By Avery Outdoors.
Central:
Name: Mike Clement
Date: 10/06/14
Location: Devil’s Lake, ND
Weather: Highs in the 50’s/ Lows in the upper 30’s
Water Conditions: Excellent
Feeding Conditions: Birds feeding in the mornings and evenings in mostly wheat fields with some in beans
Species and Numbers: A few more birds showed up over the week with a more noticeable number of Canada geese in the area.
Migrations: Still early with a few birds that have showed up but still early in the migration.
Season Stage: Early
Hunting Report: Everyone I talked to did pretty well over the weekend. It was non-resident opener so hunting pressure was pretty high but it didn’t seem to scatter the birds to bad. The weather has definitely cooled down to more seasonal temperatures so birds should start slowly showing up into the area.
Name: Kirk Steffensen
Date: October 8, 2014
Location: Lincoln, NE
Weather: Seasonable with highs in the 70’s and lows in the 50’s.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Great – Rainwater Basins are all full with water everywhere. Local lakes and ponds are also full.
Feeding Conditions: Soybean harvest is in full swing with some corn coming out.
Species and Numbers: Lot of BWT around, a few big ducks seen and a couple small flocks of snows.
Migrations: Nothing this past week.
Season Stage: Duck season opened in zones 2 and 4 this past weekend and zone 1 opens this weekend. Dark goose season doesn’t open till October 27th.
Hunting Report: Good number of teal taken for the opener.
Gossip: Nothing at this time.
Name: Jared Shepard
Date: 10/07/14
Location: Scottsbluff, NE
Weather: More fall like temperatures this past week with high’s in the 70’s and overnight lows as cool as 31.
Snow Cover: None at this time.
Water Conditions: Due to heavy rains this past week the river is still raging but water levels have begun to recede as of the past two days. The rain has also caused a lot of wet spots in the low areas of fields and pastures that could make for some fantastic early duck shoots.
Feeding Conditions: Chopped corn, a variety of beans and plenty of green alfalfa.
Species and Numbers: Still only local ducks and geese in the area.
Migrations: No major migrations yet.
Season Stage: All waterfowl seasons are closed at this time. Dove season remains open until Oct 30. Season openers are as follows: Duck-Oct 22, Pheasant-Oct 25 and Dark Goose-Oct 27. White fronted and light goose seasons are now open and youth waterfowl weekend is the 18th-19th.
Hunting Report: If the estimates are close this should be another outstanding year!
Gossip: There has been much talk about how the water level in the river may remain high this year. Some concern has been voiced about high water during waterfowl season.
Name: Spencer Holzfaster
Date: October 7, 2014
Location: North Platte, NE
Weather: 71 degrees for the daytime high.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: River systems still have great water; big water (local lakes and reservoirs are about 50 percent full and have great back water). Farm ponds are full due to lots of rain and irrigation run off.
Feeding Conditions: Corn is being cut for silage, but normal corn harvest is a couple weeks away.
Species and Numbers: Lots of teal and bigger ducks have made their way down to the farm ponds and back waters of the big reservoirs. Also local wetlands and flooded meadow are starting to build duck numbers.
Migrations: Slow migrations due to early seasons and warmer weather. Teal and a few big ducks are the only birds that have really shown up.
Season Stage: Not Started
Hunting Report: Good early teal season. There has been lots of teal around due to the great water conditions.
Gossip: None
Name: Andrew Schlueter
Date: 10/6/14
Location: Seward, NE
Weather: 73/51 8MPH (WNW)
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Normal
Feeding Conditions: Silage corn is out. Some beans are starting to come out.
Species and Numbers: Local geese are grouped up.
Migrations: Minimal
Season Stage: Pre-Season
Hunting Report: No hunting at this time.
Gossip: Come on regular season!
Name: Nick Lisec
Date: 10/7/14
Location: Kansas City, KS
Weather: Mid 60’s to lower 80’s.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: We’ve got very nice water levels across the area. We received about 4-5” of local rain during the last week.
Feeding Conditions: Some of the crop fields are beginning to get taken out. Corn is getting cut and beans are also beginning to be picked.
