Minnesota Waterfowl Migration and Hunting Report 27 September 2012 The following report is a compilation of state and federal wildlife manager reports and waterfowl surveys from across Minnesota. This is the 2 nd report for 2012. Reports will be compiled ly throughout the hunting season and should be available by Thursday afternoon each. The Conservation Officer Report, available on the DNR web site, also contains information about waterfowl hunter success across the state. General: 27 September 2012, 3:00 p.m. Duck hunters encountered dry conditions, unseasonably cold temperatures (including some skim ice), but good to very good hunting success across the state on opening end. Blue-winged teal, wood ducks, and mallards were most common in the bag. Some hunters in northern Minnesota did well on ring-necked ducks and hunting for ring-necked ducks will improve over the next few s as more migrants move into the state. Due to the dry conditions, access remains difficult in many locations with low water and mud flats on many lakes, wetlands, and rivers. The wild rice crop is just starting to deteriorate on many lakes. NW WC Roseau Karlstad Thief Lake Agassiz NWR Crookston Tamarac NWR Fergus Falls Talcot Lake SW NC Park Rapids Brainerd Windom Baudette Little Big Glenwood Falls Stone NWR Sauk LQP Rapids Willmar Appleton Swan Slayton Lake Grand Rapids Aitkin Rice Lake NWR C SE NE Sherburne NWR Carlos Avery Upper Miss. Rochester Owatonna Cloquet Cambridge MN Valley NWR Winona The numbers of ducks/hunter at various locations in Minnesota on opening day was: Thief Lake WMA (3.3), Tamarac NWR (2.0), Big Rice by Remer (1.5), Big White Oak (2.0), Mud Goose WMA (3.6), Roseau WMA (1.6), Canosia WMA (0.5). Lac qui Parle WMA (4.0), Carlos Avery WMA (1.3) and Swan Lake (2.9). In general, success on public areas of about 2 ducks/hunter/day is fair, 3 ducks/hunter/day is good, and >3 ducks/hunter/day is very good duck hunting. Hunting success for Canada geese is good in most areas. Many reports indicated an influx of Canada geese moving into the state beginning last Friday and continuing over the end. Some small (cackling) Canada geese and snow geese were also reported, mainly in northwest Minnesota. Crop harvest is well advanced from previous years, especially with the continued dry conditions, so there should be good potential for field hunting the remainder of the season. Duck stamp sales through opening end were just slightly above last season, with just over 69,000 state waterfowl stamps sold. In some cases, the dry conditions concentrated hunters but in most areas, hunting pressure was similar to recent years. Hunters can expect near record high temperatures this end across the state, with daytime highs in the upper 70s in
northern Minnesota and low 80s in southern Minnesota. Lows should be in the mid 40s in the north and low 50s in the south. No precipitation is in the forecast. A weak cold front is expected in the middle of next with temperatures dropping to near average and a slight chance of precipitation in some areas. Despite the warm, stable weather expected this end, the outlook is good as fair numbers of blue-winged teal, wood ducks, mallards, and some ring-necked ducks are present and should provide good opportunity during the 2 nd end. Reminder: The waterfowl season in the Central and South Duck zone is closed starting next Monday Oct. 1. Duck season dates: Goose season dates : North Duck Zone: Sept. 22-Nov. 20 Sept. 22-Dec. 16 Central Duck Zone: Sept. 22-Sept. 30 and Oct. 6-Nov. 25 Sept. 22-Sept. 30 and Oct. 6-Dec. 21 South Duck Zone: Sept. 22-Sept. 30 and Oct. 13-Dec. 2 Sept. 22-Sept. 30 and Oct. 13-Dec. 28 Bag limits are 6 ducks/day, with no more than: 4 mallards (2 hens), 4 scaup, 3 wood duck, 2 pintail, 2 redhead, 1 black duck, 1 canvasback. Canada goose bag limits are 3/day. Shooting hours begin ½ hour before sunrise until 4 p.m. through Saturday Oct. 6 and until sunset the remainder of the season. Motorized decoys are prohibited statewide through Saturday October 6 th and on state wildlife management areas the entire season. The sandhill crane season is open until Oct. 21 in the Northwest goose zone only. Bag limits are 2/day and a sandhill crane permit is required. Hunters should consult the 2012 Waterfowl Hunting regulations (available from license vendors or online at: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/regulations/hunting/index.html) for additional details and regulations. Safety Never Takes A Holiday: treat every gun as if it were loaded, be 100% certain of your target before pulling the trigger, wear your life vest, pay attention to other hunters and your hunting partners, and watch the weather.
