water, but some did well.

Mixed things up for Saturday afternoon/evening and went field hunting for geese. A group of three of us spent four hours in the field without observing a goose. However, with children at home and the need to return home rather quickly for halloween, we pulled the plug about 10 minutes before sunset. BIG mistake!

If we would have waited 5 minutes we would have had a few hundred geese and a few dozen mallards in our faces. We got busted. We didn’t expect that these geese wanted to feed in the field that late, and they wanted in bad. We didn’t get a shot and elected to not educate them.

We returned to this field this morning anticipating the geese didn’t get to feed as they hoped. This morning we had lots of geese moving overhead, but they weren’t interested in our field anymore….hundreds of geese headed for a fresh picked corn field I didn’t know about a mile away. These birds worked us a little, but no shooters. Called in some mallards, but in hopes they would circle once more, they didn’t.

Lots of geese and some ducks in our area right now. Some friend’s who hunted about 20 miles away reported lots of ringbills and geese. No mallards or any other species of duck spotted.