Minnesota duck hunters are in need of a push of new birds! The early part of the season has been good overall, but now local ducks are getting stretched thin, and there have been few new arrivals from up north to take their places.
This state’s duck season kicked off Sept. 27 in all three management zones. Hunting in the north zone continues straight through Nov. 25. Hunting in the central zone stopped Oct. 5 and resumed Oct. 11 (runs through Nov. 30). Hunting in the south zone stopped Sept. 29 and resumed Oct. 11 (runs through Dec. 6).
“We’re in something of a lull,” reports Steve Cordts, waterfowl specialist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “We’ve had a good start to the season, but now the locally raised ducks have been pressured and pushed around pretty hard, and we’ve had only a trickle of new ducks from the north. We need some colder weather up in Canada to kick the migration into high gear.
Hopefully a new migration will occur soon. Weather forecasts for Manitoba and Saskatchewan are calling for 20-degree temperature drops and northerly winds this weekend. This cold front won’t be dramatic, but it should be enough to increase migration activity. Temperatures are forecast to moderate again in the Canadian prairies next week, however.
“It’s time for that normal transition of mallards, gadwalls, pintails, redheads, scaup and other species into our state,” Cordts adds. “We’re already seeing some ingress of new ducks, but so far, again, it’s been just a trickle.”
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Cordts’ assessment is corroborated by Lisa Reid, wildlife biologist at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, Winona District. “We haven’t been able to fly aerial surveys recently (to count waterfowl) due to inclement weather, but we hope to fly later this week,” she says. “I can tell you, however, that we’re beginning to see a few more mallards, teal (bluewings and greenwings), gadwalls and other ducks on the refuge. We haven’t had a big migration, but we’re seeing evidence of some movement of birds down from Canada.”
Scott Glorvigan of Grand Rapids has been on several hunts since the beginning of season, and he has experienced the slowdown that Cordts and Reid describe. “Numbers of “ringbills” (ring-necked ducks), woodies and teal have been pretty good. The duck count is high, and we’re seeing the results of a good local hatch. But these ducks have been pressured pretty hard. When you find a concentration, it doesn’t take but a day or two of shooting, and they’re gone.”
(Wade Bourne is the Ducks Unlimited Magazine editor-at-large, former DU-TV host, avid waterfowler, and conservationist. Bourne will provide habitat and hunting reports for the Mississippi Flyway throughout the 2014-2015 season.)
