TRACK THE 2010 WATERFOWL MIGRATION
THROUGH THE FOLLOWING REGIONS

NEW YORK - Eider / Sea Duck Layout Boat Hunts Off Of Long Island

OREGON- Field Canada Goose And Duck Hunts

MICHIGAN - Field Canada Goose Hunts

TEXAS - Coastal Red Head And Diver Duck Layout Boat Hunts

ALASKA - World Class Trophy Sea Duck Hunts

MINNESOTA - Field Canada Goose Hunts Within One Hour Of MPLS

WISCONSIN  - Sea Duck Layout Boat Hunts On Lake Michigan

NORTH DAKOTA - Prairie Pothole Duck Hunts / Goose Hunts

SOUTH DAKOTA - Late Season Missouri River Canada Goose Hunts

NEBRASKA - Mallard Hunts On The North Platte River

IOWA - Field Canada Goose Hunts Near Des Moines

MISSOURI - Field Duck / Goose Hunts Near The Squaw Creek NWR

ILLINOIS - Flooded Corn Field Mallard And Canada Goose Hunts

MARYLAND - Sea Duck Hunts On The Cheaspeake Bay

COLORADO - Field Canada Goose Hunts / Water Duck Hunts

WYOMING - Field Canada Goose And Duck Hunts

WASHINGTON - Field Canada Goose And Mallard Hunts

SASKATCHEWAN - Specklebelly / Snow Goose Field Hunts

MANITOBA - Diver Duck Hunts On The Delta Marsh

ONTARIO - Field Canada Goose Hunts / River Diver Duck Hunts

ALBERTA - Field Canada Goose Hunts For Giant Honkers

LAST UPDATED - Thursday December 9, 2010 

Phil Schmidt reported that last weekend the Canada goose hunting around the Hutchinson area was really good. He then stated that this week the hunting has slowed down a bit with the snow in the fields, the cold temps and the lack of geese left in the area. Phil estimates that total there are less than 500 Canada geese left in the Hutchinson area and feels that with up to 8 inches of snow already in the fields, if they get another 4 inches or more the field hunting is definitely over for the year. Phil said overall this was one of his best hunting seasons ever and was excited that they have had continued success all year long.

LAST UPDATED - Thursday December 9, 2010

Chuck reported that this past week the majority of the geese in the refuge finally moved south late this past weekend. Chuck stated that with all of the snow in the fields now, the guys are still having decent success pass shooting but the field hunting has definitely slowed down. Chuck said overall this was one of their best goose hunting seasons since he started guiding in the area. Chuck was also very happy with the lat season hunting and said the area pheasant hunting this fall was very good as well.

Adam Johnson reported that there are still very good numbers of Canada geese as well as late season mallards in the metro area. Adam said that he thinks a good number of new mallards have moved into the region even after the duck season closed last week. Adam estimates that he has around 20,000 Canada geese combined using the three areas he has been hunting around the metro area now. Adam stated that they have been hunting late morning to mid afternoon now as the birds are only feeding once a day and coming out in about a half hour to an hour flight with the cold temps. Adam expects the hunting to be very productive through the rest of the days of the 2010 season. Adam is already thinking of warmer days ahead as the spring snow goose season in Arkansas and Missouri starts up for him in mid February.

Shawn Eldredge reported that although he has been hunting NW Missouri the past 10 days, his crew in the Des Moines area have reported that there are still strong numbers of Canada geese and mallards in the area and they have been doing very well hunting the fields in the area. Shawn feels the hunting in the Des Moines area will be good through the end of the season.

LAST UPDATED - Thursday December 2, 2010

LOCATION: Pool 9 Miss. River - Lansing, Iowa
REPORTER: Blake Schoh

Blake Schoh reported that they had some great hunts over the Thanksgiving holiday. Not quite as many birds around, however still a large number of ducks. Finally the weather pushed some new birds into the area that decoyed well for them. Blake mostly saw mallards with a few cans and buffleheads.  Later in the weekend however they started to get some pretty hard ice on the river giving our decoy spread quite a bit of trouble as it carried away decoys as it floated by.  Overall Blake reported that they had a great year on the water and hope to see these numbers again next year.

