Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Craven Co. 01-13-2011 11:49
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
Went out for a hunt near New Bern and it was eventful. Got to the ramp(a WRC ramp for a change)only to find the creek I wanted to hunt locked up with ice. It was too late to regroup and go somewhere else, so I decided to take a chance looking for open water upstream from the ramp(my usual hunting location).
First,I had to break ice at the ramp and I had trouble getting the boat off the trailer and positioned next to the dock due to the heavy ice.Second, I had a boat malfunction, not what I needed to happen when I am already starting out late. It seems my shifter cable had gotten water in it and had frozen stuck. I managed to free my cable in reverse only by thawing it with a cigarette lighter. I disconnected the shifter on the motor from the cable and by shifting the motor manually and using the reverse setting on my shifter lever to increase the throttle, I managed to get away from the ramp. The farther I went upstream, the heavier the ice got. I found a small patch of open water and I threw out 3 mallard and 1 woodie decoy and set up the blind. Two minutes to legal time.
I loaded up and settled in to wait. I sat there until about 7:45 am and a single ringneck flew up the creek, going upstream. I sat up and fired, bam(feathers flew),bam(more feathers), took a deep breath, led the duck and BAM! I hit it hard and it went down in a frantically flapping descent into the creek, just around the corner from my position. I could not let the dog go for it due to ice, so I cranked up and headed to the spot.
No duck in sight. I looked around and saw the impact hole on the ice. Thinking the duck might be under the ice, I looked all around. After a thorough search, I decided the duck must have hit the ice, busted through, and then ran on top of the ice to the shore. I beached the boat and sent in Dixie the wonderdog. After a 5 or 6 minute search, she returned with the ringneck drake. I posted a pic in the 2010 hunting picture album.
Not a red letter day, but for overcoming the difficulties and Dixie’s awesome blind retrieve, I consider today a moral victory.
Posted By:
Sloughslogger
Guest
Sampson County 01-10-2011 10:48
Cloudy, Accumulating Snow – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
The snow front definately moved the birds this morning. Saw about seventy wood ducks and brought one home. Most were flying down the main creek channel where I could not get to with waders. The marsh was frozen and covered with fresh snow except for the open creek channel. Several mallards passed over pretty high and were on their way to somewhere else.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Pamlico River 01-08-2011 20:21
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
My partner and I went out to hunt on the Pamlico River this morning. We wanted to hunt sea ducks, but NOAA was calling for 20 mph winds with higher gusts, rain and snow. So we opted to go puddle duck hunting instead.
We got to the ramp and were surprised to see 7 trucks already at the ramp and another pulled up right behind us in line. We got the boat ready as quickly as possible and launched to go to our spot. We headed the opposite direction as everyone else, we have a little honey hole we like to hunt. Hasn’t been that good for the last few years due to fishermen that would set up and fish right next to your decoy spread, but with gale force warnings and small craft advisories out, we were hoping they would stay home.
About 10 minutes to legal time a flock of about 10 or so ringnecks went by our boat. At 4 minutes to legal time, 3 mallards went right over us. Then it was legal time,didn’t see another duck for almost 3 hours. At 10:00am, a flock of 30 to 40 teal blew right over us and landed down the creek. We watched them for about 10 minutes, they took off and came through the decoys and we splashed 3,two hens and a drake. Then about 20 minutes later, another, smaller flock came through, just a little high and real fast, we managed one drake out of that group.
Two hunters, four teal. Not too bad.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Roanoke River 01-06-2011 16:00
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 35-40 Degrees
I went up for a hunt on the Roanoke River this morning and it was not productive. I sat there until 10:00am without even pulling a trigger. I did see some migrators up high, some wood ducks and some big ducks(gadwall and mallards), but nothing that even pretended to consider decoying.
I arrived at the unimproved ramp at about 5:30am. I launched quickly and set out to my usual spot. I was somewhat surprised not to see any other hunters in the area, it was a sign they knew something I didn’t. It started raining about legal time and rained steady until I called it a day.
I think the dog is disappointed in me.
