Duck hunt gets off to a hot start

[h2ofwlr]

By Tim Spielman Associate Editor, MN Outdoor News
October 2, 2014

Bemidji, Minn. — Duck hunting in Minnesota couldn’t get much hotter than it did during the opening weekend of the season this year. That is, however, a description of the weather, if not necessarily the quality of duck hunting across the state.

That said, reports indicate there were pockets of quality waterfowling across the state, despite the fact that temperatures both Saturday and Sunday soared toward the 80s, from Wells in the south to Warroad in the north.

“Sunday was painful (for duck hunters), said Dave Trauba, DNR wildlife manager at Lac qui Parle Wildlife Management Area in the west-central part of the state. “There was no wind and the mosquitoes were hungry.”

Even though it was warm (sunup temps were in the 60s in most areas), there was a breeze when the season opened Saturday morning, Trauba said.

Positive hunting forecasts, based largely on high duck counts this summer, likely buoyed hunter interest. At least it seemed to in Trauba’s area.

“(Conservation officers) were saying there definitely was more hunting activity (than usual), and there was pretty good success,” he said.

On the LqP WMA, he said hunter numbers appeared to be similar to what’s normal, and that harvest, too, seemed to follow the usual trajectory.

Species most commonly harvested included blue-winged teal (the most-frequent species seen in bag checks), followed by wood ducks and mallards, according to Trauba.

Statewide, it appeared to be a fairly productive opening day when the season opened Sept. 27, said Steve Cordts, the DNR’s waterfowl specialist in Bemidji.

“There were quite a few reports that it was good in most places,” Cordts said. “As always is the case and happens every year, (reports) ranged from very good to poor.”

At the Mud Goose WMA (Mud Lake) in the Grand Rapids area, hunters checked were averaging about three ducks apiece on Saturday; at nearby Big Rice Lake near Remer, they were averaging about 21⁄2, Cordts said.

That’s an area covered by Perry Loegering, DNR area wildlife manager in Grand Rapids. He said those two lakes had decent wild rice crops this year, likely attracting some ring-necked ducks. Nearby Big White Oak Lake didn’t have a good rice crop, and duck hunter harvest there was an average of 1.1 ducks Saturday, Loegering said.

Combined, those three locations averaged about 2.3 ducks per hunter, he said.

Loegering said he’s been checking bags on opening day of duck season for several years, and that the average is pretty good, given that every hunter that comes off the lakes – hunters with varying skill sets – is checked.

Cordts said duck hunters at the Thief Lake Wildlife Management area averaged about 2.5 ducks per hunter, while the averaged dipped at both Carlos Avery WMA and Swan Lake WMA in southern Minnesota. The average at Carlos Avery was about 1.25, according to Cordts; at Swan Lake it was under a duck per hunter.

In that same area of the state, this writer found high bluewing numbers on Saturday, along with a few wood ducks and decent numbers of mallards. Flocks of Canada geese made occasional appearances.


Cordts reported state duck stamp sales through opening weekend were up 4 percent from last year – 73,100 in 2014 compared with 70,400 last year. Since 2007, an average of 73,000 stamps have been sold through opening weekend.

Of note, the duck-hunting season currently is closed in the South Zone of the state until Oct. 11. It remains open thereafter through Dec. 6. In the Central Zone, the season closes Oct. 5, reopening Oct. 11 until Nov. 30. The season is continuous in the north, ending this year Nov. 25.

Here are a few opening-weekend observations from the state’s conservation wardens:

• Chris Vinton, of Perham, says the duck opener was “very warm and skies were clear, but many of the hunters had a mixed bag of wood ducks, mallards, and teal.”
• Jeff Johanson, of Osakis, reported, “Most groups (of duck hunters) had a few ducks in the bag and the harvest was average.”
• Along the Mississippi River, CO Scott Fritz, of La Crescent, reports “plenty of duck hunters.” However, “the harvest along the river was poor, averaging less than one duck per hunter …”

[Bailey]

The river is never good early. Usually packed with hunters though from what I hear.