Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 10-09-2009 11:36
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Went out on the Nuese River in a different location from Weds(at least 15 miles away) to an area that I am very familiar with for fishing, but only have limited experience with for hunting. This area has been hit or miss with me over the years. Some good hunts, lots of bad hunts. I have shot more mallards here than any other location until recently, but I have had more strikeouts here as well.
I am trying to not hunt the area that I am going to tomorrow as I am taking my son there and I want him to get his first duck. I want the ducks in that area flying low and slow. So I was undecided what I was going to do until I was actually in the truck this morning. Would I go near to where we were hunting Saturday(and risk messing up my son’s first shooting duck hunt), or take a blind shot in the dark?
I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. But there was a method to my madness, I went to a different location on the river than usual. I thought there was a good chance this gamble might pay off as it was the opposite direction from where everyone else goes to hunt, and it was in a hard to find location. In fact I had ridden by this spot fishing for several years before I found it. But I had never hunted it.
I set up 4 woodies and 4 mallards and put my Ure-A-Duck wobbler in the middle of the set(as there was no wind and the water was slick as glass). I then picked a spot that looked like it would give me good concealment and set up my boat blind. Then it was a matter of waiting for sunrise.
As was the case with Weds, I set up on the wrong side of the creek. The ducks were coming from the direction that I could not see well in(later in the season when the leaves are gone off the trees that will not be the case)but by the time I would see them, it was a hard shot. I missed two ducks and then a wood duck came up the creek from the good direction. I smacked the drake at about 30 yards and sent Dixie out to retrieve it. The duck was putting up a good fight, but Dixie was victorious.
The duck first tried to make the other shore, but Dixie cut her off. Then it was a diving game. The duck made several good breaks, but Dixie was on her as soon as she surfaced. Then the duck dove and so did the dog. This is only the second time in my lifetime I have seen dog dive for a duck and come up with it. She went under and came up with the duck in her mouth. It was good work.
That was the only duck I took this morning. The ducks only flew for about 20 minutes, fast and furious. Then it was over. I sat there until 11:00 am and decided to call it a day(I was hoping for a late flying mallard).
But on the positive side, I did see several flocks of teal. One flock was a big one, between 30 and 40 birds. But they were crossing the creek, not running up it and were about 100 yards downstream from my location. Even if I had been there, they were going so fast it would have been a near impossible shot to take.
Good day, epic retrieve.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Trent River 10-08-2009 12:55
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
Went out for a quick hunt this morning, I had to be off the water by 9 am in order to be home in time to take care of my grandson. I went to the location on the Trent River that my son and I scouted out last week. Last week we saw woodies and jumped up a flock of mallards in this area.
I got out there in pretty good fashion, I was early to the ramp and launched the boat very professionally(too bad there was not a audience to appreciate my technique). I then started up the creek slowly in the fog. It was a nerve-wracking, high-intensity thrill ride filled with stumps,floating submerged logs and fallen trees that would suddenly loom up out of the fog(which was pretty heavy). However, I managed to arrive at my designated location thanks to my GPS and in good time to get out my decoys.
I sat in this spot for about 30 minutes after legal time. Didn’t see a duck within range. Not one. I saw a few high flyers, but nothing like what I expect to see in Oct. I was at a loss, this area was holding ducks last week. I don’t know if someone else had also found the spot and hunted it yesterday, or if the ducks moved on thier own.
I decided to do something I almost never do, I decided to pick up and move my rig. I normally pick out a spot and once I get out decoys and set up, I stay in that location. I might move my boat to the other side of the river if that is where the ducks are flying, but I don’t move my decoys usually. I know that adaptability is a good thing, but I have a tendency to believe that I am one flock of ducks from turning this hunt around and that flock is going to be here in about 10 minutes.
I left the boat blind up and quickly picked up my decoys. I only had out a few(three woodies, two mallards and a Ure-A-Duck wobbler woodie). I set out up the creek to my secondary location. As I passed under a semi-fallen tree, my boat blind snagged a dead limb, flipping it into the boat and beaning me right between the eyes. I don’t mean between the eyes in a figurative sense, it actually hit me right between the eyes. Knocked me back in the seat. Saw a flash of light.
After saying some words that can’t be repeated on a family friendly website, I resumed my trip upstream while rubbing my forehead. I set out my decoys in the secondary location and sat back to wait for my labors to pay off.
