Silver Lake Honkers!

[Ellis Poling]

Last weekend we were able to get out with Avery PS Greg Owens for closing weekend goose hunt in Rochester, MN. The birds did not cooperate all that well, but it was still awesome getting out in the field with some good friends. It was also the first time I had hunted in a field before. Gregs spread of FFD's looked awesome, and the power hunters and finishers blended in perfectly. The next day we headed back down there to visit my cousins. We headed down to Silver Lake to see the geese and try and find the orange neck collar Greg had said was in town. Most of the birds were off feeding on the afternoon flight, but there was still several thousand geese on the lake. When it was all said and done, I counted over 20 leg bands. Didn't find the collar though. Special thanks to Greg. It was a fun hunt. We should try and do it again next year.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/ellispoling/DSC_6788.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/ellispoling/DSC_6819.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/ellispoling/DSC_6811.jpg
Found this guy mixed in with the mallards. Not sure what he is.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/ellispoling/DSC_6877.jpg

[Jason Mears]

Nice pics!

[goosehunter64]

I would say, that mallard is a he/she.

[Jimimc]

Nice pix's, maybe it's that black duck mallard hybrid thing

[quackaddict]

Looks like a He/She to me. I would bet on it.

[Ryan Kleinschmidt]

Looks like an old decoy with the paint chipping off the bill!! :D

[chad belding]

What was the problem? Was it to warm for the birds to leave town? We had that going on here for the last three weeks but now it is cold and the birds are needing to find better food sources than just the usual grass. Sorry that the birds were not there but it looks like you still had a great time.

Good Hunting!

Chad Belding
Avery Outdoors

[Eric Wolf]

Open water??? I thought everything was frozen up? we got 6 to 9 inches of ice on Lake Waconia right now.

[Stephen Pitt]

The Mallard in the photo is not a hybrid, it is a really old Mallard hen that has stopped making the female hormones. Kinda like your Grandma growing whiskers.

[Josh Brugmans]

Kinda like your Grandma growing whiskers.

LOL Now that is damn funny!

[Ross R]

really? it is an old mallard hen? if so that is sweet!

[Kevin Kriha]

Those are some great pics Ellis!

[Greg Owens]

Ellis, It was great hunting with you guys this past weekend. You and your hunting party are a great group of guys. We shot a few geese and had a very good time out there, but I do wish the birds would have cooperated better than they did. We could have shot quite a few more geese than we did, but I just didn't want to call the shot on flocks that were not centered up on you guys. I would be glad to get you guys out again next year.

Chad, it's kind of a double edged sword, we only have about a quarter of the geese in town as we normally do this time of year, (the geese that are here have been here for a LONG time) and the warm temps are keeping the geese we have in town on grass inside the refuge... Just tough conditions. Shoot, geese in the air are acting like Mallards... Circling the fields for 5-10 min before dropping into LIVE geese on the ground.


Eric, that lake stays open all year due to the power plant in town.


Greg

[Craig Boyd]

Cool pics!

[Ellis Poling]

It was a little bit cold, but not to bad. It was not entirly due to the weather that we had a hard time. The birds are just so smart. We saw a ton of them flying around, but they decided to not finish that day. The 4 we did get though decoyed perfectly.

[John Traiforos]

Great pics, those FFD look sooo good!!!

[svalmand]

That's one crazy looking mallard! I'll bet it eats good, though.

[Wayne Radcliffe]

Sounds like a ton of bands. Great pics by the way.