Posted By:
Puddleskipper
Guest
HOOCHie 02-07-2005 22:31
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Charlie =”(^)< Heard about that guy. Saw some of his work. It does look good. Got a guy in Columbus that mounts mine for me. I trade him out drift wood for his mounts ,for him mounting mine. Sounds like you did have a good season. It's like I keep telling these young fellows around here. It's not the amount of ducks ,it's all about the hunt. Heading to Missouri the 19th and 20th to do some snow goose hunting. Called the guide tonight and he said the geese are stacking up. Should be a great hunt. Private post me if your interested in joining us. Stay safe. SKIPPER ="(^)<
[Edited By Puddleskipper on 2005-02-07 22:33]
Posted By:
Charlie Smith
Supporting Member
02-03-2005 07:34
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PuddleSkipper :
I had a normal year ( remember, this is just my second year of deciding to be a duck hunter bec. of the great Lab I found and gave a home to ) for me, which is pretty darn bleak. I harvested, from memory, 12 ducks this year. I did have 2 highlights, tho, my 9 month old Lab pup made her first duck retrieve this Jan. and it was a water retrieve. Also, I got to take my 7-yr.old nephew the last day and, although he didn't get a duck, I did manage onw woodie out of 5, and he claimed it as "his first duck", which, I guess, is correct in one sense. Took him with me to the taxidermist and let him pick the mount for "his" duck and the one that was my pup's first as well. Both mounts will be his, by the way. Tell you something else, I had been told this "new guy" taxidermist was SUPER and, after seeing his work, I must agree. His name is Brad Henry and he is near Parrott, Ga. about 55 miles S. of Columbus. The young guy really takes pride in his work. Anyway, I hope to do better next year, and if things go as I hope, will have a small duck pond on my place before next season. Enjoyed your reports and your help.
[Edited By Charlie Smith on 2005-02-03 07:35]
[Edited By Charlie Smith on 2005-02-03 07:37]
Posted By:
Puddleskipper
Guest
HOOCHie 02-03-2005 04:56
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Don't know what my count is. Just keep cleaning and stuffing them in the freezer. I know it's not high. Had a major family situation twice in January that cut into about 2 weeks of hunting. For me to miss more than 2 days in a row is very rare. I usually hunt 4-5-6 days in a row. Did manage to collect a can and a pair of buffies for the wall. Also shot a very colored out drake ringneck that I think I might get mounted. All in all it wasn't a great season for me. I killed 5 geese and about 4 dozen ducks. I shot the impoundments less this year because of all the skybusters showing up. Just frustated me. They can't call, don't know when to call and when not to and place out decoys only to shoot at birds 100 yards + high. Saw very few teal this year after the hurricane. Shot none. Gadwall got all the birds this year. Wigeon sounds like he had a respectable season also. How'd you do Charlie? The best hunting I had all year was when I went to the bays down in Fla. Birds by the hundreds but no hunters. Except for the few that went with me. Bluebills, Greater Scaup, Scoters, Merganzers, Bufflehead and Redheads were on the plate those days. Hope to get in a snow goose hunt during the conservation order in some state before the season goes out. Maybe that will make up for the season some. Me and my buds made it thru the season again without any major catostrophies. Thank the Good Lord for that. Almost time to dust off the big boat at the beach and get ready for saltwater fishing.
Posted By:
Charlie Smith
Supporting Member
PuddleSkipper\'s backyard 02-01-2005 21:25
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Ok, Pudd, where you at and go ahead and give me the bad news about how you skunked us GA. boys....what is your tally for the season ????
Posted By:
CFGadwall
Guest
Mobile Bay & Delta 02-01-2005 08:43
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The last two weeks of the season were a roller-coaster ride. From the 20th-23rd, we were covered up with big divers. We killed more greater scaup, redheads and canvasbacks in those 4 days that we killed in the previous 4 weeks. Limits were easy & I even killed a 3,2,1 (3 greaters, 2 redheads & 1 can) on the 23rd. We also had a good number of gadwalls thrown in.
The last 4 days of the season were poor. The big divers seemed to dissapear and while we had lots of gadwalls, they were very blindshy. We hunted all day the 27th & 28th and only had a few gadwalls and a Canada goose to show for it. Saturday was better, with 14 birds (13 gadwalls and 1 drake bluewing) taken by three of us. Sunday was a bust with only 2 gadwalls in the bag.
This turned out to be a strange year, especially for divers. From about the 15th through the 24th we were covered up with greater scaup, redheads and canvasbacks.
Out of the 16 bluebills I killed this year, 12 were greater scaup. We did find a large raft of lessers & hunted them on the 22nd. This weekend, we went back to where they were and most were gone (or at least we couldn't find them).
