Nobodys out duck hunting??????

[Mr. 16 gauge]

The season here in Southern MI has been going on for a week; northern part of the state has been going for 1-2 weeks more. Nobody is out duck hunting? I know the southern states seasons haven't started yet, but nobody is hunting ducks up north this year?
I haven't been out yet.....work and weather have kept me from going (too hot), and I won't get a chance to go until later this month. All I see on the local websites is whining and complaining about no ducks, not getting limits, ect.:rolleyes:
Hope some of you fellow duck hunters are at least getting out and seeing a few birds.....

[popplecop]

Locals pretty well burned out an no migrants as of yet.

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Popplecop;
It appears that you and I are the only duck hunters on the forum anymore (not sure what happened to Fabsroman.....hope he is well and not having health issues again).....I am off next week from work and hope to be getting out a few times. With a little luck, I'll have some tales to tell and photos to post.

BTW: according the the internet, the birds have either flown through and didn't stop, haven't started migrating yet, or are all shot out!!!!:D Got to love digruntled duck hunters!:rolleyes:

[powell&hyde]

Our season opened last week, headed out this weekend.

[kt]

south eastern PA waterfowling has gotten so cut throat as to property permission and access that i have reverted back to a big woods bow hunter just to avoid the BS, to date i have killed one goose this season. puddles sure are at a premium. last year we arrived at 245 AM to beat another group. when i was set up and still had 3 hours till daylight i decided i'd rather take binoculars and go bird watching.. sad story

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Well, I've been out three days this week....All I have to show for it so far is 3 mallards; I've been told by the local biologist that mallard #s are down about 30% or so. Shot an odd on today (at least nothing I've ever seen before)...hen mallard with an olive green bill. Now before some of you say that this is an "eclipse drake", she has the traditional mottling of the bill on top, but the area that is usually orange is green. Biologist at the check station said it was kinda odd.
Weather could cooperate a little better, and a few flight birds would be appreciated.....the local populations are a bit shell shocked and can read the refuge signs.
Still, I have a couple of more days this week, and I'll be back at it again for a few days in a couple of weeks.....so all is not lost (yet).

[powell&hyde]

Well Mr 16 gauge, you did better then me, I never seen a worst year for ducks, geese than this one. While we had a wet spring here, the summer was dry and no water. Have lots of pheasants but no ducks, geese.

[popplecop]

Ducks still AWOL here!

[skeet]

Heard a bunch of geese passing high last night..moon was out and the sky was clear..NW wind too. Started snowin again this AM..Quit now and the sun is shining..some fog. Ducks will be moving through here soon.. Friend that lives near the Cody Reservoir is seeing more ducks lately..we gonna go shoot 'em when the season gets in

[Mr. 16 gauge]

I hunt a managed area, and yesterday I went out for the P.M. hunt....some of the morning hunters were coming in to check in their ducks, and some had blue bills in the bag. Not tons, but that kinda sends a message that maybe some migrants are starting to trickle in. As for the afternoon hunt, it was a bust....we had one drake mallard come in and give us a shot (actually, three), and I might as well have been shooting blanks! Heard very little shooting and saw nothing from about 3:30 on, so I packed it up about 30 minutes before the end of shooting time.......you guessed it, as I was packing up the boat, I see the dog looking up at something, and sure enough, there were two flying overhead low enough to hit with a spit ball!:rolleyes:
The week was slow, but the dog got to do her first retrieve on Friday (GW teal) and I put a couple of ducks in the freezer.....I'll be back at it in about 10 days for a few more hunts; I'll have the diver rig out then and maybe we'll get a few more birds. Until later......good luck to the rest of you folks!:)

[popplecop]

Even with Wed. 4-5"s of wet heavy snow very few ducks. Just got my Bernadelli Hammer 12 back after installing a 3/4" pad, was a little short for me. I want to shoot ducks with it, may have to wait till I go to Louisiana after Christmas.

[multibeard]

Two years in a row and the number of ducks on our private 350 acre lake north of Grand Rapids have been zip. If I get time tomorrow I am going to take the blind of the boat and go fishing on Sunday.

Dang few geese either. Tons of geese (800- 1000 comming of the roost) over on the west coast where I normally hunt (season ended the 8th) but I could not get permission on the XX's. Next year should be better on my properties when corn gets back in the rotation if they get it off before the season ends.

[popplecop]

Going in the morning, checked the marsh about 10 am, just geese. We're hopeing some northern ducks might be in. Will let you know how it goes, been a slim season so far.

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Good luck popplecop....this year has been extremely slow in MI as well; everyone is complaining about the lack of flight birds. I've heard that there are some divers moving in; plan on checking that out over the next couple of days. Mallard numbers are definetly down, and what few birds are around are shell shocked.
Weatherman here is talking snow for tomorrow....hope he is right!;)

[popplecop]

Well we had about 100 Canadas sitting on one of our ponds. We got to within a 100 yds. of them and then waited in the willows Now we were on the north side of the pond as that was the only cover, what wind there was comeing from the east. They left in 2 different groups about 1/2 hr between them. One the smaller group left to the southwest and the larger group to the east. Fun to watch, but that was the extent of it. Going to get quite cold tonight so marsh will probably freeze over.

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Well, guess it's just a bad year for ducks.....heard that the estimates were all wrong, that birds haven't migrated, that the birds migrated and didn't stop.....who the hell knows.
Went out today; cooler and windy, so I was hoping for a little action. That's what I got.....little action!:(
I put out a diver rig in the marsh.....in the past, the mallards seem to just pour in without circling. Don't know if it's because everyone else is using 3 dozen mallard decoys or what, but in the past it has helped produce. Not today.

I had a few birds fly over, but shy away at the last minute.....I'm not sure what spooked them: the dog was camoed, the boat was grassed and burlaped, and I was under cover. I did have one large drake mallard that offered a passing shot at 30 yards; I missed him with my first shot and dropped him dead with the second. My young lab made the retrieve (one of her first), and since this bird was nicely feathered and had a triple curl, we stopped at the taxidermist on the way home to have it stuffed.
Heading out again tomorrow.....it's suppose to be cooler; not sure of the wind. Hopefully there will be some more bird movement tomorrow than what I have been experiencing so far this year.

Oh, and FWIW: Deer season opened Tuesday; today there was a fellow at the check station with a nice, 11 point buck.
Maybe I need to rethink this deer hunting thing..........................;)