Hunting 2023

[emptymag]

One of the bucks I’m after stood up 30 yards behind me from his bed on the edge of the cattails. I was totally caught off guard, he didn’t really now I was there but knew something was up. He was up wind so he just walked off into wind in his face. Camera batteries were dead so I pulled that.

Shot our 3 man limit in about 20min this morning. Drove some back roads past a lot of public land on the way home. Lots of boats in the back of trucks yet. I’m guessing a lot of people had a rude awakening this morning due to the drought.

[emptymag]

7 for 2 of us this morning around home.

[Nershi]

We got our limit by 815 Saturday. Should have been done much earlier. Some ugly shooting to start. Sunday was a more of struggle and didn’t do great. Mix of ringers, bwt, woodies and mallards.

Two years in a row sunday hunting was tough in relation to saturdays burner hunt. It is 100% due to the change from 4pm closure to sunset. People burn the spot after one day by not allowing the birds to settle back in to rest. Used to be limits Saturday and Sunday in this location on years it is stacked and it definitely was this year. I would be willing to bet overall harvest will be lower due to changing that rule.

Grouse numbers seem excellent up north by the cabin. They are good by where I live but even better up north. We jumped several coveys while bush whacking in to scout beaver ponds. Talked to a local old timer who is an avid grouse hunter and he said it’s the best numbers he has seen in years.

[Drunk_Dynasty]

I don’t really understand hunting water in the evenings. It’s usually never worth it and if I’m only a handful of birds shy of a limit from the morning hunt it doesn’t make much sense to set up for a few birds instead of scouting in the evening.

Plus most birds come in after LST. I get a field hunt in the evening but I hate hunting water in the afternoon/evening. Maybe if a major push is on and the weather has birds moving around more than normal it’s worth it but my timing usually isn’t that lucky


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[recker7676]

I don’t really understand hunting water in the evenings. It’s usually never worth it and if I’m only a handful of birds shy of a limit from the morning hunt it doesn’t make much sense to set up for a few birds instead of scouting in the evening.

Plus most birds come in after LST. I get a field hunt in the evening but I hate hunting water in the afternoon/evening. Maybe if a major push is on and the weather has birds moving around more than normal it’s worth it but my timing usually isn’t that lucky


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Really depends on your schedule
Some guys work overnights, etc and can't hunt in the am. Some work like 7-3. Also if you have to drive several hours a morning hunt is not always an option unless you want to leave your house at 2am. Those are some reasons I can think of.Later in the year I like to hunt between 9am to 3pm as long as it's windy. They seem to move good all day as long as you got wind late oct/ nov. Will usually quit before 4pm at the latest.

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[Nershi]

I can understand why some peoples schedule would make afternoons open all season more attractive to their situation. I guess I don’t feel too bad for them. I’d guess the majority of hunters work bankers hours or something close to it and they have to take off time if they want to hunt during their work week.

Fact of the matter is hunting evenings does not allow birds to rest which pushes them out of the state sooner or pushes them to the refuges/nocturnal sooner. This is even more important at the start of the season when the migration is a trickle and when more people are hunting. I’m all for more opportunity but in my opinion this isn’t creating the opportunity we want. Allowing hunters to hunt till sunset will allow for more hours of hunting opportunity but will result in less opportunity for birds to harvest.

[recker7676]

I can understand why some peoples schedule would make afternoons open all season more attractive to their situation. I guess I don’t feel too bad for them. I’d guess the majority of hunters work bankers hours or something close to it and they have to take off time if they want to hunt during their work week.

Fact of the matter is hunting evenings does not allow birds to rest which pushes them out of the state sooner or pushes them to the refuges/nocturnal sooner. This is even more important at the start of the season when the migration is a trickle and when more people are hunting. I’m all for more opportunity but in my opinion this isn’t creating the opportunity we want. Allowing hunters to hunt till sunset will allow for more hours of hunting opportunity but will result in less opportunity for birds to harvest.

Yep agree but I think all the state and feds really care about anymore is keeping as many duck hunters in the game as they can now. We have what maybe 65k left in mn We once had 140k and the was when we had the most restrictive rules around. It was a noon open. Closed at 4 for three weeks at least. Season opened in October mostly. I used to hut the miss river alot and it was in need of a 25 shell limit. But in public comments it got shot down in two seconds. Skyblasters did not like the idea all. They would rather educate every duck 100 yards and lower

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[emptymag]

We hunt a small pothole next to a very large marsh on opener every year. Both public. The amount of sky busting and sailing birds every opener is just dumb. We also walk in, most guys wouldn’t know what to do with out a boat.

[Nershi]

I am glad I have figured out places to hide from that chit. It is disgusting to watch. I’d see guys empty their guns at birds 80 yards up, reload quick and shoot at them again when they were 120 yards up. That takes a special type of stupid to do that over and over at every passing flock. I hide as far away from that as possible.

The spot we usually hunt on opener now doesn’t get much pressure because it is a bitch (and sometimes impossible) to get to and most people are lazy. Only bummer is the group we share it with most years aren’t very good hunters or shots. This results in them jump shooting it and hunting afternoons now that it is legal. Totally flocks up the Sunday morning shoot. They are nice dudes who are respectable hunters. I can’t be ‘that guy’ and tell them they are screwing themselves and us by hunting Saturday afternoon. I just wish they were better because there is no reason they shouldn’t fill up Saturday morning when the scud hatch is solid but somehow they figure out how to only shoot a handful each opening morning.

[recker7676]

I am glad I have figured out places to hide from that chit. It is disgusting to watch. I’d see guys empty their guns at birds 80 yards up, reload quick and shoot at them again when they were 120 yards up. That takes a special type of stupid to do that over and over at every passing flock. I hide as far away from that as possible.

The spot we usually hunt on opener now doesn’t get much pressure because it is a bitch (and sometimes impossible) to get to and most people are lazy. Only bummer is the group we share it with most years aren’t very good hunters or shots. This results in them jump shooting it and hunting afternoons now that it is legal. Totally flocks up the Sunday morning shoot. They are nice dudes who are respectable hunters. I can’t be ‘that guy’ and tell them they are screwing themselves and us by hunting Saturday afternoon. I just wish they were better because there is no reason they shouldn’t fill up Saturday morning when the scud hatch is solid but somehow they figure out how to only shoot a handful each opening morning.

I quit hunting the river 8 years ago. It was actually really good up until about 2013 and then the crowds starting getting really bad. That was the end of the good hunting unless you had a big front. Wasn't worth my time anymore it was just slob hunters mostly and they would hunt the whole day. Birds would just return to the refuge after getting skyblasted and the flights got worse and worse.

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