I killed more canvasbacks this years than I killed in the '97-98 thru 2003-04 seasons combined. Twice this year, I had a flock 8-10 cans come into the decoys. Redheads were almost the same case, until this last weekend, it was pretty much a given that if you hunted the bay, you were going to kill at least one redhead. However, this past week, most of the cans, redheads and bluebills that had been here seemed to vanish. Maybe they went to Miss. Sound?
We saw a good number of gadwalls as the season progressed but they were very hard to hunt this year. Even when it appeared we had new birds, they seemed to arrive blind shy.
We saw no teal until this weekend when I killed a beautiful bluewing.
No one in our group saw or killed a pintail. We killed a good number of wigeon early & they disappeared.
The ringnecks that were here at the beginning of the season disappeared right after New Years. I suspect that went up into the creeks in the Delta.
Oh well, lets hope the breeding grounds get lots of rain & snow this winter and that next year will be better.
Posted By:
wigeon55
Guest
Coosa 01-31-2005 11:28
Cloudy, Winds Calm - 40-45 Degrees
Hunted the last day...Slow had a group of 4 come in and got 1...then had a group of 2 come in and got both...worked a small group of geese but they stayed out of range...then a a lil larger group came in but still out of range.....hunted til 10 and saw very few birds......as for the seson had a really good year killed a fair amount of birds...8 species.....met some new people.....look forward to next year maybe i'll get down to hunt with you Ted......But i am glad tat it is over til Nov I am wore out.....My pup had a good year she got to retrieve lil ducks and Big geese......She made some good retrieves and some bad ones too....I made alot od bad shots...and pulled a few out of my butt.....I really hate that this states posting is getting to be poor.....Good Luck and see ya next season
Posted By:
Last Shot
Guest
North east Alabama 01-27-2005 20:43
Sunny & Clear, High Winds - 30-34 Degrees - Open Water
First of all, please allow me to say that This used to be the most exciting website for waterfowlers on the internet. Due to last year's reconstruction & new restrictions to access to the field reports, it has become the most droll excuss for everyday duck & goose hunting reports that could be.
I have lost count of the (2004) faithful that no longer check in daily with this once awesome resource. What a shame!
Please reconsider your policies - I completley understand that this a business.
Sorry to choke up one of the vaulable 3 posts allowed at one time.
But, There has been a ton of great duck hunter's info & banter that has now been disallowed. Afterall, we all love to hear about DUCKHUNTING. Waterfowler.com used to be the place to go.
Hope everyone had a good season!
Last Shot
Posted By:
wigeon55
Guest
Coosa 01-26-2005 10:37
Cloudy, Winds Calm - 50-60 Degrees
A slow day had alot of mallards flying at 6:00 but nothing at legal shooting time...I had 1 mallard come in and got him...Then the geese started flying so a few SNOW GEESE had them pass over a lil high for me to shot at..Then the Canadains started flying called a nice flock in got 2 out of the bunch..then worked a few more flocks but nothing wanted to come in would just circle high and swing wide..had a good time..Enjoy calling the big birds....
[Edited By wigeon55 on 2005-01-26 14:17]
Posted By:
Ross-Malone
Guest
Jackson Cty. 01-24-2005 09:08
Sunny & Clear, High Winds - 30-34 Degrees - Ice
Hunted Raccoon Creek WMA the past two days and what a disappointment. Hunted hard all day yesterday and maybe saw 30 birds and the day before hunted till 1000 and did not see anything. WE had 6 redheads pass throught on Saturday and one of the four guns got off a shot and bagged one nice drake. Birds just do not move off the refuge and private places around Crow Creek when it gets cold. Big waste time unless you like to freeze and watch seaguls migrate down the river. Did not hear any shooting and most of the setups left by 1000 and it was so bad the evening setups left after a couple of hours.
Maybe we need to go back to a 30 day and 3 bag limit to get the pressure off the birds and get the numbers up. If DU, Delta and USFWS along with MS Flyway Council contuine to do nothing then it can only get worse in future years. Duck hunting is a multi billion dollar business. Let us protect the resource for a few years and see if we can make a difference in the quality of our hunts.
Sure am glad we got the extra week to hunt this year for I'm looking forward of viewing more blue skys and seaguls on the route.
Be Safe
RAM
Posted By:
wigeon55
Guest
Guntersville 01-23-2005 17:11
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I hunted Guntersville for the first time...what a experience...I have seen decoy shy birds but wow...Ater watching thousand of coots.bluebills and gadwalls raft up of the shore line..i was thinking why and then i saw the light SKYBUSTING...Boys ya'll are educating your ducks by busting them up in the air let them decoy and then shoot....Even the grebes where to scared to swim into the decoys...i watched gadwalls land just out of range like they knew they are safe....Let the birds work the decoys when they get into a range that you can kill them shoot....ducks are not stupid just hunters.....