LAST UPDATED - Thursday December 9, 2010

LOCATION: South - Central Iowa
REPORTER: Scott McClelland

Scott McClelland reported that he feels the boat hunting is now over for the year as just about everything is froze up now. Scott noted that the river had too much ice flowing to hunt Sunday. He thinks it is time to start hunting the fields as there are a lot of geese around Des Moines. Scott also stated that Easter Lake, Moffitt reservoir, and Lakewood are holding 2-3 thousand Canadians each. He scouted around Red Rock and Pleasantville and did see a lot of geese on a pond just east of Pleasantville. Scott is hoping the fields will produce good success for the rest of the year.

Matt Kostka reported that they have moved out of North Dakota now as have the waterfowl. Matt is now back in his home state on Minnesota guiding for Canada geese in the Rochester area. Matt stated that the mallards hunting over the past month in the north central region of the state was as good as he has ever seen it and feels the 2010 season so far has been one of his best! Matt stated they are already getting booked up for next fall and encourages anyone looking to book for the 2011 season to contact him as soon as possible.

Kyle Blanchfield reported that last week they finally ended their last hunt last week and this week the birds are all moved south out of the area. Kyle noted that although there is still some open water on the big lake, even the diver ducks have moved south at this point and they have about 12 inches of snow on the ground so it is pretty much over for the year.

Brad Finneman reported that the migration has moved south! At this point the entire state is in a deep freeze and there are not any waterfowl left in his area or the entire region that he knows about.

Scott Nenaber reported that the state is pretty much in a deep freeze right now with all of the lakes other than the Missouri river frozen solid now. Scott is excited though as they are just getting started in the Pierre area for late season Canada geese. Scott stated that there are close to 80,000 Canada geese sitting on the Missouri river right now and that season goes well into February and out of state licenses are available over the counter. Scott said that they had excellent late season hunting all the way to the end last year and expects the same results this year. Scott also noted that he does have some opening for those die hard goose hunters who haven’t had enough yet.

Josh Kiesow reported that this past week all of the lakes froze solid with temps near zero for close to 72 hours. That pushed almost all of the waterfowl in the eastern region of the state south. Josh stated that in all of his travels the only lake that he saw a small opening with some Canada geese sitting on it was Bitter Lake near Webster area. Josh was very surprised as to how fast the state froze over and the waterfowl hunting ended.

LAST UPDATED – Thursday December 2, 2010

LUTTRELL KENNELS / LEGACY OUTFITTERS
LOCATION - Clark, SD
OUTFITTER / REPORTER – John Luttrell
PHONE – 605.237.9189
EMAIL – luttrell@itctel.com

John Luttrell reported that at the beginning of last week they were hunting divers on the big water and by Thanksgiving Day every lake in the area was froze solid and all of the waterfowl had moved south. John reported that he put on close to 100 miles scouting the largest and deepest bodies of water in the county and only found one open area of water that a few hundred snow geese were keeping open in the middle. John stated that he is officially calling the 2010 waterfowl season over and is headed to Arkansas to get ahead of the birds.

Mike Thun reported that they are finally done for the year now. He stated that they had their last hunt last Sunday and the diver and sea duck hunting was very good all the way till the end. Mike reported that they still have very good numbers of Canada geese in the area as well as divers and sea ducks on the big water and said that overall the season was very good. Mike noted that there was never a time that he felt they were lacking in the numbers of birds in the area but their main factor was the wind this year which made it tough to get out onto lake Michigan as many times as they would have liked.

LAST UPDATED - Thursday December 2, 2010

Matt Raley reported that the hunting on the Mississippi River has been really good still. Pool 9 has now frozen up so he has moved a little further south to Pool 11. Matt stated that there is some ice on Pool 11 but it is still huntable. He has been getting limits of ducks almost everyday, and still seeing a large variety in the species of ducks from canvasbacks and golden eyes, to mallards and bluebills.

