Posted By:
Mike F.
Guest
Area C 12-21-2004 16:03
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Man, only the Parker and the mouthes of a few estuaries remain free of ice, only saw a handful of ducks, where did they all go? There were lots of divers around Sat, only saw 3 buffies this pm..
Lucky for us some warm weather is comming and hopefully will thaw us out a little bit, another week of this cold and I think our season would be over..
Mike
Posted By:
J.M
WFC Sponsor
merrimack river 12-19-2004 09:06
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Hey scott,
thanks for confusing those geese on fri. I called them back towards us with no decoys either, unfortunately I missed three shots but sean managed to pull one down.Add that too three blacks a nice drake mallard that the third guy managed to pull down walking to his boat to leave early. And a goose that like you was a riot to watch montana try and drag around. BE SAFE jon
Posted By:
Scott-Haight
Guest
Merrimack River 12-19-2004 03:27
– – –
Friday 12/17 – Hunted the marsh in the heavy winds. Weather guy said NW @ 19 and it was more like W @ 35!!!!! Had a heck of a time even getting the boat launched as I did not come with hip boots due to the weather that was forecast. Thanks to John and Sean for the assistance or I wouldn’t have been able to go.
Took a long time to find a sheltered spot even with the tide way down. Every area I went to was all choppy and white caps even in the lee? Finally went deep into the marsh into some smaller creeks and found a good spot.
Only put out 9 decoys as I had some friends coming from PA due during the day and I knew picking up dekes in the small creek with strong winds was going to be a pain( it sure was! ). Anyway the birds really came in.
!st bird of the day was a really nice drake Black that decoyed in beautifully. I dropped it on the far bank however( thanks wind )so I had to up anchor and run the dog over as the tide was so low there was no way up either bank. I was really surprised, and very happy, when Thunder pops back over the top of the marsh and looks down at me with the bird. Yup, a BAND! Guess it was my reward for not shooting the banded bird the day before after I already had my Black.
The Blacks and Mallards( TONS! )began to work in then and in short order I had 2 nice drake Mallards in the boat and unfortunately two cripples( second bird of the flocks I shot at both times )that sailed way out into the marsh on the wind. One of them was still well enough that when Thunder got to it the fool thing actually got up and flew off. Never could find that bird but I did get the other one eventually.
Friends from PA arrived around 2PM so we hunted until shooting time and had a blast. They each took their Black plus a Mallard and then somehow, with no goose dekes out and just the few duck dekes, I called a flock of 25 geese right in only head high. We each took a single. Then I was able to call the confused birds back over us and we knocked down a couple more. These were MONSTER birds as well! The biggest weighed out at 17lbs 8oz, there was a 16lbs 9 oz, and then the other birds ranged from 12lbs -15lbs. Thunder couldn’t even get his mouth on the biggest goose and had a heck of a time getting it to me. He had to drag it over the marsh constantly having to try again and gain to hold on. It was a riot to watch.
The Mallards continued to come until we left but as it got late in the day it became very difficult to pick them out and be sure enough it wasn’t a Black until it was too late to shoot again. Ended the day with 3 Blacks and 5 Mallard drakes plus 5 geese. Very rare to shoot so many birds on the salt marsh.
*** Note – usually I try not to make such a lengthy personal journal type entry of a hunt but this one was so special I figured it was okay ***
Saturday 12/18 – Hunted Sea Ducks with my PA friends today. Ended the day with a 3 man limit of Eiders and a beautiful, but tiny, Surf Scoter. I muffed my long awaited chance at a prime drake Oldsquaw for the wall when a gorgeous lone drake came right in over the dekes. No idea what happened unless it was the pressure getting to me? 🙂 Was 4 for 4( ie; 4 shells 4 birds )on decoying Eiders but the ‘Squaw elluded me yet again. A lot of Eiders around, still some Scoters, and quite a few Oldsquaw.
Just a note to reinforce what Mike M reported. We found a lot of ice on the river and in the marsh today. Had to break ice at the ramp to get out and it was all over the big river. Water temp was just 39 degrees so it isn’t going to take much to lock the ramps up if we get a prolonged cold snap.
[Edited By Scott-Haight on 2004-12-20 02:11]
Posted By:
Tim-Dulkie
Guest
12-18-2004 21:59
– – –
Myself and anvilman hunted a new honey hole , scouting we saw couple hundred mallards , today we hunted it we’ll lets say it was awesome had to brake ice in the field but those mallard came right it 15yd shot pillow cased everybird we shot 7 drake mallards and one hen because i pulled up on a drake and dumped the pair , great day , i will post a pic later in the weak!!
