# Todd Farm 2017 offical



## West side shooter

Alright guys, tomorrow is the Todd Farm youth opener with the reg season opener Sunday.
Who is headed out?
I will be there with my normal young guns


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## fowlpursuit

I'm hoping to make it.. 2300 birds last I saw.
Am I correct the limit is now (5) geese
And 25 shells allowed?


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## Far Beyond Driven

Aggregate crazy limit. Five but only three canadas.


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## West side shooter

We managed 1 today, neighbors on each side managed 2 or 3 each as well. Very slow going, with some seriously stale birds. Ducks are pretty call/decoy shy as well.


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## notime

My son and I will see what we draw.


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## Highball28

Was thinking trying for ducks tomorrow night after the draw hunters leave. We'll see if the weather gets crappy enough but yes I can attest to the fact that the ducks there have been very decoy shy as of late.


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## jduck

Saw our neighbors get 6 geese and probably 10 ducks.


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## Highball28

jduck said:


> Saw our neighbors get 6 geese and probably 10 ducks.


That's quite the Todd farm hunt! Ducks did NOT want to play last night. Had a few lookers but nothing serious. Saw very few geese. Oh well, guess you can't shoot em on the couch


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## jduck

Highball28 said:


> That's quite the Todd farm hunt! Ducks did NOT want to play last night. Had a few lookers but nothing serious. Saw very few geese. Oh well, guess you can't shoot em on the couch


Between 4 zones. 5 geese, 1 goose 3 ducks, rest of ducks between 2 zones


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## Highball28

Now that sounds like the Todd farm I know


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## 2kidshunting

Sounds slow


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## Highball28

2kidshunting said:


> Sounds slow


Typical for this time of year. Last year didn't get hot until mid December and we had the highest kill numbers since 2009 on the day after Christmas. I believe our group shot 7 that day. Right now not enough birds, and the ones there are edumacated. I likely won't hunt the draw until there's snow on the ground and half the idiots stay in bed.


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## West side shooter

Managed to scratch out another one today, only 1 side of the refuge getting any bird action from what we can tell. Count went from 2500 Geese last week to 4500 today.


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## maxloadBBB

going to try it in a.m, first time back in a few years...I still remember the days of 300 parties...25k geese. Ohh how things have changed.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Season starring mid October. Hunting in knee deep snow by deer gun opener...


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## steelfish365

Its been pretty good to me and a few others this year this year.


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## West side shooter

We are going to head out for all 3 days from thanksgiving on, hopefully bird counts keep going up!
I also heard of a really nice bird getting taken there today, but I will let somebody else post pics if they like.


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## craigrh13

West side shooter said:


> We are going to head out for all 3 days from thanksgiving on, hopefully bird counts keep going up!
> I also heard of a really nice bird getting taken there today, but I will let somebody else post pics if they like.


The Ringed teal that was shot? That was taken there?


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## Duckman Racing

craigrh13 said:


> The Ringed teal that was shot? That was taken there?


Believe he's probably referring to the snow goose. The ring teal pic did not look like the todd farm.


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## Highball28

I heard snow as well.


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## fowlpursuit

Managed to get this there sat afternoon.. a first for me


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## craigrh13

Duckman Racing said:


> Believe he's probably referring to the snow goose. The ring teal pic did not look like the todd farm.


I didn’t think it looked like there but then again I don’t know the area all that well.


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## West side shooter

The snow is the one I was talking about, I don't know where the ringed teal was taken


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## 2kidshunting

How many party's during the week?? And on the weekend?? Thanks

Have not been there in a few years


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## fishjump

11 parties at draw today....


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## fowlpursuit

How was the hunting?


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## KayakDuckHunter

Never hunted Todd Farm, going to try it before the duck season ends. I see there’s little ponds in zone 10 I’m going to try and get to. Does anyone know the depth? Should I bring a kayak?


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## fowlpursuit

KayakDuckHunter said:


> Never hunted Todd Farm, going to try it before the duck season ends. I see there’s little ponds in zone 10 I’m going to try and get to. Does anyone know the depth? Should I bring a kayak?


I don't think a kayak is necessary..
It's wadable around the edges for sure.