The following is a summary of pre-season waterfowl habitat and hunting conditions from various reporting stations across the state. Area Habitat conditions Waterfowl migrations and weather conditions Hunter Activity and Success Northwest Thief Lake WMA Roseau River WMA Unchanged from last. Access is challenging. Not much change from last. Goose and crane fidelity to local stubble fields is relatively strong. Ring-necks increased proportionally in the bag on 9/24 might indicate new arrivals. Snow geese showing up. Strong northwest winds accompanied the opener. Calm winds with sub-freezing morning temperatures characterized the following opener. Good numbers of Canada geese and cranes remain with duck numbers strong in the vicinity of the Pool 2 sanctuary. Wood duck and blue-winged teal numbers remain abundant. Hunter numbers opening end were down 21% from last year. Hunters averaged 2.95 ducks per hunter opening end, with dabblers dominating the bag. Bluewinged teal were most abundant in the bag, followed by mallards, pintail and wigeon. Hunters on the lake averaged 0.23 geese/hunter. Hunter use of the CHZ has been light, but hunters averaged 0.21 geese/hunter over the first 3 days. Opening end: Hunter numbers were relatively low. Canada goose hunting was excellent (>1.0 geese/hunter-day), and duck hunting was fair at 1.6 ducks/hunter-day). Few sandhill cranes were taken. Access on the Roseau River is basically limited to walk-in only. Pool access is better than anticipated; hunters need to allow extra time to access their hunting spots due to the shallow water.
Agassiz NWR Overall wetland conditions on the Refuge are exceptionally dry, with multiple pools holding no water Northeast Cloquet North central Park Rapids Despite water levels below normal in a few places, there were no reported access problems. Lake, stream, and wetland water levels are below normal but all remain navigable. Most emergent vegetation is in good shape. Rice stands are starting to deteriorate but still provide adequate cover. Ducks: large concentrations of mallards and greenwinged teal are using the shallow water conditions on several Refuge pools; diving duck use is low due to shallow water levels in most Refuge pools Geese: large numbers of migrant Canada geese recently arrived and are using the Refuge; locally breeding giant Canada geese are still present in good numbers; an unusually large number of snow geese (numerous flocks of <100 geese) are present. Other: Good numbers of sandhill cranes present and some migrant tundra swans arrived this Weather on the opener was cloudy to mostly cloudy with fairly strong northwest winds and scattered showers. Temperatures started in the mid 30 s and by mid-day they were in the mid 50 s. Seasonable temperatures have persisted for the past. Cool nights and warm days are creating ideal conditions for fall colors. Good numbers of wood ducks, BWT, and mallards are using area lakes and rivers. GWT and ring-necks are also present but in lower numbers. No migrations have been noted this. Canada goose numbers remain strong. Rice Lake NWR Low water levels, No rice Waterfowl numbers dropped considerably. Sunny 50 degrees, light winds The bag check at Canosia WMA recorded only 0.46 ducks per hunter. Mallards, blue-winged teal, and wood ducks made up most of the bag. The lack of wild rice likely contributed to the poor success at Canosia. Success varied on the opener with poor to good reports. Hunter numbers were generally lower this year. Conservation Officers reported some limits were taken in Becker and Hubbard Counties while reports from Leech Lake, Longville area and Wadena counties were very spotty with low hunter numbers and few birds harvested by parties. Success was good to excellent north of Remer. Wood ducks, mallards, teal, and geese were the most common birds in the bag. A few ring-necks were also harvested. No hunting allowed
