Category: Virginia

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
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Posted By:
mparma
Guest

Marshes along ?R 12-06-2007 08:37
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Posted By:
mparma
Guest

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

Posted By:
dukscout
Guest

Upper Potomac-Virginia Shore 12-04-2006 12:28
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted the River Saturday Morning-did not see Duck One. Very unusual. I figure the birds must have been at 2000 ft. going SE at 75 mph. Anybody hunt the afternoon?

Posted By:
klucas
WFC Sponsor

Surry County 12-04-2006 09:00
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Went on Saterday Dec 2. Saw teal, wood ducks, mallards, and black ducks. Got 4 mallards but saw more. I beleive the migration has begun! Looked like migrators because they did not have much fat reserve.

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Potomac River – NVA 12-02-2006 13:18
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Went out this a.m. General Consensus is this:

Puddle Ducks: Doesn’t appear that any large numbers of birds came in on the front. Had a pair of drake mallards commit and not leave. Other than that the birds that are here are wise, blind shy (due to overanxious skybusting and normal hunting season jitters). If you can find an ungunned honey hole you may do well.

Divers: are the name of the game, although the birds around apear to be a bit spookier than usual, but generally easier to get to commit then the puddlers. Took a bluebill and bufflehead. Poor shooting and high wind help some birds live to see another day! A good time had by a newbie to the sport though. Second time out and he’s hooked.

Resident Geese are around and are huntable in good numbers.

Till next time. Good luck.

Posted By:
bsballdreamer
Guest

shore 12-02-2006 12:01
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
3 teal and a black duck. my dog finally got the hang of duck hunting and working on blinds for the past few weeks definitely worked. even though we didnt see an overwhelming amount of ducks it was worth it to watch the dog work. we did see more geese than usual. seems like the front pushed a few geese in but not many ducks…maybe they will be on their way tonight?

rough roads lead to smooth people

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Potomac River – NVA 11-30-2006 22:07
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 60-65 Degrees
Going to hunt in front of the front. Will report.

– – – – – –

12/1/06
Not much to report. Saw very few ducks (13) mostly straggler Woodducks slightly B4 legal. Saw good numbers of geese as well, not rigged for them today. So, the big front didn’t seem to have pushed any puddlers in front of it. Another report from today observed the same conditions and same result – no birds!!

Perhaps the divers will be a bit better.

We’ll see.

[Edited By Drew-Hawkins on 2006-12-01 10:01]

Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member

Lake Gaston 11-27-2006 14:39
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 45-50 Degrees
Hunted Friday and Saturday with very little success. Bagged three gadwalls on Saturday but Friday was a skunk. Birds are not like they were last year at that time, especially the divers.

Need the Northeast to lock up in some snow and blustery weather!

Posted By:
bsballdreamer
Guest

shore 11-24-2006 20:09
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
teal and black ducks everywhere with a few mallards in the mix.

Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member

Potomac River – NVA 11-20-2006 12:03
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Got the season kicked off to a nice start… an all drake day. 6 greenheads and one hooded between my brother in law and I. All shots taken were from decoying birds too. Lots of mallards but the woodies seem to be gone.

Got a pair this AM, not bad for a 30 minute hunt. Did see 3 pintails flying, which was a first for me out of blind.

Lots of geese and in big flocks, but they seem unwilling to cooperate. Just fine with me if the ducks are going to keep up this flight.

Hope everyone else was safe and enjoyed a nice hunt!

Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member

Potomac River – NVA 11-13-2006 09:32
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
I was fishing on Friday and decided to make a quick spin to scout out the diver situation I was amazed with the amount of ducks I saw. I guessing 5,000 + but 60-70% were coots. None the less its nice seeing a good start of diver migration this early especially since the weather in the NE has been pretty calm.

I also saw 3 swans, which is the earliest I have ever seen them.

[Edited By Bluebill Buster on 2006-11-13 11:18]

Posted By:
Kenneth-Burnett
Guest

James River 11-04-2006 15:41
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Went fishing down near Curles Neck. Geese all over the river. The boys that hunt down that way will have plenty of birds. Also did not see a single duck.

Stripers and catfish were snapping.