Species and Numbers: Mostly BW teal and a few puddle ducks are showing up.
Migrations: Teal migration was strong this year.
Season Stage: Our puddle duck season is opening in certain parts of Kansas this weekend.
Hunting Report: Good to average success has been had by most hunters. We’re excited for the opener on 10.11.14.
Gossip: Scouting is the key to success.
Name: Lance Ohnmacht
Date: 10/7/14
Location: Hutchinson, KS
Weather: DRY, warm days and cool nights. It would be nice to pick up a rain! Highs in the mid 80’s lows in the mid 50’s.
Snow Cover: NA
Water Conditions: Fair on public but not much water on private lands without pumping.
Feeding Conditions: Moist soil plants had a good summer and most places should have good feed conditions for early migrants. Harvest of crop fields is in full swing.
Species and Numbers: Public and refuge pools report a good number of teal. Not many big ducks.
Migrations: Early stages, teal are out and about!
Season Stage: No waterfowl seasons are currently on.
Hunting Report: Nothing to report
Gossip: Where is El Nino?!
Mississippi:
Name: Casey Hopfer
Date: 10/6/14
Location: Paynesville, MN
Weather: Temps in the mid 30’s at night, highs in the low 60’s.
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: Water levels remain stable; many small sloughs are still holding water
Feeding Conditions: Chopped corn fields are abundant, soybean fields are getting harvested. Local lakes have plenty of food available in them (pond weed, freshwater shrimp).
Species and Numbers: Most of the teal have left, few remain. Divers have begun to show up.
Migrations: Local birds have left, divers are showing up now. Goose numbers are increasing.
Season Stage: Early
Hunting Report: Limits of redheads and canvasbacks over the weekend. Most teal have left, very few remain. Few mallards seen locally and geese were migrating late last week with the strong NW winds.
Gossip: Local ducks have left; we had strong migration days late last week and into the weekend. Temps are to remain steady in the mid 50’s to low 60’s.
Name: Eric Wolf
Date: 10/06/2014
Location: Waconia, MN
Weather: Below average temps, windy with showers.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: We have had a wet season and the water levels are high.
Feeding Conditions: Birds have been feeding in the few fields that have been harvested.
Species and Numbers: A good push of early divers showed up this past weekend. Mallards and wood ducks are still plentiful. Good goose population at the moment.
Migrations: We saw our first big push of birds this past weekend.
Season Stage: Season is closed this week. Re-opens this weekend.
Hunting Report: Diver hunting was good this past weekend with redheads, bills, and mergansers being reported. Wood ducks are still being harvested on smaller bodies of water.
Gossip: Get the diver rig ready if you haven’t already. Good numbers of divers are already in the area.
Name: Richard Shamla
Date: 10-07-14
Location: Clara City MN
Weather: Daytime highs in the 50’s and 60’s with nighttime lows in the 40’s and 30’s. This past weekend brought the first cold front of the year and the first frost. Plenty of northwest wind these past couple days as well.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Water levels are still high but they are going down.
Feeding Conditions: Waterfowl are feeding in silage corn, sweet corn and harvested bean fields in the area morning and night. Bean and beet harvest is in full swing in this area.
Species and Numbers: After the first two weekends local ducks are scattered and there seems to be less ducks in the area. Some new divers have showed up in our area with the cold and stiff northwest winds through the weekend. Canada geese numbers have rose slightly but no major movement observed yet.
Migrations: Some new ducks and geese migrated into the area but no major movements.
Season Stage: This week the regular duck and goose season in central Minnesota closed and will re-open this weekend.
Hunting Report: Hunting has been pretty good for ducks but it getting harder to fill limits. Canada goose hunting is hit or miss and we could use some new geese in the area as well as another cold front.
Gossip: Pheasant season opens this weekend in Minnesota. Numbers of pheasants have gone up but a lot of crops still in the field.
Name: Greg Owens
Date: Oct 7 2014
Location: Rochester, MN
Weather: Lows in the 30’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 the past few days, the early migrators are on the move out. There has been new geese showing up as well as a few ducks moving through.