Didn’t happen. Didn’t fire a shot all morning. Did not see a single duck except a few high flyers. This is a situation normally only seen in the late season when the ducks you see are battle scarred veterans. I saw no sign of anyone else hunting here, so I don’t know what happened.
There is always tomorrow.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 10-07-2009 13:34
Cloudy, High Winds – 60-65 Degrees
Went out for the season opener, we were in the right location, just not the right spot. The ducks in “The Wood Duck Hole” were coming from behind our location, a flight path we have rarely seen here. In fact, I can count the number of ducks that come from that path during a season on one hand, this morning, almost every duck came from that direction. By the time we would see them, it was too late to shoot. Over the course of the morning, 25 to 30 birds came over us well within range, but not within sight until too late to recover and shoot.
In spite of this logistical SNAFU, we managed to splash 3 woodies and one lesser Canada goose. The goose was a collabrative effort, it took both of us to take it down as it was kind of high, but at the edge of range. We both blazed away at it and we brought it down in a cruising descent that had the goose swimming away from us at about 50 yards. We pulled up the anchor and chased it down.
Wet dog, tired hunters. Good day.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Craven Co. 10-03-2009 17:31
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – Over 70 Degrees
Went scouting in Craven Co. for another spot for the 4 day October opener. It has not been real good so far. I have checked out several beaverswamps in the last 2 weeks, they don’t have enough water in them to be accessible by canoe and even if they were, they have had water in them such a short amount of time that the ducks are not using them anyway.
Last week I located ducks at a location that my buddy, son and myself refer to as the “Wood Duck Hole”. It was not huge numbers, but some ducks. All woodies. This morning my son and I went scouting in Craven Co. at a small creek I located several years ago but have not hunted up to this point.
When I found it, in Feb. some years ago, I jumped up some ducks in this creek and marked the locations on my GPS. I went back this morning to check it out and to do a pre-season shakedown on the blind, hunting equipment, etc. We got to the first location on the GPS and set up about a hour before legal sunrise. We had some woodies come through and two even landed right out in front of the boat. We only stayed in this location for about 15 or 20 minutes after sunrise as I wanted to check out the other location as well. We took down the boat blind and set out upstream, and we were happy to find a flock of mallards set up in that location.
There was also a swamp I marked in the area that we went to check out(again marked on GPS), but there was not enough water in it to be of any interest.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 09-27-2009 07:20
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – Over 70 Degrees
Went out to do some scouting on the Nuese river near the Pamlico Sound. I went to a small creek that we use alot to access sea duck hunting in the late season. While I was encouraged by the fact that there was plently of water in the creek(in fact the unimproved ramp was partially submerged), there were no ducks in the area. My son and I checked it out pretty extensively, we only saw one duck, a lone mallard drake.
I will continue to check out locations leading up to the Oct. opener.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 09-23-2009 16:48
Cloudy, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Went out to do a little scouting this morning and I found some woodies, but no other species. I went to a location off the Nuese that we (my buddy,my son and myself) refer to as the “Wood duck hole”. I saw a dozen or so woodies in the 20 minutes after sunrise, all flying low and slow down the main channel of the creek. That will change soon enough after the season opens. I then went downstream to a small island in the creek and I saw more woodies, both flying and on the water. I marked this location on the GPS as well as a possible secondary location.
I then went by to check with a local landowner that has given me permission to hunt in his beaverswamps(he has 2 on his property). It looked really good. However, I cannot hunt there until late Dec. as he is a avid(and I mean avidly hardcore) deer hunter and he wants to keep activity down in the area until he is through deer hunting. I am sure he will have a good season as his land was optimal for both deer and ducks. I hope he has a good season.
This weekend my son and I will do some scouting closer to the coast. It rained all day yesterday and is raining right now outside my window. I hope it keeps it up until the river comes up. I stopped by at Contentnea Creek this morning and the water is so low that the floating dock is sitting on the bottom of the creek!
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Washington, NC 09-20-2009 12:50
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – Over 70 Degrees
My son and I went out with my regular hunting buddy and another friend for a last dove hunt for the year. While we did see some doves, they were veterans by now. Not only were many missing thier tailfeathers, they had learned to evade even the most subtle movement. I usually don’t hunt doves past the first weekend after the season starts, now I have verification of that strategy’s legitimacy.
The guns are now cleaned and put away, my old SxS is away until next season. My son’s Mossberg is away until the Oct. opener for ducks. I am now fixing to begin my scouting for the upcoming duck hunting.
