# Zone 3 opener



## Jdhunttrapfish (Jan 14, 2016)

Up and drinking some coffee getting ready for the opener this morning, buddy of mine checked our spot last night said the ducks were there been there all week, weather looks pretty good, hoping for a good day this will be my first duck opener, who else is heading out this morning?


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## Dag_Gummit (Aug 29, 2017)

Jdhunttrapfish said:


> Up and drinking some coffee getting ready for the opener this morning, buddy of mine checked our spot last night said the ducks were there been there all week, weather looks pretty good, hoping for a good day this will be my first duck opener, who else is heading out this morning?


YEEEEESSSSIIIIRRR! leaving home in a minute.


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## davewcrook (May 10, 2010)

Out at PM with all the other crazy duck hunters. So far only heard a couple hunters yelling at each other, but the morning still young. Good luck, don’t forget to lead them


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## christophermpollard (Mar 9, 2009)

Good morning folks. After working till 1230 last night and some minor truck issues I got to my duck spot at about 115am. After 3 and half hours of restless sleep I'm up at 5am for the opener of southern duck season here in beautiful Saginaw bay. Paddled my canoe through the maze of pragmatics to the opening I found on the map only to be greeted by another hunters flashlight. So, turn around and paddle back to the first intersection to hit my backup location. Got the desks set up on a small puddle about 50 yards wide and just waiting for first light to officially start ww3. 
Hears to a successful duck season!


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## OnHoPr (Jul 21, 2013)

davewcrook said:


> Out at PM with all the other crazy duck hunters. So far only heard a couple hunters yelling at each other, but the morning still young. Good luck, don’t forget to lead them


Now was that lead them or lead them, hey whatever works. My old stomping grounds, back in the lead shot days.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Rolling to Shiawassee. The little girl who used to struggle to carry her layout blind is racking up miles on her learner's permit.


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## Sewey (Jan 10, 2017)

No shots fired for us, setup along a river in some flooded timber. Was an impromptu hunt, was originally planning on going north for the opener, but stayed on private. Spent the first hour walking around in the dark trying to find a spot. Finally setup on the best spot we found, had a good amount of wood ducks fly over and some mallards, ca pot was still too thick for them to drop in. All in all my first time duck hunting and first opener was a great time. Hope some of you got to let loose on some birds!


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Draw 8/27...

Zone 62.

Wind and sun are right.

Buddy just got backed into at the McDonald's drive through.


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## Crappietime (Jan 1, 2014)

Went out this morning. First opener having my son with me. We didn't see a quarter of the amount of ducks we saw last year. No dead birds. But I still wouldn't have missed it for the world. 3 generations of hunters in our blind this morning!


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## craigrh13 (Oct 24, 2011)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Draw 8/27...
> 
> Zone 62.
> 
> ...


You should do ok in there. Theres been a few birds in there. The vast majority have been west and south of there. The cover in 62 sucks.


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## Tail-Chaser (Feb 7, 2014)

Took my daughter out with me this morning for a dry land goose hunt. Only saw 1/4 of the birds fly that have been using the field but we managed to squeak 10 out and a double band to boot! My first band!


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## Jdhunttrapfish (Jan 14, 2016)

We had an awesome morning, tons of birds using a flooded standing corn feild, ducks worked well, shot a 4 man limit of teal, mallards, gadwalls, a widgeon, a pintail, and a black duck, a sweet mixed bag, what a cool opener and awesome day, pics will not load sorry


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## Shupac (Apr 17, 2005)

Hit a small public marsh. Birds--woodies and mallards--flew pretty well, and some even flew my way. Ended up a mallard and a wood duck. Missed a couple of gimmees. Nice morning, though. Heading back there tomorrow, will try to get closer to the flight path.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Zone 64 just showed up. They could have had half a limit by now.


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## MILONEWOLF (Oct 28, 2013)

I wish it was a good report, got up late, got out there and people were already packing up by 10 am. I was out by Fennville, those I talked to saw birds before shooting time, and that was it. Saw lots of geese and turkeys, but no ducks seen. May try tomorrow, better day of bad hunting than not at all.


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## SteelShot (Jan 26, 2011)

My group had three hen mallards, a woodie that refused to die even after repeated attempts using the finisher (finally just cut his head off) and one banded goose. First band ever!










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## davewcrook (May 10, 2010)

Hunted PM this morning, had the worst day retrieving down ducks ever. Knocked down six and only found two. Guess it’s time for this sixty year old to get a dog,can’t chase duck in the marsh and weeds like I use to. I got a surprise as I started to clean a green head it had a band. Having problem trying to load pic like most.


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## Sparky23 (Aug 15, 2007)

Still cant post pics for whatever reason but we ended with a 4 man on woodies. 2 mallards(one band) 2 blue wings and a shovler and a goose. One of the most incredible mornings for mallards ive seen . had 350 to 400 birds come in just before and after hours started ..they forgot the script though.


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

I did something I have not done for years, I hunted a "Bingo", Pointe Mouillee, with two friends. We did get drawn. We saw very few birds, took 3 mallards. There was no really early shooting, I think the first shot was 2 minutes early. 

It was a perfect morning. Strange, I have been seeing tons of birds the last two weeks and hardly seen any this morning. I bet if I added up the number I saw, it would not reach 50, only 11 even remotely close, and six of them were teal that buzzed us from behind, I didn't, even try to shoot at those.