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Potomac River – NVA 10-31-2006 22:09
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Pre-Season Report
Did some work on the blinds this past weekend and saw some very promising things. Very good numbers of Ruddy ducks. The most I’ve seen in about three years. Also saw a small group of Readheads! So the divers are on the move, no bluebills yet but they’ll be here soon.

Canada geese number also look real good as well – at least as far as the residents are concerned.

Only big ducks spotted were 5 woodies. But I’ve heard reports of big ducks being around just not in large numbers yet.

We’ll it’s almst time again come on Nov 18 or go across the river and start on the 11th!

Posted By:
Richard-Nunnally
Web Member

10-25-2006 19:36
– – –
I hope everyone had a good early season. Some I talked to had ducks and some did not. The boys on the coast did ok with the wind blowing. Reports of mallards pintails ball crown and teal. The eastern shore did well for the most part. While building blinds last week we saw a good number of birds moving on a front. Good sign. I will let you know more soon.

Posted By:
Cliff-Brown
Field Editor

Md 10-12-2006 06:06
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Sorry my typing & spelling stinks in last message..at least we do WD right…..

Posted By:
Cliff-Brown
Field Editor

MD 10-12-2006 06:05
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Greetings, I’m a Field Editor for MD and have just posted the SAV report for Potomac, James and other VA rivers along w/ MD reports…you might find it of interest.

Also, I’m Executive Director of the Maryland Wood Duck Initiative and our website will be up in 4 weeks…MWDI.net. Of direct interest to some VA hunters is the work we’re doing at McKee Beshers WMA and Dierssen. In 2005, there were 59 WD boxes w/ an estimated 40 hatches yielding 162 ducklings. In 2006, our first year, MWDI increased the boxes to 117, had 55 hatches yielding 381 ducklings (339 WD and 42 Hooded mergansers). Predator guards were fixed up and several boxes relocated. Use was low in sopme excellent areas and we expect gradual increase in the remaining boxes over time. McKee has the highest Hooded neting status of any MD project site – 28 on public lands. Give us a month and check out the website!! Our 2nd year or activity, causng more than 1,200 new ducklings on public land alone. We’re all volunteer, non-profit, seek no $$ from participants.

Good luck thid season.

Cliff Brown

Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member

Potomac River – NVA 10-10-2006 09:09
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Hunted the early season on the Potomac and faired pretty well. 6 wood ducks and 4 mallards total, with one woodie being banded.

The weather changed bird flights significantly and pushed a lot of local ducks out. We saw very few woodies yesterday but drastic increase of big puddlers… mallards and blacks.

Geese migration seems to be in full swing and will probably continue with cold weather approaching this weekend.

Looking forward to the middle of November now!

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Potomac River – NVA 10-09-2006 12:57
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Had a good woodduck hunt this morning – 5 Wooducks (with one being banded), 1 mallard

Action was fast and done by 7:30. It appears some of the woodducks that were here have moved on. Only saw about half of what I scouted on Friday night at the same location. Hope everyone had a good early spit.

Good luck to people going to MD for the opener over there.

[Edited By Drew-Hawkins on 2006-10-09 12:58]

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Potomac River – NVA – Various Areas 10-07-2006 21:35
Cloudy, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
Had a strong NE wind this a.m. so we hunted in a marsh to stay off the main river.

Saw 20 +/- Woodducks throughout the a.m. The group managed to get three. Saw some teal- no shot presented. Saw vey few big ducks, but did get visited at least twice if not three times by the same trio of Black ducks. Over all number of ducks seen between 30-40 total.

On the flip side saw the largest numbers of Resident Geese that I ‘ve seen in about 3 years. I would estimate somewhere in the neighborhood on 500 plus. We watched them all morning long fighting the wind and then “maple leafing” (flipping upside down) almost playing in the stiff breeze. That made up for the lack of numbers of ducks seen in my book.

It definately was one of the “duckiest” days we’ve had in October in a long time, which one of the guys metioned today. I was in full agreement, thankful for the day, and hopeful for the upcoming second split!!

Will get out on Monday for sure for the quick “before work” woodduck shoot.

I’ll report then.

