Author: Webmaster

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 01-27-2008 11:39
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Four of us hunted open water blind in the morning, we killed 2 swan, 3 redheads, a teal, a blackhead, and a wigeon and didn’t see much besides that. killed those between 11 and 12. Went out to a field in Suffolk and killed 5 geese and three wood ducks. Not a bad way to end the season. Talk at ya next year.

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 01-24-2008 12:20
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted open water blind today with no wind at all the bay was like a mirror. We had two knots of blackheads come to us with one group getting right and we killed six out of them. Had another bunch circle the blind twice but never came in good gun range. Saw several groups of high flying pintails with one giving us a look and that it is it. Two more days.

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 01-23-2008 11:02
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Not many ducks seen just killed what came in. Ended up with 2 teal, 2 blackheads, 2 redheads, and a gadwall. Hunted until 10:30. Light NNW winds with a little cloud cover the first hour.

Posted By:
marsh hound
Web Member

Back Bay 01-19-2008 22:07
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted deep water bling this morning. Killed one mallard. Should have killed a teal early this morning. Poor shooting. Saw lots of mallards up high, all with there minds made up. One more week. Good luck!

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Potomac River 01-19-2008 14:54
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Went out today got the goose egg.

Saw a few birds but not as many as I had seen in the past few weeks. It seems the puddle ducks that are around are the same ones that have been here for a bit and are all heading to areas where they can not be hunted. No new birds to speak of in weeks – at least not in any noticeable numbers.

Divers are around too, but are also educated and other than very small groups they tend to hand out in the middle and only move in “fowl” weather.

So either find an untouched honey hole or hunt the weather. Hopefully this cold snap will freeze up some areas and push the birds out of there normal comfort zones. Good luck on the final week of the 07 – 08 season!

Drew

[Edited By Drew-Hawkins on 2008-01-19 14:55]

[Edited By Drew-Hawkins on 2008-01-19 14:56]

Posted By:
high tide
Guest

Poquoson 01-17-2008 16:55
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted Cow Island on the draw hunt. High winds and not a cloud in the sky. Saw a few blacks and mallards leaving marsh before shooting time. Saw lots of geese leave marsh after sun-up. Did not pull the trigger. Only saw three black ducks until we left at 9:00. One more week of suffering.

Posted By:
marsh hound
Web Member

Back Bay 01-15-2008 00:23
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
Float blind hunted this morning. Was hoping for a better flight. Did not see alot of ducks coming out of the marsh behind us. Only had two killable ducks and they sneaked by us because we where looking at swans. Did not fire the gun. Will try it this weekend. Hopefully with better luck.

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 01-14-2008 08:53
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Hunted a marsh pond today that has been holding good amounts of blacks and mallards. Three of us hunting and killed our limit of mallards and a black apiece. Good shooting and in early, can’t complain.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Bay off the Potomac 01-12-2008 21:34
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Decent hunt this morning with a mixed bag of Scoters, Old Squaws, and a couple buffleheads. Fairly good activity for about the first 2 hours of shooting. Went slow after that. There’s Can’s and plenty of Geese around. Duck activity still seems to be slow for this time of year on the big water. Pretty bad season in my opinion. Just a couple of weeks left to make up for it!!

Posted By:
high tide
Guest

Lake Gaston 01-10-2008 19:26
– – –
Hunted with two friends. 12 ringbill. Fair amount of duck activity.

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 01-08-2008 07:32
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Float blind hunted yesterday and saw a total of ten to twenty birds. One teal skirted the dekes and that was it.

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 01-06-2008 10:10
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted open water blind saturday and saw alot of new puddle ducks on the bay especially gadwall and pintails. A lot of shooting going on all over the bay. We hunted until around two and finished with 5 gadwall, one was banded, 2 blacks, 2 swans, and a mallard. Sholud of killed one more mallard and had four cans work the stand but didn’t commit, and redheads/blackheads come in while throwing decoys out, about 20 to each group and thats all the divers we saw.

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 01-04-2008 14:11
Cloudy, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted a shore blind yesterday and killed ten ducks in the wind and it helped because the marsh behind us was frozen, kept the birds trading all day. Shot a gadwall, black, 2 teal and the rest mallards and should of killed more. Hunted the same blind today knowing the marsh was frozen and killed five and didn’t see half the birds as the day before.

