Category: Virginia

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 01-05-2013 18:59
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
we hunted friday evening. we got a lot of birds up when we went to our blind. blacks, bufflehead, and merganzers. so we thought the shooting would be pretty good. we didn’t get a shot and we didn’t hear any shots that evening. we did see a fair amount of birds, but nothing was interested. acted like they’ve had a lot of presure put on them. didn’t see a goose, dark or light. a lot of brant rafting up.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 01-05-2013 18:59
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
we hunted friday evening. we got a lot of birds up when we went to our blind. blacks, bufflehead, and merganzers. so we thought the shooting would be pretty good. we didn’t get a shot and we didn’t hear any shots that evening. we did see a fair amount of birds, but nothing was interested. acted like they’ve had a lot of presure put on them. didn’t see a goose, dark or light. a lot of brant rafting up.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 01-05-2013 18:59
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
we hunted friday evening. we got a lot of birds up when we went to our blind. blacks, bufflehead, and merganzers. so we thought the shooting would be pretty good. we didn’t get a shot and we didn’t hear any shots that evening. we did see a fair amount of birds, but nothing was interested. acted like they’ve had a lot of presure put on them. didn’t see a goose, dark or light. a lot of brant rafting up.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 12-08-2012 16:25
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 50-60 Degrees
we couldn’t see if there was a lot of birds or not because of the fog. we could here the snow geese but couldn’t see them. there was a fair amount of shooting going on. most of the birds we saw were buzzing our decoys. we shot fairly well, but missed a few easy shots. we ended up killing six hen bufflehaed, one drake bufflehead, two hen merganzers, and three brant. it seams like each week we see a little bit more brant. the federal game wardens checked us out. they were ptrtty cool, but professional

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 12-02-2012 03:52
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 40-45 Degrees
hunted friday evening. when going out to our blind, there was a lot of ducks in front of it. there was a fair amount of ducks flying. we saw blacks, bufflehead, a gadwall, merganzer, and very few geese. we did havea flock of bufflehead buzz our decoys and we just dropped one hen. saturday morning we had a hen mallard quacking away in the decoys, but she left before leagal shooting time. had a nice flock of green wing teal buzz us out side the decoys. we saw a couple of canadian and heard snows way up high. there is a fair amount of black duck and bufflehead. there seams to be more brant down. early we did hear a fair amount of shooting, but it seamed to die off pretty quick. we did have a hen common merganzer decoy and we killed her. this was my puppies secound hunt and she got two retrieves.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 11-17-2012 19:11
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
we hunted the marsh this morning. we took two wounded warriors out with us this morning.there was a fair amount of shooting this morning.there was a fair amount of birds, but you can see a lot are still up north. what we saw was some canadian geese, a small flock of green wing teal, some brant,a fair amount of black duck, and buffle head. what we killed was two black duck, and seven hen buffle head. we dropped every bird that decoyed, but only one buffle head got out. today was my seven month old chesapeakes first hunt. she was a little confused at first, but we kept killing birds, she was getting better and putting this together. but she has a long way to go, but as far as hunting goes today was her starting point.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 11-10-2012 20:27
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
i was brushing my blind yesterday afternoon. i saw nice flocks of mallards and black duck flying about. saw a flock of teal. fair amount of canadian geese and about forty brant. feel pretty good about next saturday.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 01-29-2012 08:17
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
we hunted friday evening.not many birds at all. we got shots at group of bufflehead and killed one hen. this is the first time in over thirty years that i have not seen brant. they must still be in jersy. not mnay black duck at all.

