BIG RICE LAKE— Grab your waders and your decoys because this year has the makings of an excellent duck-hunting season in northern St. Louis County, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The season opens Saturday in northern Minnesota.

“We have record bird numbers out there right now, at a time when the habitat is somewhat short,” said Tom Rusch, Tower Area Wildlife Manager for the DNR.

One of the premier duck hunting locations in northern St. Louis County has only gotten better over the past couple years. Duck numbers on Big Rice Lake have jumped as a result of two changes— the establishment of the Little Rice Lake state game refuge and the shift to non-motorized travel only on Big Rice during the late summer and fall.

The DNR established the new regulations as a way to protect breeding waterfowl and their broods from disturbance before the waterfowl season, and to provide secure feeding and resting habitat for migratory waterfowl during the hunting season. And so far, the evidence suggests the regulations have had a dramatic effect.

Tower DNR and 1854 Treaty Authority staff continue to monitor waterfowl use through weekly surveys during the fall or waterfowl season on Little Rice Lake. Results from the first two years of surveying have shown waterfowl numbers increasing throughout the season and peaking in late October, just before freeze-up. Survey numbers peaked on Little Rice at slightly more than 600 ducks in 2012, the first year under refuge status. Just one year later, the duck numbers peaked at 5,000 in late October, just before freeze-up.

“Our ultimate goal is to increase the number of migratory waterfowl using the area and improve the quality of the waterfowl season,” said Dawn Plattner, Tower area assistant wildlife manager. “The changes appear to be moving us in that direction, but we need to give it some time to see how hunting pressure, wild rice crops and other variables impact the birds’ response to the refuge.”

A five-year sunset clause was implemented as a means of vacating the refuge designation if the public felt that it was not serving its intended purpose. So far, hunters have given the changes high marks. According to a survey of 11 waterfowl hunters on Big Rice, 92 percent said that hunting had improved since the new regulations went into effect. They saw an increase in species diversity and abundance while witnessing larger undisturbed flocks spending more time on the lake. These changes were likely a combined outcome of factors including, but not limited to, the near-by refuge, local food availability, level of area disturbance, number of hunters, and waterfowl migration numbers throughout the season. 

As a state game refuge, Little Rice Lake is closed to hunting and trapping from Sept. 1 through Nov. 25 each year. The refuge, which includes the lake and forest bog perimeter, is about 288 acres.

Big Rice Lake, located just southwest of Little Rice Lake, was designated nonmotorized at the beginning of last year’s waterfowl opener. That change meant that motorized surface use was restricted to watercraft with electric trolling motors only from June 15 until Nov. 25 annually. 

While duck numbers have been promising, this weekend’s opener will feature mostly local ducks and the overall numbers likely won’t be as high as is expected later in the season. This time of year, hunters will be focused on mallards, teal, wood ducks and ringnecks, all of which breed locally. With plentiful water this year, Rusch said local reproduction was strong and should keep hunters busy until the big flights of bluebills and other more northerly ducks arrive in October.