Avery Outdoors Releases First Waterfowl Report Doug Note: I only listed the Mississippi Flyway report his time, but I will list longer reports from Avery (our friend John Gordon) in the weeks ahead. Duck hunters you will see information from early hunts listed below. And some opening dates from up north along the flyway. Mississippi: Name: Will Harvey Date: 9/22/14 Location: Glenwood MN Weather: Sunny and mid-70’s this week. Snow Cover: N/A Water Conditions: Water levels are really good in the area Feeding Conditions: Wheat is out and has been mostly turned over, some corn starting to be chopped. Species and Numbers: Goose numbers are low. Duck numbers low as well after the frost a couple weeks ago. Migrations: My guess is not much movement this week Season Stage: Early Hunting Report: Hunting has been tough. Have had a couple good hunts this early season. Low numbers of Canada geese and high hunting pressure pushed them out of the area for the most part early in the season. Haven’t found many fields with huntable numbers of geese lately. Gossip: Nothing at this time. Name: Casey Hopfer Date: 9/24/2014 Location: Richmond, MN Weather: Sunny, temps in the mid-to-upper-70’s for the week through to the weekend. Snow Cover: N/A Water Conditions: Water levels are higher this year than last year, many potholes and marshes have good amounts of water and will be accessible Feeding Conditions: Wheat has been harvested and most fields are over-grown by cover crops. Some farmers are beginning to chop corn nearby. Species and Numbers: Duck numbers are looking strong-large amounts of wood ducks and teal are still around the area. Goose numbers are low. Migrations: It does not look like we will see much migration activity going on this week. Season Stage: Early Hunting Report: Up until now hunting has been tough for the early goose season. Few huntable fields coupled with high hunting pressure made it tough to find fields and birds to hunt. Currently goose numbers are low and finding a field that is holding large enough numbers to hunt is difficult. Gossip: Many people are optimistic for the upcoming duck opener. Duck numbers appear to be higher than previous years. Name: Richard Shamla Date: 09/24/14 Location: Clara City, MN Weather: This week the day time highs are in the 70’s and night time lows are in the 50’s. Snow Cover: None Water Conditions: Water levels remain high with some small pockets of surface water in fields. This year we got a lot of rain during the middle of summer and it has been drying out ever since but the water is still high. Feeding Conditions: Waterfowl are feeding in harvested wheat fields, silage corn fields and sweet corn fields. The harvest of edible beans has started as well as sugar beets. Species and Numbers: Geese numbers in the area are lows but steady as the early season wrapped up last weekend. Ducks numbers seemed to have dropped slightly after a light frost we had two weekends ago. There are still decent numbers of teal and wood ducks around which should make for a average duck opener. Migrations: Not much migration yet other than the loss of some local ducks after the frost. Season Stage: Regular duck and goose season opens up this weekend. Hunting Report: Early goose season was spotty but we had some good hunts. Overall the number of geese for the area was down from past seasons. Dove hunting was good this year and we shot a lot of young birds. Through scouting I expect duck opener to be average to good depending on where u hunt, but last year I saw more ducks in the area. Gossip: N/A Name: Greg Owens Date: Sept 24 2014 Location: Rochester, MN Weather: Lows in the 40’s and highs in the 70’s. Snow Cover: None yet Water Conditions: The water is pretty low. Feeding Conditions: Some of the area corn fields have been cut. Most of the birds are still on grass in the area. The rice crop on the river is pretty bad this year. Species and Numbers: Bird numbers are fairly low for both ducks and geese in the area. Migrations: With the near freezing temps we had a couple weeks ago; many of the early migrators have left. Season Stage: Duck season opens this weekend. Hunting Report: Duck season opens this weekend. Gossip: It will be nice to be back in the blind. The off season is far too long! Name: Russell Brzezinski Date: September 20, 2014 Location: Berkley, Michigan Weather: Overcast, windy, occasional rain Snow Cover: N/A Water Conditions: N/A Feeding Conditions: Cut corn fields are holding the birds right now. Species and Numbers: Saw a good number of geese and local mallards around. Molt migrants are back in Michigan, making for some quick gunning. Migrations: Canadas, teal Season Stage: Beginning stages Hunting Report: Good success on geese with the molts coming back through Michigan. Saw some good numbers of ducks (teal, mallards and woodies) in the local marsh on Sunday. Name: Gerry Mazur Date: 9-21-14 Location: Pt. Mouille State Game Area…near Flat Rock Michigan. Weather: Very windy and cloudy with storm front passing through during the weekend. Winds from the west to south west blowing water out. Snow Cover: None Water Conditions: Water levels are up in the area during regular weather conditions. SW winds do play havoc pushing water to the lake from the protected area. Feeding Conditions: Plenty of corn and beans but crops are still up. Wheat is cut but hard to find because of market price, farmers did not put much in the ground. Species and Numbers: Teal seem to be gone with the cold front earlier in the week. Mallards continue to trickle in. Local geese dominate the numbers but not in big packs. Migrations: Waterfowl has moved some into the area with NW winds. Season Stage: Michigan 3 day goose is over from this past weekend in the south zone. The duck and goose opener in the south is October 11th. Hunting Report: Location as always. Those that had permission had great early seasons in select spots. Overall not hearing great things yet. Name: Justin Weber Date: 9/23/2014 Location: Cottage Grove, Wisconsin Weather: Partly sunny with lows in the 40’s and highs in the 70’s. Snow Cover: None Water Conditions: Above average water levels with recent