Aitkin Normal fall water levels Frosty mornings, sunny days. Have observed mallards and Canada geese using various wetlands. Coots starting to show up. Pretty good opener. Mixed bag on divers and puddlers. Lots of BWT and Wood ducks, mallards. Fair Grand Rapids West central Glenwood Tamarac NWR Water levels in most places are still adequate for habitat and access. Small wetlands are dry, larger wetlands still contain some water but most have a substantial mud flat. This is creating some nice shallow feeding areas for the dabbling ducks, but also in many locations access can be very difficult. Dry conditions continue with water levels still very low Lots of cold temps and NW winds until 9-24. We probably lost some BWT but there are still some around and still have good numbers of wood ducks, and some ring-necks. Observed some cackling Canada geese on 9-24. Weather has been calm warm and sunny. We did get down to 25 on the Saturday of opener and I think this moved some of the early migrants out but hunters still had good hunts in most cases. There are still some birds around that did not get chased out this past end but in a lot of cases they have found a safe zone on the very hard to access shallow basins. No significant migrations or concentrations of ducks have been noted this. Mallards and Bluewinged teal numbers are up from last. The presence of rice on some lakes continues to make visibility and detection of waterfowl difficult. amount of hunters on the opener. Bag checks were conducted on 1) Big Rice Lake by Remer 21 hunters checked with 1.5 ducks/hunter Ring-neck, BWT and Mallard were the top three in the bag. 2) Big White Oak Lake by Deer River, 38 hunters checked with 2.0 ducks/hunter, BWT, Mallard and Gadwall were the top three in the bag. 3) Mud Lake at Mud-Goose WMA 53 hunters checked with 3.6 ducks/hunter, Wood duck, ring-neck and BWT were the top three in the bag. Opening day car counts at 13 waterfowl lakes were down 9%. Hunter activity has been very low during this first, although the opening end did see a good number of hunters out. With the difficult hunting conditions from the clam bluebird sky s to unseasonably warm temps and the low water levels creating some access issues success has been hampered a bit for those that have made it out. Hunter pressure on opening end was average or slightly below. Bag limits averaged less than 2 ducks per hunter. Wood ducks made up most of the bag, with a few blue-winged teal, mallards and ring-necked ducks taken as well. High flying snow geese were seen flying through on Saturday and Monday.
Central Little Falls Sauk Rapids Same as last ; no measurable precipitation experienced since last report. Shallow lakes and deeper wetlands are very low. Smaller wetlands are very low or dry. These conditions are ideal for local and migrating waterfowl in Minnesota. Had a good movement of teal both into and out of area late last. However, very good numbers of birds around the area, particularly teal, wood ducks and mallards. Lows in the 30s and highs in the 50s during opening end, and warming trend expected to more normal temperatures in the coming. No significant precipitation expected. A substantial cold front blew in on Friday, Sept. 21 and continued through opening day. There definitely was a collective smile on most duck hunters faces early Saturday morning and the great weather did not disappoint! Hunting success appeared to be quite good, and was exceptional in the Rice-Skunk Lakes complex east/southeast of Little Falls. Hunter participation appeared to increase slightly from last year. Overall above average hunter success with much higher proportion reporting reaching their bag or near bag limit. Teal dominated the bag, followed by wood ducks, and in some areas hunters did quite well on mallards. Some pintail also showed up in the bag in Todd County. One quote I heard from a duck hunter on Saturday sums it up pretty well, I almost gave up on duck hunting, but after today I m glad I didn t! Soybean harvest is about 50% complete with corn at around 30%. Plenty of teal and wood ducks were available to hunters over opening end with mallards surprisingly plentiful in many local areas. New Canada geese continue to arrive with noticeable increases over the end again. Sherburne NWR Moderate drought. Temporary and seasonal wetlands are dry. Semi-permanent wetlands are vestigial. Water levels are very low on the St. Francis River. Long Pool, a traditional duck hunting water body, has below normal water levels. Forecasted stable weather will likely moderate waterfowl movement over the next 5-7 days. There are many wetlands that have large amounts of wild rice that past years were not known to have rice. These wetlands are holding waterfowl as feeding areas as they migrate along the St. Francis River. There has been success in hunting wood ducks and within the past there was more success hunting mallards as they begin to migrate.