Posted By:
Sloughslogger
Guest
Sampson County 01-06-2011 10:50
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted the same location I did on Tuesday. No mallards here this morning. Go figure. Snowing 50 miles north and drizzle where I was and only saw 25-30 local woodys. Splashed 1 woody and got a merganzer. Still better than being in the office.
Two days ago it was clear and cold. Marsh was froze to the main creek channel and mallards were everywhere.
Posted By:
Sloughslogger
Guest
Sampson County 01-05-2011 09:22
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Hunted a new location with new hunters (friends)yesterday. A little farther east than I’m used to hunting and there were noticibly more ducks and more species than I’m used to seeing. This is getting better and better.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 01-03-2011 16:35
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
I went out to hunt a creek off the Nuese this morning, it is a area that I have not hunted in at least 10 years, but I was at a loss of where to go and I decided to give it a shot. It is a beautiful location, where salt marsh meets scrub pine. I have shot a few woodies there,as well as a few mergansers. Nothing to get excited about, but it was a excellent location to try out to see if things had changed.
Sometimes taking a risk pays off. I got to the ramp about a hour before shooting time, I quickly launched the boat and faced the choice, up the creek to where I usually hunt, or down to try something new. Since I was already pushing the envelope, I decided to go up to my old location since it had been so long since I had been there. For all I knew, there was a housing development down the creek(it was too marshy for that upstream). I set out a dozen ringnecks and a few wood duck and mallard decoys and set up the blind. Not a minute too spare. I quickly loaded up and sat down to wait. Not for long.
A pair of big ducks passed overhead and continued down the creek. I went to hit the mallard call, but in my excitement, I blew a high-ball into my wood duck call. Recovering quickly, I hit the high ball on my Haydel’s Redleg several times and the ducks turned and passed by out of range on the other side of the creek. I continued to quack and chuckle as they passed over several times and finally they set wings and parachuted in. I could not let them decoy since I would not be able to take the shot in the low light, so I had to take them a little high as they came in, outlined in the early morning sky. They had feet down and were dipping from side to side when I flipped open the blind and picked out my duck. Two shots later, it hit the water, just outside the ringneck decoys. I sent Dixie out for the retrieve and she made short work of it. While she was swimming to the duck, I used the time to reload. When she arrived back at the boat, I realized that I had a blackduck/gadwall hybrid. It had the dark brownish/black feathers of a black with the wing coloration of a gadwall. It’s bill was not the usual olive/green color, but was black and orange speckled. At first I thought it was a black duck, it’s main coloration was that of a black duck.
I put it on the strap and settled back down. Two more large ducks passed by to the south of my position, I hit the call and they turned as if on a string. Before they got to me however, two other ducks passed by and they turned and followed them. I frantically hit the high ball and was discouraged as they continued to fly away. Just when all seemed lost, the small group of four turned and headed back. They flew over and circled around for another pass. I could see they were gadwall, I continued to do single quacks and feed chuckles. They set their wings, dropped their feet and came in, dipping from side to side. At about 10 feet off the water, I stood up and took a double at about 25 yards. It was awesome. Dixie made short work of the double retrieve and we sat back to wait for our next duck.
These were all the ducks I saw all morning. It was lucky I was able to capitalize on every opportunity that I had this morning. I sat there until 10:00am before picking up to come home. By NC standards hunting on public water, the black/gadwall hybid and the two gads constitute a red letter day. North Carolina has you shooting woodies and divers, from ringnecks to scoters and bluebills. An occasional teal or mallard. But to take three big puddle ducks while hunting public rivers and creeks is quite a accomplishment.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Craven County 01-02-2011 15:31
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
My son and I went out hunting to the “Wood Duck Hole”, one of my favorite locations for the last 20 years. It has not been good there for the last 5 or so years, but I am keeping the dream alive that it will become good again. The problem is that a couple of locals are shooting out the roost, it has totally ruined a area that was a almost guaranteed wood duck limit every time, not to mention that sometimes you took a few mallards or Canada geese as well. It is a beautiful location, were the creek opens up from a narrow to a wide area where a ox-bow re-enters the creek. It is surrounded by huge cypress and there is a small island off to one side. The area is pristine, no sign of development anywhere around.
