2009 Duck & Goose Migration Report

i had a very strange weekend. i really think alot birds moved out with the strong wind saturday. buddy and me went friday morning, and had our 12 before the gun barrels could even cool off. got right out of there, had greenheads trying to land in the decoys while we were standing out there! came back sat morning, not a boat within a mile of us, and shot 3 with that big west wind. only seen maybe 50 ducks and none wanted anything to do with where we were. noticed a big drop in the gadwall and widgeon, all that was left flying around were mallards(not a bad thing). sunday moring went where i seen about 75 ducks sitting the afternoon before and shot one mallard. went from having one of the better hunts of the year to almost nothing the next two days.

Northern MN reports went the same way. Many had great shoots on Saturday, in 2″-4″ of new snow, and Sunday was almost a bust.
The good news is that we aren’t in the first 3 weeks of the season anymore. These lulls can now change overnight.
This is the time when the migration report becomes most beneficial
Based on some speculation, I plan to skip deer hunting next weekend and focus on the big water divers again
Good luck.
cheers

only hunted saturday this weekend. we shot a 3 man limit of green and geese with no problems. there were a lot of mallards and divers migrating on saturday with that wind. we shot most of our birds in the middle of the day.

i’ll give some of you guys a piece of advice. whenever you have numerous days in a row of south or east winds, the first day with a NW or WNW wind, you NEED to hunt it, and hunt a migration path, not your little backwoods potholes. these are the days you need to get on bigger water, and put out 5+ dozen decoys. saturday was a perfect example, friday was somewhat slow, but saturday was a beatdown on migrating birds with a sunny day and 20mph NW winds. every flock wanted down that we seen.

way too many people get wrapped up in “the big push”…it never happens, there are pushes of birds all throughout the fall. if you continue to wait for the big migration, it has already passed you up. just remember to key in on the winds!!

and you have to make sure you’re hunting the right areas depending on the types of birds you are hunting, regarding migrators versus locals. if you pay attention to the small details, you will find yourself picking out drakes to fill limits, instead of going home with 2 suzies for 3 guys.

today is sunny and 20+ mph WNW winds, if you can go, GO TODAY! there will be migrating flocks of birds all day long.

if you want to know if birds are migrating, check out the waterfowl survey page for the Squaw Creek Refuge in MO. they receive a lot of the birds that migrate through MN.

look at the constant increase in numbers.

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/SquawCreek/Waterfowl_Surveys.html

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only hunted saturday this weekend. we shot a 3 man limit of green and geese with no problems. there were a lot of mallards and divers migrating on saturday with that wind. we shot most of our birds in the middle of the day.

i’ll give some of you guys a piece of advice. whenever you have numerous days in a row of south or east winds, the first day with a NW or WNW wind, you NEED to hunt it, and hunt a migration path, not your little backwoods potholes. these are the days you need to get on bigger water, and put out 5+ dozen decoys. saturday was a perfect example, friday was somewhat slow, but saturday was a beatdown on migrating birds with a sunny day and 20mph NW winds. every flock wanted down that we seen.

way too many people get wrapped up in “the big push”…it never happens, there are pushes of birds all throughout the fall. if you continue to wait for the big migration, it has already passed you up. just remember to key in on the winds!!

and you have to make sure you’re hunting the right areas depending on the types of birds you are hunting, regarding migrators versus locals. if you pay attention to the small details, you will find yourself picking out drakes to fill limits, instead of going home with 2 suzies for 3 guys.

today is sunny and 20+ mph WNW winds, if you can go, GO TODAY! there will be migrating flocks of birds all day long.

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Lots of good advise in there!

Hunted SE ND Thursday thru Monday. Fair duck hunting throughout but a guy had to do some scouting if he wanted more than gadwall and spoonies. There was very limited field hunting (all corn still standing) for large flocks of mallards so we concentrated on getting them in loafing ponds mid-morning. The light geese started to show up Friday afternoon and were still building in numbers when I left the state yesterday.
All in all the hunt was good. The migration was stop-and-go it seems with each day presenting something different.