Posted By:
marsh hound
Web Member

Back Bay 01-03-2008 00:07
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted Wed. morning. Not to much activity. Was expecting to see a little more. Killed one blackhead. Saw a few mallards but they all seemed a little decoy shy. Might try to hunt on the Eastern Shore this weekend. Seems to be alot of geese up there right now.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Lake Anna 01-02-2008 10:18
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted Lake Anna yesterday morning. Killed one mallard. Saw 5 ducks total but only the one came into the spread. The other 4 were high and going to a spot they knew about. Shooting was sporadic across the lake. Heard a few shots south of me (I was in one of the northern arms of the lake). The water is extremely low. If you don’t have a mud motor you have to stick to the channels. I have one and still got stuck. Lots of Geese on the other hand. I wasn’t in the right spot with the right deke spread to get them in. With the right tools, you could do real well on Geese down there.

Duck numbers are ridiculously low in my opinion. Maybe this shot of cold air this week will do something for us here in Virginia.

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 12-31-2007 09:06
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
It was just hunting the right day. Gotta be out there when its nasty and everyone else is in the bed. Haven’t had any luck since, float blind hunting or open water. Float blind hunted this morning and didn’t see but twenty birds, blacks and mallards all with their minds made up and a few teal that are still around.

Posted By:
marsh hound
Web Member

Back Bay 12-30-2007 12:09
– – –
Dukn8r where have you been having most of your luck float blind hunting. Did well in the early season have not had much luck since. Have hunted only deep water blind this year. Thinking about trying to float blind hunt here soon.

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 12-28-2007 12:41
Cloudy, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Float blind hunted Wednesday in the nasty weather, had good shooting, killed 15. She blew NE 30-40 and dumped all morning. Mostly mallards with a few ringnecks and singles of teal,gadwall, and wigeon. Ducks flew all morning with the weather keeping them up , most ducks I’ve seen in a while. Hunted everyday since and haven’t fired the gun. Thats the bay for you. Hot and cold.

Posted By:
Paul-Sarg
Guest

Rappahannock in King George 12-25-2007 19:09
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted a nice marsh on the Rappahannock yesterday that looked promising, especially when we sighted the clouds of geese coming in, at least 300-400 strong, landing in the main river making a lot of noise, but when they would pick up, none would come to our small spread and double calling. Tundra Swan were the most promising but we didnt have permits. A few lone mallards sighted but no birds to take home. Floating blind might be the best there. QuackheadnVA, my email is sarigianis03@yahoo.com – love to talk more about the slow hunting on base if you can. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Posted By:
DUKN8R
Web Member

Back Bay 12-25-2007 16:36
Cloudy, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted deep water blind until 11 and saw only four gadwalls, one came to the spread and didn’t leave. That was it, no trading divers, no nothing. Pitiful and has been all week.

Posted By:
sonny32
Guest

Great wide Potomac 12-23-2007 20:04
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
In a shore blind yesterday and the 3 of us pooled our dek’s and had a 250 plus diver spread and half as many mallard with 40 goose dek’s.. AND IT WAS STILL SLOW… Just not many bird down yet and not great conditions… The best for me is 20mph+ Northwest wind . Puts wind at my back..Anyway we fumbled the ball 3 times and were not ready when the surprise small flocks came in. Did not fire a shot. Also worked some 747 geese but did not drop enough altitude…We need more cold weather to bring more critters down from up north and freezeup the ponds and water in the woods…Just plain slow..

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

12-23-2007 17:44
– – –
Paul,

Send me a PM and I’ll get up with you. Former Marine, now civilian still in the area.

Posted By:
Paul-Sarg
Guest

Trib off Potomac 12-21-2007 21:09
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Slow gunning today – except from 7-8am where we managed to get a hooded merganser and woodie. Otherwise the geese were flying way too high and not even attempting to sit down on the narrow creek. Not much wind at all; hard to get the ducks to land. Going to hunt down in King George on monday on the river so we’ll see what happens. Quacknhead, sounds like we probably hunt alot of the same blinds down in Quantico – you stationed there? If you dont mind me asking whats the best strategy to get into divers down there? Thanks and good luck this weekend.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Trib off the Potomac 12-19-2007 13:33
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted off the Potomac down around Quantico this morning. The brisk East wind was a nice treat…is it me or has NOAA/weather.com just been awful at predictions this year?!?!?!

Anyway, scratched out 4 ducks to include a pintail in about an hour and half of shooting. (Work’s still getting in the way).

