Author: Webmaster

Posted By:

12-03-2003 21:02
– – –
hey rick were still seeing lots of snows, canadas and divers on the newyork side take care tim

Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member

12-03-2003 18:21
Arctic Blast – 0-10 Degrees – Open Water
Hey Vermonters, a couple nights ago I was watching my “local” (satellite) news, WPTZ, and saw a story about some duck hunters who were “rescued” on Lake C even though they didn’t need it. Some lady saw them hauling their boat through the shallows and thought, due to the horrendous weather, that they were in trouble.

In the report, the local sheriff up there had the absolute gall to blame the HUNTERS for the unnecessary rescue effort.

He said something like, “I know you gotta have fun and all…” or something like that, but he was blaming the hunters and not the caller!

I hope you guys saw this and ripped that sheriff a new one! What a bunch of crap!

Oh yeah, and I hunted yesterday, on the VT/NH border and only saw 3 stinkin fish ducks (now this is a field report… 😉 )

[Edited By Jerry-Nicholson on 2003-12-03 18:22]

Posted By:

12-03-2003 13:40
Arctic Blast – Froze Out
Two degrees above zero on the hill this morning. Haven’t seen more than two ducks in the last four days. Is this the end??? Ice everywhere- even on big stretches of the CT. Anyone seeing anyhting other than cold?

Posted By:
SBE76
WFC Sponsor

Sandbar Area 12-01-2003 16:49
– – 35-40 Degrees
Late report for VT for last weekend. On vacation last week and swore off the computer for a week. Had 2 fairly good days of diver gunning in the Sandbar area last Sat/Sun. Sat. was great but Sunday the wind started to kick up but the big Bankes layout was nice and dry. Good numbers of whistlers around and on Sat. good gunning for both whistlers and bluebills, Sunday was all Whistlers. Sat. best gunning came between 8:45AM-10AM and 11:30-1:00PM. Even took a drake mallard that dropped in to the diver rig, plus a bonus goose that was oblivious to the layout boat among the decoys. Hope to get up there for one more weekend before it closes.

Posted By:

Interior Vermont- Field 12-01-2003 10:02
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted the farm Sunday morning. Looks like our local flock hit the flight path south over the weekend on the 50 mile an hour north wind and snow squalls. Saw very few birds- couple of pairs working the spread and one group of six divers winging down the channel of the River. Fiercely cold wind. A few small groups of geese, 20 or less, lighting into the corn mid-morning. Good to be outside with my future brother-in-law.

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Lake Champlain 12-01-2003 04:56
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Not much of anything exciting to report from the past few days. We hunted on Thanksgiving morning. Not much flying. Got a pass shot at a couple of Goldeneyes but came up empty. Hunt was cut short by an early dinner.
I had to work on Friday and Saturday so I never made it out.
On Sunday we made another trip to the big lake and still not much activity to report. We did see a handful of puddlers and a few divers but really only about fifty ducks total. I did bag my first Bluebill of the year. I think this week is going to be pretty good over on the lake. By midweek we are going to see temps colder than anything we’ve seen this year and that will no doubt start to freeze up some of the small back water that these birds are hanging in. Hopefully the boat launches will remain open for a while longer. I can’t wait to see what will be coming in on the artic express.

Good luck and keep swinging! Bubba…

Posted By:
LesB
WFC Sponsor

Lower Conn River Nov 26 & 27 11-27-2003 13:26
– – –
Decided to try the river, as I was headed that way anyway. Wednesday was a bluebird day, but still had total of 7 mallards come over close enough… didn’t hit much, but it was fun trying… lots of buffleheads and mergs…
Lots of hunters for the second opener.
Thanksgiving day I went right back. Lousy weather, still as death, bright, not a good duck anywhere. Buffleheads and mergs everywhere. fewer hunters than I expected, but there were a few too many – let me explain.
From being on the river the last two days, I discovered people play by different rules there. Apparently, they don’t need to use a plug, and can’t tell time. There’s a couple of boats with professional goose jumpers operating here. They start patrolling for flocks on the water before shooting hours(I don’t know if they bother to shut the motor off when close). When they are close enough, it begins – I’ve counted both days, and never has there been less than seven shots going off in a barrage bambambambambam. and a few times I counted 12 or more. Now I could be wrong, but I doubt anyone has a boat they can sneak in that shoots four hunters at a time. This morning they must have slept in, they only started twelve minutes before legal time. It’s sad it’s so predictable – you hear a motor in the dark, then a moment of silence, and then the geese panicking followed by a rain of shots going off like a string of firecrackers. Then the motor starts and you can follow the progress as they travel the river by hearing the same sequence of events… End of rant, had to vent…

Posted By:

Interior Vermont 11-26-2003 15:38
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Couldn’t muster the enthusiasm for the River this morning based on our experiences towards the end of the split, even though I knew there would be birds, so went back to the local honey hole packing light with six blocks and the mojo. Seems like, from Tom’s post overthere in NH, the same type of behavior prevails. The local birds in this spot just keep on coming. Shot four mallards by 8:00 am. Should have stayed later but once they make you in the day’s spot, the willingness to offer themselves up slows considerably. Happy Thanksgiving!!!Anyone out there enjoying and turducken this year? I’m looking for a Turgooducken…

Posted By:

New York Ag, Inland from Lake Champlain 11-24-2003 08:42
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Tim Faubert got in touch with me after reading my post with the comments about the total lack of geese on the Lake last weekend. He wrote to say that he knew where the geese were and that I was wrong about all the geese having left already. Also, generously invited us up to prove it.

Boy was I wrong about the geese being gone. Even had one old hunting buddy tell me that all the snows were gone after October 15th! Tim was right. We crossed the Lake and drove north from Plattsburgh and met up and hunted a 500+/- acre alfalfa field over a spread of 40 dozen rags. Snow Geese everywhere. 10’s of thousands all through the morning, filling the sky. An amazing sight. Also some flocks of Canadas and the odd Blue mixed in. Couple of good groups of puddlers, mallards and blacks came across as well. We also had the opportunity to scout a little later in the day in some spots that Tim had told us about. He was very generous with his information. We saw an impoundment on the Lake that must have had 25 to 30,000 geese (Snows and Canadas) and ducks and spotted some huge rafts 1000-2000+ of divers out in the middle of the lake. The guys from Champlain, NY were just about the nicest, most generous and knowledgable hunters we’ve run into anywhere. The fact that they were happy to have us in the first place, set us up and share their spots and their knowledge with us was just fantastic. Hey Tim & Ron, Thanks a million- we’ll definately be back.

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-11-26 15:32]

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Lake Champlain 11-23-2003 17:39
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 35-40 Degrees
Nov. 22/23

Hunted around the mouth of East Creek this weekend.
Saturday we saw alot of goose movement most of the early morning. Plenty of divers as well as puddlers moving around. Had a couple of Blacks come around but just couldn’t seem to connect. I did manage to bust a nice Goldeneye drake. It’s funny how I always seem to tie myself up like a pretzel trying to swing through those Whistlers.
Sunday same spot slightly different story. We saw a few less ducks early but around 8:00 we saw a steady stream of puddlers. Managed to boat two nice Greenheads and a beautiful Greenwing drake. I believe Rick had a post a few weeks ago about when nature calls the only two gunners in the boat answer one at a time. Well that is good advice if you like shooting at ducks. We had six Mallards ,(two hens four greenheads) and two Blacks. They cupped, dropped, and glided right through our spread only to land sixty yards away. And we were definately not in any position to do anything about it. I tried some feeding chuckles that brought them in, but not enough before one of the Blacks made us. Oh well. Win some,loose some. All in all not a big numbers weekend but certainly more than enough action to keep my drive alive.
I’m really curious to see what will be happening on Thursday. I can hardly wait to get back out there.