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## West side shooter

Hunted all 3 days, passed on birds that we could have shot but we're waiting for a lower pass- both times our neighbors lit them up and took multiple birds. Still had a good weekend, but I did come across something Saturday that kind of bothered me. The corn on the east side is unbelievably better than last season, but yet some lazy people choose to blaze a trail thru the corn instead of using the cut at either end. We hunted this zone on the youth hunt and a friend of ours hunted it the 18th and the path was not there then, so it happened between the 19th and the 25th.


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## Remmy800

anyone hunting there tomorrow have an open spot?


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## jwinks

I’m gonna go tomorrow, does anyone have an empty spot in their party? I have six dozen silos, and I would much rather have someone to talk to and maybe a bigger spread. If it helps, I’ll bring donuts!?


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## West side shooter

We were out yesterday, I think a couple days too early. Seemed like 98% of the geese were stale, our neighbors shot up the other 2 birds. Ducks galore, we just were not decoying them.
Oh, and keep your eyes open for the Loon!
Saw him in the middle of the snow yesterday- looks like a huge duck or small goose until he gets right close.


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## Highball28

Gonna give it heck the last week of December and first week of January! Looks like my usual partner won’t be able to get the time off like he does every year. If anybody is gonna be hunting that stretch of time and needs a partner or wouldn’t mind a decoy Sherpa/ someone to chase cripples let me know. I can flag and have about 5 doz decoys I can contribute. Would love to meet up and hunt with some new faces!


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## fishjump

Does anyone know when they update the bird counts?


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## jduck

fishjump said:


> Does anyone know when they update the bird counts?


 Looks like it was the 10th, but it says only 175 geese.. Maybe someone forgot a couple 00?


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## jduck

Highball28 said:


> Gonna give it heck the last week of December and first week of January! Looks like my usual partner won’t be able to get the time off like he does every year. If anybody is gonna be hunting that stretch of time and needs a partner or wouldn’t mind a decoy Sherpa/ someone to chase cripples let me know. I can flag and have about 5 doz decoys I can contribute. Would love to meet up and hunt with some new faces!


as of now, I should be there 18, 26, 27th Solo


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## waterfowlhunter83

Driving around there this past weekend I can say there is not many birds there yet...maybe 1500 to 2000 geese.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Going to finish my last punch with my daughter on the WW challenge over Christmas break with my Detroit college buddies coming out. Always a good time and in the last four years of this hunt we've been on birds three of them.


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## Highball28

As of December 3rd 3,000 geese. If the weather's as nasty as they say tomorrow I'll be there if school's cancelled.


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## Highball28

jduck said:


> as of now, I should be there 18, 26, 27th Solo


26th and 27th might work for me. I'll shoot you a PM when it gets closer.


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## Far Beyond Driven

It has its charms. But all managed areas, beck even public land does.


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## waterfowlhunter83

michiganoutdoorsman said:


> Todd farm sounds too stressful for me to ever want to go...


Hunting areas like the Todd Farm and others have made me a better hunter more so than hunting private lands ever have.


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## Highball28

waterfowlhunter83 said:


> Hunting areas like the Todd Farm and others have made me a better hunter more so than hunting private lands ever have.


And far more rewarding when it works out.


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## jwinks

Also, it’s the only place to hunt right now...


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## Highball28

Yeah... Mostly that.^^^


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## goosemanrdk

waterfowlhunter83 said:


> Hunting areas like the Todd Farm and others have made me a better hunter more so than hunting private lands ever have.


No doubt about that for me as well. Plus if you go into it knowing what it is going to be like and accepting its going to be like that, its far less frustrating. As crappy as it can be at times, its nice to have when its the only show in town. I would rather hunt there, and deal with the crap, than sit on the couch and not hunt.


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## Far Beyond Driven

I am amazed how well the geese work at Shiawassee and Nayanquing. Have not worked a goose yet at Fish Point. Having cut my teeth at the ultra competitive farm, I'm still not used to throwing a few clucks and a moan at a goose and killing it feet down over three floaters. I'm programmed to set 17 dozen minimum and double clucking so hard that my friend called it the Fennville turbo poodle routine. I tried that at Shiawassee this year and on the ride out my neighbor flagged me down and asked what that was all about. My neighbor who shot a goose I called off a refuge bound vector into Prior out of the federal marsh over 29 into the 30's where it did a lap around me in 37 before they shot it.


