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Old 09-21-2017, 03:11 PM
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Default Finding Duck Concentrations

Hi all,
My name is Spencer and I am an avid waterfowler from the Seattle, WA area in the US. I have been duck hunting since I was 10, and it is my biggest passion in life. Here just a few pictures from some fun hunts over the last couple years around here. As you can see and many of you may know, it's just a bit greener and wetter than what you guys deal with up there.





For the last decade plus, I have been dreaming about making the trek to Canada before our waterfowl season kicks off to see what chasing ducks and geese on the prairie is all about. After many years of "I'll do it someday", I put my foot down and said last fall that 2017 would be the year that I would do it for the first time.

I've spent countless hours analyzing maps, talking to biologists, and reaching out to farmers since. This past weekend, myself and a buddy of mine who will be heading north with me flew into Calgary, rented a car, and pounded the pavement between there and SK to see how accurate the conclusions we'd drawn about where birds might be based on our research were. It was a very, very successful weekend, as we were able to find a lot of large concentrations of geese and get a general sense of the areas where scouting would be more or less fruitful when we are back up in a few weeks. I also met some of the friendliest people I've ever encountered in my life.

One thing, however, that we were relatively unsuccessful at, was finding some large concentrations of ducks. I can't even count how many times I came around a corner and was speechless over how many geese I was looking at, but I can't say that this happened with ducks once.

Most potholes were holding a small to medium number mallards,sprig, and teal, which seemed to be feeding very actively. This led me to two conclusions: one, that I was mostly looking at local birds and two, that they were meeting their caloric needs with aquatic vegetation and not using the grain fields like they do in so many of the videos I have seen. Most fields seemed to have a few mallards and sprig in them, but it was absolutely nothing relative to the number of geese.


Most of my scouting was in the immediate vicinity of larger water.
With the drought that SE AB has experienced, it seems like many of the potholes that would normally be key targets for birds are dried up. I was hoping, however, that I could get some general advice for finding some more concentrated mallards. I'm not looking for any specific locations-- I'm more trying to understand what the key things that I should looking for when looking at a ~2-300 km radius to get an understanding of where the ducks may be concentrated within that radius.

Looking at the weather report, it looks like it's going to warm back up quite a bit over the next week and change, which leaves me doubtful that a ton of northern birds will be pushing down any time soon.

Just in case anyone is curious, I won't be breaking the rules of waterfowl etiquette--shooting roosts, snaking fields from other guys, setting up too close, skybusting, etc-- while I am up there. Those things are never okay, but as a guest of your country, I think that I have an even greater responsibility to do things the right way. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to benefit from your guys' incredible abundance of birds.
Thank you very much for any information you can provide and I hope everyone has had a great start to their season!

-Spencer
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Old 09-21-2017, 03:46 PM
fish_e_o fish_e_o is offline
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ducks are greener too!

i always find that big water within a km or two from a goose field and there seems to be a lot of ducks
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Old 09-21-2017, 04:14 PM
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Thanks man!

And yes, they're dressed in their Sunday best by the time they get down here.

Here's another pic of one of my favorite birds from last year. We don't get a lot of colored up spoonies down here so this one was really special to me.

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Old 09-21-2017, 04:30 PM
Drewski Canuck Drewski Canuck is offline
 
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Default Local Birds Staged up, Northerns not in yet

As far as ducks go, the local birds are somewhat staged up, but these are not the huge numbers I assume you are looking for.

Problem we have is that the Peace River - High Prairie areas have huge crops and lots of water. If the crops get rained on like last year, the crops stay on the field.

Until we have a very good cold snap up north, the ducks tend to get stuck where there is food and open water. If there is a blizzard in the NWT, that spills south, the birds will move, but only when the water freezes.

Last year the best duck hunting was late November, up to then the numbers were low with the odd wave moving through. Other years, we have had good numbers starting at the beginning of October.

Try looking further north from where you are. You might be surprised what you will find north and west towards High Prairie area.