[Edited By Craig-Emory on 2012-01-29 08:24]

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 01-14-2012 20:26
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
hunted friday evening. starting to see more canadian geese and a whole lot more snow geese. still no brant. a lot more black duck are down. fair amount of bufflehead and merganzers moving around. killed one bufflehead and two common merganzers. all hens. checked out by federal game wardens on the way in. no problems.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 01-02-2012 19:09
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
a lot of birds were moving early this morning. there is a fair amount black ducks, but they either flew high or held tight. the ducks that were moving were bufflehead and merganzers. we shot a drake hooded merganzer, four hen merganzers and two hen buffleheads. we didn’t see many canadians, no snows, and no brant. we didn’t hear many shots this morning. on the way home we saw some mallards and some canadian geese. maybe with the cold weather on the way we will see more birds.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

accomack county 01-02-2012 19:09
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
a lot of birds were moving early this morning. there is a fair amount black ducks, but they either flew high or held tight. the ducks that were moving were bufflehead and merganzers. we shot a drake hooded merganzer, four hen merganzers and two hen buffleheads. we didn’t see many canadians, no snows, and no brant. we didn’t hear many shots this morning. on the way home we saw some mallards and some canadian geese. maybe with the cold weather on the way we will see more birds.

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

12-12-2011 14:20
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Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Chincoteague 12-12-2011 14:18
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted the Queen Sound area on Saturday but scouted from Tom’s Cove to Bogue’s Bay and up north to the MD line. Significant numbers of Brant are down, as are Buffleheads, shovelers, and bluebills. Birds are still coming down, for example we saw fewer geese than this time last year, but the numbers are definitely worth the drive at this point. Winds were brisk, not calm, but there isn’t a selection for that.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

12-11-2011 04:39
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Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

12-11-2011 04:39
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Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

eastern shore, va. 12-11-2011 04:39
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
seeing a fair amount of ducks. blacks, merganzers, bufflehead, and a few teal. goose numbers fair both light and dark. heard some shooting early, but not much at at all. from about 10:30 till sunset didn’t hear another shot. birds flew here and there all day long, but we never got a look or a shot.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

11-20-2011 13:42
– – –
hunted virginia’s opener. my father killed a drake hooded merganzer. had shots at two other ducks and had one land outside our decoys. saw a fair amount ducks fling in 6’s and 8’s on the move no looks. saw a couple small flocks of canadians and that was it. but had a good time.

Posted By:
Craig-Emory
Field Editor

eastern shore va. 11-12-2011 16:06
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
was on the shore friday afternoon. a lot of ducks coming to the shore. saw a lot of black duck,tons of teal, pintail, shovelers,some mallard, and a fair amount of canadians. will be hunting on va. eastern shore for the opener. it does look promising.

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Tributary off Potomac River – NVA 02-10-2011 22:00
Cloudy, Snow & Rain Mix – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Went out today saw about 150 or so geese, one big flock of about 40 birds and the rest were groups of four, six, ten. All of the groups except the big one were VERY quiet! So go light on the calling. We saw the birds heading out to feed and needed to be there in the afternoon. Managed one bird and it had a band!

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

N. VA. 02-08-2011 21:39
Cloudy, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
General Observations on dark geese is that they are workable and guys are having success hunting these little fronts coming through. However the birds (being late season) are a bit trickier to work and are flying a bit later than normal.

Going out Thursday, will update then. Get on em boys we only have till the 15th,

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Potomac River 01-29-2011 16:16
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Hunted the regular season closer today – 5 shooters and great way to end the season.

The hunt started late about 8:00 am as we wanted some sun light to navigate the ice, plus the birds had been moving later the past few weeks anyhow.

Both puddle ducks and diver were coming in in singles, pairs or in case of the divers small groups of between 3-6. Action was pretty steady the whole time, mostly due to the temps and hunter activity on the river.

Geese moved very little preferring to stay way out on the ice.
So no geese were taken. a 5 man limt of ducks taken including a black duck and Canvasback limit.

Great way to end the season with a toll of cans! Can’t wait till next year. There is still a couple of weeks of late goose season. May try to get out once or twice before it is totally done.

We took a

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Northern VA – Loudoun County 12-13-2010 10:57
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Grain fields bordering the Potomac River are holding large numbers of geese, with the higher winds keeping them huddled up and feeding. Once they hit a field, they are tending to stay.

