Drought Impacting Duck Hunters in Central Minnesota

The drought in Central Minnesota will impact duck hunters.  Duck hunting season begins September 23rd in Minnesota will continue through October 1st and then again from October 7 - November 26.  Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON.  He says Minnesota's drought conditions vary from extreme drought to abnormally dry but all of Minnesota has received less rain than we are used to.  Because of this Schmitt says the locations hunters typically go to won't be accessible.  He says many swallow ponds are muddy or bone dry.

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Schmitt suggests hunters do some scouting this weekend to see if the pond you normally use can be used this year.  He says because of this larger marshes, lakes and rivers will be the go to spots for hunters.  Schmitt indicates it is good and bad because it concentrates ducks but it also likely means more hunters in those spots.  He suggests using small boats, canoes and kayaks because there is just going to be too many places you can't get a bigger boat into.

Will the duck harvest numbers be affected by the drought conditions?  Schmitt stopped short of saying so because the duck numbers are good in Minnesota and it just comes down to whether duck hunters change their plans.

Ducks, coots, mergansers

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