Good luck and keep swinging!
Bubba…

[Edited By Michael-Bride on 2003-11-23 17:43]

Posted By:
LesB
WFC Sponsor

Warning!!! 11-21-2003 08:21
– – –
Not a report – a heads up…
Got this this morning, is it time to move???
They won’t rest until we’re throwing rocks. Me, I have TWO ex wives, so I guess it’s time to go…

Folks,
Big news of the bad kind. THe state is doing a crackdown on persons who cannot own firearms under federal law, but can under state law. Feds gave $115 million in grants to prosecute people who are felons or have a restraining order on them. Supposedly it is to prevent violence and grants were given to two organizations I have never heard of before – Vermont Center for Justice Research and Vermont Network Against Domestic Violence. WCAX had a state cop on showing a variety of firearms on a table and telling us how they are going to get illegal gun owners out of business. Note felons include people who bounced a $20 check in 1965, people who had a warrant on them for failing to pay a fine and people who had a restraining order put on them by a vengeful spouse in a divorce proceeding. The latter case is the so called Lautenberg Amendment, which is of dubious constitutional authority. Many people have felony records and do not even know it. Many others have had restraining orders that may not have ever been recinded. This could take many sportsfolk out of shooting sports and hunting, leaving many homes, particularly rural ones, unprotected.

Gun Owners of Vermont is setting up a meeting with the governor to deal with this issue. We need sportsfolk to join in because many people will be swept up in this raid on gun ownership. Ilse Peppin Vergi is the Gun Owners lobby person and we really would like to have HAT’s Steve McLeod coordinate with her for possible legislative action.

This is a critical issue and should not be taken lightly. Gun Owners of Vermont has a huge list of people who could be victimized by this ganster style federal action. Our state should not be complicit and our governor made committments to protect gun owners from this kind of frivilous attack when he was running for office. Eddie, founder of Gun OWners of Vermont will be very much involved and I will be coordinating with him. If you have questions, please feel free to coordinate with me.

Karen Kerin, Treasurer, Gun Owners of Vermont

Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member

11-20-2003 21:42
– – –
Rick,

I answered your PM re: goose sausage…

Posted By:

Interior 11-20-2003 11:27
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 45-50 Degrees
SBE76-Haven’t heard much. Had a buddy that hunted Sandbar end of last week and almost got blown off the Lake. He said there was not much flying. I think that he is in MNWR today and will post if I hear anything.

We went back to the same sweet spot we hunted Tuesday morning but did not set up on the water becasue the river was raging from all the rain. Set a field spread of Canadas and Mallards on the edge of a cut corn field right next to the water. Still lots of ducks in this spot but not as many as Tuesday. Less geese, too. No shots on geese this morning whereas the two we dropped Tuesday were close enough to shoot in the lips with #6 heavi. Same group of snows came in- figured out where they’re roosting nearby. There were alot of shots we should have taken but didn’t. Still, overall, a good morning with 5 fat mallards on the strap by 9:00 and then off to work. Going north tomorrow afternoon to hunt either the Lake or the snow goose lease in New York.

Posted By:
SBE76
WFC Sponsor

Burlington/Sandbar question 11-19-2003 09:22
– – –
Looking to see what the diver situation looks like up around the Sandbar area or greater Burlington? A friend had a good puddler shoot by Shad Island in MNWR on Monday, he’s headed back there on Friday.

Posted By:

NY Snow Geese 11-18-2003 18:25
– – –
Got a message from a gent up in Rouses Point, New York just across the pond from Vermont who read my e-mail about no geese near the Lake. Message says…” I hunt every weekend..Saturday we shot 17 geese in 4hours(just 2 of us) and we saw between 50,000-75,000 total…all snow geese.” We’ve been back in touch with the the goose man, he sounds like he’s got it happenin’ and are hoping to check out one of his leases this weekend.

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-11-19 21:32]

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

11-18-2003 16:12
– – –
That is awesome news Rick. I saw quite a few Canadas today as well. They were in meadows that they had abandoned a couple of weeks ago. I figured they had moved on but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I now have even more interest in getting out there this weekend. The rumor is that I may have to work but I already feel dizziness and tightness in my chest, my god I have duck fever. The only cure I know is some R&R lakeside ASAP. Also Rick I sent you a PM yesterday.

Good luck and keep swinging!!
Mike B…

Posted By:

Interior Zone- Honey Hole X 11-18-2003 12:39
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
HOOOOOOOOEEEEEEYYYYY!!! Wish I hadn’t been stuffed in the trunk and blindfolded when I got taken to this spot this morning. Seriously- wish I could tell all where this spot is but there’s just no way, it’s staying in the vault forever. Also wish that I had brought the video camera instead of the gun so I had something to remid me of why I’m out there whent he hunting gets slow! And video proof of Vermont’s quality spots befitting our own cabkle TV show.

Cyclones of ducks, mostly mallards and a few blacks mixed in. Probably counted 500+ ducks in tolls of 30,40,50+. Large flocks of Canadas, a group of snows that must have had 200+ birds in it. Steady action all morning long. I’ve got to learn to hold my fire when 150 mallards start pouring into a spot that’s only 40 feet wide. Despite my pre-mature discharges, Team Madhouse landed 2 trophy Canadas and a mixed brace of mallards. Could have stayed all day long just to watch the show but work was calling. Out by 10 am with renewed interest in the pursuit.

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Lake Champlain 11-16-2003 18:44
– – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
We had a fairly slow couple of days over on the lake this weekend. Saturday, after seeing the wind on the lake was making 3-4 foot swells and whitecaps, we decided to go from Larabee’s point up to just south of the bridge at Mc Quin’s.(not sure of spelling)To our suprise that bay was completely quiet and skimming over with ice. With high hopes that our persistance would pay off we got set up right at showtime. We saw four mallards flying low about 100 yards out and that was it. When we picked up at around 9:00 the same four mallards spooked up from the bay behind us. We went back to Larabee’s boat launch and watched a few ducks buzz around and land on dead calm water and that was it.
Sunday we went to our normal spot down near the mouth of East creek. We watched the first hour go by without a bird. Then we wathed some birds fly the New York shore and buzz the creek. So we grabbed a half dozen dekes and moved right to the mouth of the creek and boated two Blacks. That was the extent of our hunt. Not our worst day but not what I expected to see for activity. With all the flooded corn now frozen I figured some of the birds would be back on the lake. I think alot of them are but without any hunters or fishermen moving them around they are most likely happy just sitting in the middle of the lake.
I do want to say that as of 10:00 am the mouth of East Creek was completely frozen. I don’t know how thick the ice is, or if it is even still there, but the ice in the catails we were in was about 1/2 in. thick. So if anybody reading this is going there go easy.