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## maxloadBBB

Anyone heading out today in the warm conditions we are experiencing?


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## hammerdown

michiganoutdoorsman said:


> Todd farm sounds too stressful for me to ever want to go...


 its not that bad if you go there just go with the mind set it is state land and the average guy hunting there is a retard there are a lot of good old timers there I guess cant say that regulars that are very laid back and after awhile you pick zones to stay away from the very worst of hunters its a fun challenge and you can thump them with the right people around you.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Would really love to see more of a CO presence there. How easy is it to walk down the corn and shake down people? You can make a lot of contact in a short time. They don't check licenses any more to let you hunt, so any one can get on the unit. I know the guy south of us Tuesday who had a 70 yard shot gun but actually killed two birds shooting at everything that came out, used most of if not more than a box of shells doing it.


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## Cork Dust

hammerdown said:


> its not that bad if you go there just go with the mind set it is state land and the average guy hunting there is a retard there are a lot of good old timers there I guess cant say that regulars that are very laid back and after awhile you pick zones to stay away from the very worst of hunters its a fun challenge and you can thump them with the right people around you.


I grew-up hunting geese there in the late seventies. Same story then...IF you get the right guys around you, things can be quite productive. I remember my dad shouting, "Let 'em work!" often. Every once-in- while we we would get a group who would walk down and discuss the plan for the day regarding what flock size to not shoot at and how far out they would take a shot. As the retrievers, my brothers and I got more work on those mornings! Oddly, the folks who offered-up those pre-emptive conversations often moved us to slide out spread their way, and often they could actually call geese. Of course, this was in the days pre-short reed goose calls and decal encrusted decoy trailers...


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## grassmaster

FBD, You need some xanax, worrying because they don't check hunting licenses anymore at Todd Farm! why would you go to state draw area -5 degrees knowingly without ever purchasing a license ? it slows stuff down, I need to get to the Blue Goose Cafe.
Wanting COs to "shake people down" while they try to hunt!
Paint some black vertical stripes on your tyvek suit, then you can blow a whistle and throw a yellow flag when you think your neighbor shot too many shells.
Are you brushing snow off license plates in the parking lot looking for expired tags too?
I can almost hear Barney yelling "citizens arrest, citizens arrest".
Yea I'm angry.... my honey hole froze over last night.


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## Duckman Racing

grassmaster said:


> FBD, You need some xanax, worrying because they don't check hunting licenses anymore at Todd Farm! why would you go to state draw area -5 degrees knowingly without ever purchasing a license ? it slows stuff down, I need to get to the Blue Goose Cafe.
> Wanting COs to "shake people down" while they try to hunt!
> Paint some black vertical stripes on your tyvek suit, then you can blow a whistle and throw a yellow flag when you think your neighbor shot too many shells.
> Are you brushing snow off license plates in the parking lot looking for expired tags too?
> I can almost hear Barney yelling "citizens arrest, citizens arrest".
> Yea I'm angry.... my honey hole froze over last night.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Why would guys come out when the wind chill is 4 below, set up on the gap, walk into your zone and threaten that you'd better not sky bust, then shoot at nothing under 50 yards all day including birds in my zone working my decoys? I don't know. 

Problem is these people kill just enough birds to think they're doing something right.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Saw a guy hand cuffed to a CO's quad at MWW. Why would you offer up your driver's license number to hunt when you have a warrant? Yet he did.


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## Jerry Lamb

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Saw a guy hand cuffed to a CO's quad at MWW. Why would you offer up your driver's license number to hunt when you have a warrant? Yet he did.


Because he needed to hunt. You understand.


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## Far Beyond Driven

It was the first time I met officer Simpson. He busted the guy in the other half of our field. My buddy sits up and says "I think there's a large black guy on a quad walking a guy out of the other half of our zone". 