Four flocks of mallards with 40+ birds were seen just after first light moving from water to feed, and on the drive home I saw a 75+ flock of bluebills sitting on a pond just outside Leesburg. The ducks seem to be moving ahead of the front with the resident geese hunkering down for now.

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Accomac County 12-13-2010 07:05
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
This report is from Saturday, 12/11.

Divers are down in the area in significantly higher numbers than this time last year, no doubt due to the cold snap. Buffleheads, Scaup, Goldeneyes and even some scoters are moving pretty regularly throughout the day. Higher than normal winds are making getting into some of the shallower marshes a bit tricky at low tide, so go in slow.

Mid-day things do tend to slow down, but both the first light and last light shooter were very good.

I did see a fairly large flock of Brant in Tom’s Cove over several days, always on the tide and sitting right over some kelp beds.

Good luck and be safe!

[Edited By Tony-Crescenzo on 2010-12-13 10:53]

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Soybean Fields Adjacent to the Potomac 09-30-2010 14:20
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 60-65 Degrees
Although it was a bit cool and rainy the birds were moving this morning. Not too many migrating geese but the residents were moving just after first light until about 10:30. Not too difficult to call this early in the season and moving in small flocks of 10 to 20 birds.

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Scouting Potomac River – NVA 09-24-2010 22:13
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Went for a boat ride to work dog and get the boy outta the house on the river. Saw good groups of Wooducks at dusk going to roost. Last weekend I saw several groups of teal – one flock of about 20 blue-wingers. So if you like to hunt in 90 degree weather the teal are around and of course the resident geese. I’ll get to them a little later in the season.

Posted By:
jrapp
Guest

09-14-2010 12:40
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Back again in the Woodbridge area of VA. Still looking for areas to hunt. Anyone with any openings/ideas, let me know. Waterfowl 2010 here we go!!

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Getting Ready for the Season – Roll Call 09-10-2010 11:32
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Happy 2010 Waterfowl Season all. Who’s in the VA area and on the site this year? Where do you hunt? What are your plans for this year’s hunts?

Let’s hear from our VA members!

Posted By:
Larry-Gausch
Field Editor

Chincoteague 12-19-2009 11:53
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Tony,
Hunted Thursday and Friday morning. Real good hunting on Thursday,plenty of blacks on the marsh puddles and buffies and brant in the bay.The brant are always fun!We did see one goldeneye,some bluebills and a lone drake can which we flat out missed!Did not see any Old Squaw at all.Friday morning was slow so we cut out by 10 AM to head home.Thanks for the info. Will be back down in January. Larry G.

Posted By:
jrapp
Guest

Northern VA/ Upstate NY 12-17-2009 11:26
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Thanks Tony I’ll shoot you an email soon.

FYI – I was home in upstate NY last weekend and witnessed a big push of birds b//c of freeze up (blacks, mallards, Canada & Snow geese). Most everything locked up except the rivers and even those were pushing slush. I’d expect an increase of birds soon if you haven’t already. Good luck and shoot straight.

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Chincoteague – BRANT REPORT FOR LARRY 12-17-2009 06:58
Cloudy, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Amazingly enough, I’ve seen Brant in the area in good numbers since the 3rd of December. Your best places to hunt them are Tom’s Cove, from a boat blind if you have one. They are pretty easy to decoy, and you can call them without a call. I’ve seen them in flocks of a couple of dozen lated in the afternoon (tide changes) there. Another good spot is the islands and marshes just north of the bridge over Queen Sound. Stay on the western side of the sound where the kelp is thick and you’ll see them from low tide to about 2-3 hours past.

Not too many puddlers were there other than the wary residents. I would expect Black duck numbers to be better in Saxis. Better food supply and almost no hunting pressure.

Good Hunting

[Edited By Tony-Crescenzo on 2009-12-17 07:00]

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Chincoteague/Saxis 12-17-2009 06:54
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted the Queen Sound area with mixed results. Very few divers in the area compared with this time last year, but Saxis was LOADED with Scoters of all types. They raft approximately 800 yards offshore and can be taken from a boat blind pretty easily. Bufflehead numbers are low, resident mallards are still around but hard to decoy. Hopefully the cold snap will bring more divers to the area.

