The coming forecast for the Canadian prairies is for colder weather and snow. For areas that still have open water that are holding birds this colder weather should ice those lakes and wetlands over and push the birds south. If there are any hardy hunters left looking for birds on the prairies, the next couple days might be your last chance to get a chance at them.

- Chris Benson

Southern Manitoba was hit with its first taste of winter this past Sunday night. Winds are supposed to turn northerly and the temps are supposed to drop overnight. This should push a good deal of birds south, but the season isn’t over just yet! The bigger lakes are still open and holding birds. For those of you that are south, expect some movement from the prairies. For those hardy Canadian hunters that aren’t deer hunting, the birds are in prime condition and competition is  almost non-existent.

- Chris Benson

The last few days had many hunters wondering where the birds were, but now ducks and geese are finally showing up. Hunters are seeing the northern push of birds. Both dark and light geese are heading to fields to feed, particularly corn fields are seeing lots of geese hitting them. Finding a duck field on the other hand is proving to be somewhat challenging. In talking with a number of hunters, the ducks are sticking close to water. In order to get into a duck shoot, hunters will have to take to lakes and marshes to find concentrations of ducks. Cooler temperatures are expected next week and might freezing up some of the water, pushing the birds south in a hurry. Or they might still stick around for a little bit and offer some great late season hunting for those that are willing to stick it out to the bitter end.

- Chris Benson

It seems the mild weather – at least in Manitoba – has hunters wondering where the big flights of mallards have gone. Traditionally this time of year brings cool north winds that send the northern mallards to the prairies and many hunters wait all year for these flights of the big greenheads to fill the freezer for the winter.

Hunters from the prairie pothole region in western Manitoba to the Interlake to Manitoba’s largest marshes like Lake Dauphin and Netley Marsh are seeing very little flights of puddle ducks. Most hunters feel they are still up north somewhere and when the weather turns they will be pushed down.

As for other waterfowl, goose numbers seem to be spotty, some areas have good numbers while other very few are seen. Snow geese in the western part of the province seem to be finally down from the north. Diver numbers seem to be good you can find them.

- Chris Benson

Reports from the fields and marshes indicate that the northern birds are starting to trickle in; the last few days on the prairies were hammered by strong north winds which pushed a good number of birds south. The warm weather Canada has been enjoying the last few weeks really slowed migration. Up until northern winds hit, some hunters were still seeing blue-winged teal. This is a bird that is pretty hard to find in normal years after the beginning of October. If you are looking for nice plump mallards or divers, this is the time to be out!

- Chris Benson