Drew

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

10-06-2006 15:05
–

Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor

Potomac River – NVA – Various Areas 10-06-2006 14:53
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 50-60 Degrees
Haven’t made it out yet personally – Will get out tomorrow a.m. But have gotten reports from several others. So here it goes for the 06 – 07 season…

The name of the game is the Woody!!! Wood duck numbers are good with a lot of hunter taking their limits shortly after lega l both yesterday and today. One group had their three man limit by 7:30!! They saw 50+ woodducks. But no Teal!

Overall all of the other action is local Mallards with a few pockets of Sprig, Widgeon and some teal. Hopefully this big blow doesn’t push out what we have, or if it does bring in some new birds.

So my advice is to get to your favorite Woodduck hole and enjoy in the early fall bounty!! Then get ready gor Nov 18th.

I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Drew

Posted By:
ScarySouthernMan
Guest

Bird Scouting 10-04-2006 18:53
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
We had a banner year on Doves ending with 137 between my family in just four hunts…

Killed some geese over decoys in a wheat field and scouted ducks…

Woodies everywhere (nothin’ new). Did see some preliminary “big duck” movement.

Mallards on the rivers.

Posted By:
Kenneth-Burnett
Guest

James River 09-05-2006 17:26
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 60-65 Degrees
Labor Day Geese. Did an upper James float. River was dropping but still muddy. Managed 7 birds for my brother and I. Saw many groups of woodies and even a few mallards and a pair of spoonies. Doves in the PM were not to be had. Hunted a field that was sweet on Saturday and quiet Monday.

Posted By:
scottyc
Guest

08-03-2006 17:06
– – –
Looking into taking a job around the North Anna Lake area. I have been duck and goose hunting in Illinois for 7 years now. I was wondering about the waterfowling in Virginia as well as places to live around the Mineral area. Any help is appreciated.

Posted By:
Richard-Nunnally
Web Member

07-16-2006 19:18
– – –
Did you all know it is hot!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope this finds you all doing well. I have just started to get things ready for this year. Trying to make it back to Arkansas for the WC contest this year. If you have a chance come to the outdoor show in august and check out all of the new stuff for this year. There will be a few call makers there if you need a new call. The show is Aug 11,12,13. The calling contests are on the 13. Stay out of the heat if you can… Rick

Posted By:
Kenneth-Burnett
Guest

James River 07-04-2006 23:23
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Came home for the 4th of July with family. Never have I seen so many geese on the James. Its going to be a great early season come September. Going back to South America next week. Been a good season down there. Thinking hard about retiring down south. Live great cheap and shoot every day

Posted By:
Kenneth-Burnett
Guest

05-20-2006 06:46
–

Posted By:
Kenneth-Burnett
Guest

James River 05-20-2006 06:46
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
I have been catfishing a bunch this Spring. I see lots of Baby ducks and geese everywhere on the James. I am back to work in South America. Plenty of ducks down here. Limits in Argentina are generous. Some provinces allow 25 ducks per day and its easy to do if you have done your scouting. Leaving on the 28th of May for two weeks of hunting.

Posted By:
mwingfield
Supporting Member

South of Charlottesville 02-07-2006 08:23
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 40-45 Degrees
Hunted 2/3/06 and 2/4/06 for geese. Over 100 have been roosting in a subdivision pond and working either a winter wheat of hay field. The winter wheat is to close to the highway to shoot, I places two scarecrows in the field to keep them from feeding there. It worked great the main group circled the wheat many times before a group of 8 – 10 broke off Friday and circled the decoyers. On Saturday, the same thing happened, the main group circled the wheat field many times until two decoyed, I shot and, hum they keep going. The two rejoined the main group, and I called in the group. Over 100 geese over my head, dropped two and could not get them too returned. Sam, my lab did a good job on the two. As for the scarecrows, they didn’t have much to say, but did their job just like the text book said.
There is a second farm near, were geese come in from other ponds. I plan to place scarecrows there Saturday. When I set up on the second farm and shoot they go to the wheat field, this will hopefully force them from farm no. 2 to the wheat field area where I will be set up. I wrote this to maybe help someone having the same problem, setting up in one field and having them land in another.