Season Stage: Duck season opens back up this weekend.
Hunting Report: Duck season is closed now.
Gossip: The Vikings SUCK with Ponder as QB!!! I’m looking forward to the season opening back up so I don’t have to watch any more of that misery.
Name: Russell Brzezinski
Date: October 4th, 2014
Location: Berkley, Michigan
Weather: Clouds, overcast, intermittent rain, 50’s.
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: N/A
Feeding Conditions: Marsh area, smartweed
Species and Numbers: Saw a good number of wood ducks and local mallards around. Few geese though.
Migrations: Canadas, teal moved through mostly.
Season Stage: Beginning stages
Hunting Report: Fair to good success on woodies and local mallards early, but then it shut right down. Weather looked good, but not as many geese as I had seen earlier in the month.
Name: Nathan Bender
Date: 10-7-2014
Location: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Weather: Generally clear skies for the most part with some days being overcast. Temperatures in the 40s-50s with some mornings the lows being in the 30s.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: We are in need of a good amount of precipitation but most water sources are still very well off with water levels. The only impact I have noticed during the last two weeks with little to know rain is the smaller rivers are very low resulting in waterfowl moving to new stretches of the rivers or to another water source within the vicinity.
Feeding Conditions: Honkers have been feeding both in the mornings and afternoons. They have been hitting silage cornfields as of late with some hitting alfalfa fields on the warmer days that we have experienced. I am beginning to notice groups of wood ducks feeding in both the afternoons as well as the morning in silage cut cornfields. Numbers vary from area to area but feeds of up to a few hundred wood ducks can be found easily if you put the time in scouting.
Species and Numbers: Our current Honker population is high with migrators moving in each day we have had north winds. Our duck population as of right now consists of mostly mallards and wood ducks as the majority of the teal headed south due to the colder weather we have experienced.
Migrations: Whenever a north wind is present, migrating Canada geese have filled the skies. A big push of ducks came into the area this past week and should make for good hunts until we get the next front to roll in and bring more ducks down with it.
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 migratory birds that are headed south. Many guys have been shooting honker limits in the area with the strong population of resident honkers but the migrators have made up a vast majority of the bag the last couple weeks. Reports on duck number have been spotty but almost every hunt so far this season in pursuit of ducks for me has yielded good success! Mallards are around the area in significantly good numbers with the cold we have had and have made for some very good hunts.
Gossip: North winds and low temperatures moved some of the larger groups of blue- wings out of the area but there are still big bunches of green-wings present on sloughs and backwaters. Wood duck population is very strong with the majority using flooded timber and the river bottoms to get away from the pressure of all the hunters on local lakes and cattail sloughs. Mallards are looking good for the next several weeks of hunting with the population of them around being very high.
Name: Justin Weber
Date: 10/7/2014
Location: Cottage Grove, Wisconsin
Weather: Partly Sunny with lows in the upper 30’s and highs in the 60s
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Above average water levels with some rain this week
Feeding Conditions: Geese hitting freshly cut silage fields. Ducks are hitting marshes and ponds.
Species and Numbers: Lots of Canada geese and local ducks around.
Migrations: Have seen migrating geese every day for the past week. Cold temperatures and strong winds are bringing new birds every day. Seeing some migrating puddle ducks as well as the oddball diver.
Season Stage: Early season
Hunting Report: Ducks are everywhere! The southern zone of Wisconsin opened last week. Heard reports of a few divers being shot as well as lots of mallards. Weather definitely got the ducks moving this weekend, along with the geese.
Gossip: Limits of ducks and geese this weekend were easy to come by.
Name: Travis Mueller
Date: 10/4/14
Location: Fairfax, Iowa
Weather: Sunny and seasonable at the moment.
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: Low
Feeding Conditions: Poor
Species and Numbers: Low numbers, mainly teal and wood ducks, a few mallards
Migrations: Decent push of pintails and teal in the past ten days.
Season Stage: Early
Hunting Report: Been tough, scouting is the key to find spots that ducks have found
Gossip: Most of the ducks are still to the north of our area.