Drewski
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Old 09-21-2017, 04:45 PM
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Them are bar none the smallest Canada geese Ive ever seen in my life...very Nice!
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Old 09-21-2017, 05:00 PM
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Them are bar none the smallest Canada geese Ive ever seen in my life...very Nice!
We get very, very few specks, and minimal amounts of snows and honkers relative to you guys... but we do have these little pipsqueaks by the thousands!

They did a research project on them for a number of years that included adding hundreds of yellow collars per year in Alaska. The project has since wrapped up and so the yellows are few and far between these days. Oh what I would do to have known what I do now about hunting those things when I was 16! Those were glory years for shooting neck collars in WA and OR.
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Old 09-21-2017, 05:06 PM
wildwoods wildwoods is offline
 
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Great stuff and welcome to the forum. I have no insight for you other than to thank you for caring about etiquette and doing your homework. Lots of birds to share up here and glad you decided to see what we have to offer. Best of luck!
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Old 09-21-2017, 05:12 PM
Salavee Salavee is offline
 
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Them are bar none the smallest Canada geese Ive ever seen in my life...very Nice!
Those are Duskies .. one of the smallest subspecies of Canada's.
I believe they nest in the Aleutians and migrate down the western edge of Pacific Flyway. Have seen them on only two occasions in Alberta. Neat little guys.
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Old 09-21-2017, 05:16 PM
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Those are Duskies .. one of the smallest subspecies of Canada's.
I believe they nest in the Aleutians and migrate down the western edge of Pacific Flyway. Have seen them on only two occasions in Alberta. Neat little guys.
Not Duskies... Cackling Cacklers (B.C. Minima) or "true" cacklers.

Duskies are the size of a regular honker-- 8 pounds and up and wear red collars. Big no no to shoot them in certain parts of WA and Oregon. I have killed a few where it is totally legal, but it is still generally frowned upon by hard at it goose hunters where I'm from.
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Old 09-21-2017, 05:26 PM
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Not a much of a waterfowl hunter myself, but I frequently hunt big game between edmonton and the sask border. There are ducks around, but not grouped up yet. Every little slough has a few, and it certainly is not dry farther north. Draw an east-west line at Wetaskawin, north of that line has lots of water and lots of pea fields. Good for the ducks but they may not concentrate any time soon, or at all.

You don't really see the big flights in fields until later in October once all the fields are combined and it gets cold enough they need crops for food. If you want to hunt potholes, fly into edmonton and drive east. Pretty sure you could limit out every day, but might have to move around to do it. Good luck.
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Old 09-21-2017, 05:53 PM
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Most likely you were just a little bit early for the big duck numbers to start. Usually if you are finding big flocks of other birds the ducks are either with them or nearby. In the early season I find birds a bit more segregated but later in the season they seem to mix and mingle a whole lot more.
When scouting ducks in fields the "usual" pattern is mornings they go from the roost water to a small puddle for an early morning drink if there is one nearby then out to the field to feed then come back to roost mid morning. Afternoons they usually go right to the field.
If you can find one of those little drinking puddles you will often be limited out by sunup.
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Old 09-21-2017, 06:08 PM
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Welcome to the forum. We are glad to have you. What a refreshing post to read. There are more than enough birds to go around. Hopefully your homework and great attitude end up with you getting into some amazing shoots. Enjoy your time in our province!
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Old 09-21-2017, 06:14 PM
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When I have had friends from the east or the south ask about timing for the Calgary Area I often tell them around Canadian thanksgiving which is generally around mid October. We have had huge flocks of northern mallards fat with peas try to land on our favorite slough as early as the 9th of October but we have also had hunters from Ontario arrive on the 23rd to find all the small water was frozen over. Nice part of the northerns is they are looking to set down and dont know the area and will often circle once to assess the spot 200 at a time with a couple following flocks visible in the distance. With some restraint we have had limits in half hour by allowing them to come in and not skybust the first few green heads we see.
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Old 09-21-2017, 06:16 PM
The Spank The Spank is offline
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Sloughs were loaded here a few weeks ago during the "false migration" with widgeon, shovelers and gadwalls plus coots and teal galore but true to form the birds have continued their northward trek and have yet to turn back southward. Yes many have started their southward trek but the majority are still to come. Sloughs are empty but this cold wet snap has piles of new geese coming in around here today and I suspect the ducks won't be far behind. The lack of harvested crops no doubt has an effect as well. No feed so the majority of birds that are coming in are going on through to the available food sources a bit further south.
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Old 09-21-2017, 06:47 PM
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Take a more micro approach. Pick an area with big staging water and fan out from there. Get to the roost/staging water early and follow the birds. They will show you way....good luck. You shouldn't have to cover a 300 mile radius. 10-15 miles around the big water should provide all the opportunities you need. I used to try and cover huge amounts of country with each spotting trip....the results were lots of burned fuel and very few quality hunts. When I slowed down and learnt a small area my success improved exponentially. This can't be accomplished in a single trip or single year, it might take 2 or 3 years to become comfortable with an area. Once you reach a certain comfort level with an area you can predict with a high degree of certainty where the birds are going to be. Don't get me wrong, you can come up and get lucky and find a few shoots but it won't be without a ton of effort and fuel.
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Old 09-22-2017, 02:10 AM
32-40win 32-40win is offline
 
