# How was MN's Opener?



## Double Ott Buck (Oct 5, 2005)

Anybody have decent luck? Saw the northern mallards were already around down here.....wouldnt come close though. Guess you ND guys already educated them for us.


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## Bigdog (Aug 13, 2003)

We saw good numbers of birds between Alex and Fergus. Looked like most of the teal and wood ducks had moved out but ringnecks had moved in. Limited on mallard/teal Sat and teal on Sunday. The other parties on the lake also enjoyed good shooting.


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## qwakwhaker883 (Jan 19, 2005)

3 of us shot 14 ducks this weekend. Shot mallards, woodies, teal, and ringnecks. Cant wait for tomorrow! :beer:


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## shae1986 (Sep 28, 2006)

We got 20 honkers and 20 ducks this weekend for 5 guys so all in all i was pleased but didn't see as many ducks as last year. But that could change in the coming weeks.


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## TEALMAN (Sep 27, 2006)

There was more birds than I was expecting, two guys 12 ducks for the weekend.


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## Nate1983 (Mar 15, 2006)

Went out by myself Saturday. All my hunting buddys were in ND  (work sucks) Any way got a Mallard and 3 Teal by 10:30. Alot more ducks around then I expected hopefully some of these birds stay around for a couple of weeks.


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## NDJ (Jun 11, 2002)

Always have heard a dry ND = better duck hunting in MN..


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## MNhunter (Oct 20, 2002)

We eneded up with our limits of ducks both days for 7 guys. Mainly mallards, some wigeon, gads, and teal. Only one honk to boot.[/quote]


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## Double Ott Buck (Oct 5, 2005)

seems to same everywhere and what we experienced too. Lots more ducks around. Saw tons of Mallards, Woodies and Teal. We had the misfortune of some morons coming on the lake at about 8:35am with their piece of crap boat that their other party had to tow across the lake and kick all the ducks away from us....only 2 birds for the two of us.
Guess the ducks figured it out to stay away from the side of the lake with the Walmart sized parking lot full of 4x4's....private land is never sewed up some times, especially on opener when 60% of the hunter only hunt that weekend of the entire season. uke:


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## greenhead (Jun 1, 2004)

Same old MN opener croweded, people skybusting, and pellets landing in our spread.


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## Double Ott Buck (Oct 5, 2005)

yeah, for all the shots I saw taken that were from guys close to us, not one duck was dropped. I figured it out after a while of wondering why the ducks wouldnt fly out from all the sky busting, there werent many crops out yet, so the ducks just stayed towards the middle of the lake.
Hope theyre still around in a few days.


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## harryo (Oct 11, 2005)

2-days never fired a shot!! More hunters then birds!!


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

My buddy and I had the best if not the second best opener ever. Not a lot of Mallards or Teal, but hundreds upon hundreds of Woodies. It was awesome to be able to pick and choose drakes throughout the day. We shot 12 ducks and 3 Honkers for the weekend.

The honkers weren't decoying very well so we had to go to them. They were sleeping on the sandy shore of a very large lake. About 400-500 of them. The only approach was a 2 mile walk through the woods and then a 70 yard belly crawl to the beach. Our hard work paid off though. It was one of the best stalks i've ever made.

The big waters must have been busy, heard a lot of shooting. We hunt secluded beaver ponds back in the woods. Not another sole on the pond. All it takes is a little walking and you can leave majority of people behind you.


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

Just out of curiosity? Isn't the limit in MN 4 ducks a day or was in brought back to 6?


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## jeepguy (Nov 7, 2005)

Could not make it out saturday, although I drove by a popular duck hunting lake near my house and thought I was at a car dealership with all the SUVS parked up and down the road. Sunday was a different story, I decided to go up north with my father-in-law and the nieghbor kid. Got 12 ducks by 10:30 am, All Mallards, and it was the nieghbors kids first time ever shooting a duck. We were hunting a slough on private land, the mallards were decoying great. I have never them approach with such confidence before. Too bad you can only shoot one hen. We had a ton of hens dropping in on our decoys and just swimming around. After we got our hens we had to wait for a greenhead to be in the group and pick them out. Great day of hunting!!!


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

4 ducks a day limit.