Guys in the other half of our zone on opener at MWW shot five minutes early, shot too many hens, didn't make an effort to pick up half their birds, then came over to us (we waited until 15 minutes after hours to pick out drakes and shot one from each flock as it was insane) and threw some hens at us telling us we sailed them. Called the CO's and they got like 17 tickets written between the four of them. Haven't seen them back since. If you're going to be a tool, don't make it your neighbor's problem.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Paint some black vertical stripes on your tyvek suit, then you can blow a whistle and throw a yellow flag when you think your neighbor shot too many shells.

I don't have a tyvek suit, however, I like this. I'll blow my teal whistle (three peeps like a widgeon) then throw an ear of corn into their spread, and yell "your actions are a detriment to the good of the goose hunting community"

And that would be the second time someone threatened to shoot me at Fennville.


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## notime

heading out this weekend. anybody know what the count is. got a feeling with the freeze up happening alot will be leaving if not so already


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## West side shooter

Heading out for the youth hunt, I mean artic expedition tomorrow, anyone else braving the weather?


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## Highball28

Out here right now. It sucks.


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## Highball28

Have a giant spread and all of 5 to ourselves. Had a single come from behind and looked like he was gonna do it perfect. Came down to about 50 yards flew over us in the corn thought about making another lap but flew to the refuge.


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## Far Beyond Driven

I would wager if everything locks up the count may go up. Lots of geese migrate no further than Fennville. Will also be interesting to see if the inbound geese change their roosts or move into the refuge after abandoning their roosts.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Have faith, those birds in the refuge should wake up soon.


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## joewilson

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Have faith, those birds in the refuge should wake up soon.


Hope so. Its been mighty slow


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## Highball28

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Have faith, those birds in the refuge should wake up soon.


They got up once did a lap in the refuge and sat back down. That was it. The north half of the creek is all frozen, I don't think I've ever seen that before.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Can't say I have either, and I've hunted waist deep snow in early December there when I was your age. If it makes you feel better I put in six unpaid hours at work today.


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## notime

Thawing out the decoys after this morning


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## TNL

notime said:


> Thawing out the decoys after this morning
> View attachment 288482


Cleaning birds?


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## notime

TNL said:


> Cleaning birds?


Haven’t been there for a week and picked the wrong spot. We will see what tomorrow is like.


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## notime

Drew 25 this morning and still got what we wanted.


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## steelfish365

Got to love a good SW split...


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## West side shooter

It was a good weekend, not for the birds though. Hunted in 6C saturday morning, decoyed 1 goose and knocked it down into the ditch. hunted the youth hunt and the boys decided to switch sides of the farm- managed to scratch out 4 mallards and a goose for good measure as well! Thanks again to the Macatawa Bay waterfowlers for the lunch, it was nice getting some warm food between hunts


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## West side shooter

Not much better than honkers in the snow!


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## joewilson

West side shooter said:


> Not much better than honkers in the snow!
> View attachment 289205


Whats the bird count at the farm?

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


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## Highball28

7,000 birds. 90% of the creek is frozen and a lot moved out.


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## Highball28

Was there yesterday. Got a good draw and went NE. Could've tried on a few that would've been pokes in the last hour. Had birds that wanted to work throughout the day but they all had to fight a really tough SW wind (in my face) and they just couldn't get down low enough to land and figured it wasn't worth it. Went home with the goose egg but watched west side and their group knock down a triple in the last hour, nice shooting boys!


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## West side shooter

at least you were there, I was stuck at work! they ended up with 5 total, said it was a tough hunt though


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## spartansfan

I have a question for you west side guys. This is the most amount of snow I've seen since moving over here to sw mi. How deep of snow do you see geese willing to consistently feed in? Do birds typically trickle back in after the rivers open back up? Asking because I've had my most luck out here during the late season and my typically late locals have vacated for the time being.


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## grassmaster

_over 12 inches of snow and lows under 20 for 7-10 days and you want to be in Ballard County Kentucky ! look at the band reports , there's a reason they can call geese down there._


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## Mallat Bawb

spartansfan said:


> I have a question for you west side guys. This is the most amount of snow I've seen since moving over here to sw mi. How deep of snow do you see geese willing to consistently feed in? Do birds typically trickle back in after the rivers open back up? Asking because I've had my most luck out here during the late season and my typically late locals have vacated for the time being.



