Rice Lake NWR

[Fish Felon]

I checked the MN DNR waterfowl report for the first time since the last one I posted, and it was a little bit of a buzzkill to see the counts on Rice Lake---Really High but Really Old (Oct. 4th)

[After Post Edit: Nevermind. I just looked at it again and caught the date of the count being 10/16....so why does it say week of Oct. 4th at top?]

I searched to see if I could find a recent one and no dice. However a STrib article reports there's still 600K on it, and radar picked it up as a suspected forest fire.....

http://m.startribune.com/suspected-fire ... 563291432/


I also found this article that I thought was decent....


https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sport ... s-of-ducks



There are ducks in MN. We even have a legit NWR that puts up very respectable duck counts. I wonder how many refuges post higher duck counts? What percentile would it be in? Top ten-percent? Twenty-five?

It's another reminder that MN is maybe the worst wildlife viewing state imaginable.

[Hansen]

Wow, 671,000 ringers what is that 40% of the total population?

[emptymag]

What a report from LQP....

[9manfan]

What a report from LQP....

That sure has changed over the years, I remember taking my kids up there over MEA (20 years ago) and thousands of geese were in the refuge........

Talcot is about the same story..........

[HnkrCrash]

My buddies and I were talking about LQP while encased in our moldy layout blinds during early goose season. What happened to those birds? There used to be like 100K peak on LQP as recent as a decade or so ago, and now it peaks at like 5K I feel like.

I’ve heard Winnipeg proper stacks up now, but from there, where do the birds go? Fergus seems to get more and more geese every year, so maybe they are going there now instead of LQP? Or maybe they hole up in Winnipeg and overfly MN altogether. Hell, as mentioned, Talcot and even Lake Crystal and Roch don’t even have a fraction of these geese they used to. Did they all get killed?

[Hansen]

I think the geese spread out more. Winnipeg, Fergus, St. Cloud area, SE Metro, Roch all stack with birds in huge numbers rather than just one area.

[maplelakeduckslayer]

LMFAO a forest fire? Which simpleton that this state employs thought a forest fire was the most plausible answer given our wet entire year? Or is is really that shocking that it's possible to have that many birds in the state, that a forest fire is more believable even with many areas being 100% above avg precipitation?

[Nershi]

Problem is very few birds leave the rice lake refuge so it seems to actually hurt the hunting in the area. The lake is a food factory. And it's not just wild rice. Really no reason for them to leave. Talked to a guy hunting close to it this morning on a big wild rice marsh. He saw a couple high flocks of ringers and no shots. Meanwhile less than 10 miles away there are supposedly 600K+?! I really don't believe that number but I am sure there are lots based on the radar images.

I thought the forest fire was a pretty dumb assumption as well. Maybe a building fire or oil fire but you couldn't start a forest fire now if you tried.

[Bailey]

Problem is very few birds leave the rice lake refuge so it seems to actually hurt the hunting in the area. The lake is a food factory. And it's not just wild rice. Really no reason for them to leave. Talked to a guy hunting close to it this morning on a big wild rice marsh. He saw a couple high flocks of ringers and no shots. Meanwhile less than 10 miles away there are supposedly 600K+?! I really don't believe that number but I am sure there are lots based on the radar images.

I thought the forest fire was a pretty dumb assumption as well. Maybe a building fire or oil fire but you couldn't start a forest fire now if you tried.

I was going to ask if they presented any opportunities. But like any refuge as long as they have food there is zero reason for them to leave.

[Bailey]

With ample food, few predators (eagles pick-off sick or injured birds but rarely bother healthy ducks) and no duck hunters to bother them, the ducks here are fat and happy in their federally protected bed and breakfast.

“They’ll (numbers of ducks will) keep building for a couple more weeks. We usually reach peak about October 15,’’ King said. “But when we have a good rice crop, and this is a great one, they will hold here until it freezes up. There’s really no reason for them to leave.”