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Think my partner talked to this fella last weekend. He was like a kid in a candy store. Seeing as you will be up here first wk of Oct., you should be in the start of seeing some decent numbers of birds around, hopefully. The weather this week might boot the bulk of the teal out, but there are some pretty good numbers of ducks around, concentrations are spotty, so far biggest number I've seen is maybe 2-3000 in one spot, a few with maybe 2-300 scattered between 2 or 3 ponds in areas where there are some decent ponds still, there were also a few where there were 50-100 in a small pond that were roosting in the field they were feeding in, and walking out to feed. They get up to fly around every once in a while. Just have to keep your eyes peeled for a number of small flocks going the same way in the early morning and late evening, they may be near the geese, or may be off on their own. We were on a peafield 2 wks ago, ducks didn't fly over us much, but small flocks kept piling into a creekbed pond maybe 400 yds away, we walked over, flushed them, stuck the mojo on the bank, sat and filled out our limit. It was fast and furious for a short while there.
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Old 09-22-2017, 07:59 AM
densa44 densa44 is offline
 
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As I said it is a crap shoot as to when they show up. Canuck has it right as long as there is open water and feed they stay put. Calgary which puts lots of warm water back into the bow river has a very large flock winter there. You can shoot all the "brown ducks" now and hope you see some migrants. See if you can hook up with some of these guys, pick one with a good dog. Cheers.
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Old 09-22-2017, 08:54 AM
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Originally Posted by drake View Post
Take a more micro approach. Pick an area with big staging water and fan out from there. Get to the roost/staging water early and follow the birds. They will show you way....good luck. You shouldn't have to cover a 300 mile radius. 10-15 miles around the big water should provide all the opportunities you need. I used to try and cover huge amounts of country with each spotting trip....the results were lots of burned fuel and very few quality hunts. When I slowed down and learnt a small area my success improved exponentially. This can't be accomplished in a single trip or single year, it might take 2 or 3 years to become comfortable with an area. Once you reach a certain comfort level with an area you can predict with a high degree of certainty where the birds are going to be. Don't get me wrong, you can come up and get lucky and find a few shoots but it won't be without a ton of effort and fuel.
Thanks Drake, may shoot you a PM.

I guess my issue is figuring out which micro area is going to be better than the rest for ducks.

I am quite confident that we are going to absolutely hammer the geese... just hoping to get a pea field duck hunt in as well.

Perhaps there are piles of ducks in the same general area I am finding lots of speck feeds and I am just missing them? I don't really know. The common element in everyone's advice has been North, so I think I know which direction I am going to head when I get back up there in a week.
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Old 09-22-2017, 09:16 AM
densa44 densa44 is offline
 
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Smile Just so you know.