Still not the typical volume of birds for this time of year, but I can tell things are picking up just by the types/numbers I saw milling around the bigger water on the way back to the boat ramp. Mostly mallards seen this morning with two flights of pairs of pintail. Suprisingly, the Mallards were extremely “decoy friendly”. There are some bluebills around as well and I saw the first big raft of coots that I’ve seen this year.

Hopefully January will bring better gunning days…

Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member

Potomac River 12-17-2007 09:48
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted the river Saturday AM – targeting divers and geese.

Divers didn’t pay us much attention as we scratched out 1 bbill and 3 buffies. The geese on the other hand flew better than I have seen the past couple years. Our boat positioning really hurt our ability to get them in close but we got 2 on some long shots.

Lots of bluebills around but not seeing any numbers of geyes, cans, or reds yet. As the winter weather continues up north it can only help us.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Field in Western VA 12-16-2007 13:09
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Word I’m hearing is that its still slow everywhere. Hunted a field out west and scratched out 6 Geese between 4 of us. No ducks, very little goose activity.

Guess the reason no one’s posting is because its so slow, it ain’t worth writing about.

Then again, heard that some guys in a back water trib off the Potomac wore ’em out. Shot a 4 man limit of mallards and a few woodies.

If you’ve got private blinds on low pressure water, you’re probably doing good. If you’re a public hunter like most of us, it’s a bad year. Just no birds moved down here that I can find on public access water.

Hopefully all the cold weather up north will help the rest of us down here out.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Haven’t yet… 12-13-2007 10:20
– – –
Where is everyone?!?!?!?

Haven’t seen anyone post a thing since the season came back in last Saturday!!!

Is nobody hunting?

I haven’t been this week. Work is getting in the way. Going this weekend, will post when I get back in.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Haven’t yet… 12-13-2007 10:19
– – –
Where is everyone?!?!?!?

Haven’t seen anyone post a thing since the season came back in last Saturday!!!

Is nobody hunting?

I haven’t been this week. Work is getting in the way. Going this weekend, will post when I get back in.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Creek off the Pototmac 12-09-2007 09:03
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Did a little diver hunting on the open water in a hope that they had made it down on this first cold weather push. Not so much. 3 Buffleheads in the Dekes and they didn’t make it out. Saw a few other, but it was extremely slow. Tons of Geese moving all morning. The most vocal I;ve heard Canadians in a while.

Although, a couple of guys stopped by us on their way out and they had a great day shooting a 2 man limit of mallard’s, blacks, and teal way in the back of one of the Creeks.

Gonna do some scouting today. There’s birds (big ducks) around, you just gotta find them.

Posted By:
mparma
Guest

Marshes along Rappahannock River 12-06-2007 08:43
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Lots of activity in the marshes early on.
Mallards, teal, some Woodies, and a few Pintails. A ton of Geese, most feeding in fields that are Posted to hunters.

MP

Posted By:
sonny32
Guest

Great wide Potomac 12-23-2007 20:04
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
In a shore blind yesterday and the 3 of us pooled our dek’s and had a 250 plus diver spread and half as many mallard with 40 goose dek’s.. AND IT WAS STILL SLOW… Just not many bird down yet and not great conditions… The best for me is 20mph+ Northwest wind . Puts wind at my back..Anyway we fumbled the ball 3 times and were not ready when the surprise small flocks came in. Did not fire a shot. Also worked some 747 geese but did not drop enough altitude…We need more cold weather to bring more critters down from up north and freezeup the ponds and water in the woods…Just plain slow..

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

12-23-2007 17:44
– – –
Paul,

Send me a PM and I’ll get up with you. Former Marine, now civilian still in the area.

Posted By:
Paul-Sarg
Guest

Trib off Potomac 12-21-2007 21:09
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Slow gunning today – except from 7-8am where we managed to get a hooded merganser and woodie. Otherwise the geese were flying way too high and not even attempting to sit down on the narrow creek. Not much wind at all; hard to get the ducks to land. Going to hunt down in King George on monday on the river so we’ll see what happens. Quacknhead, sounds like we probably hunt alot of the same blinds down in Quantico – you stationed there? If you dont mind me asking whats the best strategy to get into divers down there? Thanks and good luck this weekend.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Trib off the Potomac 12-19-2007 13:33
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted off the Potomac down around Quantico this morning. The brisk East wind was a nice treat…is it me or has NOAA/weather.com just been awful at predictions this year?!?!?!

Anyway, scratched out 4 ducks to include a pintail in about an hour and half of shooting. (Work’s still getting in the way).

