2023 Waterfowl Migration Report Minnesota & Nebraska Reaction Waterfowl Outfitters

Well with one month of the 2023 Waterfowl Hunting season in the books it's time to reflect & see where things stand. Ever changing circumstances keep waterfowl hunters on their toes and this season is no exception.

While scouting for Early Season Canada geese in Minnesota back in late August, we found lots and lots of ducks. The honkers were a lot more spread out and overall just less around. Many potential factors, we've rehashed it over and over to say the least. The drought has erased a handful of our roosts and loafs that our birds use and we've definitely felt that no doubt about that.

Lucky for us we had a giant cornfield picked two days before season that had 100-500 birds feeding in it the entire month of September which gave us some good shoots. We managed it closely and methodically-it paid off for us. We hunted this feed 1-2x a week, hitting it and vanishing before becoming too predictable to the birds-actually as of last week there was still a handful of birds using it and I wouldn't be surprised if they still are.

Migration Days

We had a few good, north wind days where we set up for molt migrators and did well. Still, seemed short lived with only a few good, migrating winds. Then again, with those days being my absolute favorite, it would be hard to get enough of.

Teal season was a blast, with good numbers of them around. Do your homework, put in the physical work and your hunts were very successful. The hard part was getting to them after you found them. Low water levels created plenty of shallow water wetlands that they love to feed in but simultaneously made it difficult to get to with dealing in no shortage of mud. Put some effort in and you would get your ducks.

Moving into regular duck season in Minnesota we've been finding ducks but definitely less than teal opener or duck opener. Seems majority of the teal have moved out and not many mallards or divers have pushed in yet-nothing out of the normal there. Big cold front pushing in after the full moon should stir things up quite a bit, or so we hope.

Nebraska Duck Opener 2023

We look forward to what's around the corner. This weekend, October 7th we'll be kicking off the Nebraska Waterfowl season. There are teal around and specklebelly geese have been seen passing through, a few stopping momentarily. We are anticipating a predominantly duck hunt but we'll see if we can manipulate any of those migratory specks or some local honkers bopping around.

We will be back at the end of the month with some more updates as things progress and the migration heats up. Good luck and hunt safe out there.