Name: Brandon Geweke
Date: 10-7-2014
Location: Lake County, Illinois
Weather: Mild conditions, low 40’s and high 50’s. Had a couple of great northwest wind days recently.
Snow Cover: 0
Water Conditions: Do to high winds the water is definitely turned up. Have not had much rain in the last two weeks.
Feeding Conditions: About 25% of our crop fields have been harvested and birds are starting to stack up in the fresh cut bean fields.
Species and Numbers: Lots of wood ducks and teal ripping around. Geese are really stacking up on the local neighborhood ponds. I have seen big groups of divers working the big water on Lake Michigan.
Migrations: With strong winds from the NW we have seen a large amount of Canadas pushing down from the north. They stage here for about 1 ½ months looks like we are lining up for a great start to the season for qty. of birds
Season Stage: Season opens on the 18th of Oct.
Hunting Report: Nothing to report yet.
Gossip: Nothing at this time.
Name: Steve Demaster
Date: 10-6-14
Location: Peoria, IL
Weather: Sunny and warm. High in the 70s and lows in the high 40s at night.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Good amounts of water in the fields and marshes.
Feeding Conditions: Fresh cut corn fields and flooded timber are the preferred feeding areas. Flooded areas are favored.
Species and Numbers: Some puddle ducks and local geese are here now.
Migrations: Small push
Season Stage: Youth starts in two weeks.
Hunting Report: Very slow
Gossip: Nothing at this time.
Name: Ryan Eder
Date: Oct 7, 2014
Location: Lake County, IL / Southeast WI
Weather: 50 degrees, partly cloudy, NW wind 10-15mph
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: All open water, starting to cool with temperature drops.
Feeding Conditions: Harvest is gradually starting; hay fields mowed final time, lots of feeding activity (geese/ducks).
Species and Numbers: Canadas – thousands (migrating birds, feeding in fields, sitting on ponds, large groups on the lakes as well). Mallards – large groups on chain of lakes (several hundred on Sunday morning). Wood ducks (100 or so, same spots as last week, slight increase in numbers). Blue-bills – on the chain of lakes, 3 groups of about a dozen or so each, sitting out in open water.
Migrations: Heavy goose migration, large increase in mallard, wood duck and divers this week with the cold front.
Season Stage: IL not in season, WI is open; Iowa (south zone) just closed early duck.
Hunting Report: Not in season for me yet, no hunting.
Gossip: The birds are here, and arriving by the day. Starting to put blinds in the water, build boat hides and train dogs on the water; seeing large groups of mallards, geese, wood ducks, divers, significantly more birds than last week.
Name: Shaun Patrick
Date: 10/8/14
Location: Troy MO
Weather: Highs in the 60’s lows in the 40’s.
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: Good
Feeding Conditions: Good
Species and Numbers: Misc. puddlers, Canada geese
Migrations: Witnessed a large group of puddlers, mainly mallards and gadwalls drop into a flooded cornfield Sunday. Birds came from the north and dropped from very high altitude.
Season Stage: Early Canada goose season is in.
Hunting Report: N/A
Gossip: Too busy prepping for the upcoming duck season to get out hunting geese. There is speculation of a large rain system from a tropical storm coming and sitting over us for a few days, this should fill any spots that are in need of water.
Name: Jay Hayter
Date: 10/7/14
Location: Shreveport, LA
Weather: 60-80s
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Low to normal as the rains have stayed to the north of us lately.
Feeding Conditions: Decent, most of the rice has been cut and is ready to be flooded.
Species and Numbers: Teal and wood ducks, more blue-wings have come in after the close of the early season of course.
Migrations: More teal on the move south into Mexico.
Season Stage: Closed
Hunting Report: N/A
Gossip: For once the Mississippi schools are better at football than Louisiana!
Atlantic:
Name: Eric Bartlett
Date: 10/4/14
Location: Hollis, Maine
Weather: Cloudy with some scattered showers and seasonable temps.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Water is calm and cool. Due to lack of rain very low in most places.