Still not the typical volume of birds for this time of year, but I can tell things are picking up just by the types/numbers I saw milling around the bigger water on the way back to the boat ramp. Mostly mallards seen this morning with two flights of pairs of pintail. Suprisingly, the Mallards were extremely “decoy friendly”. There are some bluebills around as well and I saw the first big raft of coots that I’ve seen this year.

Hopefully January will bring better gunning days…

Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member

Potomac River 12-17-2007 09:48
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted the river Saturday AM – targeting divers and geese.

Divers didn’t pay us much attention as we scratched out 1 bbill and 3 buffies. The geese on the other hand flew better than I have seen the past couple years. Our boat positioning really hurt our ability to get them in close but we got 2 on some long shots.

Lots of bluebills around but not seeing any numbers of geyes, cans, or reds yet. As the winter weather continues up north it can only help us.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Field in Western VA 12-16-2007 13:09
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Word I’m hearing is that its still slow everywhere. Hunted a field out west and scratched out 6 Geese between 4 of us. No ducks, very little goose activity.

Guess the reason no one’s posting is because its so slow, it ain’t worth writing about.

Then again, heard that some guys in a back water trib off the Potomac wore ’em out. Shot a 4 man limit of mallards and a few woodies.

If you’ve got private blinds on low pressure water, you’re probably doing good. If you’re a public hunter like most of us, it’s a bad year. Just no birds moved down here that I can find on public access water.

Hopefully all the cold weather up north will help the rest of us down here out.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Haven’t yet… 12-13-2007 10:20
– – –
Where is everyone?!?!?!?

Haven’t seen anyone post a thing since the season came back in last Saturday!!!

Is nobody hunting?

I haven’t been this week. Work is getting in the way. Going this weekend, will post when I get back in.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Haven’t yet… 12-13-2007 10:19
– – –
Where is everyone?!?!?!?

Haven’t seen anyone post a thing since the season came back in last Saturday!!!

Is nobody hunting?

I haven’t been this week. Work is getting in the way. Going this weekend, will post when I get back in.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Creek off the Pototmac 12-09-2007 09:03
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Did a little diver hunting on the open water in a hope that they had made it down on this first cold weather push. Not so much. 3 Buffleheads in the Dekes and they didn’t make it out. Saw a few other, but it was extremely slow. Tons of Geese moving all morning. The most vocal I;ve heard Canadians in a while.

Although, a couple of guys stopped by us on their way out and they had a great day shooting a 2 man limit of mallard’s, blacks, and teal way in the back of one of the Creeks.

Gonna do some scouting today. There’s birds (big ducks) around, you just gotta find them.

Posted By:
mparma
Guest

Marshes along Rappahannock River 12-06-2007 08:43
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Lots of activity in the marshes early on.
Mallards, teal, some Woodies, and a few Pintails. A ton of Geese, most feeding in fields that are Posted to hunters.

MP

Posted By:
mparma
Guest

Marshes along ?R 12-06-2007 08:37
– – –

Posted By:
mparma
Guest

Marshes along ?R 12-06-2007 08:37
– – –

Posted By:
mparma
Guest

Marshes along ?R 12-06-2007 08:37
– – –

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Didn\’t hunt 12-05-2007 10:28
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 35-40 Degrees
Been reading a lot of different reports saying there’s birds around. Anyone seeing anything?

I’ll bet this weekend will really be the opener!!!

Haven’t seen much posting on here, just wanted to see if anyone was out there scouting and seeing birds

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

NoVA – Potomac River and Tribs 11-24-2007 18:52
– – –
Here are some General Observations based on intel from several sources:

Puddle Ducks are around but not in large numbers. On my scouting trips and hunting reports are that people are taking a wide variety of puddlers, Mallards, Blacks, Pintail, Woody’s and teal for the most part. Nothing in large numbers or even coming remotely close to limit’s. But the birds are out there
you just have to work really hard for them or have rested areas to hunt. I would have to say we had a small push of birds come and go, but that’s about it.

Divers- the only divers being seen in fair to good numbers are ruddy’s and buffleheads. There are bluebills around but the main migration is still on the greatlakes and Southern Canada based on observations and the location of Scaup on the Scaup tracker.

Dark Geese- Local geese are plentiful but getting quickly educated by skybustin, losy calling etc. But, they can
be duped easily if you can get singles or pair to work your spread. We don’t really get any migrators here to speak of, that I could tell if they were here or not.