JRAPP: Did NOT get your PM. Email me at tcrescenzo@achievence.com and I’ll send you details about January’s hunts. I have two trips planned and we can always find room for one more. Its a 3 hour drive from DC and splitting a hotel room is about 40 bucks a nite, otherwise its just $$ for beer and meals. The birds have always made it down by then and tides and moon are good for the days we’re heading down.

Posted By:
jrapp
Guest

Northern VA 12-05-2009 16:08
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Wondering how the hunting has been in the Northern Virginia area? I’ve been in search of areas to hunt without much luck. I have hunted in upstate NY a few times this season and as of last week things have been very slow b/c its been so warm up there. I’m guessing that means its been slow down here too.?

Tony, don’t know if the hunting offer is still on the table or not. If so I’d like to meet up sometime. I sent a PM, not sure if you got it though.

Hunt safe and shoot straight!
Jake

Posted By:
Larry-Gausch
Field Editor

Chincoteague 12-01-2009 18:25
– – –
Hey Tony,

Any decent numbers of brant and/or black ducks in the Chincoteague area yet? Looking to get down that way soon and hoping to gun some brant.Appreciate any intel you can provide to a true southerner(southern Pa. that is!). Tough to scout from up here but I always enjoy gunning down in your neck of the woods. Thanks, Larry Gausch

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Scouting Report 11-20-2009 05:36
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 45-50 Degrees
First diver sighting this year. There are Buffleheads and Scaup on the river. Numbers aren’t huge, but they are definitely moving south. 20-30 scaup and about twice as many divers came and went yesterday.

Local ponds continue to see Mallards and Blacks come and go.

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

NOVA – Scouting only 11-02-2009 10:21
Cloudy, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
Pounds continue to see migrating geese and puddle ducks. Here today, gone tomorrow. I haven’t seen any divers yet, but they are usually on the river and I haven’t gotten down to the Potomac yet.

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Northern VA – Scouting only 10-23-2009 15:54
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 50-60 Degrees
Local pounds are filling up with migrating mallards and blacks, who seem to disappear then next day. Seeing geese at first and last light in higher than local numbers.

Posted By:
jrapp
Guest

Upstate NY 10-14-2009 13:39
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Hunted back home in NY this past weekend with mixed results. Good teal and woodie numbers the first two days (limits both days). Some active cold weather seemed to move birds out of the area by the end of the weekend. Guess from the sounds of it they haven’t made it as far as VA yet. I’m sure they’ll be there by Nov. Man awful long time to wait!!

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Chincoteague 10-11-2009 14:10
Cloudy, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
Hunted the early opener from the 8th to the 10th on the marshes around Chincoteague. Very few, if any, migrators are down yet. Some local puddlers were open to calling. A smattering of Mergansers are there, but not a single buffie or other diver was seen.

Lowest temp was 55, but the average was over 70, so not a lot of movement except at first and last light.

Plenty of geese are in the area, with the same early morning/last light pattern, moving west in the morning and east in the evening.

Hopefully some cool weather up north will get some real birds moving this way before November…

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Goose creek area 09-23-2009 20:25
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – Over 70 Degrees
Hunted for a couple of hours this afternoon with mixed results. Not much moving on such a hot day, but got some good movement right at sunset. Birds are still not very wary and decoy easily this early.

Will be spending the early season opener in the Chincoteague/Saxis area and will report the status of divers and puddlers in that area then.

Hunt hard and stay safe

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Goose creek area 09-23-2009 19:13
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – Over 70 Degrees
Hunted for a couple of hours this afternoon with mixed results. Not much moving on such a hot day, but got some good movement right at sunset. Birds are still not very wary and decoy easily this early.

Will be spending the early season opener in the Chincoteague/Saxis area and will report the status of divers and puddlers in that area then.