GOOD LUCK!! MIKE B…

Posted By:

Lake Champlain 11-16-2003 10:43
– – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
THIS POST IS FROM A FELLOW UPPER VALEY DU SUPPORTER (JCS,MD) FOR THURSDAY 11/13- today was an adventure. ill post to wfc too but basically, got up at 3 to make the insane drive accross 89 with the wind and snow. accidents everywhere. got to shelburne bay only to find a guy set up on the point i had hoped to gun. set up in a windward cove, shot a couple buffies. not too much in the bay – buffies, mergs, a few local mallards. pulled the spread at 8 and headed up to missisiquoi. scouted the refuge for about 2 hours. only two parties hunting. couldn’t find any birds! refuge manager said lots of birds earlier in week, but he couldn’t find any today either. we both wonder if the mallards headed south on the blow. no new birds down though. ended up setting up on maquam bay (protected from nw wind.) not too many birds close. ended with a teal and couple mallards. quite a few goldies and buffies out on big water; not working shore. also saw a couple nice flocks of bills. again, way out in dem vite caps. nice day. not too many working birds (or as many as i had hoped with this wind) but gorgeous, and no place i would rather have been/nothing else i would have rather been doing…

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-11-16 10:45]

Posted By:

Lake Champlain 11-16-2003 10:34
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Made it over to the Lake Saturday morning. Because of the high winds of the last few days, we thought we’d start off in a protected area and hunted Little Otter. Since this was our first trip over, we were amazed at how high the water is this year. Usually my boat is dragging through this swamp. Three other groups in Little Otter, and two groups set out by the mouth of Lewis Creek. I’d say the place has been picked pretty clean; one black and on teal out of the 7 hunters (including us) that pulled out by 7:30-8:00. Very few ducks flying. Took the boat out as far as McDonough Point to scout but the 2-3 foot chop and icy spray cut that idea short- still some pretty strong winds. Re-racked the boat and headed south. Scouted Kingsland, Porter anfd Fields from the truck but saw zero birds. Put in again at Button Bay- the Lake down there at this time was GLASS. Some guys from MA had a 50/50 dry/wet goose spread set up at Button Bay- looked like a good place for a picnic but I didn’t see any geese, alive or dead for miles around. Seems the geese is gone. Set up a large diver spread in a bay to the south and had many birds pass but very few work the spread- a bluebird day, we were probably sparkling in the direct sunshine and the shifting wind pushed the gang-rigs around alot. Lake whipped up to white caps briefly and that got them moving some. Jim tagged out a golden eye. Took the boat for a long scouting mission to the south towards Crown Point once the Lake flattened out again and saw one group of divers 1000+, another group of mallards 200-300 strong all rafting up in the middle of the Lake. Also what looked to me like a pretty healthy group of Brant in the middle of the Lake. Very few birds working the shore. No pressure from either boats or other hunters to get them moving. Picking up the spread had a ringkneck fly 10′ off the bow (close enough to count feathers) and a green head and a suzie 30 feet away, flying paralell to the boat and laughing at us as they escorted us back to the launch. Not a numbers day but great to be back on the Lake and always amazed at how quickly the water changes- we’ll look for some better (worse) weather for this week. I don’t now what other people saw but I can confirm that ducks, in huge numbers, are out there. Seeing a thousand divers come off the water all at once is a pretty awesome sight…

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

11-13-2003 04:51
– – –
Well I wonder who will be hunting ducks this weekend. I’ve been going back and fourth between ducks and deer all week. But come saturday am.,unless they’re hardwater fishing in my bay, I believe I’ll be going to the lake to try to give the remaining ducks some company. I’m quite sure that where I hunt is still very much open water. And with the high wind expected over the next couple of days it will most likely stay that way for a while longer. I just can’t see me sitting on a frost covered stump, watching small rodents scurry around,when I could be out having a great day on the lake hunting ducks during our next wave of cold air. I guess some how I became a full blown duck hunting addict. I guess when the season is over I should join a support group and get myself some help. Nah I’ll just wait patiently for them trickle back in this spring so I can watch them through the lens of my video camera instead of the bead of my shotgun.

GOOD LUCK!! MIKE B…

Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member

11-11-2003 14:02
– – –
Thats a real shame. Its a fairly big setback and attracts birds. I’m working on alternative small boat river hunting techniques that don’t require setbacks. So far I’m having some outstanding results. It might be that having a unique setup doesn’t flare birds who are used to The Army camped out in the marshes.

Posted By:

NJ Turnpike- Congestion & Heavy Smog 11-10-2003 13:22
– – –
Jerry-

It must have been them. The shooting moved steadily northward towards us until it was happening 20 feet away from us. My buddy Jim and I were talking and 5 years ago you wouldn’t ever see anyone in the big Orford/Fairlee setback of which we speak. Now there’s competition on weekday mornings. I would encourage you to stay away. I know I will. Sorry you had no honks Sunday morning…

I don’t mean to bust on the whole River because I know there are still some wonderful spots. We’re just going to have to keep them on the down low. But the jig is up on that Orford spot.

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-11-10 19:10]

Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member

Vt Cornfield next to NJTurnpike River 11-10-2003 12:35
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
Having read Rick’s report, I’m just as glad to have frozen my butt off in a cornfield instead of freezing my butt off and nearly having it shot off on the river!

To paraphrase my NH report (since I was in VT, after all…) I saw and heard nothing Sunday morning in a cornfield. Not a single honk all morning.

I did, however, hear a fairly enormous amount of shooting out on the river north of us. Sounds as if that might have been Rick’s fish duck shooting buddies 😉

Rick, were you in Orford/Fairlee? I hunted Reed’s Marsh once (with no success) and if that area is always like you described, I’ll continue to stay away!

Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member

Vt Cornfield next to NJTurnpike River 11-10-2003 12:07
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
Having read Rick’s report, I’m just as glad to have frozen my butt off in a cornfield instead of freezing my butt off and nearly having it shot off on the river!

To paraphrase my NH report (since I was in VT, after all…) I saw and heard nothing Sunday morning in a cornfield. Not a single honk all morning.

I did, however, hear a fairly enormous amount of shooting out on the river north of us. Sounds as if that might have been Rick’s fish duck shooting buddies 😉

Rick, were you in Orford/Fairlee? I hunted Reed’s Marsh once (with no success) and if that area is always like you described, I’ll continue to stay away!

Posted By:

11-09-2003 21:46
– – –
Bubba B- YOU FOUND EACHOTHER! At least you didn’t drift into a flock of jackass. Thanks for the props, man. We’re coming your way soon…

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Lake Champlain/East Creek 11-09-2003 16:51
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
11/9

Well as I said a few minutes ago. I found them. Or they found me. Whatever.Although it was very short lived,there was quite a few ducks moving on the lake this morning. A good steady flow until about 9:30. We managed to bust a few greenwings,a whistler and a black. One of the greenwings was a fully colored drake who in my opinion takes a close second only to a woodie drake as being one of the more handsome birds flying. We had some large mixed flocks of mallards and blacks working but just not totally impressed with our spread. We were also buzzed by the full aray of divers. Ringnecks,Buffies,Goldies,some Mergs but no Bluebills. All in all a good hunt but sadly the end of my three day weekends. I’m planing on duck hunting saturday and sunday much to my fathers frustration. He really wants me to chase deer but I don’t think I can tear myself away. There is almost nothing I would rather do than hunt ducks and the season is flying by faster than a pintail with the wind on it’s back.

Good luck!! Bubba…

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Lake Champlain/East Creek 11-09-2003 15:34
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
Well I was going to start this post out differently. But after reading Rick’s post I just have to put my two cents in. In my opinion what happened to you Rick is a perfect example of how some people have absolutely no class. I’m cercainly not saying jump shooting or floating a body of water is wrong. But if thats your way of hunting just do so in a manner not to interfere with somebody else. Saying nothing about your safety. To put someone else in harms way, for any reason,is foolish. But just to shoot a couple of birds, that aren’t even regarded as table fare,is idiotic. These are the type of things that give an otherwise great sport a big black eye. Just a little more fuel for the fire of an ever popular anti-hunter trend. If you’re looking for something fun to do with a shotgun buy a box of clay targets or shoot some problem pidgeons at the local farm. It sounds to me like some folks still need to pass hunter ethics 101. At any rate thats my rant.I’ll post my hunt later. But I’m sure it suffer for lack of excitement by comparison.But I found them.