That’s all I have for now. Hopefully will have some more intel from the field this week if I can make it out.

Good luck!!!

Drew

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Creek off the Potomac & main River – NVA – 11/17/07 11-20-2007 20:04
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted all day on Sat. In the a.m. three hunters went out and had some action early. Mostly local mallards, woodies and teal. Saw about 2 dozen or so birds total in reasonable distance. Had about 8-9 birds come into gun range. 5 stayed (2 mallards, 2 woodys, & 1 gw teal)

Went out sat afternoon on the river, saw a decent amount of divers and hunters. Saw some good old fashioned skybustin’ and other things that didn’t sit very well. Ended up with no birds but had two trying to come in right after legal while we were picking up the dekes. Typical story!

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

Western VA 11-18-2007 18:53
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
Slow all the way around in the western part of the state. Word from some buddies was that it was slow in the VA Potomac areas around Quantico as well.

A few resident birds seen. Quite a few teal around…just tells you that birds don’t seem to be moving southward yet.

C’mon cold weather!!!

Posted By:
dukscout
Guest

Reply 11-17-2007 13:38
– – –
Goosehunter,

Upper Potomac is Maryland and accesssible to VA hunters willing to invest in a MD license.

Posted By:
gooosehunter
Guest

nowhere 11-15-2007 15:05
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 45-50 Degrees
dukscout…Where are you hunting? Must be hunting in MD. The Virginia season does not open until Saturday, November 17th.

GENERAL DUCK SEASON:
SEASON DATES: October 4-8 (Black Duck closed)
October 20 Youth Waterfowl Hunting Day
Nov. 17 – Dec. 1
Dec. 8 – Jan. 26

Dave Shourds Gooosehunter gooosehunter@aol.com

Posted By:
dukscout
Guest

Upper Potomac 11-15-2007 11:18
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted Monday morning after the rain stopped. Called four geese into the decoys just for fun. Missed opportunity on two mallards that came in while we were hiding the boat. Saw fairly good size flocks of Woodies, mallards and some teal flying high and not willing to come down. Other mallards trading up and down the river later. Called in a drake widgeon and dropped it paddles up in the decoys, an easy retrieve for Luke.

All in all saw about 60 ducks between &:30 and 11:00 a.m.

Lessons learned: take your shots at Woodies when you have them as they’re not likely to decoy.

Posted By:
dukscout
Guest

11-15-2007 11:09
– – –
Here, here!

Posted By:
mparma
Guest

11-15-2007 10:26
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 50-60 Degrees
What’s going on with NO reports from Va. Md., and N.C. are giving regularly daily reports. Come on guys, bring some of us working guy up-to-date on ducks and geese.

MP

Posted By:
Richard-Nunnally
Web Member

10-25-2007 20:17
– – –
The much needed rain is good for the grass but not enough to fill up the dry ponds. Lot’s of folks I have talked to do not have any water, and if they do, not enough to get their boat in. Be cautious in the lakes since the water is so low. The stumps you never saw are there. That is a good way to bend a prop or worse.

Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member

Potomac River – N.VA 10-08-2007 14:09
Cloudy, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Had the opportunity to hunt all four days, not a lot of time spent in the blinds as I only hunted about 45 minutes to 90 minutes a day.

Lots of mallards and teal around, but the woodies seem to have vacated the areas. There was quite a population of them around during the early part of the goose season but those numbers have been cut drastically.

Ended the session with 10 birds total, 9 mallards and a woodie. Mallards flew early and in very large groups during the AM. Evening hunts at my spot were worthless except for shots at doves.

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Tributaries of the Potomac-NVA 10-06-2007 08:08
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – Over 70 Degrees
This is vicarious report as I have not made it out as of yet.

2-man limit of Woodducks shot, cover made birds hard to find. Doesn’t appear to be as many Wooduck around as in years past. Might be in part due to drought.

Over all gunning on the river has been fair, with reports of some b/w teal, local mallards, and an occasional Woodduck being taken. Also reported a small group of Pintails were spotted.

So there it is. Good luck out there today and Monday. I hope to finally make it out Monday a.m.

Posted By:
marsh hound
Web Member

Back Bay 10-03-2007 00:37
– – –
Looking for any info on where I can get small pine trees for brushing out my blind. Any info would be appreciated.

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Feds Set Framwork for 07-08 season 08-03-2007 11:39
– – –
A buddy shared this with me so I thought I would share it with everyone. Hopefully VA will follow suit with the Feds.