Feeding Conditions: Acorns littering the shore lines provide ample food in several areas with other mixed vegetation. Fields that have been harvested of corn are providing some scattered feed as well.
Species and Numbers: 70 wood ducks, 45 greenheads,15 hooded mergansers, 60 Canada geese.
Migrations: Beginning to see all species of waterfowl group up and cover the area in more than just family groups.
Hunting Report: As usual ducks came in a few short intervals and then done. Typical morning flight traffic here in Maine. There is a good amount of ducks around, but finding them in a consistent area is tough.
Gossip: Do plenty of scouting and keep your eyes open driving around. Catching a flock pitching into an area could mean a new beaver flowage and a new place to shoot. Don’t forget to ask permission and keep in contact with your land owners so the know you are there and respect their property.
Name: Mike Bard
Date: October 7, 2014
Location: Auburn, NY
Weather: Overcast, rainy with moderate SSE winds.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Low
Feeding Conditions: Excellent
Species and Numbers: Wood duck numbers are high, while mallard and teal numbers are average. Canada goose numbers are also high.
Migrations: Nothing notable over the past few days.
Season Stage: Early
Hunting Report: Western Zone Youth Hunt results varied greatly, but most of the youth hunters had opportunities and were at least able to see a lot of birds.
Gossip: None
Name: Arliss Reed
Date: 10/5/2014
Location: Esperance, NY
Weather: Warmer than normal but finally getting some rain.
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: Average to low water levels in the area currently.
Feeding Conditions: Geese are mostly in cut corn and ducks are in wetlands and swamps.
Species and Numbers: Lots of Canada geese around. Saw plenty of mallards and wood ducks in the northern zone over the weekend.
Migrations: Some new ducks are starting to show up. A lot of blue-winged teal left early.
Season stage: Duck season is open in the NE zone and opens Saturday in the SE zone.
Hunting Report: Heavy rain put a damper on opening day last Saturday but seems like a lot of guys got out and shot some ducks.
Name: Dave Weidner
Date: 10-6-14
Location: Hamilton Square, New Jersey
Weather: Seasonally cool
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: Low
Feeding Conditions: Improving
Species and Numbers: Canada geese and wood ducks, teal
Migrations: Canada geese
Season Stage: Early
Hunting Report: All waterfowl seasons are currently closed, however the last day of the September resident Canada goose season yielded a good number of birds. The cold front over the weekend seemed to move more migratory birds south. Scouting for ducks on Sunday – few mallards to speak of, but lots of wood ducks and teal. Water levels are low and choked with weeds.
Gossip: This Saturday starts the north zone duck season.
Name: Marshall Starkey
Date: 10/6/14
Location: Essex, MD
Weather: Seasonably cool this week.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Flood tides last weekend and the next few days.
Feeding Conditions: Cut agricultural fields and impoundments that have recently flooded are holding birds.
Species and Numbers: Canada goose numbers continue to inch up.
Migrations: New geese have shown on the Upper Shore. It seems like a steady trickle right now.
Season Stage: Sea duck season is open and October duck season starts on Saturday.
Hunting Report: Saturday should be good wood duck hunting as there seems to be a good bit of them around this year.
Gossip: Happy duck hunting Saturday!
Name: Sean Fritzges
Date: 6 October 14
Location: Harford Co, MD
Weather: Temps cooling this week with strong wind gusts.
Water Conditions: Normal tidal flow. Fresh water normal levels this season.
Feeding Conditions: Geese feeding in freshly harvested corn fields. No bean fields cut to date.
Species and Numbers: Resident Canada numbers good.
Migrations: No migration at this time that I’m aware of.
Season Stage: Early resident Canada goose season closed on 15 Sept in my area. First split of the early AP season to begin Thanksgiving week.
Hunting Report: No hunting thus far this season due to traveling work schedule.
Gossip: Hunters out looking to fill their freezers with venison!!
Name: Jeffrey Kreit
Date: 10/4/14
Location: Baltimore, MD
Weather: Highs in the high 70’s. Lows in the 40’s.