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## weinnk (Nov 2, 2011)

Had an interesting morning. Only my second year duck hunting and I took a friend who has never been hunting at all. I offered to loan him a gun and have help him get an apprentice license, but he just wanted to sit with me. Hunted a small creek area with several beaver ponds on public land. Expected to see a few woodies. Stowed the kayak in the woods yesterday and dragged the sled full of gear this morning. Was a little worried about finding cripples in the tall grass. Had a woodie fly before 1 minute before shooting light. Was surprised to see some mallards that we got to circle but went to one of the beaver ponds far away. Shot at at a woodie three times and didn't touch it. My friend spotted two ducks flying towards us and I dumped one and missed the other twice. The bird I hit fell and hit the jet sled just outside of our blind. Hen Mallard. No worries about finding that one! Dropped a drake woodie about 30 minutes later and missed two others that bombed through. Needless to say my buddy wants to get a license and get behind a gun next time. He is hooked. He pointed out every song bird and woodpecker in the distance just hoping they were ducks. Great opening morning, beautiful day on the creek. And hopefully 1 new convert.
















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## moose1 (Dec 31, 2013)

Hunted shi opening morning drew nearly last. Still did ok with 13 birds.


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## FLH (Feb 15, 2014)

Hunted a river in Lansing area. Set up for pass shooting. Got two green wings and a woodie. Had some epic misses.


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## jduck (Jan 21, 2000)

Out group had a decent weekend in the thumb. Opening day 25 geese and 14 ducks (2 pins, woodie, black, 10 mallards)
2nd day went in separate groups. The 5 of them limited out and we ended up with 10


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## Sofa King what? (Nov 1, 2016)

Day one hunting with a buddy- we set up in a sweet wood duck spot-except the wood ducks didn't show up-a little cut(~30yrds wide)between shore and a small island with a bunch of oaks. Been watching them pile in there during early goose. 

Day 2 I hunted solo and got a limit with a mixed bag of divers. 2 bluebills, 2 ringnecks, and 2 butterballs. 

Would post a pic, but keep getting an error when i try


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## OnHoPr (Jul 21, 2013)

Sofa King what? said:


> Day one hunting with a buddy- we set up in a sweet wood duck spot-except the wood ducks didn't show up-a little cut(~30yrds wide)between shore and a small island with a bunch of oaks. Been watching them pile in there during early goose.
> 
> Day 2 I hunted solo and got a limit with a mixed bag of divers. 2 bluebills, 2 ringnecks, and 2 butterballs.
> 
> Would post a pic, but keep getting an error when i try


I guess they're still working on the problem. Go here https://postimages.org/ Choose image > upload > Cope Direct Link > paste in image window > insert. Pretty quick n easy peasy


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## Sofa King what? (Nov 1, 2016)

OnHoPr said:


> I guess they're still working on the problem. Go here https://postimages.org/ Choose image > upload > Cope Direct Link > paste in image window > insert. Pretty quick n easy peasy


that's ok- if I can't hit one button to upload a pic, just not gonna do it anymore.


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## Sparky23 (Aug 15, 2007)

We ended with 11 woodies. 9 mallards(8gh's) and 2 geese yesterday. 3 more banded mallards. Best opening weeked ive had in a verrry long time. Only saw 10% of the mallards yesterday but they worked better could have easilt tapped a limit but had a buddy that had to go so i called it for all of us. Great weekend! Kent county.


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## kozbones (Sep 7, 2010)

It was a slow opener in the bay for us. Only got a few ducks, but good time with family and friends. 
Now on to Fish Point for a few days.


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## Outdoor Gal (Sep 9, 2008)

There is so much water in the fields around our usual opening day pond that no birds are using it right now. Instead, we hunted a new spot this year, our backyard. There's a nice little flooding and we've had lot of woodies flying over and a handful using it. 

Saturday the husband and I passed on birds in range hoping something would land for our boys to shoot. It didn't happen. Ended up with one nice drake the hubby shot towards the end of the morning. 

Yesterday we hunted it again with the plan that that adults were shooting this time. Saw a fraction of the ducks, but had a few present good shots. I hit one that splashed into the decoys, sent the dog, it dove and then flew out. Ugh! The other half lost one in the thick swamp. Even the dog couldn't find it. Not quite what we were hoping for. I did manage a hen woodie out of a pair that snuck in and landed. I was picking up decoys when they flushed. Lol. Got to my gun fast enough to get one.


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## craigrh13 (Oct 24, 2011)

Shi was a woody beat down. Absolutely sick how many woodies bombarded us just after shooting time. It was a good hunt overall. Shot woodies, blacks, pintail, mallards and Hollywood’s.


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## Blacklab77 (Jun 21, 2006)

West Side bay was WW3 as normal Quit counting shoots when we heard over 500 in the first 45 mins. Not bad for us 2 mallard, 2 woodies, 2 Reds, 3 Buffies. Will say this I think this year the season will go fast on the Bay. When your seeing/shooting good numbers of buffies, bluebills, mergs, and reds on open day means early ice from what I've seen.


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## BFG (Mar 4, 2005)

All that's gonna change here in about 15-20 days...November-January is predicted to be above normal for temps this year due to the El Nino. We've had some GREAT years in Ohio when that happens..


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

We got into them pretty good. 13 Saturday, 16 Sunday


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## idylmoments (Apr 28, 2002)

We had a nice start. Buddy got a drake and hen can 5 minutes into it. All of us got 2 trips thru the layout and had some shooting. Pulled a little early as the geese we coming in thick just as we left.
Swans and buffies around, seems like 3 to 4 weeks early for them to show.


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## Tail-Chaser (Feb 7, 2014)

Here’s the best pic of the weekend! Her first goose hunt and that’s all she wants to do now!! I’m one happy dad!
Double bands banded in techumsch ontario 2017 too young to fly


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## SteelShot (Jan 26, 2011)

Awesome pic, nothing better than getting them hooked young. 


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## michiganoutdoorsman (Dec 29, 2010)

14 mallards, a hen pintail, and 4 geese! It was a fun day!


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