Seems like a lot of Geese will fly to a field & sit right down. They may not even feed in the field, and more or less just loaf in the field most of the day & sleep. Due to lack of water the fields will become the loaf as well. The TF with the tall corn they will use the high snow to get at some of the stalks they couldn't get to with no snow. Expect more to fly when it's snowing & other then that until a warm up they may only move in the afternoon when it's not snowing out. I think if we get a thaw & run in the mid 30's to mid 40's you'll see some rivers thaw a bit, and the geese will start to move around & find that water they have been missing for about 3 weeks now... lol


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## TNL

Looking at 37* and rain Thursday. Might flip the switch.


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## Highball28

Going tomorrow morning. Don't know why. It's kinda just an obligation at this point... But yes next week should be interesting.


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## Highball28

Finally had a good hunt. Should've walked out with our six but had some gun malfunction and birds on the edge that didn't 100% close and weren't gonna come closer. We shot our 4 birds right in our faces. And had another one go down 20 yards into the refuge. NE side of road.


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## Highball28

Highlights were me killing two geese with two shots in the first flock and me and my buddy hitting the calls hard on a refuge bound single that came right in for my buddy to punch into a mid air summersalt at 15 yards with a single blow... It's just really nice when it finally all comes together.


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## West side shooter

Nice shooting! You guys have been due for a good day


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## craigrh13

Seen a pic on FB of a group out there that had a good shoot this weekend. Looked like they had close to 20 birds.


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## Mallat Bawb

craigrh13 said:


> Seen a pic on FB of a group out there that had a good shoot this weekend. Looked like they had close to 20 birds.


Yeah they had a heck of a shoot! Majority were in the decoys under 30 yards. There wasn't a ton of geese shot this past weekend, but certain zones put up some good numbers!


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## craigrh13

Mallat Bawb said:


> Yeah they had a heck of a shoot! Majority were in the decoys under 30 yards. There wasn't a ton of geese shot this past weekend, but certain zones put up some good numbers!


Sounded like they even were picked around 15th. I guess that just goes to show you that first pick doesn’t mean a guarantee.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Drawn 27/30, 21/23, and 15/47 this year. Killed birds every time. Truly amazed at some of the zones people pick with high draws. The first two hunts I got the zone I wanted, the last one I was one zone away from my top pick.

Granted if I was picked higher there were other zones I would have considered, but those are top five picks every day.


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## Mallat Bawb

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Drawn 27/30, 21/23, and 15/47 this year. Killed birds every time. Truly amazed at some of the zones people pick with high draws. The first two hunts I got the zone I wanted, the last one I was one zone away from my top pick.
> 
> Granted if I was picked higher there were other zones I would have considered, but those are top five picks every day.


Seems like you always get those guys that take Zones in hope of pass shooting... At least it seems like if you're drawn say 15th around 4-5 parties ahead of you may just take some random pass shooting spot. Makes me giggle a bit.


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## Fowl Play

I remember the days they drew both the farm and highbanks at the farm together. You could be picked in the 30s and still get a very good zone/section.


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## West side shooter

heading out again saturday, hoping the cool down will stir some birds up for the weekend.


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## Far Beyond Driven

I remember the days they drew both the farm and highbanks at the farm together. You could be picked in the 30s and still get a very good zone/section.

I remember those days, boats at the launch and the highbanks pool posts on the wall around the corner from the main board. The trailer where you could buy hot chocolate, donuts, and a box of T steel for Bravo when they decided that limiting Bravo to T and F steel was a good idea. 
There were also 250 parties sometimes back then. That I don't miss.


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## Mallat Bawb

I remember going with my Dad before I could hunt & there being over 400 parties at the Farm one Saturday. We were number 10 or something in the redraw & still managed to get on a hunt & get our 1 goose. Seems like the 4-5 times I went when I was young it always was over 200 parties no matter what until quota was met. Then the whole Brava Unit deal started, and what a mess that was. lol


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## Highball28

So I’ve been curious about some of the guys that use A frame blinds in Fennville in marginal corn. I know it’s been a trend that’s been catching fire. Does anybody Here use em or even better have a pic of what your blind setup looks like?