Good luck!! Mike B…

Posted By:

11-09-2003 14:11
– – –
THE CONNECTICUT RIVER IS NOW THE NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE OF WATERFOWLING.

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-11-09 14:12]

Posted By:

CT River North…The Horror, The Horror 11-09-2003 14:07
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
It’s days like today when waterfowling really gives me that special feeling that I find in no other aspect of my life. That special combined feeling of complete ineptitude, absolute terror and abject failure. After scrapping the original flight plan that we filed due to time constraints, a plan that would have taken us over to the Lake, Team Madhouse took to the Conn flyway this morning with a big steaming bowl of hopefulness and very little else- no plan, no clue, wrong spread and a boat with, can you guess… NO GAS. Three minutes after an on-time departure into the 10 degree pre-dawn from the ramp under a full moon, black beauty, at a rare, early morning full-throttle began to sputter and cough. A quick read of the recently and “professionally” installed console fuel gauge indicated a full tank. Too cold? Never. Black Beauty starts and runs at sub-zero temperatures. Spent fuel pump? Choked the engine, restarted. Sputter, cough. Repeat. Repeat several more times. Now a quarter to half mile from the ramp, out come the paddles. Ever paddle a fully loaded, 1200 pound boat upstream, against the current? It’s really good excercise. After an hour, countless verses of “Old Man River” an extended discussion on the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and heated debate over whether or not there was anyone within a 50 mile radius with a VHF radio on, we made it back to the ramp. Now able to lift the blind over the tank gauge (the fuel tank on the Lund Alaskan is a built-in) we confirm that the tank is indeed bone dry. Off to the Citgo. As the entire boat is covered in a layer of ice, including the gas tank cover, I’m able to rip a nice large gash into my right thumb to match last week’s slice in my left thumb. Lots of frozen blood on the pop-up blind. Now the great debate: back to the ramp or try and rustle up a Sunday morning handle of Bourbon, recline the seats in the truck and get four or five more hours of sleep? Being true waterfowlers and Team Madhouse members we head back to the ramp. A bluebird day, bright sun but still extremely cold with a brisk wind. Arctic boat ride. To the marsh (no plan, hence back to the same marsh I swore myself off of last hunt I posted) which amazingly enough seems to be holding lots of birds and set up the spread.

Now here’s where the story get’s really good. A few birds are flying, we work a group of four mallards, lots of diver activity and have a family of mergs giving our spread some life when low and behold a canoe enters the mouth of the swamp and begins to head straight for us. We think it’s got to be Fish and Game coming in for a quick check up. But no F&G is going to be paddling a canoe in ten degree weather, let alone without a PFD on. Right? Never the less, the canoe heads right for us (our boat is fully grassed but come on, we’re not invisible) rounds the edge of our spread, turns in at us, our dog starts to whine (dog is also out of boat on shore just off to the side of the canoe’s line of fire), we’re looking on in amazement, jaws dropping inch by inch, when Leroy, the bow man in the canoe swings on the mergs in the spread, we begin screaming “NO, NO, NO!!!” he fires, his shot string pelting out across our decoys and caps one of the mergansers. Stunned silence on our part. Tucker makes a text book retrieve to the hand of Leroy. Wondering now what the proper response is to this incredible and hideous behavior. Also wondering whether or not these two hill jacks in the canoe might swing on us and go for the boat. “Hey man, those were mergansers,” is all I’m able to muster. “Yeah, but they’re fun to shoot,” is the response from Leroy’s friend in the stern. At this point, it looks like my friend Jim is considering punching two or three holes worth of heavi #4’s in the canoe. Leroy- “We’ll cut across the River and see if we can scare some more birds up.” Scare some more birds up? How’s ’bout scare some more of your fellow hunters? Look, I don’t care if you want to shoot mergies- that’s your choice. But out of someone else’s spread? Shooting into their decoys? Are you kidding me? I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life. Jim says to me- “Try that on the Gallatin or down in Loozyana- that kind of sh*t would get you killed.” On the way back up the River after picking up the spread, we saw them coming back downstream. We put up another mergie that was out in the channel just before we got near them and these two meat heads got up on the merg and took shots DIRECTLY OVER OUR HEADS. Did we see many ducks, any geese? Shoot anything today? Does it matter? Do we feel like waterfowling anymore? If this is what it’s come down to you might look for my boat, dog and 300+ decoys on e-bay.

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-11-09 14:25]

Posted By:
hunting dog
Guest

upper champlain N Y side 11-08-2003 21:51
– – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Just wanted to let you guys know I enjoy reading your posts. I hunt the new york side of champlain as much as possible. Went south of Plattsburgh this am. First good cold morning we have had this year. Got set up well before first light had a few singles pass by as if I wasn’t even there. Around 8:30 spotted a nice bunch of mallards called to them they turned, circled and dropped right in missed on the first shot then couldn’t pump another round as my gun was frozen got it wet setting out the decoys. cleaned the ice off and it was ready again, but that was it only saw a few distant flocks nothing close enough to work. Still had a great time.

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Lake Champlain/East Creek 11-08-2003 16:22
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
11/8

So once again I wonder where all the ducks went.Hunted over on the big lake at the mouth of east creek.The wind was flirting with being rediculous.Had to make three passes with the motor in order to set out nine mallard fakes.We got settled in and watched two mallards fight upwind to get out of the creek at borderline legal time.They were well within range but the time was real close.I never imagined they would be the only ducks anywhere near ethical shotgun range.Well besides one hooded merg hen who thought it would be fun to swim in and out of our dekes and get as close as fifteen feet.Saw a few flocks and singles but nothing to swat at.All in all a slow day.Yesterday I was wondering how my father could pull himself away to chase deer next week.Today I may have figured it out.But tomorrow the ducks will be knocking our hats off all day.Thats just the way it goes.Whats a few cold,quiet hours on the lake when you’re hunting trophies?

Good luck!! Bubba…

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Response 11-07-2003 18:24
– – –
Actually Rick I filled in the application online a while back but I haven’t heard anything. I’am definately interested in doing it so we’ll just see what happens.

Good luck! Bubba…

Posted By:

VFE\\\’s 11-07-2003 14:35
– – –
Thanks Jerry! We’re trying to keep up with you New Hampsherites, but you guys have like 5 or 6 Voulnteer Field Editors so I’m nominating Bubba B as the new Champlain VFE.
Whadda’ ya’ say Bubba B? Sounds like you get out there plenty! Oh, by the way Bubba B, I’ve had the misfortune of getting into a couple of boxes of those “low pellet count” shells myself once in a while. The box may say 1 1/8th oz. load but you know, I think sometimes there’s only the 1/8th and the other ounce went into my buddy’s shells. Have also resorted to trying to straighten out my barrel by banging the end of the gun (unloaded of course) against the gunnels of the boat. Not very effective.

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-11-07 14:44]

Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member

11-07-2003 13:00
– – –
I should come read this stuff more often. Great reports, guys!