Highlights of the proposed late-season frameworks are as follows.
Atlantic Flyway: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia
Ducks: A hunting season is proposed of not more than 60 days between September 22, 2007, and January 27, 2008. The proposed daily bag limit is six and may include no more than four mallards (two hens), two wood ducks, two scaup, two redheads, two hooded mergansers, one black duck, one pintail, one mottled duck, one fulvous whistling duck, two canvasbacks, and four scoters. The season on harlequin ducks is closed.
Geese: For light geese, states would be able to select a 107-day season between October 1, 2007, and March 10, 2008, with a daily bag limit of 15 geese and no possession limit. For Atlantic Population (AP) Canada geese, the proposed season this year will allow portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont and New York to hold a 45-day season with a three-bird daily bag limit. Delaware, Maryland and Virginia (except Back Bay, Virginia) will be allowed to hold a 45-day season with a two-bird bag limit in AP areas. Back Bay, Virginia, and the Northeast Hunt Unit of North Carolina would be able to select a 30-day season with a two-bird daily bag and a one-bird per season respectively. In Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island, New York, a 60-day season on North Atlantic Population Canada geese is proposed with a three-bird daily bag limit. Special or experimental seasons and regular seasons to harvest resident and other populations of migratory Canada geese would be authorized in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. For Atlantic brant, the season length may be 50 days with a daily bag limit of two.

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Duck Stamp Legislation 06-19-2007 11:06
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ATER: Bipartisan House bill would divert duck stamp money to wetlands (06/19/2007)
Lucy Kafanov, E&E Daily reporter

Wetland protection efforts would get a big boost under a House bill floated last week that would increase the price of duck stamps to pump more cash into a federal purchasing program.

Behind the effort are Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Don Young (R-Alaska), who yesterday reintroduced a bill that would reauthorize the Wetlands Loan Act. Their measure would provide a $400 million advance of federal duck stamp money over the next 10 years for wetlands conservation.

The funding would come from an increase in the cost of duck stamps, decorative stamps the federal government issues each year. Hunters, as well as some stamp collectors and other wildlife enthusiasts, buy the stamps for collections or to gain access to wildlife refuges.

The cost of the loan would be offset by an incremental increase in the price of the federal duck stamp.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) introduced the companion measure in the Senate, S. 272, earlier this year.

According to Thompson’s office, the United States continues to lose more than 80,000 acres of wetlands annually. The bill would provide landowners with the option to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service to voluntarily conserve their land through conservation easements, his office said.

“We have lost more than half of our natural wetlands,” Thompson said in a release. “When we lose our wetlands, we lose natural flood protection and critical habitat for fish and wildlife.”

FWS would use the money generated by the bill to buy lands for national wildlife refuges and to assist landowners in protecting existing wetlands and surrounding duck habitat in key breeding grounds and other areas across the country.

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

VA- VADGIF PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD THRU JUNE 15th 05-08-2007 23:42
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
VADGIF Public Comment period. Please find below a link to go to the VADGIF website to voice your opinion on hunting issues in our state that having meaning to you. DO this before June 15th!

Here’s the link:
http://www.dgif.state.va.us/regulations/comment/recommendations.asp

Hope everyone is having a good off season.

Drew

[Edited By Drew-Hawkins on 2007-05-08 23:44]

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

St. Michaels MD – 10th annual Decoy Buy/Sell/ Swap meet 04-10-2007 00:04
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This is a fun event that helps tide us over until things get going in Sept. a nice place to see and pick up collectible decoys and collectible waterfowling stuff. Any ?’s shoot me a PM. Drew
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EAST COAST DECOY COLLECTORS – Please join us for the 10th annual buy-sell-swap to be held rain or shine April 13th & 14th, 2007 At the Best Western (410-745-3333) in St. Michaels, Maryland. This is an open door room to room event that also includes several parking lots full of decoy vendors.

Posted By:
quackheadnVA
Web Member

01-19-2007 12:50
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted the Potomac this past Monday just outside of Quantico. Very, very slow. Shot a couple of banded Geese…which was pretty cool. Some Gadwall in the area. Diver activity was minimal.

Hunted Quantico creek today and was just as slow as Monday but managed to scrape out a drake sprig that was in nice color and had about a 3.5″ sprig.

Going out west towards the Shen. valley tomorrow. We’ll see what happens.