This new undertaking is complicated by the fact that the water is low. In spite of the frequent rain this summer, it seems no matter how much it rains it is immediately absorbed by the soil and nothing is retained either in the river, or the swamps. I am going to head east in order to find water.
I am going to check out a creek off the Nuese that my buddy and I refer to as “The wood duck hole”. It was a reliable spot for many years, but not so much for the last few. A couple of guys had located the roost and would go out on the Oct. opener, as well as the Nov. opener and blow it out. After that, the ducks were gone.
Last year they did not blow out the roost. I was told the two hunters were Marines(as was I once)and that the land the roost was located on belonged to the father of the wife of one of them. Now he has completed his tour of service and moved back up north. So I am going to check it out and hope that he doesn’t plan to come down to NC to hunt this year.
I also have a couple of spots out near the coast I plan to check out in the next few weeks.
[Edited By Scott-Tolar on 2009-09-20 12:51]
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Washington, NC 09-13-2009 16:03
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – Over 70 Degrees
Went out for a dove hunt on private land near Washington, NC. We got there just at sunrise and set up in a freshly harvested corn field and hunted until about 1 pm. My partner managed a limit, I managed 6 and my son got 1 dove(his first). I tried to allow my son to take the first shot and I was very pleased with his technique as well as his attitude. His gun safety was on target and he was very safe in his gun handling, a trait I think is more important that his marksmanship or number of birds taken.The temps were moderate(in the mid-80’s) and the partly cloudy conditions made the hunt very pleasant.
Dixie the wonderdog was much more steady today, she followed hand signals better and was more undercontrol than our 2 previous trips. She has a tendency to get a little out of control after a summer without any retrieving, and dove hunting is a type of hunting where one can let his dog get a little lax in behavour if one didn’t stay on guard against it. But I made her remain steady until sent for the birds and she came under control. Very good day. She retrieved all but one of her birds on complete blinds and did very well.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Craven Co. 09-07-2009 13:09
Cloudy, Rain & Thunderstorms – Over 70 Degrees
Went dove hunting this morning in Craven Co. It was overcast when I left the house at 4:45 am and set out to be in the field by legal shooting time(at 6:15 am). By the time I hit New Bern, it had begun to rain. By 5:45 am it was pouring. My son and I set up and waited for legal time in hopes that it would slack off and the doves would fly. I would have just sat out the rain in the truck, but we had to be home by noon,(my wife said he could not stay out all day and come home exhausted like Sat. because he has school tomorrow). It has been my experience that doves don’t fly well in the heavy rain, but when it stops, or at least slows down to a drizzle, the shooting can be fantastic.
We sat in the pouring rain until about 10:30, and just as the rain began to slack off and the doves began to fly, we had to go. I got two doves while getting our gear together to leave and I began to hear shooting all around us. By the time I got to the truck, the rain had all but stopped and the birds were flying everywhere. Over the entire time between 6:30 am and 10:30, I had heard less than a half dozen shots. In the time it took to walk back to the truck,(about 30 minutes) I heard 50 to 60 shots and witnessed birds dropping all around the field. Oh, well, that is the breaks. Perhaps there will still be some birds there on Sat. For those who could stay until the afternoon, the hunting should be great.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Lower Roanoke River Game Land Dove Field 09-06-2009 12:56
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Went out for our draw hunt on the Lower Roanoke River Game Land dove field hunt and it was a spectacular day. It was my son’s first hunt while shooting and he did well. He did not bag any birds, but he winged 3 that were finished off by other hunters. He is shooting a Mossberg 500 youth model, he even managed two hits on the same bird. He almost put it down, if there had not been any other hunters in the area, it would have landed about 75 yards away and we could have sent the dog after it. But after he hit it, it went down in a cruising descent that allowed another hunter to smoke it as it came in to land. He was quite a trooper, I am very proud of him. He pulled his weight in the field and tried hard.
That out of the way, it was a good day in the field. The dove area was very well prepared with corn,sunflower and milo. All the hunters on the field behaved as sportsmen, everyone spread out equally over the field and showed consideration to those who set up early to get a good spot. The day started out slow, but it began to pick up around 3 pm and then there were doves everywhere. Thousands of birds headed into this field to feed and the action was excellent. My partner and I managed about 7 or 8 from lunch to 3 pm, and limited out between 3 and 4 pm.
The dog did some excellent work, including some retrieves I did not expect her to complete. We had to work hard to keep her hydrated as the temps soared up into the 90’s. Dixie did her job with enthusiasm and I was pleased with her work.