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## gilbatron_2500 (Sep 7, 2005)

Hunted near Fergus Saturday and Sunday, and to my amazment there were alot of ducks. I have hunted this area the past 8 years on opener, and I would have to say This is one of the better years. Lots and Lots of greenskins, and canadians using freshly picked corn feilds around the area. Had a very successful weekend. Bag consisted of mostly mallards, geese, a few gads and widgeon, and yes beleive it or not a drake PINTAIL.

Can't wait to see what the migrators do this fall.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Hunted on Sunday morning......

Teal got the best of us :lol: . But saw many woodies and teal. Shot many holes in the sky.....I was about 2 feet behind them. But where I was hunting a lot of sky blasting so birds would not work the open water. Only got 2 woodies. But had a great time.

Chuck


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## waterfowler06 (Aug 10, 2006)

I never went out on opener but 5 of us went out on sunday and field hunted and had our limit of 20 birds all woodies and mallards by 8 a.m. we were hunting about 1/2 hr west of the cities


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## MN Duck Slayer (Sep 20, 2005)

Same old MN crap, lets see how many guys we can get into one little piece of slough and then wonder why there isn't any more ducks around after this weekend :eyeroll: anyways nothing you can do about it. We ended up with a goose, 3 teal, and a woodie. By far not the greatest opener but it was still fun!!


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## qwakwhaker883 (Jan 19, 2005)

You guys are complaining about all the hunters, go out and find a spot where nobody else hunts. Ive hunted 3 days this season so far and havent seen another hunter. I was used to hunting with all the clowns on opening weekend until this year, its great!


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

qwakwhaker883,

Don't promote people to find their own little hole. I don't want all those yahoos bothering me out in nowhere. That's why I go out and find those far away places. Nobody bothering me.

Let them complain. I support everyone crowding the traditional spots.


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## Dedicated870 (Sep 25, 2006)

I agree, keep the idiots close to the roads. For those of us that get up before 4am and drag boats, and decoys for a couple hours, we deserve the prime piece of realestate. We did pretty good this opener. 10 ducks on Sat, and 9 ducks and 5 geese on Sunday. 4 guys hunting and only a couple idiots we could hear from a distance.

We were setting decoys on Sat morning around 8:15, and some hunter from a bordering slough shot 3 times and something. Just when you think you can find anyone dumber. We also witnessed 4 guys trespass across my buddies corn field w/their pickup, drop a boat and decoys, go back to the road to park their truck then walk (trespass again) back to the boat and decoys. Shot 1 hen mallard and left it lay in the middle of the slough w/out chasing it down, and then pickup and leave w/1 of my buddies goose decoys that floated across the slough in the wind. Some people have a lot of nerve, and you can only wish we had more game wardens making it better for those of us that abide by the rules.

All in all a great duck opener.


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## Double Ott Buck (Oct 5, 2005)

Anyone try Swan Lake by Nicollet?? I heard a few guys talking that it was all mud due to the drawdown by the DNR, but if you found water it was a slaughter on the Mallards.
Never liked hunting that zoo anyways.


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## BendNSend (Sep 20, 2006)

ya sounds like ppl on the south end did very good from the few reports I heard. Courtland bay was really hard to find open water I was told. Some have said its to low, others say its just the way it should be. Im thinkin some of those are from ppl who dont have the resources or equipment besides a flat bottom and a push pole.


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## 4CurlRedleg (Aug 31, 2003)

greenhead said:


> Same old MN opener croweded, people skybusting, and pellets landing in our spread.


 :lol: :lol:


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## Flick (Aug 21, 2002)

I thought it was a fun MN opener. 5 man limits of honkers both days, 20 ducks a mix of mallards and teal. All on a little pothole we had all to ourselves. Some people just need to look a little harder and get out of their yearly routine of doing the same thing.....


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## dwshunt (Apr 26, 2003)

Hunted Fergus Falls area and got 4 ducks and 3 honkers. One of the honkers was banded, my first band ever in 27 years. That made it a great weekend. Not many ducks around north of town where I hunted.

Good Hunting.


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## conibear (Dec 30, 2005)

This had to be the best duck hunting in years the northen flight mallards are here and man what a shoot had to take a few days of vacation from work and hunt haven't seen it like this since I was a kid. :beer:


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## Double Ott Buck (Oct 5, 2005)

Had an ok shoot this morning. Lots of locals still around and mixed in with the northern birds. A bald eagle moved the ducks around for us more than the only other hunter on the slough. Pretty interesting to see.


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