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: Dry
Feeding Conditions: Corn just starting to get cut.
Species and Numbers: Geese
Migrations: None
Season Stage: Early season closed now.
Hunting Report: Slow
Name: Bryn Witmier
Date: 10/7/2014
Location: Strausstown, PA
Weather: Seasonable and dry. It got into the 30’s a few nights.
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: Low
Feeding Conditions: Corn is being combined and silage continues to come down. Some beans have been harvested as well.
Species and numbers: Some local mallards and woodies around. Not a ton of geese for this time of year.
Migrations: Saw a few flocks of migrating geese last week, but not many.
Season Stage: Duck season in the south zone starts the 18th.
Hunting Report: No waterfowl currently in season.
Gossip: I haven’t heard of many deer being shot, yet. Full moon and east wind aren’t good for anything.
Name: Kevin Addy
Date: October 7, 2014
Location: Reading, PA
Weather: Highs in the 70’s and lows in the upper 30’s.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Levels are still low – we need a good couple days of rain.
Feeding Conditions: About 80% of silage fields down now and some of them already have cover crop coming up. Some corn is being combined and I saw a few bean fields being harvested the other day.
Species and Numbers: Decent number of residents around but the migrators appears to have moved further south. We have some local mallards, woodies and a few teal around still – about the same as last week.
Migrations: Not much migration activity observed this week despite the north winds.
Season Stage: Resident season closed on the 25th. The north zone duck opens on the 11th followed by the southern zone on the 18th.
Hunting Report: Nothing is open right now.
Gossip: The north duck opener should be a good one.
Canada:
Name: Bill Dougan
Date: October 6, 2014
Location: Cochrane, Alberta
Weather: Temperatures have been ranging from lows of 4 to highs of 12. Mostly sunny for this week with moderate winds.
Snow Cover: No snow cover at the present time.
Water Conditions: Water conditions are good still lots of small pot holes holding water.
There was a bit of a freeze up for a day or so last week but everything is back open now.
Feeding Conditions: Most of the harvest is finished and feeding conditions are good.
Species and Numbers: Very good numbers of ducks here now. Starting to see strong
numbers of Canada geese. Lots of specks and snow geese in a lot of areas as well.
Migrations: There are lots of geese coming in now, over the last week there has bee
a large push of birds into the southern areas. Birds are still in good numbers up north
and thru central Alberta as well.
Season Stage: We are in the fourth week of our season which just started on
September 8 in the southern region.
Hunting Report: Guys are still having some awesome hunts in Peace River areas and
also in the Edmonton areas as well. A lot of specs and snows being harvested in both
areas. The southern areas are starting to have some good hunting in the last few days.
Large numbers of ducks showing up in the southern areas and more geese showing up
each day.
Gossip: Guys are having some awesome hunts in all areas of Alberta with lots of snow geese and specks coming into a lot of areas now.
Name: Chris Stoddart
Date: Oct 6, 2014
Location: Lac Nilgaut, QC
Weather: Windy, wet and cool (average hi 53; average low 42 degrees)
Snow Cover: Nil
Water Conditions: Open
Feeding Conditions: Excellent in back bays and ponds.
Species and Numbers: Excellent numbers of wood ducks, very good numbers black ducks, ring-bills. Average numbers of scaup.
Migrations: Canada geese slowly trickling south during the day. No noticeable migrations of ducks, just local birds
Season Stage: Early season
Hunting Report: Good
Gossip: Bow season for moose closed; grouse hunting has been excellent.
Name: Gerry Mazur
Date: October 4th 12014
Location: Rondeau Bay, Ontario, Canada
Weather: Rain with winds gusting 20-25.
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: Water levels in the bay are up this year almost a foot from what the locals are saying.
Feeding Conditions: Good food sources in the area with a lot of beans coming off during the week before the front moved in.
Species and Numbers: A lot of wigeon at this time, along with blue-wing teal, mallards and blues. A few cans and reds were taken close to us. Canada numbers are increasing as the weather is changing and food opens up.
Migrations: Seems to be the start of smaller migrations happening.
Season Stage: Season underway in lower Ontario.