Posted By:
Richard-Nunnally
Web Member

01-07-2007 20:16
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Sorry it has been so long since the last post. Not much to say though. This has to be one of the worst season’s in a while for most of the people I have spoken to. Plenty of sea ducks if you want to shoot them on the bay, but not much else.

Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member

Potomac River – NVA 01-02-2007 12:23
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 45-50 Degrees
Hunted yesterday for the first time in almost two weeks and I was hoping to be greeted with a little more activity because of the weather, but not the case.

I bagged two birds but was incredibly disappointed in the amounts of birds flying and their activity right now, or lack there of actual.

With the warmer weather in the NE I fear we are going to experience the same patterns the rest of the year. If your struggling like most, this is the time to change things up and try new spots. You need to find areas that haven’t been hunted which could lead to better gunning if not expect the same.

Happy New Year!

Posted By:
mwingfield
Supporting Member

Nelson near the James 12-31-2006 11:39
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Went to the beaver pond I have been hunting. Set up in a different spot and nothing came in through the morning. I got cold standing in water for over two hours and moved to just below the dam. Just as I got there six large ducks came from the river, saw me and would not call. Yes, I know stay put and don’t move around.
From this new spot I saw six geese fly from left to right disappearing into the mounting backdrop. Trains go by during the day and the next on jumped six birds that came close enough to see they were ducks, would not call and returned to the creek below the beaver pond. The geese I saw from far away. This happened twice, I walk down the creek with three decoys to jump shoot these ducks and walked into the largest beaver pond I have ever seen. I had never walked down stream that far before, and had no idea this huge beaver pond and marsh was there. The ducks got up with out me seeing them and they came back as I was putting out the decoys. Bad timing again on my part.
Two ways to look at the day, my timing was off that day, or I found the best place I have to duck hunt. I scouted and found high ground for a blind and determined where to place decoys. I marked the spot on the tracks to allow me to find it in the dark. I will be there new years day and will report back on my timing and new spot.

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Creek off Potomac – NVA 12-29-2006 13:45
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Worst day so far…. but none have been really good this season anyhow. Saw 2 flights of Wood ducks that held tight to the center of the creek- darting through the treeline- no shots presented. Even the Resident Geese didn’t really show up, saw about 100 or so but the ones that flew over were just a bit outta range. Not too good. I hate to admit this but w/o any cold weather up north we may be done for this season – one that really never got off the ground.

I spoke with another hunter that has been huntubg the same general area and he said that this is the 2nd worse year that he has ever hutned both in birds brought to the bag and number and variety of birds seen. I’m in agreement, this has been a “bad” season. PRAY FOR COLD WEATHER!!!!!

Posted By:
skybust3
Guest

Greensville County 12-27-2006 08:31
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees
Hunted a big beaver pond on Tuesday morning saw alot of Mallards, couple of Blacks, and alot of Teal. The teal came in way too early to shoot. We were able to bag 6 Mallards and 1 Woodie.
Hunted this morning on a small beaver pond saw alot of woodies early. We were able to bag 2 drakes then three mallards came in and we took the two drakes.
Hopefully we will get some colder weather for the ducks.

Posted By:
ncsugoosehunter
Guest

james river near goochland 12-25-2006 07:26
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 50-60 Degrees
hunted saturday and the fog really helped me out. hunted with my dad a as a early christmas thing. well we we had three mallards come in and go straight to the mojos. all three stayed! then to woodies buzzed us but we not ready. finally we had 6 geese come right in on us and my dad took one maybe 12 lbs. nice christmas dinner.!!
can’t hunt this am cause of kids but will be out the rest of this week. gotta fill the freezer. merry christmas

Posted By:
Kenneth-Burnett
Guest

Essex County 12-23-2006 21:08
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 60-65 Degrees
Tried a Creek this morning that I heard had ducks. Saw one Mallard way off. Wasn’t a total loss as I saw my first wild mink hunting the creek at day break. Left at 8:00 and set out swan decoys in a field near by. Hunted until 10:00 saw loads of geese but no swans. I only had swan decoys. Geese were landing 400 yards away. We had a good ten groups of geese fly over our blind 70 yards up. Oh well, next time.

Posted By:
mwingfield
Supporting Member

Nelson near the James 12-23-2006 18:01
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 45-50 Degrees
I went back to my hot spot beaver pond today. I have known someone had been hunting there with out permission. They pick up their shells, but not the wads and feathers. When I turned on the last road 1 mile from the farm road to the pond, I pasted three trucks, one with a duck boat. I backed down the farm road and turned off my lights when one of the trucks turned in, saw me and back out fast. Maybe this will keep them from trespassing.