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Lake Champlain/East Creek 11-07-2003 12:28
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
11/7

Well I wonder where all the ducks went.On sunday and monday we saw some decent movement of birds.We hunted the same spot today and it was pretty quiet by comparison.At first light we saw some small flocks of mallards rip out of the creek.As they passed they got shot at and well educated for their troubles.I must say these flush and release tactics need to cease.For a short time after that we had some singles pass and again more flushing and releasing.After threatening to deep six my shotgun I calmed down and connected on 1 of 5 ringnecks that came through.And that was the last duck I got to shoot at.We had some mergs come in at about 10 feet but we just let them pass.I did talk to some guys who were hunting up by the bridge and they had the same show we did.All in all not as impressive as I had hoped but thats why they call it hunting and not shooting.Tomorrow I’ll be up at 2:30 ready with half the clothes I own to get in the same spot to do it again.This time I’ll make sure to bring shells that have some shot in them because the ones I used today didn’t seem to.

Good luck!! Bubba…

Posted By:

Weather 11-07-2003 09:40
– – –
The Polar Express is on the move…Guy on the radio just said it was going to be SINGLE DIGITS by Sunday morning. Could be the big push we’ve been waiting for.

Posted By:

CT River North Wed. 11/5 & Thurs. 11/6 11-06-2003 11:34
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted the setback below Orford Wed. with NH VFE Tom Wansleben (a great guy, BTW- see his post on the New Hampshire page). Just wanted to quickly say that I wouldn’t have made this friend or enjoyed this hunt without WF.com getting us together. The participation in the site and the people I’ve been in touch with are just fantastic. We had good duck weather, cold, windy, rain but not as much action as we would have liked. After today, I think I’m going to skip this particular setback in Orford for awhile. It’s just been pounded and always seems to have somebody else in it. Never used to get other gunners mid-week. Guess ’cause there’s no deer to shoot up this way these days more guys are getting into ‘fowling. Tom and I would have had a great chance on some low flying geese yesterday except for some extremely discourteous behavior by our swamp mate who had set up about 100 yds. away from us after we had a pretty large spread out (gave him the high beam flash with the spot to let him know we were right next to him to no avail…) Our friend then decided that heavi shot (or maybe he was shooting steel, who knows) now has a downrange lethality of 80+ yards…classic skybusting that flared a nice group of low geese that were clearly comitted to our floaters. If you’re hunting around other people and it looks like a group is working their spread, don’t screw it up for them and take a pass shot. Kick back and watch the action. I love seeing other people knock ’em down. Hunt with courtesy. Could be sour grapes on my part since this guy’s position cut off several birds that we might have had chances on. Missed a chance on a good group of woodies, too (I excerpt here from Tom’s post as I want to honor his sage advice…) “Helpful hint: When your hunting and nature calls because you have had too much coffee, make sure only one hunter goes at a time. Yesterday both Rick and I were out of the boat when four woodies came over, just about knocking our hats off, and we were holding, well, the wrong thing.” Thanks for that, Tom. Moral of the story- the ducks know when it’s safe to buzz you…don’t get caught with your pants down. Boated 1 bird, a real nice drake woody. Hunted this morning with Mikie Willis. Much warmer (although it started to cool down late morning) clear sky, north wind and very few opportuniites. Coupla’ shots fired, none connected, more geese movement but nothing close enough to swat at (unless you had those magic shells our friend was shooting yesterday). I guess I’ve gone on long enough. I’ll follow in Bubba B’s footsteps this weekend and finally shift gears and start hunting the Lake again. The Conn has been good practice. I think now we’re ready for the big leagues…

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-11-06 18:27]

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

11-05-2003 15:22
– – –
You’re very welcome Rick.If all goes well I should be over on the lake on Friday.If so I’ll post here when I get back so you,and anyone else, can have the info for the weekend.

Good luck! Mike B.

Posted By:
anvilman
Guest

11-04-2003 19:16
– – –
HEY RICK CHECK OUT THE RI BOARD I POSTED A MEASAGE ON THE POST FOR YOU…..EDDIE

Posted By:

CT River North 11-03-2003 15:39
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 40-45 Degrees
A rare solo on the River this morning. Never a big fan of hunting alone. Forgot what a pain in the neck it is to get the boat back on the trailer alone especially with a strong current. The River is still pretty high from all the rain last week. A few more birds seen today than last week as well- great waterfowling weather with a low ceiling, rain and a little wind to keep things moving. Small spread, trial run of a new swimming decoy that seemed to work pretty good, two greenheads in the boat and then back home to work. Glad to see BUBBAB putting up some info on the Lake (thanks for that BUBBAB) as the River closes down this Sunday. Supposed to get a cold front Wed. Will be out again Wed & Thurs this week then to the Lake Sat/Sun.

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Lake Champlain/East Creek 11-03-2003 14:28
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 40-45 Degrees
Nov.1/2/3

We had an awesome couple day stretch over on Champlain.
We saw a few new ducks on Saturday and managed to get a Mallard and a Goldeneye.
On Sunday we had a great day considering we only got one Woodie drake.We had several chances but our heads just were’nt in the game.It may be because we were so awe struck with the arrival of all the new ducks we saw flying in on the north wind.From a half an hour after day break until we left around noon the sky was filled with most every kind of waterfowl you would want to see.Definetly ozoners.But still very encouraging.
Monday the high skies were quieter but thats ok they were just as impressive.We started out with some decent flocks of Greenwings of witch we got four.And had a huge flock of Bufflehead come in of witch we also got four.Other stray ducks came in but they were more on the ball than we were.I’am just counting the minutes until Friday when I can get out on my next three day chase.

Good luck! Bubba…

Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor

Lake Champlain/East Creek 10-31-2003 15:17
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 35-40 Degrees
Went hunting over on Champlain on the 25th/26th and 27th. On saturday we saw a fair amount of ducks.We managed to bag a black,some mallards,pintails and some divers.On sunday we only saw a handful of ducks and never fired a shot.By the lack of noise around us I don’t think anyone had a great day.On monday we put on the raingear and got a little more serious.We changed our location as well as our luck.We moved straight across the bay from where we hunt to where we have been watching ducks raft up and managed to bag a few mallards. The bulk of the birds seemed content landing about 100yds away but every once in a while they would be close enough. When we fired they flew off and kept coming back a few at a time and that was the way it went right up until we left. We’ll be right back in the same spot this saturday morning to try again

Good luck to all!!

Posted By:

Reason Prevails 10-29-2003 17:14
– – –
Thanks for reading Mike…just trying to get out as much as I can but had to call off the hunt on the River for tomorrow with NH VFE Tom Wansleben due to incredibly high water. The River Tuesday was pretty high but looks like it’s up at least six feet today and I don’t think it’s crested yet. Went across the bridge to NH mid-morning and there was a variety of dangerous and unatural looking stuff floating by- tires, huge logs, wooden pallets, railroad ties, empty milk jugs, manufactured housing, dead cows, Volkswagen Bugs…looked like a post-modern American Ganges. Pulled into the driveway at home and my boat started looking awfully small. Talked to two friends I hunt the River with regularly who know it pretty well- one, who had a hunting buddy drown in the River a few years ago, said he wouldn’t go near it for the next week, the other (an ex-Coastie) called me to say “just be careful…” That’s enough for me. Looking at the weekend now…Everyone HUNT SAFELY. Don’t take chances. There’ll still be ducks day after tomorrow.

Tight chokes…

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-10-29 17:15]

Posted By:
Mike M.
Guest

Massachusetts 10-28-2003 20:40
– – –
Thanks for the reports this season Rick.