Alberta is about the size of Texas. Secondly there are millions of birds, and you will want to be careful so that you don't fill your limit with ducks that you don't especially want.

I hope that you have fun. I just drove to Bend Oregon to get my dog bred and it would not be that long a drive from Seattle to Alberta. Then you will have all your stuff.

Best of luck.
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Old 09-22-2017, 09:29 AM
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Originally Posted by densa44 View Post
Alberta is about the size of Texas. Secondly there are millions of birds, and you will want to be careful so that you don't fill your limit with ducks that you don't especially want.

I hope that you have fun. I just drove to Bend Oregon to get my dog bred and it would not be that long a drive from Seattle to Alberta. Then you will have all your stuff.

Best of luck.
Oh, we're driving!

Two trucks, one enclosed trailer, three dogs, four hunters... and a hell of a lot of decoys!
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Old 09-22-2017, 01:04 PM
densa44 densa44 is offline
 
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Smile An up date

There were lots of geese going over this am a bit of the North wind and they weren't stopping, maybe some of the members down south can say where they landed. A flock of buzzards too, first time I've seen Sand hill cranes this far west.
Most of the geese were wavys.

BTW wear tan coloured clothing.
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Old 09-22-2017, 03:10 PM
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There were lots of geese going over this am a bit of the North wind and they weren't stopping, maybe some of the members down south can say where they landed. A flock of buzzards too, first time I've seen Sand hill cranes this far west.
Most of the geese were wavys.

BTW wear tan coloured clothing.
I wish I could post the videos I have of the cranes flying over my house. I live by Big Lake, south of it near Acheson and have even seen the cranes as far west as whitecourt area.
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Old 09-22-2017, 03:26 PM
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Went by about 100 in a pond this am, cant get pic to load though, its under 5 mb?
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Old 09-22-2017, 03:31 PM
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Went by about 100 in a pond this am, cant get pic to load though, its under 5 mb?

not best pic, but...
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File Type: jpg duck 2.jpg (12.7 KB, 32 views)
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Old 09-22-2017, 03:39 PM
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Lots of geese too, saw about 1500 around south edge of Edmonton, sunrise at 7:20
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Old 09-25-2017, 09:53 AM
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Can't thank you all enough for the insight and willingness to help. I have received numerous PMs and continue to be amazed by everyone's generosity.

Unfortunately, I fell while loading the trailer yesterday morning and may have broken my elbow. X rays don't clearly show a fracture, but there is some "fat pad" which may indicate an unseen fracture.

As of now, I am in a sling and splint and unable to mount a gun. Heading to see an orthopedic specialist this afternoon to see what I can do to speed up recovery and hopefully put myself in a position to be able to shoot by the time I up there early next week.

Sometimes life really throws you some nasty curveballs. Hoping like hell for the best!
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Old 09-25-2017, 10:13 AM
Salavee Salavee is offline
 
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Originally Posted by DSD Addict View Post
Not Duskies... Cackling Cacklers (B.C. Minima) or "true" cacklers.

Duskies are the size of a regular honker-- 8 pounds and up and wear red collars. Big no no to shoot them in certain parts of WA and Oregon. I have killed a few where it is totally legal, but it is still generally frowned upon by hard at it goose hunters where I'm from.
Thanks for the clarification. Appreciated.

Description
Dark-colored; often with little color differentiation between neck and head. A few birds may have a neck ring. Color is a 5 or less on the Munsell soil color chart. Collar colors are red or green.
Culmen length 40 mm to 50 mm.
Generally broader in appearance, including broader wings, than Taverner’s or lesser.
Duskys are smaller than western and Vancouver Canada goose subspecies. They are larger than Taverner’s, cacklers, and lessers.
Duskys are most commonly mistaken for Taverner’s and cacklers due to similarities in size and body shape and coloration.
If a bird seems unwary, comes right in, flies low, etc., be cautious, this is common behavior for a dusky.
Duskys have a deep moaning call similar to a western
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