Minnesota's "second" duck opener in the southern half of the state apparently was a relatively quiet one.

The duck season reopened Saturday south of Hwy. 210 after having closed for five days -- the state's first zoned season. Generally, there were fewer hunters, and, with some exceptions, the hunting wasn't as good as opening weekend, according to conservation officers.

"The second waterfowl opener was not as good as the first, but ducks were still taken," reported conservation officer Mitch Boyum of Rushford.

"Fewer ducks and duck hunters were out this past weekend compared to the opener," reported officer Tyler Quandt of Red Wing. Hunting was slow in most areas of the southeast, and hunter numbers dropped dramatically near Morris.

At Swan Lake in Nicollet County, there were roughly half the number of hunters as opening weekend, and they did poorly. Forty-eight hunters were checked, and they had 39 ducks, or .8 ducks apiece, mostly wood ducks. On the opener, the DNR checked 109 hunters at the same locations, and they bagged 139 ducks, or 1.3 ducks apiece.

Duck hunters near Albert Lea and Willmar averaged one to two birds, but near Osage, they had three to four birds each. Hunters in Big Stone County had very good success shooting teal, wood ducks, mallards and a few divers. And hunters did well near Marshall.

Meanwhile, some hunters apparently had a hard time figuring out the new duck zone rules. The problem doesn't appear to have been widespread, but conservation officer Lisa Kruse of White Bear Lake reported a very busy week handling "many" calls of people hunting during the closed season. And officer Alex Gutierrez of Forest Lake found several groups of hunters doing the same.

Steve Cordts, DNR waterfowl specialist, said the warm, mild weather this week won't help duck hunting in the short term.

DOUG SMITH