Posted By:

Weather 10-28-2003 19:08
– – –
I guess what I should have said to myself in my previous post is… “It’s the weather, stupid.” Pray for cold, pray for descending Artic fronts with snow. This time last year we already had snow on the ground and rim ice in the setbacks. Wondering what other VT gunners are seeing on the Lake these days as we close the CT on 11/9 and start to focus our efforts on fresh northern birds- Missisquoi, Button, Chimney, East & Dead Creeks, Little Otter, West Addie and the Fort Ti Bridge. Any News?

Tight chokes…

Posted By:

CT River North 10-28-2003 10:24
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
Remarkable how few ducks we saw this morning- not only looking at our spread but even just winging at elevation. With all the rain yesterday, I think they were all resting in ponds and flooded corn. The River was boiling- truly treacherous with huge logs and a really swift current- up probably two feet from last week. Sighted- Group of four teal (testimony to the lack of truly cold weather that we’ve yet to have), a dozen mallards early, a few mergs and then a lone mallard who gave us three descending passes, talked to us a little and then split. The morning was saved by a lone, absolutely super magnum sized trophy Canada that loved the calling and cupped up at about two hundred feet to take the elevator ride straight down into the goose spread we always put off to the side. While we could plainly see the three loads of hevi #6 that I discharged bouncing off, a single follow up shot of hevi #2 from the trusty gun of CG Nichols folded him up like a piece of paper. A nice morning but a concerning lack of waterfowl sighted. Very little activity compared to what we normally see. Heading out to the CT again Thursday am. Will try for an Inland zone hunt in the classified drop zone tomorrow.

Posted By:

More Movement- Snow, etc. 10-24-2003 19:49
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 35-40 Degrees
Snuck an hour to go watch local corn harvesting and snow showers and big bands of ducks change shape in mid air and pile into a tight spot in the Ottauquechee River. A few Geese too. Word from Burlington is that you can stand in the parking lot of any roadside mall, gaze up yonder, and multiply the number of migrating geese you see by 100X. The big dark, everchanging threads of Canandas pouring South. Some diver sightings already reported on the Conn. by NH VFE’s. Two inches of snow yesterday morn here on the hill. Kids wanted to go sleddin’, Dad wanted to pull the boat another 30 miles to the ramp.

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-10-26 09:15]

Posted By:

Waterfowl observation 10-23-2003 04:18
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 35-40 Degrees
10/22
Well it seems like the saying I’ve always heard from my father,”the worst weather for us is the best weather to hunt ducks,”could have proven true on Wendsday.In Middlebury I saw several flocks of geese. Snows,Canadas,both migrant flocks and some that just seemed content to sit and feed in cut corn fields.Saw quite a few large and small flocks of ducks as well, both big and little.I also saw what I believe to be the first flock of Black scoter I can remember seeing just sitting on a small pond in Florence.They hung in there all day all huddled up.Hopefully they’ll still be there on Thursday so I can get another look at them.
It sounds like this weather is going to hang around for a few days so hopefully the reopener of the Champlain zone will be a good one.I know I can hardly wait.

Posted By:

Movement 10-21-2003 17:40
Cloudy, Rain & Thunderstorms – 35-40 Degrees
Today looked like the kind of day that gets ’em moving…some rain, high, cold winds and thunder mixed in. Saw plenty of birds dumping into the Ottauquechee down by the Quechee oxbow. Had a call from a friend who saw some larger flocks winging down the Conn. Major cool down in the Upper Mid-west bodes well for Saturday’s re-opener on the Lake. All I know is I’m taking the boat out from now on- no more blurry vision swamp crawling for me. I got a new pair of glasses so the shooting should improve. But maybe not. Actually, probably not…

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-10-23 21:10]

Posted By:

Interior 10-20-2003 14:27
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Had the kind of hunt Saturday morning 10/18 that makes me wonder why the hell I’m involved in waterfowling. After a mile hike into the reservoir lugging gear I spent 40 minutes in pitch black darkness stuck in knee-deep sucking mud surrounded by ten foot high marsh grass and catails. Several times I thought I was permanently stuck. Fell face down in the mud. Lost my glasses in the mud. Felt a cardiac episode was not far off. Almost disclocated my hip pulling my boot foot waders out of the black, cement-like filth. Finally manged to get set up. Couldn’t really focus without my glasses but thought I saw about fourty ducks fly out of the swamp just after legal, just out of ethical gunning range. Sun rose. Sky was clear. Did not see another flying feathered creature for the rest of the morning. Same spot last year we shot a limit in the first 30 minutes and ran out of shells, had ducks landing on the dog’s head etc. Go figure. One thing I will tell you, I’m done with hiking in 60 pounds of gear and joking around with the knee deep death mud. I think that’s why I bought the boat to begin with- safety and transportation to where the ducks are at…

Posted By:
Westbranch
WFC Sponsor

White River South 10-20-2003 07:45
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Nice day to be on the river, set up next to the corn field. Great little spot. Good cover. Limited shooting on ducks but we knew that going in. Morning brought in 4 Blacks some flights of teal. Couple of Mallards trading back and forth. Shooting was off. We managed to bag a Mallard.
River is still up from last week. Hope this colder weather moves some ducks down to the south.
Geese were pretty active all weekend overhead. Looking forward to some goose hunting. Hope they Stick around for a while.

Posted By:

West/Central interior zone 10-20-2003 04:08
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 35-40 Degrees
Sat 10/18 Due to the shutdown of the Champlain zone,and the fact that I have a nasty early season cold, I decided to go do some scouting.Although the weather conditions seemed pretty good I didn’t see alot in the way of ducks.Went to Lefferts,Richville,The creek,a couple of beaver ponds,and around rte 30/rte4.Saw some ducks but nowhere near the numbers that you would see in the Champlain zone.I can’t wait until the 25th for it to open back up.I should be able to get quite a bit of time off to get out there and hunt.With all these changes in the weather hopes are very high that there will be some new ducks trickeling in.we’ll see in a few days. Bubba……

Posted By:

EAST CREEK/LAKE CHAMPLAIN 10-15-2003 18:02
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – Over 70 Degrees
Oct.11/12/13
The long awaited season opener on the Champlain zone started with a bang.Actually quite alot of them.Especially considering that the fog was so thick that ducks were 10 yards within steel shot range before you even knew they were coming.But even with the extra challenge my father and I still managed to get 1 Black 4 Greenwings and 1 beautiful Woodie drake on Saturday.Fired a couple shots but got nothing on Sunday.And wound up with 3 Woodies total on Monday.Saw plenty of ducks all three days but between the extreme fog and a great deal of rust in our shooting skills,we came up short on our bag.So now we’re just going to have to sit and wait until the 25’th to try again,at least on the big lake.Hopefully the weather will be more duckie.But either way it’s my favorite time of year.It’s my favorite sport.And it’s finally here.

Posted By:
Westbranch
WFC Sponsor

Richville Dam / Leffords 10-11 and 10-12 10-13-2003 08:02
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted Saturday Am in the Richville area. Fair amount of local ducks. Needed some sort of Duck radar due to the fog. Set up bright and early with high hopes. Sunrise came and went and all we could hear was the sound of wings overhead. First season opener that I failed to fire the gun. Lots of shooting to the North and South. They must of had radar. Going to look in Cabelas today for radar set up.

Had a second Hunt with my six year old on Sunday afternoon. He sat it the Boat with the Bird book looking over different local Ducks. Folded up a nice woody and we called it a day. He actually is convinced I’m a good shot. I guess he’ll learn the truth the more he goes with me . Great way to spend some quality time with him.

