Bob White of Marine on St. Croix tosses one of his duck decoys to shore during a cold morning on a North Dakota pothole Oct. 22 2007

Duck hunters who haven't taken a look at the marsh they plan to hunt during this weekend's opener had better do so.

It might be dry.

And I mean dry.

This year's record drought has left many shallow potholes and wetlands completely dry. Many larger bodies of water have troubled access that make launching trailered boats impossible.

"If you're expecting that same old spot to be ready to go, some people are going to be in for a rude awakening," said Brad Nylin, executive director of the Minnesota Waterfowl Association. "Maybe that WMA (Wildlife Management Area) or WPA (Waterfowl Production Area) that they hunted in the past is going to be there, but I don't know."

Duck hunting starts a half-hour before sunrise Saturday, Sept. 22, in Minnesota. It's also the season opener for Wisconsin and residents of North Dakota. (The season starts Sept. 29 in South Dakota, the rest of Wisconsin and for non-residents of North Dakota.)

Scouting -- checking out an area at dawn in the days before hunting starts to get a sense of what birds are there and how they're moving -- is highly recommended. But with roughly a third of Minnesota's duck hunters hailing from the metro, the reality is many don't have time to do it.

That could be trouble this year, as reports abound of areas drier than ever before, said Steve Cordts, waterfowl manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

"I was out goose hunting this weekend and saw an area I duck hunted on a few years ago," Cordts reported. "Not a great big marsh, but it was a typical, 10-acre spot ringed by cattails. And it's bone dry. There are a lot of areas like that. There are WMAs with boat access where you'll have to drag across a mud flat."

Hunters likely will have to work down the hierarchy of boats, perhaps by several steps. If you normally use a motor, you might have to step down to oars, or even a push pole. Canoes -- or just a slog in chest waders -- might be the only options in some places.

Many water bodies are down 20 inches. Ponds with water-level controls aren't immune, as vegetation and heat have sucked up much water.

Scouting hunters should probe to see whether there's a hard, sandy bottom beneath muck. Six inches of muck is sloggable for dog and man, but 36 is another story.

I saw the shocking effects of the drought myself while grouse hunting last weekend in the Chippewa National Forest.

Even in low-lying woods, the earth was hard-packed like concrete, and forest moss disintegrated to dust clouds under foot. Several wetlands, including one beaver pond, were barely damp.

I'm talking areas with normally enough water to support lily pads and watercress. Those and other aquatic plants were still there, wilted from roots sealed into a caked and cracked substrate that was once mud. (Hunting for migratory woodcock also opens Saturday in Minnesota, and hunters should seek out wet soil wherever possible.)

On the other hand, when we did wander onto the edge of a flooded forest that held a handsome amount of water, we were greeted by several hundred wood ducks and mallards, a convention of ducks with nowhere else to go.

"Yeah, it's low water, but essentially it should be good for hunting," Cordts said. "Generally, ducks and low water is bad, but that's for breeding. For hunting, it can concentrate ducks, and make for a great hunt."
