Posted By:
Scott-Haight
Guest
Merrimack River 11-21-2004 15:31
– – –
Made my pre-opener scouting trip of the Salisbury, Newburyport, Plum Island area this morning/early afternoon. Found birds just about EVERYWHERE! With the tide way down it limited what I could see from the roads but I did find plenty of birds. Looks good for the opener. Birds seen all Blacks and Mallards. No geese.
Also checked out the river mouth and ocean and found a few flocks of WW Scoter but not a lot of SD’s. Water was really calm however so I didn’t expect it.
Posted By:
Tim-Dulkie
Guest
mass 11-21-2004 12:45
– – –
I posted some pic ohf some recent goose hunts!!
Good luck to all!!
Tim
Posted By:
Dean Smith
Supporting Member
Central Mass, Conn. Valley 11-16-2004 19:45
Cloudy, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
Spent the entire day out in pursuit of waterfowl. Last Friday’s snow brought in no new birds to my areas. Spent the first 4 1/2 hours of the day over decoys. Saw one black, a group of 4 woodies, and a family group of 5 geese, all within the first 1/2 hour. Later floated several large brooks with no luck. Ended the day, last 2 hours of light, over decoys again. Saw 2 small groups of mallard move through the swamp I was in but no luck. Alot of goose movement the last 1/2 hour of light. Saw several groups, and one good sized flock.
Most backwashes on river, as well as small ponds have skim ice on them, and this should of concentrated birds in areas I was in. Just not many birds in the area now. Local birds have pretty much vacated, and only a few migrants have arrived yet.
Posted By:
Mike M.
Guest
Delaney WMA 11-16-2004 05:49
– – Froze Out
I was not able to hunt this morning due to ice out. With just oar power and a light row boat, I did not even attempt to launch. The ice was more than just skim at the ramp. I had to really pound down hard with the oar to break the ice at the ramp. The whole pond was iced over. Already back home before 7 a.m.
[Edited By Mike M. on 2004-11-16 05:50]
Posted By:
kial
Guest
southshore-inland 11-14-2004 22:38
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Posting for Saturday 11/12/04
Great day inland. Lots of birds decoying. We baged Blacks, Buffels, and Ring Necks hunting from shooting- 10:30am. No honkers though…
Posted By:
Mike M.
Guest
Delaney WMA 11-13-2004 17:07
Cloudy, Accumulating Snow – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
It was a very interesting morning weatherwise. Started out dark and snowy and later on cleared with blue skies and a brisk breeze. The day started out with snow coming down heavily as I left the house at 4:30 am this morning. It took a long time to get there as the roads were very slippery and I was towing my little boat.
When I arrived this morning, I realized there was no way that my 2 wheel drive truck was going to be able to launch my boat due to the snow covered ramp. I took the boat off the trailer and dragged the boat down to the water in old school fashion. I got my exercise for the day.
Once I finally got out there, there were actually a few birds moving around which is an uncommon occurrence at this location. As you have seen by my posts here, this is a tough place to hunt and not many birds are harvested here. I figured if there were ever going to be ducks at this spot, this morning would be the day and that was the case today.
There was one other party out this morning that came out in a canoe shortly after I was setup. They called at every single duck and goose that flew within a mile radius of the pond and did some sky busting as well shooting at birds flying near the tree line. You’ve also got to love it when birds are working your spread and the joker across the way starts wailing on what I think was supposed to be a hail call, ultimately causing the birds to scoot on out of the area. Makes you wonder why the birds are so spooky here? Oh well, such is the case on public grounds inland.
Now if only I could straighten out my barrel so I could improve my shooting hehe.
Till next time,
Have fun and be safe.
[Edited By Mike M. on 2004-11-13 17:10]
Posted By:
Mike F.
Guest
Cape Cod Bay 11-13-2004 16:35
Cloudy, High Winds – –
Shot sea ducks with a friend and father thursday and friday, not nearly as many scoter close to shore as last week, in total we shot 14 drake eider, 3 hens, and a handful of white wings. We had to stop hunting a few times because we retrieve with a kayak and the waves were building, we had to leave one string of deeks (9) because the thigh high water had built into 8ft with 4ft swells, we came back a few hours later and it had been stolen.. go figure.
I only fell in once this weekend which makes it pretty good. Can’t wait for the second half.
Mike
Posted By:
Baymen Moe
Web Member
Plymouth 11-11-2004 15:22
Cloudy, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
On Wednesday I was out in the deer stand from first light until noon. It was a perfect day for deer hunting, but the deer did’nt think so. I saw absolutely zip. This is unusual for me, I see deer all the time.
So, what was the cure for a bummer deer hunt?
Thankfully Capt Dave Bitters came through with a sea duck invite. I needed action and we got some. This morning we vowed to be sportsmen and take only mature eider drakes. It made for an enjoyable hunt. We could have shot our limit of sea ducks in an hour if we shot at coots, but held for eiders. Lot’s of eiders decoyed well but seem to be becoming a little boat shy already. We probably saw over a thousand birds all told moving in and out of Kingston, Plymouth and Duxbury. The mature eider drakes have come in strong.
The take for the day was just ok. Four mature eider drakes and a drake oldsquaw that I could’nt resist( what a nice looking bird). The sea ducks are abundant and will only grow more abundant.
Bill
Posted By:
kial
Guest
Sunday – South Shore Sea Duck- High Pines Ledge 11-09-2004 22:45
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
This report is for Sunday, November 7
Was not hunting, just glassing from Duxbury beach about 3pm. Saw several small groups of Eider and one huge raft just north west of the red High Pines Ledge can that is closest to shore. This raft was 350 yards off shore. It was 150-175 yards long and 40 yards deep. With a WSW wind the bay was rocking. I was surprised to see so many birds close to shore. Also, saw a lone hen canvas back. I thought that I was seeing things…
I’ll let you all know how tomorrow morning goes. I’m sure it will be cold.
Posted By:
kial
Guest
South Shore – Inland 11-09-2004 22:33
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
This report is for Saturday, November 6.
Sorry so late and Moe I still owe Capt. Dave a report.
Saw lots of birds mostly mallards, a few blacks, and two teal. Our luck was not too good, but the only other guy out, who was in a blind 300 yards from us did well. I watched him bag his limit by 9:30am. Early we had a single come in, a pair, a triple and another single. The first six ducks came in during the first 10 min. of shooting. Unfortionately, I was just paddling back to the blind after picking up my later-to-arrive hunting buddy. Forty minutes later rolled in number 7, who is now in the freezer. The real bummer was that after about an hour the sun had come up and the guy with the dog and the motorized spinning wing decoy lured in 40 birds over two hours. We just could not compete. I set a great stool, had lots of looks, but off to the mojo they went. Mostly the birds refused to respond to the call — hard or soft and I mostly worked it light. The Mallard Hen in the freezer was the only exception.
