[Dead Bird]

well it was a great start to the season.... had plenty of birds but alot of hens.... ended up with 2 hen mallards, 2 drake woodies, 6 drake mallards and 4 geese..... ended up shooting the geese because of the time it took to find the drakes..... could have shot 4 mallards within the first half hour but they were all hens or drakes that were still to clase to call.... two of the drakes we shot were bonus ducks because we thought they were hens and turned out to be drakes.... the weather was perfect for hunting.... light drizzle overcast and windy....

 

[beer and nuts]

Sugar Island-was slow for everybody. We did fairly well for the opening morning compared to most. 5 mallards, one teal, one ringneck, and one goose. Locals claimed it to be a terrible opener as far as duck numbers go. Bennetts Landing-a place where alot of hunters go out of, we checked at noon with alot, and most were in the 3-5 duck range, one at one duck and the best was 9 ducks. Sunday morning was worse and we packed out at 8:30am with very little shooting all over. we checked a few spots in St. Ignace that always holds ducks, and we saw zilch and saw no other hunters either-it was very weird. We too saw a majority of hens(maybe drakes but it was impossible to tell as most looked like hens), very little sign of any bluebills or flights up there yet, we did see alot of geese coming off the big water and in the fields on the way home. Buddy did well on a backcountry semi-private lake near Newberry, group got 27 ducks and two geese opening day, half woodies half mallards mostly. Only four on Sunday though.

 

[duckman#1]

We hunted up by Lake Superior on a remote lake. Rain, wind, rain, ect. luckly we got a few breaks in the rain to cook and sit around the campfire. We shot 14 ducks and lost 8 and bagged one goose. Mostly blue bills,a few ringnecks and a couple of hooded Mergansers and 4 green teal. Saw a Canvas back fly by at close range but season is closed for them so had to pass. We missed alot more divers than we got. With the rain and wind it was so dark both mornings, you couldn't see them until they in your face. Overall it was a good opener for us. Only saw two mallards on the other side of the lake, I guess this is a diver hot spot and a local said it only gets better in October. Uhmm maybe I will have to take a another U.P. trip in a couple of weeks

 

[GoneFishin]

Hunted the Cedarville area more hunters than ducks on the opener, it thinned out some the second day and we bagged a few ducks, as they worked better without all the pressure.