Mille Lacs WMA Conditions are still good for hunting and access. Water levels continue to slowly drop due to lack of rainfall. The cold front and windy conditions over the end likely moved some birds around but no major influx or outflux of birds was observed. A lot of shooting was heard around the area but no bag checks were completed. The few reports that have come in were positive with good numbers of birds around. Primary species were wood ducks and teal. Southwest Swan Lake (Nicollet) Conditions are extremely dry in the Nicollet Area with only shallow lakes and permanent wetlands holding water. Crops are 50% harvested. Mild sunny and dry with no precipitation. Prior to duck opener large numbers of blue winged teal and wood ducks moved into the area. The teal seemed to leave after the opening day shoot with the cold windy weather system. Molt migrant geese were available to hunters also for opening day but probably soon joined locals in refuges and or cities. Area wide success was very good, with mostly teal and wood ducks making up the bag. Area wide hunters probably averaged 3 to 4 ducks per hunter. Swan Lake Bag Check 55 parties with a total of 126 hunters were checked at 3 separate locations: Poor Farm Bay (north) public access, Nicollet Bay (south) public access, and Compart s hunting cabins. A total of 364 ducks were harvested, for an average of 2.9 ducks per hunter. There was also 1 Canada Goose harvested. Below is a breakdown of ducks harvested by species: Mallard 36 Blue-Wing Teal 160 Green-Wing Teal 21 Wood Duck 88 Gadwall 2 Canvasback 1 Redhead 46 Shoveler 1 Ruddy 8 Lesser Scaup 1
Slayton Area wetlands continue to be low, no precipitation last and none forecast for this. Corn and soybean harvest continue ahead of last years pace with some tillage being done. Duck numbers remain good as ducks are concentrated in wetlands that still have water. Green wing teal are showing up. Forecast for the is mostly sunny with highs in mid to upper 70s, lows in the mid to upper 40s. Good success on the opener but the few wetlands that had water were a bit crowded. Bags included mostly Mallards, Teal and Wood ducks. Lac qui Parle WMA Marsh Lake and Upper LQP Lake water levels slightly below normal. Hunters should expect to encounter more rocks and to find just a few inches of water around cattail points. Habitat west of Marsh Lake many of the backwater channels are dry. Pockets of water. Cold and windy on the opening day (27 degrees Saturday night) but temps have since moderate to average or slightly above. Blue skies. It appeared blue-winged teal (BWT) abundance declined the Sunday after the opener but BWT are still present in fair numbers. Wood duck numbers appear to be holding. No other migrations to report. Hunter numbers up slightly on the unit compared to 2011. Good to excellent opening end almost 4 ducks per hunter recorded in bag checks blue-winged teal, mallard, wood duck, and greenwinged teal the top four harvested in that order. Heard multiple reports of hunters surprised by the number of mallards observed opening end. Appleton Big Stone NWR Many wetland basins are dry or holding only sheet water. Crop harvest in full-swing. Shallow water levels persist on the refuge with large areas some wetlands being dry. Favorable conditions for waterfowl. Soybean and corn harvest is well underway around the area. Slight decline in blue-winged teal and slight increase in Canada Geese. Forecast for continued mild and dry. Don t expect much movement. Decent duck numbers for this time of year on the refuge. Mallards are the dominant duck species followed by blue-winged teal. Dry conditions remain with no precipitation in the short-term forecast. Forecast thru the end calls for mild conditions with temperatures in the 70 s and lows in the 50 s. Goose numbers have not climbed appreciably maybe a few more birds compared to the last days of the early season. Very good reports from opening end, especially Saturday, with moderate pressure and high success. Pressure very light during the but ducks still around. Big Stone NWR is closed to waterfowl hunting, however adjacent private land may be accessible to hunters.
Willmar Bean harvest at 75 %, corn at 35% with some fall tillage occurring. Water levels continue to drop with no precipitation since last report. Wetlands continue to dry up. Opening day of the 22 nd began cloudy, strong NW wind and cold. High of 55. On the 23 rd, weather was clear and calm with light variable wind by late morning, high of 63. Continues sunny, dry and seasonal temps. in forecast with a warming trend coming for the rest of the into the end. Redwood Falls Windom Drought conditions range from abnormally dry to severe drought. All wetlands lower than normal, some completely dry. Even beaver ponds along perennial streams are low. Crop harvest ranges from 25-75% of the corn and soybeans are 25-50%. Dry conditions allowing crop harvest to proceed rapidly. Marshes continue to dry and water levels fall. Marshes with water are in good shape for ducks. Crop harvest continues at a steady pace. Talcot Lake WMA Water levels continue to drop exposing more mud flats. 50-75% of the corn and bean crop has been harvested Heavy influx of coots noted in the area just prior to the opener. No movements of birds noticed since last report. Weather has remained very dry with seasonal temperatures returning over the last. Low around 27 degrees on Sunday morning. The forecast for the rest of the is very mild with clear skies and lows in the 40 s, highs around 70 degrees. Good numbers of ducks in the area for the opener, relative to the available water. Much less on Sunday, except on marshes with some unhunted backwater areas. No migrations noted. Overnight temps have gone below freezing a couple of nights this past. Day time temps in the 70s. This past the days have been, warm and sunny with light winds Hunter activity was heavy and concentrated on remaining waters. Overall success was excellent on opening day with wood ducks, BWT, and mallards dominant in the bag. Some good goose action as well. Some hunters filled out early in the morning. Sunday, the 23 rd was very slow for most hunters with some spotty success. Dramatic difference from opening day. This past end was the best waterfowl season opener in recent memory. Limit bags of wood ducks were common, and teal and mallards were common in the bag. Pintails were also harvested in Redwood County. Water conditions have concentrated birds into the remaining marshes. Very good Saturday opener. Hunters reported very good success on mallards, teal, and wood ducks, with some other species mixed in. Though many blue-winged teal appeared to have left the area prior to the hunt, there were still fair numbers available. Green-winged teal also started to show up. Sunday was very slow. Hunter activity at Talcot for the waterfowl opener was slow. The number of cars on the WMA for the opening day was down 50% compared to 2011. No bag check data was collected.
