October 28, 2021
A few thoughts on the current duck season
1) So far I have hunted once - opening day from 5:30 pm till sunset. No shots but more wood ducks that I may have ever seen at the refuge. Few hunters
2) Duck reports are either bad or appear to be lies. Reality here is that there are really no ducks to be found (my snobbishness, in that I don't kill Wood ducks)
3) Weekly scouting of refuge since opener has been the same each week. No ducks, a few swans and a few giant honkers. Both open and closed areas have no ducks. no coots either.
4) Usually at this point in time, even in poor years there a fair number (some hundreds to a few thousand) of ducks in the rice and/or rafting on the big water with a mix of divers and mallards. As of today, there are virtually no ducks or coots. One can also tell from the number of hunting parties and the number of eagles that there are no birds around. One party hunting on the whole of the open portion of the refuge and a total of four eagles. The bird watching count was dismal.
1 blue jay
2 unidentified song birds
3 gulls
6 grebes
10 mallards
6 unidentified diver ducks
43 trumpeter swans
1 marsh hawk
4 eagles
6 crows
2 ravens
If I had any say in changing the current duck hunting regulations, I would suggest:
eliminate teal season
eliminate youth hunt
eliminate early goose season
eliminate spinning wing decoys
opener should be the first Saturday of October - noon start time
guided hunts not allowed
maximum number of guns over one decoy set - 5
one mistake hen mallard allowed, other wise drakes only
possession limit equal to twice the daily limit
Have been reading the daily Ducks Unlimited message board/reports posts (for Minnesota). There appears to be at least two distinct types of people who post - a) those that give a report from the field that is mostly negative on the number of birds, postulates why, and offers fixes, and b) those who call group a, whiners and other derogatory names and accuse them of being lazy hunters who don't do enough scouting. Interesting how one can see the political thinking even in a duck chat....