rains Feeding Conditions: Geese hitting freshly cut silage fields. Ducks are hitting marshes and ponds. Species and Numbers: We had a really good hatch of ducks this year. If you know where you’re looking finding high concentrations of ducks is no problem. With season opening in a week up north birds should be plenty. Goose numbers are very high. Limits are easy to come by with high numbers we have in our area right now. Migrations: Big push of geese on Sunday and Monday. Should be a fun week! Season Stage: Early season Hunting Report: Limits of honkers…. Gossip: Youth hunters this past weekend had ample shooting opportunities with the number of ducks coming down. Name: Ryan Eder Date: 9/23/14 Location: Antioch, IL / Pleasant Prairie, WI Weather: 70 degrees, minimal cloud cover, evening storms – NW Wind 5-10mph Snow Cover: No snow Water Conditions: Heavy night rains, standing water in fields (hay, pasture). Feeding Conditions: No crop harvested yet, birds in grass, wheat fields. Species and Numbers: Geese – high flying migrator groups (20-30 birds), mallards (groups of 10-20), no teal, some local wood ducks around. Migrations: Geese – high flying groups migrating. Season Stage: Early season Hunting Report: As of today, our group has shot 0 teal and 29 geese. Gossip: Friends in Iowa did well on teal (river hunting and a few public marshes). Most of their shooting was in am. Our mornings were slow in a winter wheat field, mostly pairs of geese, no large groups. All were migrators that we called down into the spread. Name: Nathan Bender Date: 09-23-2014 Location: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Weather: Mostly clear skies with temperatures during the day reaching highs of 70 degrees and at night dropping to the low of 40 degrees. Snow Cover: None Water Conditions: Rainfall activity over the course of the last several weeks has helped maintain great overall water levels in most rivers, lakes, ponds and sloughs within the southern portion of the state. Feeding Conditions: Honkers have been feeding both in the mornings and afternoons. They have been hitting fresh silage cut cornfields as of late with the rest using freshly cut alfalfa and old oat/wheat fields. Numbers vary from area to area but feeds of 300+ Honkers can be found. Species and Numbers: Local honker population is high with migrators moving in whenever we have had north winds in the forecast. In the southern portion of the state we have seemed to have a great overall hatch of ducks and numbers should increase as we near the early to middle stages of October. Migrations: Whenever a north wind is present, migrating Canada geese have filled the skies. We received a strong push of migrators during the second week of September with many still following the exact routine during last week as the north winds persist. Season Stage: Early season Hunting Report: Hunting has been exceptional if you can find a field that honkers are feeding in or if you are able to get under the migrating birds that are headed south. Guys have been shooting honker limits in the area with the recent influx in new bird but the migrators heading south have made up a vast majority of the bag the last two weeks. Gossip: Duck season starts this weekend for the northern portion of the state of Wisconsin and many are talking about the big push of blue-wing and green-winged teal that they have received with the recent north winds this past week. The blue-winged teal are using the backwaters on lakes as well as the secluded sloughs around the area here in the southern portion. Wood ducks are down here in the southern portion of the state as well in good numbers just like in years past and will make up for a lot of what Wisconsin hunters will harvest during the start of the season when it opens in October. Name: Shaun Patrick Date: 9/24/14 Location: Troy, MO Weather: Highs in the 70’s lows in the mid-40’s. Snow Cover: N/A Water Conditions: High, one of the wettest late summers we have had in quite some time Feeding Conditions: Good food in areas that did not flood. Corn in the area is some of the best in a few years due to the wet summer. Species and Numbers: Teal Migrations: We had a very early push of teal come through before the season opened Season Stage: None Hunting Report: Teal season was poor this year. Gossip: With a bad winter in the forecast, ice eater sales are going through the roof in the area. Hunters are worried about another early freeze up, but excited about the possibility of another goose season like last year. Name: John Gordon Date: 9/23/2014 Location: Merigold, MS Weather: Very pleasant at this time, fall is here with highs near 80. Snow Cover: None Water Conditions: Levels are steady with some frequent rains helping to stabilize the local water sources. Feeding Conditions: Good, most of the corn fields are down and the teal are finding invertebrates in shallow waters. Species and Numbers: The blue-wings arrived during the first week of the season. There are some pintails and shovelers around as well along with the ever present wood ducks. Migrations: Teal have been flowing through steadily with new groups showing up with north winds. Most of the teal I harvested on Sunday were hens, indication the migration is in full force now. Season Stage: Last weekend of the early teal season coming up. Hunting Report: Pretty steady shooting on blue-wings with many limits being taken quickly. Gossip: Mullen finally got the monkey off his back against LSU and the Bulldogs are in the top 20. Dak for Heisman!! Name: Jay Hayter Date: 9/22/14 Location: Shreveport, Louisiana Weather Reportr: 60-80s Snow Cover: N/A Water Conditions: Normal, some recent rainfall has helped. Feeding Conditions: Good, plenty of invertebrates available in the local marshes for the ducks that have arrived. Species and Numbers: Blue-wings, fair numbers but they seemed to be scattered. Migrations: None observed, but cooler weather should bring some big ducks into the area. Season Stage: Final week of the early teal season. Hunting Report: Mixed Gossip: Good for a few days then slacks off.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 13:50:53 +0000