getting ready for ducks around muskoka

phishroy

phishroy

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so me and a buddy had the fortune if being invited to use a friends cottage for the next 11 months at muskoka lake, located on muskoka bay.

first thing that came to mind was october duck hunting. buddy has a duck boat and a retriever.
first look on google map looks like the bay area is way to populated with cottages for any kind of waterfowl hunting.

there are lots of small lakes in the area, looking for advice on any potential duck hunting locations around there.

did a quick search on here and couldn't find anything on waterfowl hunting in muskoka.
any waterfowl hunting advice around that area is appreciated.

Thank you
 
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The Muskoka shoreline is very heavily developed with cottages/homes and very few areas on the lake itself provide much in the way of good staging habitat or feed.
Nothing really to hold or attract birds. Waterfowl numbers are spotty at best. If you can get access to some of the larger & undeveloped inland lakes and ponds, especially those
with good sub-aquatic weed growth, emergent grasses & cattail ... great, but for the most part, hunting below Muskoka (south of the Severn ) traditionally, is far better than above.
"Jumping" beaver ponds can be productive, but ixnay the boat ... a canoe is more practical by a long shot, and the dog will be absolutely necessary !

There is however fair to good grouse hunting (and woodcock through to about the end of the third week of October) where habitat/soil conditions are conducive.
If you are up there as "weekend warriors", you'll likely spend more time looking and trying to get permission than you actually will hunting. First two weeks of November
you can pretty much forget it ... deer season is in full swing.
 
Some friends of mine found a big plot of wild rice on lake Muskoka and had their limits in about 15 minutes around three years ago. They were also met by OPP at their trucks (who checked PALs and registrations) and the following day both received calls from the town of Bracebridge whom told them they were in violation of such and such laws and they had recieved a lot om complaints (we think Bracebridge got their numbers from their license plates, not sure on that one). Luckily, they had spoken to a local CO prior to going out, and as mentioned were already checked by OPP. Nothing ever came out of it.

All in all, I dont think its worth the hassle. Study google maps and satellite images and you should be able to find a smaller lake or some ponds nearby with little or no cottages and relatively easy access.

I'd share some locations but mine are all private property, sorry.
 
I have a cottage on Muskoka and its a zoo. I wouldn't think of taking my gun out of the truck. Take a drive down some back roads with a copy of crown land and I'm sure you be able to find a ton of ponds and swampy marsh area that have no houses/ cottages near by. I might do the same myself this year. Good luck!
 
beretta boy said:
The Muskoka shoreline is very heavily developed with cottages/homes and very few areas on the lake itself provide much in the way of good staging habitat or feed.
Nothing really to hold or attract birds. Waterfowl numbers are spotty at best. If you can get access to some of the larger & undeveloped inland lakes and ponds, especially those
with good sub-aquatic weed growth, emergent grasses & cattail ... great, but for the most part, hunting below Muskoka (south of the Severn ) traditionally, is far better than above.
"Jumping" beaver ponds can be productive, but ixnay the boat ... a canoe is more practical by a long shot, and the dog will be absolutely necessary !

There is however fair to good grouse hunting (and woodcock through to about the end of the third week of October) where habitat/soil conditions are conducive.
If you are up there as "weekend warriors", you'll likely spend more time looking and trying to get permission than you actually will hunting. First two weeks of November
you can pretty much forget it ... deer season is in full swing.
Click to expand...

This.......
 
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