2018 Waterfowl Season

[Northwoods Labs]

Wisconsin's duck opener was this weekend, which is like Christmas for me. Cold start to Saturday morning opener, 25 degrees. Saw lots of mallards early and my dad was able to knock down a couple. Unfortunately, the teal were a no show. Our season started a week later than it has in the past and with the cold snap we have had I think a lot of the teal must have already moved off. Last year we got a limit of teal from this particular spot. We also had some opportunities for geese, but were wasteful with our shooting. Some hunters also need to do a basic review of when shooting hours are as well....

Sunday morning tried a different spot and managed a limit of wood ducks. Tough hunting because the birds wouldn't decoy well and other hunters on the lake were, lets just say "very aggressive", with their shooting. One of the woodies was a nice drake that I took down with my great grandpa's old Stevens side by side.




I know this is mostly a big game forum, but I'm sure there are plenty of HuntTalk public land waterfowlers on here. Feel free to post any reports or pictures here. Good luck to everyone this season. October really is a great time of year

 

[glass eye]

Nice pic ! I look forward to duck season as much as big game. There was a time I got bored with it so I began to spice it up by traveling the continent in pursuit of different species.

 

[BrentD]

That is a super handsome wood duck. Ours are still drab and anything but spectacular. They are also elusive. We missed one this morning.

This morning my 9-yr old pheasant specialist retrieved his first goose. It was an epic event and I'm super proud of him. We got 3 geese and 5 BW teal today.

 

[phutch30]

Montana opened on Sat.

The opener was foggy as heck but the bird numbers were good


Sun was slower but we ended one bird short of limiting 3 shooters. I was on a spoonie streak until this redhead drake ruined my chances at my first 7 spoonie day. LOL

 

[BrentD]

Great job! And a Handsome Dog to go with it. Just the way it should be.

I wish we could find a big duck or even some medium size ducks. Teal and geese are all we have brought down so far.

 

[Northwoods Labs]

Both are nice looking retrievers. Saw some divers today driving around. Hope to get some more variety this weekend but we will see

 

[ewludwig]

Shot two in the opener. Should have had a couple more. First water retrieve for the boy. Had to toss a shell to get him started, but still beats pulling the blind to retrieve birds. Sorry for the rotated image.

 

[kansasdad]

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Nice looking lab, kansas.

 

[ewludwig]

Thanks for fixing!

 

[Fisherkid1]

Im down south of milwaukee and we shot a bufflehead this morning. Kinda early for him.
Woodies are starting to thin out.

 

[SandyCreek]

just got back from Saskatchewan, my dog's first hunting trip!

 

[Louisdove]

Nice duck! It’s always more special to take one with a gun that has nostalgic value. The cold weather really gets the teal moving south. In Michigan, we’ve had an early teal season the last few years that seems like it’s going to stick around. It’s a great time to get some of those resident teal that disappear so quickly!

 

[Northwoods Labs]

Went out Sunday morning in a large wildlife area in northwest Wisconsin. Plenty of ducks flying around about 5 minutes before hours till about 10 minutes after. Hardly anything but some high flying geese after that. Managed 3 green wing teal, which I was very surprised to see around. Some mallards and a few woodies flying around early as well but none committed to the decoys.

Later in the day floated the St. Croix River, jumped a few wood ducks but missed. It was a beautiful float, the fall colors are just about peak in most spots

 

[Northwoods Labs]

Fisherkid: It is surprising to see a bufflehead that far south this early.

Sandycreek: Good work in Saskatchewan. That is definitely a bucket list hunt for me

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Awesome Pics!

 

[Northwoods Labs]

Had a nice mixed big hunt with my dad on Saturday. Steady shooting until 10 a.m. We had a few blown opportunities, but I was pretty happy with how we did. Saw the first divers of the season, migration is definitely starting. It will be interesting to see how long these birds stick around. Sunday morning we tried a new spot that ended up being a bust. Saw lots of ducks, but all high flyers that were on a mission somewhere other than where we were set up. Could have had a lot of shooting if we had a tundra swan season. All in all, a great weekend on public lands in the Northwoods, even saw a little bit of that white stuff falling from the sky today.

 

[icebreaker12]

Little late to post these, but had a few good days!

 

[phutch30]

Another good weekend in MT. Sat winter found us.

 

[MLaird]

Season reopened this morning here after the 2 week split. I got to take my oldest with me this morning since we were hunting close to the house. Fun hunt but it happened so fast We didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time out together. I shot the first pair to come in then tripled on the second group.