Tim
Posted By:
Baymen Moe
Web Member
Duxbury 12-18-2004 17:55
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Well, all started fine. I set up a goose spread in a spot where geese have been roosting out on the beach. At first light I took my black duck. Shortly after I missed a gimme on a flock of eiders. A few flocks of geese started moving and all looked good. As I settled in for some goose action, two guys that were after shellfish began took walk in my direction. I made my presence known by standing tall in the marsh. Did they stop? No. These two dumb arses had hundreds of acres to dig clams but continued toward my spread. I packed up in frustration and gave a polite good morning to said dumb arses but cursed them all the way home. It’s a free country but these guys had no respect for the fellow sportsman.
Bill
Posted By:
Mike M.
Guest
Merrimack River 12-18-2004 17:18
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted the afternoon incoming tide today. Not a that many birds moving, but it was a blue bird day so that is to be expected. I did see more mallards than black ducks today which is unusual. Also saw a few buffleheads and one goldeneye. I ended the day with one mallard and missed a few others.
There was some floating ice in the river today as a result of the cold nights we have had lately.
Until next time,
Have fun and be safe.
Posted By:
Mike F.
Guest
Costal Corn 12-18-2004 13:16
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Nothing the first hour of shooting light, but soon after we had a small flock sneak in while my dad was “relieving himself” I just took one bird as the day was young. Later we had a single circle followed by a flock of 5… single made several passes at 10 yards but I was working on the group, you guessed it, they all left. About 9am we had a nice flock of 25-30 IN our FACE!! Dad doubled up and I dropped my second goose at 10 paces. Later hit area C, passed up a few buffie shots I wasn’t sure i could retreive and that was it. Lots of geese moving in the am but the marsh was silent.
Mike
Mike
Posted By:
CDUNCAN
Guest
central mass. 12-18-2004 10:56
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
sorry to bum eveyone out,, but here it goes
wayland pond my honey hole: frozen solid
delaney: frozen solid
bolton flats: frozen solid
hit all three this morning,, very dissapointed to say the least. i did see a couple of goose hunters at bolton but with the clear day and no water or food near by there wasn’t a goose in sight. looks as thought i will be strictly hunting the salt marshes from now on unless we get a major heat wave.. good hunting all chris
Posted By:
Scott-Haight
Guest
Merrimack River 12-17-2004 03:37
– – –
Hunted Wednesday and Thursday on the marsh. Man has it been COLD! The ice has started to build on the saltwater. We are due for another warm spell here so that will delay any freeze up. Good thing really as it really started to ice up those 2 days with temps in the low teens.
Wednesday as the tide neared full the birds really started to come in. Mallards and Blacks mixed. I had a HUGE flock of Mallards( for this area = 30 birds +/- )cupped and dropping in over the dekes but when I stood to shoot – CLUNK! My new semi-auto broke down. Had a part of the action actually snap. Needless to say I was out of action for the day. Had birds literally landing as I was pulling dekes in.
Came back Thursday with my back up gun and again as the tide got up the birds came pretty good. Not hoardes of them but certainly enough for some excitment. Took a Black and yet again 2 Mallards( seems to be my MA daily bag this year = a Black and 2 Mallards ). Later had 2 Mallards sneak through the spread while I was day dreaming I guess? Managed to call them back over me but when I stood to shoot they flared right into the sun and I couldn’t see them. Quite a few Blacks worked the marsh through out the day.
It was bad on Wednesday when my gun broke down but it was REALLY bad Thursday. The last bird of the day that decoyed in before I left was a Black duck. One of those high up birds that decides from way up there that your spread is the place to be. I am sure you all know what I mean. They cup up so hard their wing tips almost touch their feet and they drop like a rock to your dekes. I watched this bird come in and then stretch it’s feet out to land and there it was – A BAND!!!!!!! Already had my Black so all I could do was watch. Very insulting though for this bird to tease me with such an easy shot and then to flaunt that band like that 🙂
A few Eiders are starting to use the river now. Few Goldeneyes around now as well. Lots of geese. Seems to be more puddlers around the last few days but with inland freezing up solid I am not so sure it is new birds. Think it is birds that have been here just moving to the open water. Shouldn’t be long now though as cold weather seems to be here for good.
[Edited By Scott-Haight on 2004-12-17 03:43]
[Edited By Scott-Haight on 2004-12-17 03:44]
Posted By:
anvilman
Guest
south shore 12-16-2004 19:16
– – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
i took a couple of older guys out on wed and just managed to get a couple of blacks, only saw two big groupes of them and about 10 buffies. no green heads !!!!!!!!!!