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## notime

Highball28 said:


> So I’ve been curious about some of the guys that use A frame blinds in Fennville in marginal corn. I know it’s been a trend that’s been catching fire. Does anybody Here use em or even better have a pic of what your blind setup looks like?


we use corn stalk camo burlap on fence posts. seems to work fairly well as long as you have some stalks to place in front of it. helps keep the wind down as well.


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## Mallat Bawb

Highball28 said:


> So I’ve been curious about some of the guys that use A frame blinds in Fennville in marginal corn. I know it’s been a trend that’s been catching fire. Does anybody Here use em or even better have a pic of what your blind setup looks like?


We use Panel Blinds quite often in the corn. They seem to work well & especially if we put the snow covers on them. I'll see if I can find a pic of them at the Farm.


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## Highball28

We have some burlap in the trailer. May have to deploy it with no snow and marginal at best corn this weekend. Last weekend we dug pits in deep snow and just laid in them with whites on and magnum shells on top of us.


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## Mallat Bawb

It's kinda nice at the TF when there is a bunch of snow just for the hide part. Can basically almost build a igloo to hide in...lol 
For those that may be interested I know Wing Supply has 3D white 12x5 snow camo netting on sale for $12.50... We picked up a few & the stuff works great & is actually a white color that matches the snow.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Who would have known all that snow fort digging as kids would come in handy?

We use a white tarp with rattle can corn stalks painted on it as a wind break behind us in the snow if conditions allow, and then run a Focus 5 heater at one end to warm up as needed. Works well.

Anything white - don't wash it in detergent if is gets dirty as the UV brighteners will give it that purple glow. I use dishwashing detergent on my while parka as needed.

Fastgrass works well in corn too.

Most camo is too dark for cornfields.

Another trick we use is to leave nothing in the rows between the corn. The bags go in between stalks and get corn leaves on them, and we lean back and sit in between the stalks as well. I can't recall having a bird flare hard coming at us, but I've had them get over the corn and swing their heads and look down the rows and blow out. We had a duck hunt where the wind was stupid strong blowing the ducks out and we were well buried in layouts at the front row of the bad corn, and the ducks would blow out, get past the corn, turn into the wind and just hang there looking up and down the rows. We shot 13, 14 birds that day compared to our neighbors getting a couple, as the ducks would see them in the corn and slide over to us.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Here's another hack:

put one of these about 4' up a solid corn stalk in front of you and lean your gun into the "V" of the clamp handles. You can find these in any zone I've hunted as I seem to leave them after every hunt, so I buy them in bulk.


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## Mallat Bawb

Those clamps are legit for really anything hunting! We use them in our panel blinds to lean guns into as well.


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## TNL

I have to ask, is there room enough in the corn for A frames without destroying any standing stalks? It would seem counterproductive to stand on or remove the vegetation you're trying to hide in. Also seems that it kind of limits where anyone can set up in future hunts.


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## Mallat Bawb

TNL said:


> I have to ask, is there room enough in the corn for A frames without destroying any standing stalks? It would seem counterproductive to stand on or remove the vegetation you're trying to hide in. Also seems that it kind of limits where anyone can set up in future hunts.


A-Frames may be kinda hard... I know with the Tanglefree panel blinds we can setup around the standing corn just fine without doing any damage to it.


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## Fowl Play

I remember opening day 1986. There was, 700 parties. We got redraw 200 something. Was in 5c by 10am, back to the office by 10:30. We were the 5th group in that zone. Lol. We hunted there from 1981 to 1996. I DO NOT miss it. Great memories formed but I do not miss hunting there.


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## West side shooter

we are deploying our panel blind this weekend for the first time, but have had success with one in the past. the panel blind fits between the rows with not a lot of messing around, might be just enough snow to use the snow camo for the weekend as well


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## Highball28

This one didn't make it past the ol Mossberg 500 today! Circled once came over the corn and hovered out over top of the decoys right to left.. swing out like he was gonna make another pass or bee line it toward the refuge and I decided to take the shot in fear that option B was his plan... Good day for pretty much every side of the farm. More than a few birds killed today for sure.


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## West side shooter

It was an amazing hunt today, we had zero expectations going in and ended up with a pretty good day. Todd Farm birds will decoy, just have to give them a chance!