OK, to the hunt, FOG to thick to see any thing flying. I saw and heard nothing, until I woke up and a hen was flying over my head, but would not call. Two large groups of geese flew up the James ,got to hot and went home. Slow day.

Posted By:
ncsugoosehunter
Guest

lower james river. near monitor merrimack bridge 12-20-2006 18:19
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
hunted this am. tide was really running high
about 3ft higher than normal. saw a few mallards 10 but none wanted to come out to the river. just got up and flew off the golf course at 7:15 not to return. did get a goldeneye drake. my first. To messed up for the wall but will fry up well in the skillet. going to hunt tommorrow am before work.

Posted By:
bsballdreamer
Guest

shore 12-19-2006 08:45
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
hunted a pond today and was surprised to see the number of big ducks around. a lots of mallards and black ducks and about 50 canadians. we also got to see the shuttle launch up close and personal about 7am.

rough roads lead to smooth people

Posted By:
ejpantalone
Guest

Centreville Maryland 12-18-2006 09:38
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 40-45 Degrees
Bismuth kills like lead.. maybe better, December 3, 2006
By MrHappyDuck from Eastern Shore, Maryland

“I gave away 8 boxes of Hevi-shot after one day of duck hunting with Bismuth. You don’t need any “follow-up” shots when using Bismuth. If you hit your duck or goose it’s dead before it hits the water (or ground.) Even professional guides are amazed at how quickly Bismuth kills waterfowl, no more wounding or crippling birds for me. I’ll never use anything else.”

Posted By:
Richard-Nunnally
Web Member

12-17-2006 20:14
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HOT, not the action the weather. Not much from the people I have spoken to in the last week. The front coming in late this week should help some.

Posted By:
mwingfield
Supporting Member

Nelson Co. near the James 12-16-2006 12:50
– – 35-40 Degrees
Went to a different beaver pond this AM. Two teal, and 18 mallards came in. this is more ducks than I have seen in weeks.

Posted By:
mwingfield
Supporting Member

Nelson Co. near the James 12-14-2006 11:39
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 35-40 Degrees
Set up early on a beaver pond. Three teal came in and out fast, to dark just could make them out. Three mallards came in I called, the first two kept going and the last one slowed and went home with me. A pair of mallards went over high, but would not call. This is all the action I had, very slow.

After I packed up I drove by a different beaver pond and saw a pair of mallards, but did not walk them up, may set up there Saturday.

Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member

Potomac River – NVA 12-14-2006 10:58
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 45-50 Degrees
Tried to hunt the past two mornings but the fog has been like soup. Very few birds seen. I can’t say it enough but we need the Northeast and Southern Canada to get some winter weather.

Please be careful if you decide to hunt out of your floating blind with this foggy weather!

[Edited By Bluebill Buster on 2006-12-14 11:08]

Posted By:
dgs7d
Web Member

Rappahannock River 12-12-2006 09:01
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Saturday Morning. Started off back in the marsh which was totally frozen and had no success. Moved out to my river blind at about 8 to find hundreds of black ducks and mallards loafing in the open water. I am assuming these were new birds as they decoyed better then usual. Might just be that the ice pushed all the birds out onto the river. Saw very few divers.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory OLD
Guest

shore 12-11-2006 04:38
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
hunted saturday morning. had to breack ice to put decoys out. but area started to refreaze. more birds in area but could not decoy. one black was low and 30 to 35 yards behind blind and managed to drop it. most ducks saw were blacks, some merganzers, and bufflehead are starting to raft up on the open water, but not in the numbers that i’am hearing in maryland. i had hunted this same area the week before and there were hardly any birds in the area.

Posted By:
Richard-Nunnally
Web Member

12-09-2006 15:32
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Some places seem to be hot and others not. That is the stroy from folks I have talked to. The coast has some birds on fronts but not many hanging around. Talked to some folks with food planted and they have a few big ducks but not alot. All we can do is waite I guess.

Posted By:
gooosehunter
Guest

VIRGINIA – Sunday Hunting 12-05-2006 08:35
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Well, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is having a meeting to discuss the Sunday hunting on Thursday night at 5:30 P.M. in Richmond. I bet we will have Sunday hunting in the 07-08 hunting season.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/meeting…tee_Agenda.pdf

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/meetings/

Cheers,
Dave Shourds

Dave Shourds Gooosehunter gooosehunter@aol.com