Hunting Report: Good harvest across all blinds for the Jeff Bashard Memorial Youth Hunt, sponsored by the Rondeau Bay Waterfowlers.
Pacific:
Name: Adam Reid
Date: 10/6/14
Location: Anchorage, AK
Weather: Clear skies, 33 low, 40 high, high pressure system moved in, little wind
Snow Cover: Snow above the 500ft. level
Water Conditions: With cool temps, water levels are dropping fast.
Feeding Conditions: Conditions are good
Species and Numbers: Good numbers of mallards, divers, wigeon and pintails in the area. Canada geese are moving in good numbers.
Migrations: Local Canada geese have moved out, but some migrators are replacing them. We are beginning to see the big migration from the Y-K delta.
Season Stage: New birds are starting to show in good numbers. This week of clear, cold nights may see the new birds not stay long.
Hunting Report: Hunting remains very good; limits are to be had by most if you put your time in. Pressured marshes are still producing as new birds arrive, outlying harder to access areas are producing limits.
Gossip: Most hunters in the field are doing well; new birds are arriving daily but moving through quickly. Hunters are taking days off work this week in hopes to have one of those epic migration days in the field!
Name: Allen Riggs
Date: 10-5-14
Location: Metaline, WA
Weather: Warm and sunny. High temperatures are in the mid 70’s with low
temperatures in the low 40’s.
Snow Cover: N/A
Water Conditions: Water remains clear and warm. The Pend Oreille River is at normal levels.
Feeding Conditions: Birds are feeding in the recently harvested fields and loafing and feeding in the lakes and rivers.
Species and Numbers: Duck numbers are about average, goose numbers are also about average.
Migrations: N/A
Season Stage: 1 week until the season opens.
Hunting Report: N/A
Gossip: Hoping for a good year!
Name: Kent Contreras
Date: 10-06-2014
Location: Newport, WA
Weather: Warm and dry. Low temps have been in the 40’s and highs in the 70’s. Forecasts show some frontal disturbances moving towards the area early next week. Some partly cloudy days to move into the area by the weekend giving some relief to the hot and dry conditions we’ve had.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Water levels are average.
Feeding Conditions: Good feeding conditions at this time.
Species and Numbers: Average number of resident geese and puddle ducks.
Migrations: None, still holding resident birds only
Season Stage: Pre-season, opener is October 11th for the east side of Washington
Hunting Report: Nothing to report – opener is October 11th.
Gossip: Going to be a warm opener this Saturday.
Name: Travis Lyle
Date: 10-5-14
Location: Fernley, NV
Weather: upper 70’s for a high lows in the 50’s.
Snow Cover: First snow of the year hit the mountains about a week ago, but now all gone.
Water Conditions: Bad. Worst I’ve ever seen. Most areas have little to no water, and nothing in the forecast. Still Water Refuge will have maybe one small area to hunt, maybe……most likely it will be dry by opening day. Greenhead will have one area with water but it could get crowded real fast.
Feeding Conditions: Its’ the same as the water, little to none.
Species and Numbers: Not much around, mostly local geese and some early migrants, but very few at this time.
Migrations: Not much to report.
Season Stage: Eastern zone is open now. October 11th is the starting date for the rest of the state.
Hunting Report: Does not look good with the water conditions.
Gossip: This is opening weekend. Good luck fella’s.
Name: Matt Thomas
Date: Oct, 5th 2014
Location: Indio, California
Weather: Clear, 82 to 96 degrees, Moderate winds.
Snow Cover: None
Water Conditions: Clear at 72 degrees and low
Feeding Conditions: Some areas appear to be sprouting and hold decent amounts of food.
Species and Numbers: Large flights of Widgeon and Redheads in the area with small numbers of sprig and canvasbacks, with the normal numbers of spoonies and teal.
Migrations: Lack of water in the Central Pacific Flyway looks to have pushed a lot of quality birds down south early this season.
Season Stage: Pre-migration
Hunting Report: 12 days and counting!
Gossip: Everyone’s looking forward to the best opener in a decade.