Southeast Owatonna The entire area is affected by dry conditions, especially Freeborn, Mower and Waseca Counties where drought classifications range from moderate to extreme. Most wetlands are dry and many lakes are very low with substantial mudflats. Upper Twin in Freeborn County is dry. Hunters are encouraged to check water conditions and access. Row crop harvest continuing at a rapid pace. About 50% - 60% of the corn is harvested and soybean harvest is 30% - 50%. A strong cold front passed through on opening end bringing the first hard freeze of the season, but little precipitation. Blue-wing teal, green-wing teal, wood ducks and coots were on the move with the cold weather and northwest winds. Weather conditions warmed to more seasonal conditions during the, but very dry conditions continue. Hunting activity was typical and high for the opening end on areas that had access to water for hunting. Success was good with hunters averaging 2 4 birds per hunter in most areas. The most common ducks in the bag were wood ducks, blue-winged and greenwinged teal, mallards and Canada geese. There were some reports of a few divers being taken, especially ruddy ducks and redheads. Mid hunting pressure has been modest with some continued limited success.
Waterfowl Count Data, of September 24, 2012. Canada geese Ducks Number seen a : Number seen: Area NORTHWEST Date Swans this This count year This count year This s duck Species - % composition b Coot this Comments Thief Lake WMA NS 4,000 2,000 NS 12,000 8,000 No survey NORTH CENTRAL Beltrami/Clearwater County Winni/Bowstring area or Chippewa Nat. Forest N Leech Lake/Deer River Chippewa Nat. Forest S 9/25 200 500 NS 100 10,000 NS 12,000 80% RN, 15% MAL, 5% BWT 15,000 9/25 50 200 NS 600 2,000 NS 3,000 70% MAL, 30% RN 5,000 9/25 100 100 NS 100 35,000 NS 5,000 90% RN, 10% MAL 2,000 Brainerd/Wadena area NS 125 250 NS 1,000 450 Rice Lake NWR 9/26 130 400 1,500 3,000 2,300 5,300 54,000 WEST CENTRAL Tamarac NWR 9/25 170 500 400 400 6,000 4,130 1,500 CENTRAL Shallow Lakes (central) 9/26 60 1,300 1,000 700 400 40% WD, 40% HOOD, 15% RN, 5% MAL No survey 61% MAL, 36% WD, 2% RN 55% MAL, 37% BWT, 6% RN, 2% WD 52% MAL, 42% RN, 3% BWT, 2% GE Carlos Avery WMA 50 400 No report 1,000 100 16.000 Sherburne NWR 9/25 50 14,000 1,500 3,700 13,000 7,000 5,000 84% WD, 12% MAL, 2% BWT, 2% RN 6,000
Canada geese Number seen: Number seen: Ducks Area Date Swans this This count year This count year This s duck species - % composition Coot this Comments SOUTHWEST Shallow Lakes (south) NS 1,500 1,000 NS 5,000 1,000 No survey Big Stone NWR 9/26 0 2,300 100 2,000 2,000 800 500 Murray Co. lakes & wetlands 9/26 0 1,300 500 300 450 1,200 2,000 Talcot Lake WMA 9/27 0 200 200 70% MAL, 11% BWT, 8% SHOV, 3% GAD, 3% GWT, 3% WD 74% BWT, 13% MAL, 9% GAD, 2% WIG, 2% SHOV 0 0 a - Numbers seen during the current survey, last survey: the previous count from this year, last year: the number recorded during the same or nearby last year. b - abbreviations: MAL = mallard, GAD = Gadwall, WIG = Am. wigeon, GWT = Am. green-winged teal, BWT = blue-winged teal, SHOV = Northern shoveler, PIN = Northern pintail, WD = Wood duck, RED = Redhead, CAN = Canvasback, SCP = Scaup, RN = Ring-necked duck, HOOD = Hooded merganser, NS = No survey.