Ice Ice baby

[jstbob]

Do you goys in IL think all this ice is gonna hurt us? Im still seein a ton of birds but havent had a chance to get on em. Some spots have close to three inches. Can the birds bust through that to get food?

[fowlmaster1234]

Nope, but they may try for a little while to keep the water open. You better get on em quick sounds like your season is about to end.

[fowl addiction]

naw they will stick around for awhile...ive been ice fishing for 2 weeks now and im still seeing flocks of mallards around. it just makes getting to them a lot harder

[huntinPIKE04]

they better stick around...i will not get back from school until this weekend...



ryan

[Just Hunt]

They won't leave. Ducks will find a way to eat. Go around your duck holes and fields in January if you don't think so.

[KKarloff]

Last week we had a half in of freezing rain and four inches of snow then some cold temps. The geese are here strong but bye bye ducks :evil: kill them while you can.

[Watch em fall]

last weekend mississippi started to freeze we ran around blind with boat for hours just to get our ducks.

[jstbob]

Alot more birds showed up today. they must havefound a way to get food 2 separate 40 acre fields had at least 10,000 birds a piece in it. I heard some migratin at 2:00 am last night. Im not sure if theyll stick but atleast the warmer weather has melted some of the ice. Now if we could just get some snow instead of ice we'll be alright.

[Killer Miller]

Snow OR ice is a good thing IMO.....a combination of both is NOT a good thing. If there's snow on the ground, it's tough for them to feed but they seem to find ways. If all their water sources are freezing up, they'll go to the big rivers or head south. If both things happen bad enough....say 6-8 inches of snow PLUS frigid temperatures that are locking all water up, see ya next spring ducks and geese.

These last 2 weeks we've gotten some snow and cold temperatures. At the beginning of those 2 weeks, tons of mallards and geese moved in. We were shooting honkers and mallards with good success field hunting. I hunted with Dave (DKDogs) last friday and there were tons of ducks and geese in the area we were hunting. We hunted yesterday and there were still quite a few geese (not as many), but very few ducks were still in the area it seemed.


Jstbob, my dad lives in western Illinois and my uncle and him have been shooting quite a few geese, but I don't think very many ducks. I'll be down during Christmas for a few days so hopefully we'll be able to squeeze in a few nice little mallard/honker combo field hunts while I'm down.

[rushcreekganderlander]

I'm assuming that you mean you got ice on the ground not just the water freezing. I don't know if ducks can break through that much ice or produce enough body heat to melt that much ice in a field. I'd get on them ducks before they beat it.

[Just Hunt]

Just got back from a day of huntin' the backwaters of Mississippi pool 24 and had the best day of the season so far. 5 hunters, 28 ducks 3 1/2 hours. Thats the way it's suposed to be.

[Texas Duckfoot]

All that snow and ice up north is good news for us guys in Texas. Why do you think they migrate in the first place?

[jstbob]

As many birds that are leavin just as many are showin up.

[Mallardmasher391]

As many birds that are leavin just as many are showin up.

Are there any birds still around central Illinois?

[Just Hunt]

Were finally whackin' em in the back waters of miss. pool 24.

[black feet down]

northern il. 2miles south of the line we got 2 in of ice 5 in of snow then last sat. 6 in of snow with 25mph wind. and they were gone in a heartbeat went from 10,000 to 500 in 2 to 3 days. 37degrees and fog today and the snow really settled so we should be grinding them in the morrning but they are very very spooky.

[jstbob]

Theres birds around shot 8 ducks but took until 12:30 before I pulled the trigger. Geese all flew the opposite direction this mourn, and it was so foggy I could hear a ton of birds but couldnt see any.

[GooseHunter14]

Weve been tearin up the honkers.... a couple spots the birds are unpredictable but in others theyve been better than any other point in the season. Im going out in the morning and were calling for 30 mph north winds and rain lol, its gonna be interesting to say the least.

[black feet down]

g.h. 14. 13 dergees, 30-40mph wind and a little snow, up here on the state line. honks are GONE.

[GooseHunter14]

went out with a buddy today... 6 ducks and a single canada. Not too bad I guess, it's sweet seeing those birds suck in with those heavy winds

[jstbob]

I took the wife out for a few hours. As I carried the propane tank up to the blind my dekes looked pretty damn good some even started to honk. So as I counted I had 17 out and about 11 were honkin at me. Went back to the truck and grabbed the gun and couldnt remember how many dekes I had out. I shot one, and the rest got away. But there was only 5 out of 16 dekes left. All the rest blew across the lake.We spent 3 hrs waitin and seen about 30 ducks and a ton of geese. She got bored and that was it for the day.