[Edited By Westbranch on 2003-10-13 08:04]

Posted By:

Rice Breast 10-13-2003 07:58
– – –
VT Hunters should check NH/MA VFE Scott Haight’s posts on Rice Breast. I plucked one of the mallards shot Saturday morning and it was infested with this nasty parasite- first one I’ve seen this year (and I hope it’s the last…) But from the sound of it from the NH/MA forums, it seems to be, from Haight’s observations, pretty prevalent this year.

Posted By:

Inland Zone 10-11-2003 11:26
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 40-45 Degrees
The duck war continues. Well, now we know where all the birds that were on the CT River went…quite a waterfowl display put on by big flocks of local mallards, woodies, a few teal and hundreds of geese going into the corn. SEAL team one performing a special-ops waterfowl extraction operation this morning in a top secret location. I would love to tell everyone where it was but it would mean certain and painful death for me from the head of classified information enforcement. Right on cue the first mallard appeared 15 seconds after legal shooting time. A couple of flocks of 40+ mallards shucking, jiving and dropping straight in after that. Had my first clean double of the season on a pair of drake mallards. The rest of my shooting was not quite as good. Got so excited I actually pulled on two mergansers. Luckily I missed. Had a group of seven greater Canadas put in fifteen feet away from me- too bad it was October 11th and not October 25th!!! All in all, a delightful hunt with Woodies and Mallards in the bag. Hope everyone did well on Champlain- we were sorry to miss it. Look forward to reading something other than my own posts…can we get a Champlain VFE here or at least some other reports?

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-10-12 19:22]

Posted By:

CT River North 10-10-2003 06:36
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 40-45 Degrees
The weather has conspired against us this week. The combination of some of the heaviest fog I’ve seen on the River burning off late morning to cloudless, windless, bluebird afternoons has not been great. The fog was so dense Thursday morning that we did a complete 360 in the widest part of the river before I realized we were off course (first time that’s every happened) which inspired some coast guard and “chanell 16” comments from the peanut gallery. Hugging the bank after that. I think the dense fog has really been keeping things down on the water. We’ve seen good activity for about 40 minutes after legal and then another burst just after the fog lifts and then very little after the sun breaks through. The swamp we gunned for the opener is pretty well cleaned out. All that being said, we did manage a pretty good hunt Thursday morning with four ducks (woodies and mallards) and two geese splashed. The geese were brought in with all calling as there’s just no way they could have seen our spread through the fog. We got buzzed by a small group of teal right on the water both days right at legal shooting time but have seen very little teal activity other than that. Have they all gone south already? The fact that afternoon temps have been in the 70’s has not helped bird movement. The next cold front should probably bring in new birds. Will miss the Champlain opener tomorrow due to work but will gun the inland zone. Hoping we might see some reports from the Lake…although there don’t seem to be too may other duck hunters left in Vermont from the looks of the forum. A Champlain VFE would be a nice addition…

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-10-10 06:54]

Posted By:

CT River North 10-07-2003 15:31
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 35-40 Degrees
Opening day. Lots-o-ducks. Heavy pressure. Burst of 6:30 activity. Several large flocks. Extremely dense fog kept things slower than we would have thought for the first half of the morning. Another burst of activity around 10-10:30. Then a bluebird day once the fog lifted. Mostly Woodies and Mallards. Rusty shotgunning skills let several groups escape. Someone should really take this single reed goose call away from me… Looking forward to Thursday.

Posted By:

So close…. 10-06-2003 12:51
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Good luck to all and safe hunting on the Connecticut River tomorrow morning!!! At 6:25 the Valley is going to start ringing with 3 inch magnum reports. With the weather holding cold to the north it looks like it should be one of the better openers on the River in the last few years. I’m hoping for a high speed teal shoot. After 9 months of waiting we’re down to only 16 hours and 35 minutes left as of this post. Post the resuslts of your hunt and let us know how you did.

Tight chokes…

Posted By:

Out of Season 10-05-2003 15:02
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
A bluebird day with high winds today and more migrating geese on the wing. A quick drive by several setbacks on the CT north of the Wilder hydro darn on Saturday revealed large groups of both mallards, a few blacks and teal (fresh birds pushed in over the last few days?) Spent the afternoon today loading the boat. Less than 48 hours to go for the CT River zone. Finally…

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-10-05 15:03]

Posted By:

Out of Season…but very close 10-03-2003 18:16
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Well, I don’t know what anyone else saw today but this was a big day for movement in the Upper Valley. I was outside (not working, thank God..) for several hours today and my wife, my kids and me counted over 2500+ geese on the move (including the first migrators up in the slipstream as well as three groups that totalled 350+ that bombed low over the Ottauquechee River headed for a fresh patch of cut corn just down river. Met up with a fellow DU Chapter Sponsor who was tempted to drive back up his road for the gun before he checked his calendar. Funny how the first big cold front rolls through between resident and regular season…? Seems like we have several cold fronts trailing through in the next few days but yesterday’s front was a big violent one and definately put the first wave of big birds on the move. I did not make it close to the CT River today but expect that, given what we saw last weekend, they’re stacking up out there too. Fresh cut corn in our area was holding MAJOR numbers of geese. Oct 7 is first day on the River and I would think that all the boys, VT & NH should be pretty pumped. Would also like to implore any other fowlers who cover Champlain, NORTH & SOUTH as well as INLAND hunters to step up to a VFE position so we can trade some info on bird movement and make this a livelier forum. Where else are you going to get the info…?

Tight chokes.

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-10-04 06:56]

Posted By:
davemazur
Guest

morrisville spots? 09-24-2003 12:37
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I’m new to the morrisville area (just building) and am looking for some duck hunting spots. Generally hunt out of a camo kayak. Any marshes, lakes in the area that see birds? Also looking for info on Champlain. Anything near the boat launch going to S. Hero?

Posted By:

CT River North 09-20-2003 12:50
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
CT River early season goose hunt. On the water, two dozen Bigfoot floaters and a few mallards. The only geese we saw were a string of about 30 a mile up and headed north. Outrageous numbers of ducks- Mallards in profusion, green and blue winged teal, woodies and even a few very large black ducks putting down in our spread all around us. A real test of our restraint and willingness to be good law-abiding waterfowlers. Not sure I’d be able to go through that kind of waterfowl display without firing the gun again any time soon. Blew the calls, watched ’em cup up and splash down next to the boat but not a shot fired. October 7th cannot arrive soon enough.

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-09-20 12:51]

Posted By:

Interior Marsh- Barnard, VT 09-07-2003 09:23
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
A terrific early Saturday morning shoot on a very secluded highland marsh in Barnard. No decoys, just calling, group of four circled twice and on the third pass were low enough to fire on. Took one. The local flock down the road has almost doubled in size in the last week. Plenty more good early season shooting ahead…

Tight chokes…

Posted By:
CTRiverguy
Guest

Herrick\’s cove &N. Springfield Lake 09-05-2003 11:03
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 50-60 Degrees
Tue. 09-02 hunted Herrick’s Cove. Not nearly the geese I had scouted the prior weekend. Never fired a shot. Another party took a passing shot at a flock but missed. Wed. 09-03 hunted N. Springfield. Nothing early. 0745hrs a family group of 7 decoy’d nicely. We collected three. There are alot of local ducks around. Looking like woodies may actually be around in fair numbers for the first time in a few years…

Posted By:

CT River Valley/Interior 09-03-2003 09:16
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees
Reports back from the opening day of resident goose season indicate good hunting over the local birds. The farm ponds and rivers saw the first action of the season. We’re looking for more imput from the State’s waterfowlers this year and encourage all to post hunts to make this an active forum.