ND needs a good stretch of dry weather for the farmers to start getting the corn out of the fields. Otherwise they might end up being flyover country for corn-fed mallards.

I don’t have a report from the Grey Eagle area. I haven’t been around to take it all in.

How about some general locations from those posting? Your nick location doesn’t mean squat to me unless you hunt in your backyard all the time.

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How about some general locations from those posting? Your nick location doesn’t mean squat to me unless you hunt in your backyard all the time.

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SE Minnesota

I noticed a couple rafts of ringers and buffleheads (300 or so birds) on Trace Lake near Grey Eagle yesterday. I also spied a few small flocks of Mallards floating about during the day around Upsala but it was nothing spectacular. I couldn’t get a good read on Goose Lake and puddlers as the cattail mats were on the move when the S wind picked up. Honker activity is close to nil as is typical in an area without a protected roost.

Perch nailed it in his post on Monday. Despite the fair weather, it was a decent week.

The new birds that were blown in are pretty well eaten up as of yesterday though. You guys can have em this weekend…….60 degrees and sunny, I’m gonna go take a nap in the woods.

Here’s a 3 man limit of mallards and goose from Tuesday.

Jake – where in SE mn are you? the winona area? i’m not “E-Scouting”, just curious is all. feel free to send PM if you’re not comfortable stating on the open forum.

btw folks – this weekend will more then likely be slow for waterfowl, unless you can get on some localized pockets of non-pressured birds. i’ll be chasing bambi for the next week, and hopefully by then, we will have some cold weather to freeze up the small water and city ponds. then the river will be green every day…

at a boy jake!
I went diver hunting tuesday & wed. scouted for a mallard hunt thurs,and went off the betatin path and went mucking in some deep woods and marsh in wisconsin. no mallards to speak of. The diver hunts were a slam dunk though. got cans red heads bills buffs and even a couple mallards and a wigeon. Mornings started slow but got real fast pased later in day. especialy wedsday. oh and got a goose to boot and would have had more if i would have put out my goose decoys sooner!!!

November 7th in north central MN I shot a Woody and 2 Widgeon, what the heck…
Rafts are showing up in the middle of the perenial favorites. This makes it tough to get at them.
I had to come home early last light, so I’m done until Wednesday in south central MN, and then back up north next weekend.
Good luck
cheers

Slowest weekend of the year for me down in La Crosse area. Birds that are around are very shy, and probably pretty shot up since the flocks we saw were 75%+ hens. The refuges still are holding birds, but unless you can scout alot and find their hiding holes it is pretty tough.

I made another business run up I94 today, past Fergus Falls.
I didn’t see a duck until I hit the Dalton area. Skim Ice starting showing up on all of the smaller ponds in that area as well.
Larger bodies of water were holding small groups of mallards (1-2 dozen) and small rafts of divers (40-60).
Geese were everywhere and in good size flocks.
On the way back east this afternoon, I did see 1/2 dozen different flocks of 20-30 snows & blues.
Good luck
cheers

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I did see 1/2 dozen different flocks of 20-30 snows & blues.

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Airborne or ground?

In the fall, it is not uncommon to find light geese around FF…I’ve shot them myself.

Goose numbers have slightly increased, but nothing what it should be for this time of the year. The lack of harvested corn fields makes some easier pickings right now for huntable fields. I’ve watched (and hunted) the same geese feed in one field for 2-3 weeks!

However, the duck situation all around is just dismal. No doubt this is the doldrums right now for ducks. There are however, lots of area concentrations of geese, but with deer season underway I’m not hitting the fields until the rifles go away.

A friend and I hunted ducks last Friday and shot 6 birds consisting of a mallard, bluebill and 5 ringbills. We hit just about every bird that came the decoys. One other boat on the lake never fired a shot. Not many birds around right now. Waiting for some weather….