LAST UPDATED – Thursday December 9, 2010

Shawn Eldredge reported that this has been by far the best waterfowl season in Missouri he has had since he started guiding. Shawn says they now have over 200,000 snow geese and very good numbers of mallards in the NW Missouri region. Shawn said they have been field hunting exclusively now and the hunting has been phenomenal the past 10 days. Shawn said they have been very cold and a lot of the water is frozen over in the area now but again the field hunting for snow geese and mallards continues to produce.

Josh Dean reported that they are stacked full of snow geese in the area now as well as very good numbers of Canada geese and mallards in the area. Josh said that the hunting this past week has been very productive for mallards over water as well as widgeons and gadwalls. Josh is gearing up to switch gears and hit the fields for mallards and geese this weekend.

Kalend McCurdy reported that the last 2 weeks have been some of the best mallard shoots we have seen in awhile. We are still holding a great number of ducks and geese in Eastern Nebraska but with a few slower days this week, we opted to move our operations to our Western Nebraska outposts starting the end of this week! With goose numbers building fast out west, things are looking up for the next few weeks again. There still has been a steady migration of snows, mallards and Canadas moving through. The smaller ponds are starting to freeze while the Platte river is running full with slush, we switch our hunting to our warm water sloughs and grain fields.

Larry Frimann reported that the hunting over the last 10 days has been incredible. He stated that they have been water hunting for Canada geese and mallards and have been taking limits pretty much everyday now. Larry feels that there are still plenty of birds staging to the north on the river and expects the hunting to be very good for the next couple weeks.

LAST UPDATED - Thursday November 11, 2010

Scott Barmby reported that they packed up camp for the year as of October 28^th. Scott is now back in his home town of Maryland where he is guiding sea duck hunts on the Chesapeake Bay. Scott summed up the season by saying this was their second best overall duck hunting season in Manitoba since he started guiding there many years ago and this was by far their best season for field Canada goose hunting they have ever had. He did note that they missed the snow goose migration this year but Scott does not focus on snow goose hunting as much as the ducks and dark geese anyway.

Craig Henry reported that IT IS OVER!!! He stated that by the end of last week there was a mass exit of waterfowl out of southern Manitoba. Craig stated that last Wednesday morning they had an excellent morning’s hunt for field mallards and after that, with in 48 hours a cold snap hit with 6-8” on snow and almost all of the ducks and geese left in the area were gone! Craig ended by saying that this was by far their most productive hunting season as although the took daily limits most every day as they have in years past, this year was extended with the length of the season due to the mild temps. Craig was very happy with the season overall and is already getting excited about the upcoming spring snow goose season!

Judy Usunier reported that at the end of last week they got blasted with about 18 inches of snow and cold temps around 0 degrees. She stated that by the weekend most all of the waterfowl left in the area had moved south. She also reported that since last Saturday she has not seen a duck or a goose in the area and as of this time last week there were mallards and Canada geese everywhere! Judy ends her last report of the year with “Winter Is Here”!

Mike Franklin reported that they finally packed up camp earlier this week. Mike reported that in west central Saskatchewan it was a very quiet week this week. Mike feels that most all of the ducks and Canada geese that were still left in the area moved out at the end of last week and they have not seen huntable numbers of snow geese in the area since the beginning of the month. Overall Mike said they had a excellent year up there and he is now back in Washington where the birds are just starting to show up in force so he is ready for another season to begin!

Matt Kostka reported that the migration has definitely moved through Saskatchewan now and most all of the waterfowl have moved into the states and even through North Dakota- south. Matt ended his report by stating that notably for Saskatchewan overall the 2010 season was awesome. He stated that the snow geese and mallards were unbelievable.  The numbers of mallards that he saw this year have been second to none! He also stated that next years dates are already booking fast so if anyone would like to participate on one of his hunts be sure to contact him soon!

Ryan Marsh reported that at this point the areas in west central Saskatchewan all currently froze over and covered with 6” of snow and he feels the waterfowl hunting is pretty much over for the season now. Ryan ended by stating that overall he felt the 2010 waterfowl season in his area was above average and the duck hunting in particular throughout the season was as good as it has ever been!