Hunt hard and stay safe

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

09-23-2009 19:09
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Jake,

PM me when you get a chance. I’m in Northern VA too, but hunt a lot on the Virgina eastern shore and would be happy to have you along on a hunt or two.

Welcome to the site!

Tony

Posted By:
jrapp
Guest

Northern VA/ Upstate NY 09-21-2009 11:09
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My name is Jake and I’m a transplant to VA from upstate NY. Hunting waterfowl is my passion and being new to the Northern Va area I don’t have much to go on yet. Don’t know if anyone would like to trade a hunt in upstate NY for one in VA, or point me in the right direction, or have a tag along in the field. I’d be open for advice!

Shoot straight!
Jake

Posted By:
Tony-Crescenzo
Field Editor

Ponds in Faquier County 09-06-2009 20:48
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Resident season is off to a good start, with birds working regularly at first light and last light. Clearly no migrators in the area yet, but the residents seemed to be working on a clock.

No pressure this early so calling them into the blinds isn’t much of a challenge, but limiting out with a 10 bird ceiling can be quite a challenge.

Will be out next weekend in the same area and will post additional reports as I have them.

Best of luck to all for a great season. Hunt hard and stay safe.

Posted By:
Stumpgunner
Guest

Northern VA 08-28-2009 09:02
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – Over 70 Degrees
Would anyone be interested in a pre-season meet and greet? Good way to meet fellow members, swap stories, and perhaps arrange a few hunts.

What say you?

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

NoVa 07-16-2009 23:10
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Can’t wait for the season!

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

NVA – Various 12-26-2008 13:10
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Pretty good action through out the land – Only scratched one malllard this a.m on a solo quickee hunt. Still saw birds early come and go before legal. Then had to compete w/live birds. I lost!

Diver hunting for “bills” on the river is good. With one bird limits are easy to take generally.

Heard of some redheads being taken on farm ponds in Nokesville.

Definately a “small” push of new birds but with the holiday and a lot of guys out there, they’ll get wise quick.

Good luck, and be safe out there!!!

Posted By:
Craig-Emory OLD
Guest

chincoteague island 11-23-2008 09:14
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
didn’t hunt the area, but scouted it. only saw a few black ducks. hardly any divers, or canadians, or snows, and no brant. when leaving in the evening i saw saw 2 nice flocks of big ducks

Posted By:
sadie1950
Web Member

Southern VA Lexington Area 10-04-2008 19:29
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Hey guys I am an avid waterfowler who just moved to VA from Iowa. I have hunted geese and ducks for 20 years and I took a job out here in Virginia basically because I had no choice. Needless to say with the fall air moving in I am starting to get duck fever and I was wondering if there was anyone around this area that wouldn’t mind someone tagging along some Sunday. I actually have talked to some of my subcontractors and there is one with a lot of land around Smith Mountain Lake. Later on I am going to go scout this area and see if there are any Canadians I can shoot. Problem is I have all my decoys and gear in Iowa. If anyone is interested in meeting up or if you have an extra spot in the boat or blind please get ahold of me.

Here’s my resume

check it out

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Northern VA 08-27-2008 20:55
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Starting to see groups of geese congregating and flying around usually in groups of 8-10, just in time for the resident opener.

I also noted good numbers of Doves around the country roads in Prince William, Facquier and Stafford counties.

Good luck in the opener. Also if you are looking for a place to hunt geese and doves in N.V.A. check out a website I designed for a friend. www.remingtonwhistlingwings.com

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

NVA – DYKE MARSH STAKE AT RISK OF BEING LOST 04-05-2008 11:34
– – –
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
DYKE MARSH MEETING W/NPS
April 22, 2008
6 to 9 p.m., Belle View Elementary School,
6701 Fort Hunt Road, Alexandria, VA 22307
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Please see my thread in the VA discussion forum!!!!

We need support from all VA and MD hunters to help save these stakes.

[Edited By Drew-Hawkins on 2008-04-09 22:07]

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
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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