Talked to a few very reliable resources one of which just got back from Manitoba and another from Peace River. Both areas are covered in birds right now and with nothing to move them down they are hanging out up there.

We need weather and we need it bad! Only 2 1/2 weeks left of the MN season…..where did our fall weather go?

Thought this was kinda weird…??? On saturday a flock of maybe a dozen or so Snows flew over the woods… this was about 4 miles East of Mille Lacs ??? Kinda made us go… What the ???

mallards are still around, but they are very scattered. bunches of 20 here and there, but no big concentrations. flocks that do come in are 2-5 birds, consisting mostly of hens! has been tough for me lately to fill out when you have birds fluttering over the dekes and they are all hens

I completely agree with those reports as I’ve heard the same for over the past month from friends who also hunt up there!

The jet stream is all messed up, it’s going way north and keeping all this warm air moving northward. Central Saskatchewan is going to be warmer than MN next week! highs upper 40’s to almost 50. Lows in the upper 20’s-30’s doesn’t help.

It’s been this way all season. I watch it daily. http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/canada_e.html

Until the jet stream shifts to a northerly flow and freezes/snows out Canada, the majority of birds are going to enjoy the good life with the abundance of food and warmth. Once it happens, get ready.

This ceratinly has been an odd weather year. Cold summer, then really warm September, cold October until the last week, really warm November so far.

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I did see 1/2 dozen different flocks of 20-30 snows & blues.

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Airborne or ground?

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Flying east west around I94
good luck
cheers

report update: hunting stinks

with the wind shift today, I expect to starting hearing some improved reports.
I wish that I was out contributing
Good luck
cheers

Heard from a buddy who just got back from Manitoba:

“It was like a kid in a candy store with greenheads”

Just returned from a trip to SE NoDak. The area is littered with snows and blues. But, unfortunately, that’s about it for waterfowl. There were pockets of Mallards but a dude had to burn a lot of fuel to find them. We came back yesterday through the Herman, MN area. It looks like the Canada Geese have finally arrived in good numbers. Duck numbers were very limited.

Waiting patiently……I got vacation to burn!

Got out last night to do some local scouting. Canada Goose numbers (couple thousand) have infiltrated into the Freeport/St. Rosa area. The corn is being combined pretty quickly so the food source should keep them around a little while. Duck numbers are nil.

Looks like things might change for us ‘fowlers! I watch a snowmobile forecaster website johndee.com and he’s usually always right when it comes to cold air moving from the north. Another Thanksgiving chasing ducks, and could be a good one!

(I, like others have said, also got word from a reliable source that birds are quite thick about 8 hours drive north of the US border yet, and beyond…
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5-10 DAY FORECAST:

Things will be fairly quiet by late in the week and into Saturday, but the next system still looks to arrive by later Sunday and continue into early next week. The pattern still looks to be changing some as this storm swings through the Midwest. The change may not be fully in place before the storms impacts the region, so we will not likely get the mix of arctic air with Gulf Moisture to produce a monster snow event, but enough cold air could be drawn down onto the back side of the low for early next week and some accumulating snows could occur in areas of the western and northern Midwest.

I really do not want to get into the details of any accumulation right now as it is just too far off in the forecast to put much faith into any details. To me what is more important is the fact that the main branch of the jet will be dipping into the lower 48 for the first time in around 3 weeks and that means it’s cold and storms could become a more frequent factor for the Midwest- especially the cold.

It’s also possible that temps in the wake of the low could be cold enough to produce some Lake Effect snows across the UP and NWL MI for Thanksgiving day and the day after.

Temps over the weekend look to be average to above ahead of the system for Sunday and early next week and then the clouds and precip with that system will cool things to average or even a bit below and then it looks like colder air dumping in from Canada will send temps to below average in most of the Midwest in the days leading up to Thanksgiving and beyond.

-John