Flash floods

[Zekeland]

Bad news for S.W. Manitoba. The rain has not stopped for 2 weeks. More in the forecast! Allready noticed 5 - 10 nests underwater within a day. Farmers will not be in fields for a while smile.gif Record number pintail pairs south of Brandon this year. Let's hope for the best!

Pro-staffers...Where is favorite place to hunt in Mb?

[Mike Hungle]

Zekeland, There's flooding on both sides of Saskatchewan. We also seem quite wet. Hopefully any ducks that have their nests destroyed will renest.

As for my favourite Manitoba hunting location, it has to be for ducks on the pothole regions south of Riding Mountain Park.

[shootin snows]

probley a stupied question but if ducks make there nest and lay eggs in the nest and the nest is wiped out will they renest and lay another batch of eggs.

[Tony Vandemore]

Not all will give a second nesting effort but a pretty good portion will give it a go. I am no biologist, but if I am not mistaken, the second clutch of eggs is usually smaller in number. People always want to see a bunch of rain in the breeding grounds in the spring and that isn't always a good thing. They need good water levels to start and then just enough rain throughout the breeding season and the summer to keep the levels from fluctuating to one extreme or the other.

[Brett Beinke]

I have witnessed mallards in my area nesting over and over again. Last year there where young mallards the size of golf balls swimming around near the beginning of September. At that point it is not whether they will continue trying is more of will the young be strong enough to migrate before freeze up.

[Mike Hungle]

Mallards are the most aggressive renesters. If water conditions are right and they have nest failures, they will renest multiple times. Pintails on the other hand are not very aggresive renesters. Many will only nest once, even if the conditions are prime. In many cases, ducks will nest a fair ways from wetlands. However, when mass amounts of rain and flooding occur, some nests are lost and the ducks must start over.

Spring rains have both their pros and cons. Last year, we had plenty of moisture. However, it was a little late for last year's production and may have even damaged some nests. Many of those wetlands carried over to this year and will produce ducks! While spring rains can ruin some nesting, I honestly feel the more moisture we get this time of year and throughout the summer are a bonus for the ducks.

[Mark Brendemuehl]

Mike - I hope you are right. I will be up there in Sept, and I am hoping for lots of birds! I heard there were good numbers of ducks there this spring, so hopefully it will be good!
Mark

[Mike Hungle]

Mark let me know where you are headed and hopefully I can give you some inside info.

[Mark Brendemuehl]

Mike- Thanks- we will be going up to the North Battleford area. Heck it doesnt matter, there are birds all over that country.
Mark

[Mike Hungle]

You know it Mark!!! smile.gif

[Brett Beinke]

Mark, you messed up with where we are going. If anyone asks the answer is ALWAYS Quill Lakes! :D

[Mark Brendemuehl]

Brett- Maybe it IS quill lakes, bu everyone will think the Battlefords? Wait... are we going to Sasketchewan or Manitoba?
Mark

[Mike Hungle]

Brett and Mark,

Do you two guys hunt up here together? If so, I know exactly where on the X you've been hunting. (Brett, you've got to leave a few Saskatoon Berry pies for the other guys that travel around the province and that way you'll cover your tracks a little better!)

[Mark Brendemuehl]

Mike- Yes, this year we are going up together. I can't believe I never got in on these pies I keep hearing about. That's going to be a must have this time!
Mark

[Mike Hungle]

Mark, you're in good company. Brett knows where the geese are and also where the pies are. Sometimes I'm not sure if he comes up for the goose hunting or the Saskatoon Berry pies. :confused:

[Brett Beinke]

Mike, we are heading to a new area...Marks area. The group I went up with in the past is not heading up there this year. The area we had hunt went from 2 to 5 outfitters and 3 of them are operating out of the same place we stayed in. Last year things didn't go well with us piling the geese up and the outfitters finding goose eggs so we were made aware of the fact the we were not "welcomed" back. Bewteen some ranchers getting pretty excited about us American hunters (that whole beef deal) and the outfitters buying up all the berrie crop, and they did, it was a pretty easy decision for us to move elsewhere. I know the locals at the cafe/store wanted us to stay as not too many hunters that hunt through the outfitters spend any money there as the outfitters have the whole deal with food and lodging but with no place to stay and more difficulty getting permission to hunt good fields it just doesn't look like an area we should be in. I am looking forward to hunting with Mark and his crew this year. It should be fun.

[Mike Hungle]

Brett, that's a tough deal. As you'll find out soon, the province is vast and full of good areas to hunt. In fact, some of the best hunting is in the "out of the way" areas as oppossed to some of the prime staging areas such as the Quills, Last Mountain Lake and Saskatchewan River areas.

Good luck to you in the new area!

[Jeremy Abbas]

Brett, Sent you a PM.

[Brett Beinke]

Got the PM, reesponded and like I said...we only hunt the quill lakes area!

[Jeremy Abbas]

Yeah, Gotcha, Quill Lakes!!!

[Mike Hungle]

Hey, hey, hey .... I really do hunt the Quill Lakes, so maybe come up with another code name for your secret spots. ;)

[Mark Brendemuehl]

Mike- So do we.... So do we. Hey Mike, how is the partridge population coming? I would like to get into some of them while we are there.
Mark

[Mike Hungle]

Mark, we had a relatively easy winter, so many survived. The next few weeks weather will determine the nesting success rate. I do however anticipate some good opportunites on the speedy little devils.