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## Highball28

And also a huge shout-out to my buddy whom after I left my yeti mug in the corn went BACK to fennville later in the day to find it. It was a Christmas gift from my girlfriend and meant a lot. What a champ, without him I would've had to drop another $60 buying the mug and the yeti and ducks unlimited stickers to put it on and try to pass off as the same mug to my girlfriend... Needless to say Blue goose breakfast is on me next week!


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## sovaa4307

Heading to the Todd now had 2 guys back out. If anybody wants to team up that'd be cool.


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## notime

Looks like I picked the wrong weekend to get tree stands pulled down. Great job guys


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## jvanluyn

So who flipped the switch from yesterday to today? 48 kills on Saturday and I would think a whole lot less today from what I was hearing/seeing.


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## Far Beyond Driven

How many parties this weekend? Thinking of coming out if semi retirement.


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## Highball28

30 some on Saturday


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## jvanluyn

Highball28 said:


> 30 some on Saturday


Less than that today.


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## notime

Heading out Sunday for sure this weekend, just not sure about Saturday. Thinking this warm up is gonna get things going


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## Highball28

I'll be there Saturday and Monday. I'm hoping the same. Anybody got a bird count?


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## West side shooter

We will be out saturday morning


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## notime

Highball28 said:


> I'll be there Saturday and Monday. I'm hoping the same. Anybody got a bird count?


would be nice if Lansing could keep the counts updated in the wetland wonders page. Haven't seen an update to that since mid December


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## notime

weather looks good for this weekend. anybody else going out?


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## jvanluyn

B


notime said:


> weather looks good for this weekend. anybody else going out?


I’ll be there Sunday.


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## West side shooter

Saturday for us, providing I can shake this flu. Missed our tues afternoon hunt because I was laid up, nothing like using a sick day being sick rather than at the farm!


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## jvanluyn

West side shooter said:


> Saturday for us, providing I can shake this flu. Missed our tues afternoon hunt because I was laid up, nothing like using a sick day being sick rather than at the farm!


I haven’t had the flu, but I’ve had a cold for 2 weeks. I managed to get out and hunt though. Maybe that’s why I’ve had it for 2 weeks though.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Retiring on for the year on a high note after the last hunt. Missed the first bird I shot at this year, so I'm going to end on dropping the last two geese I shot at. Besides my wife is moving so much firewood lately that I need to spend some time behind the chainsaw.


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## Highball28

Think I'm going ice fishing while there's some safe ice. Looks a little sunny on Saturday.


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## West side shooter

Decent day until that sun came out, more birds working in from the east than I thought there would be as well. Count still says 5K, but seems like less.
Did see some snows today though.


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## MallardMaster

Are there even birds there? Drove by yesterday around 3 and there were more deer than geese on the farm.


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## jvanluyn

MallardMaster said:


> Are there even birds there? Drove by yesterday around 3 and there were more deer than geese on the farm.


It was bad yesterday. Someone said that the count was 5000 on Saturday and they said it looked like less. I was there yesterday and the could was 7600, but I don’t think that is even close. We heard a few shots, but it was blue skies and sunny the whole morning. What birds were there hung out at the farm hq, and at on point they all headed south and looked to have landed down in the marsh in front of 7. We left at noon since I didn’t see anything than have me high hopes for the next 2 hours. Absolutely no birds in the fields when we turned our card in so they must have gone down to the marsh to loaf.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Ouch. Thanks for the (brutally) honest report.


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## West side shooter

We are heading out thursday to see if this snow has helped things any. Based on the amount of birds I saw there last weekend, it might be a slow couple weeks to the end of late season


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## West side shooter

Stiff wind and falling temps made for a long afternoon. Even longer when your neighbors decide to shoot at everything under 90yds- even if it's setting up on your decoys. For everyone wondering, there are good birds at the Farm yet, but it's definitely not easy hunting right now. We will be back out Saturday morning.


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## Highball28

What makes it hard? Weather? Bird patterns? I think we're done for the year but could be talked into going back out but am currently battling strep throat.


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## Far Beyond Driven

The top things that have ruined my hunts are idiots, not being patient and sitting it out, idiots, picking the wrong spot, idiots, missing easy shots, and more idiots. Looking back on the last few years bad draws, weather, bird counts have not caused as many issues as the above.