But starting about 5 years ago, two locals(I am guessing by the sound of their gunfire)began to shoot out the roost. They go in and really blast it out. It makes me sad. I would hunt this location once or twice a week, hunting it lightly and slipping out with one or two woodies every time. I decided to go back to check it out, maybe the roost shooters moved away.
My son and I set up in our traditional location, we set up 3 woodie and 2 mallards out in the open area in front of the place we put the boat. We set up the blind on the boat and waited.
For nothing. We sat there until 10:00am and did not see a single duck within range. We only saw 3 ducks all morning, one teal and two mallards up high and out of range. We had a flock of Canada geese come over, but they were too high. We also had a flock of swans pass over us, up high about 100 yards south of our location. Obviously the roost shooters are still there.
I will not return to the “Wood Duck Hole” this year.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Pamlico Sound 12-30-2010 17:46
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
My partner and I went hunting for sea ducks today, the first time this year. We went to one of our favorite spots on the Pamlico Sound. We put in at the unimproved ramp at the headwaters of a small creek. We had to put the truck in 4-wheel drive due to the still-present snow and the heavy mud due to moisture saturation in the ground at the ramp. It was pretty nasty.
We had to pole the boat to turn around from the ramp due to heavy ice in the creek. We broke ice almost the entire way to the sound, in some places it was so thick that we had to slow down and let the boat go up on top of the ice and let it fall through to break it, somewhat like a icebreaker does.
After finally arriving out in the open water of the sound, we were immediately amazed at how slick the water was. There was not low wind, there was no wind. The water was slick as glass. We ran out to the spot we like to hunt, about 300 yards offshore. We put out a dozen scoter, one dozen bluebills and about a half dozen bufflehead decoys. After setting up the Avery Blind, we awaited legal shooting time, about a 30 minute wait.
We could hear buffleheads flying around the area, but could not see them. At legal time we had a group of bluebills skim just outside range, circle us three times and fly away. Then a single scoter came in low with wings set and I took him at about 35 yards. Scoters are hard to kill, but Black Cloud puts them down. He hit the water and didn’t even twitch.
We then had four buffles approach from the east and set up in the bufflehead decoys just as a single buzzed out in front. My partner took a buffle as it left the decoys and I lost my footing and missed the single flyer. About 30 minutes later a single buffle drake came into the bufflehead decoys and my partner took it clean over the blocks. It was a beautiful drake, so perfect and plumed out so well that he is going to have it mounted.
We saw hundreds of ducks out in the open water, but in the slick conditions they did not fly around. We picked up at 10:30 am and went home after sitting there for 2 hours without firing a single shot.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Lenior County 12-29-2010 07:45
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
I went out for a quick hunt in the small beaverswamp across the road from my house. I had to be back early(by 8:00am)and I couldn’t really put in a real hunt like yesterday, two days in a row. I need a day or so to recover from each trip due to some health issues I have. But tomorrow I do intend to go hunting for real, my hunting buddy and my son will be going and they can bear the brunt of the labor.
I found the beaverpond frozen solid, I didn’t expect it to be completely frozen. I expected the sides to be frozen and the middle to be open water. My plan had been to catch ducks coming into the open water from the river. But with the water completely frozen, I only saw one flock of ducks(mallards) and a single teal. Both were slightly out of range and I didn’t fire a shot.
Tomorrow promises a new day. My partner and I hope to do some sea duck hunting tomorrow, the first time this year. It seems that the winds have been in excess of 20 mph on the sounds since the end of November. Every time we plan a sea duck hunt, it is high winds with small craft advisories on the sound. Tomorrow’s forecast is for 5 mph NE winds, perfect sea duck hunting conditions for the spot we like to hunt.
I am told that people have been doing extremely well hunting impoundments and in beaverponds all season. The ducks are evidently here and have been all season. We have been unable to capitalize on them since the river is so shallow as to make navigation all but impossible and I only have access to one beaverpond. This beaverpond is owned by a man I know and he will only let me go in to hunt there so I can’t ditch my hunting buddy to go there.
But tomorrow will be a sea duck hunt(if all goes as planned).
