The Ducks and Geese
Don’t Know How Lucky They Are

By the time 2001 rolled around I had already been exploring the Fox River in the long stretches below Oswego and Yorkville. Back then I lived in Elmhurst and would drive 40 miles one way to spend the day exploring the river and it’s islands. The Orchard Road bridge had yet to be built, so the stretch below Oswego still had a certain wild charm.

During my exploring I kept coming across duck blinds tucked onto islands. Most had seen better days and looked like they hadn’t been used in years. One I came across was in pretty good shape and on a short pole sitting off to the side was a sign that said it was a designated waterfowl blind.

That same year a friend gave me all the guns he didn’t use anymore and told me to put them to use. A couple of them were perfect for waterfowl. I was 45 years old at that point and had never hunted a day in my life. I had never shot a gun either except for a BB gun. I knew it would take me awhile before I could hunt effectively.

I had searched the IDNR website looking for information on waterfowl hunting on the Fox River. There was no information to be found. One day while exploring down stream of Yorkville I stopped by the office at Silver Springs State Park.

An older woman was behind the counter. I asked her about waterfowl hunting out on the river. I was told there wasn’t any and none was allowed. I knew she was lying to me, but kept my mouth shut. I knew I had just run into some kind of Good ‘Ol Boy network and I wasn’t Good ‘Ol boy enough for her. I let it go. I wasn’t ready for waterfowl hunting anyway and spent that year upland game hunting for the first time.

The following year while out fishing and exploring, I came across more blinds with more of the yellow signs next to them. I stopped in at Silver Springs again. The same older woman was there behind the counter and I asked her the same questions as the year before. I was given the same line of crap I was given then. This time I politely let her know she was lying to me.

At that moment a guy walks in the door, goes behind the counter and sits down at a desk. I turned my attention to him and asked him the same questions. He reaches under the counter, pulls out a map and continues to go over all the designated waterfowl sites throughout the whole area I had been asking about. He noted all the ones I already knew about.

The older woman scurried out the door and said under her breath “I don’t know why anyone would want to hunt along here, the Fox River isn’t a flyway anyway.”

I beg to differ.

A few years later that map finally showed up on the IDNR website.

Ten years later and we are having one of the mildest winters I can remember. Usually by the middle of January the Fox River is pretty well covered in ice except for the areas immediately downstream of dams. This year with all the open water, coupled with the fact that the river is flowing below normal levels, the river is filled with ducks and geese. I’ve been driving up and down the river the past week and have seen more waterfowl on the river than ever before.

A few weeks ago I read an IDNR report on the progress of the waterfowl migration. It was bleak for those that live south. They were barely getting 10 percent of the birds they normally see. In the north zone the season for Canada Geese ended on January 7th. In the zones further south, just barely further south, they can hunt these geese till January 31st. I imagine they aren’t seeing all that many.

There are thousands of them hanging out in the barely 10 miles of the Fox River that I’ve checked. A friend that lives nearby estimated four or five hundred of them were flying over his house the other day.

Today’s check on the geese was kind of ironic.

Plenty of them hanging out within shooting range of a blind.

For as far as I could see up and down the river from that point, there were hundreds more ducks and geese. Except for the very edges, the river was pretty much ice free.

I knew that not much further down stream were a couple of more designated blind sites. Sure enough, not much further down stream there were quite a few more waterfowl.

We’re ten days out from February. Usually by then things are starting to warm up and the ice locked river starts to open up. Though the ten day forecast shows nights dipping below freezing, all of the day time temps are above that. This just might be the first year I can remember when the river doesn’t freeze over.

In a way I feel sorry for all those waterfowl hunters further south that were hoping for some Canada Geese, but it doesn’t last long. If the weather continues the way it’s been going all winter, we can have an unusually warm river come March.

That means in about six weeks I can be out there tying into some pretty good smallmouth bass fishing. I’ll probably have to kick ducks and geese out of my way to get to the best water, but I can live with that.

And for all those waterfowl hunters further south sitting around waiting for geese to show, well, there’s always next year.