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## West side shooter

Highball28 said:


> What makes it hard? Weather? Bird patterns? I think we're done for the year but could be talked into going back out but am currently battling strep throat.


Bird patterns are more difficult to predict, but mostly idiots shooting at anything they think is a goose. Don't get me wrong, we are still "in it for the long haul" but watching one group sail 3 cripples and not even look for them is frustrating.


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## steelfish365

Fowl Play said:


> I remember opening day 1986. There was, 700 parties. We got redraw 200 something. Was in 5c by 10am, back to the office by 10:30. We were the 5th group in that zone. Lol. We hunted there from 1981 to 1996. I DO NOT miss it. Great memories formed but I do not miss hunting there.


700 parties? Redraw 200? Sorry I had to. Lol it was a lot different back then but no where near what people claim it to be. Actually we kill a lot less geese now but the average is the same now as it was then. Oct. 18 opener. A little over 500 parties between Farm and Highbanks total and a little over 200 geese shot.


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## West side shooter

Tough/slow day saturday. Drew 19th and headed for the east side. Nothing working out of the farm before 2pm, birds that came into the farm were about a mile high. Don't know if the weather will co-operate this week or if the rest of the season will be the same.


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## maxloadBBB

Jeff had said end of January he was retiring, is he in fact gone now after all these years of him handing out the cards and stamping tickets? He knew every square inch of that place, won't be the same without him.


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## jvanluyn

Anyone been out this week? Has bird count gone back up at all? I’m thinking about going this weekend, but the last few hunts haven’t been very encouraging for me to go back.


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## notime

jvanluyn said:


> Anyone been out this week? Has bird count gone back up at all? I’m thinking about going this weekend, but the last few hunts haven’t been very encouraging for me to go back.


Have some friends going saturday that are supposed to let me know. I am planning on Sunday as my last trip there this year.


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## jvanluyn

notime said:


> Have some friends going saturday that are supposed to let me know. I am planning on Sunday as my last trip there this year.


That’s how it’s looking for me too.


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## West side shooter

My guys are heading out tomorrow and I will join them for Saturday. Weather may cooperate for some decent hunting.


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## steelfish365

maxloadBBB said:


> Jeff had said end of January he was retiring, is he in fact gone now after all these years of him handing out the cards and stamping tickets? He knew every square inch of that place, won't be the same without him.


Yup Jan. 27th was his last day. He is officially retired.


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## steelfish365

jvanluyn said:


> Anyone been out this week? Has bird count gone back up at all? I’m thinking about going this weekend, but the last few hunts haven’t been very encouraging for me to go back.


Bird count is the same. Doubt it will change before season ends. Nothing to make them move in. Weather pattern has us locked down. Might get an ok day or 2 before the season ends we will see. The last week hasn't been promising. On the bright side, the specks are still here. A guy killed one Tuesday. Last 10 day kill. 6,2,6,5,8,3,0,5,0,4


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## West side shooter

Ooohhhhh Specks! I like it!
What zone did it get taken in?


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## West side shooter

Ok guys, tomorrow is the last day of the season, anyone else heading out? I will be stuck at work, but some of my crew is heading out. Hope something stirs the birds up and the season closes with some good hunts!


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## notime

West side shooter said:


> Ok guys, tomorrow is the last day of the season, anyone else heading out? I will be stuck at work, but some of my crew is heading out. Hope something stirs the birds up and the season closes with some good hunts!


I was thinking of giving it a try. Wasn't able to go Sunday like i was hoping. Would have to call in a sick day for work to go but i don't normally don't take time off when i get sick...just when i need to hunt, fish or golf.


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## West side shooter

Sounds like a decent amount of parties today, my guys are set up on the west side- bring on the birds!


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## West side shooter

Didn't get as many as they would have liked but didn't get skunked either. It's been a pretty good season overall, time to empty the trailer and inspect our gear. Sept will be here before you know it!


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## Sparky13

Hey guys, we are organizing a cleanup day for the Todd Farm. It is scheduled for April 7th at 9am w a backup weather date of April 14th. More details as we get closer, but many hands make light work so if you can make it please come out and help give back.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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