Tight chokes…

Posted By:

Season Dates for Vermont 08-24-2003 17:35
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
2003 VT Waterfowl Hunting Season by Zone and species: Lake Champlain Zone: Ducks Oct. 11-Oct. 13 & Oct 25-Dec. 20// Pintail Oct. 11-13 & Oct. 25-Nov. 20// Cans Nov. 1- Nov. 30// Canada Geese Sept. 2- Sept. 25 & Oct. 25- Dec. 8// Snows Oct. 11-Dec. 31// Interior VT: Ducks Oct. 11-Dec. 9// Pintail Oct. 11- Nov. 9// Cans Nov. 1- Nov. 30// Canada Geese Sept. 2-25 & Oct. 25- Dec. 8// Snows Oct. 11- Dec. 31// Connecticut River Zone: Ducks Oct. 7- Nov. 9 & Nov. 26- Dec. 21// Pintail Oct. 7-Nov. 5// Cans Nov. 26- Dec. 21// Canada Geese Sept. 2-Sept 25 & Oct. 7- Nov. 9 & Nov. 26-Dec. 21// Snows Oct. 7- Dec 21. The State F&G site should have the details posted. Already feels like fall up here on the hill…Tight chokes…

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-08-24 17:37]

Posted By:

Burlington Annual Waterffowl Meeting 08-18-2003 10:04
– – –
The State annual waterfowl meeting was well attended. I’d guess there were probably 100+ folks there. The State board (VT and NH for CT River hunters) will set the dates officially this Wednesday, August 20th and I’ll post all of the results as soon as I get them that day. Looks like the regular season will open October 11th and there were two options proposed for a short split right in the beginning of the season for Champlain. Big news for CT River hunters this year is reciprocity between New Hampshire and Vermont on licensing. For the first time this year, you can now legally hunt all of the CT River with just a Vermont license and stamp- a good move forward between the two States. Look for official dates for all zones to be posted Wednesday or Thursday.
Tight chokes…

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-08-18 10:07]

Posted By:

None 08-18-2003 09:49
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Andy-

Thanks for message. There are some great spots on the Connecticut. I live just north of Woodstock and know the Northern part of the River in this area best. But there are great setbacks and marshes all along the River- the challenge is finding a productive spot that’s not too close to either houses or the interstate. I would love to hear about where you think a good spot for taking some resident geese during the September season might be. I understand that there are tons of them down in the southern part of the state- a hunting buddy mentioned Sadawga Pond near the Whitingham reservoir. Know anyhting about that area?

Best rergards,

Rick

[Edited By Rick-Higgerson on 2003-09-10 15:34]

Posted By:
andy
Guest

08-13-2003 11:51
– – –
Hi Rick;

Thanks for taking on the field editor job. We needed someone. Anywy…I live in Bennington and most of my hunitng has always been in NYS with a few exceptions. I know the CT river is supposed to be good. Now that I have a boat with a reliable motor, I was thinking about giving it a shot (so to speak). Any recommendations or ideas. From what part of the Ct River Valley do you hail?
Appreciate you help.

andy

Posted By:
rhiggers
Guest

NONE 07-20-2003 21:44
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
There’s a great movie out that should be of terrific interst to most of the folks that might check this forum. It’s called “Winged Migration”- it’s a small independent (unfortunately French made)film that really depicts what true athletes the waterfowl we pursue really are. I got tired driving 500 miles trailering the boat to go shoot the Eastern Shore in the Jan. 4 snowstorm last year. Look for and watch this flick and think of the 10 million plus wingbeats a year it takes to keep a northern pintail in business. A movie for waterfowlers well worth the price of admission…or rental. Great aerial footage…

[Edited By rhiggers on 2003-07-20 21:46]

[Edited By rhiggers on 2003-07-20 21:47]

Posted By:
rhiggers
Guest

Update 07-20-2003 21:38
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
JUST IN from our State Waterfowl Biologist Bill Crenshaw: PLEASE MAKE NOTE OF THE PUBLIC WATERFOWL MEETING AND MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ATTEND!!!

The F&W Board set the September
seasons last Wednesday. They are:

Canada goose – September 2-25, 3birds/day (statewide)

Youth Waterfowl Weekend – September 27-28 (statewide)

The Annual Public Waterfowl Meeting will be on: Wednesday, August
13, UVM Billings Student Centre, Burlington (same place as in recent
years), 7:00-9:00 P.M.

The F&W Board will set the regular seasons (waterfowl, woodcock,
snipe) at their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, August 20.

If we follow tradition, this will be a Saturday opening this year.

(Looks like the makings for a nice early liberal season…)

Posted By:

No Hunt: Wet Spring-Abundant Fall 07-02-2003 10:57
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
There’s been a real abundance of waterfowl in the CT River Valley so far this Spring and early summer. I’ve haven’t seen this many brooding Canada geese locally in many years- the area is just teaming with them. The wet spring was probably a good sign of things to come this fall…we can only hope. The Ottaquechee Chapter of DU will be holding its annual Sponsors Dinner on Thursday, September 18th, 2003. Save the date and please be in touch if you’d like more information on attending.

Posted By:
Forum Moderator
root

02-24-2003 15:40
– – –
Dear Waterfowler.com Members,

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Each Waterfowler.com State Field Editor will have his or her photograph and biography posted on their respective state page. Based on your level of participation we will renew your membership to Waterfowler.com website and Waterfowler.com Journal for free.

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Posted By:
DUCKMENVT
Guest

Essex, NY 12-09-2002 21:47
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Mark, I havent hunted down that way lately. We have done real well up near Burlington though. Dad hunted down by the bridge and saw the same thing though, well they didnt get the limit of mallards either! A lot of ducks but they were all out in the middle. They said there were flocks of hundreds of mergansers too.

Posted By:
markchap
WFC Sponsor

Addison 12-06-2002 17:10
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
was wondering if anyone on lake champlain is getting any wistlers . four of us hunted from daylight to aprox noonish and we did ok on big ducks we each got our limit but the only divers seen were flying up and down the center wich is unusual for where I hunt ? how have you been doing duckmenVT?

Posted By:
DUCKMENVT
Guest

12-01-2002 19:02
– – –
Hey you might have me convinced! Are licenses expensive? Motel costs? I am going to check on flights, if not for this year maybe next!!

Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest

South Platte River (South Park) – Colorado 11-30-2002 21:38
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Bagged two whopper greenheads today up in the Pike National Forest in a region called “South Park.” (No kidding.) I almost missed them because I was watching a herd of big horn sheep pick their way down a small mesa to feed and drink along the South Platte.

“White goose” season (snows, ross’) peaks the first week in March. It is really good from mid-FEB through the end of MAR. No limits on number of birds. While the average day is 8-10 birds each, we’ve had 70 bird days – each. (Yes, I eat them: pepperoni and GREAT jerky!)

Canada’s are solid action from about now, reaching its best in early JAN thru mid-FEB and tapering off at the end of FEB when the season closes.

W.P. “Bill” Sullivan
State Merchandise Chairman
Colorado Ducks Unlimited
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Posted By:
DUCKMENVT
Guest

11-30-2002 20:32
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Sully,

How is the hunting for white geese later, like feb and march? Around here of course its just the 2 weeks as they migrate back through.