With Minnesota's first fall duck hunting season a week away, the Minnesota DNR says drought conditions have created extremely low water conditions in many shallow lakes and wetland basins that are popular for waterfowl hunting.
                             
Duck hunters in the southern region may find conditions much different than they have in recent years. Some seasonal basins are completely dry and other, more permanent basins, are 1.5 feet or more below normal levels for this time of year.
                             
Ken Varland,  the  DNR's  southern region wildlife manager, says duck numbers are very good right now and duck hunters can have great success during dry years such as this.  Varland added that hunters simply need to take into account the drier conditions, do some scouting, and not be surprised on opening morning if conditions on their favorite lake are significantly different from past years.

Minnesota's first waterfowl season runs from September 22nd through the 25th. A second season runs from October 6th, through November 25th.