With the summer activities wrapping up in central Minnesota for the year, these colder, shorter fall days, brings the beginning of one of the Midwest’s most popular activities, waterfowl hunting. The duck and goose season in Minnesota began early morning on September 24th, where many hunters took to their boats, and blinds, with their dogs and shotguns, hoping to bag a limit of birds.
Minnesota is home to several different kinds of waterfowl, including mallards, pintails, teal, wood ducks, Canadian geese, snow geese, coot, and many more. This abundance of breeds, as well as growth in population, is expanding the hype around duck season in 2016.
The waterfowl population in Minnesota is at one of its all-time highs, over that last decade, and this just adds to hunter’s excitement. The DNR, as well as other groups’ work to improve wetland habitat throughout the state, has helped increase the amount of breeding ducks in Minnesota. This, paired with some great early fall weather thus far, has led to the opportunity for a good season.
The duck season will be open for 60 days in each of the three waterfowl zones, and over this time, thousands of Minnesotan’s will head to the many lakes, rivers, ponds, and fields to try their luck at gathering some trophy birds.