Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member
Grafton County 11-13-2005 10:33
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Got out Friday morning and actually saw some birds! Bagged a mallard and a woodduck. Odd seeing woodies this time of year, but there is still plenty of open water all over, and temperatures into the 50s during the day.
Seeing lots of mergs around as well, a good indicator that there is a least some migration happening.
Only saw one flock of geese, but I was able to work them pretty well right up until the cupped wings moment when they saw something they didn’t like and took off. No shots fired…
This is it until the split kicks back in on the 23. Guess I’ll have to go deer hunting.
Posted By:
ducksnpucks
Guest
Pow-Wow River 11-12-2005 20:14
– – –
Just woundering if anyone has been out here in the last few days.Any birds seen? Ice? Many places starting to freeze up.Hope we can get Thanksgiving out of the island zone.
Posted By:
Msg&son
Guest
flooded field in lancaster 11-07-2005 18:56
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
this is for sunday set up in a field again with my son and put out 2 dozen duck decoys and 3 1/2 dozen goose deocys out for the morning. well saw about 50 to 60 ducks first thing and nothing wanted to worked the spread not sure why the seagulls and crows didnt mind flying over us so not real sure got a few shots off thats all. went for a drive after later in the mroning jumped 4 geese out of a hole up north nothign dropped then leavign that place got a flat on the truck gotta love that that ende my day right there. talked with one of my friends and he went sat and didnt see much at all. looks like the alst batch of birds have gone south for now need more weather to push more down for this weekand hope to get out once more before this weekand closes it not sure if sat or sun but one day i will and the other take my rifle out for a walk. good luck to all bye for now Mark
Posted By:
Peter-Lester
Field Editor
Strafford County 10-28-2005 04:30
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
During my short drive home and an errand after work I observed mallards at three different locations, places where I haven’t seen a duck all year. That made me think we have some new birds in the area and that the migration has picked up to some extent. Also observed at least one more cornfield being harvested. Seems like a lot of things came late this October. If you are not out deer hunting this weekend you may find some of the best hunting thus far in the first half, well we can only hope.
Posted By:
Msg&son
Guest
flooded fields in coos county 10-24-2005 19:02
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
well sat was cold 28 degrees and fog fog wow set up in a puddle in a corn field had lots of big ducks fly by few set down got a nice male mallard and saw tosn of geese but none wante dnaythign to do with our decoys except ahd 2 come in after fog lifted got them one had a band. went scouting in the afternoon didnt see many to much water out there wow. as for sun went ot same feild and saw lots of geese again but this time all headed south not as many ducks this time. had one flock of 30 or so geese come into decoys and after allthe shots they all flew away just got more educated ughhh. oh well it sure looked good. still lots of water and more to come and the weather was rain and snow mixture already so this weekand shoudl be good am goin g muzzleloader hunting on sat will see maybe go duck and goose for sun wait and see. hope everyoen is doing good and be safe water is going up again 1 to 4 inches tomorrow maybe even snow. good luck to all and also didnt see any other hutners either so who knows.
Posted By:
Peter-Lester
Field Editor
Strafford County 10-24-2005 08:03
Cloudy, Rain & Thunderstorms – 45-50 Degrees
The change from last week is as follows:
Geese have begun migrating and there are more of them as a result.
Big ducks remain scarce.
Wood ducks have moved south.
Saturday morning I offered to help with a nearby Hunter Education course field day and gave up what appeared to be a good morning to hunt however Sunday’s weather was just what a waterfowler wants, wind and rain.
In the place where I had been seeing 50 to 75 wood ducks I only found 7. I suspect the cold snap and storms that came through last week caused them to head south.
I saw two big ducks, both blacks and they tried to land in a puddle in the field I was hunting, I managed to bag one.
I quickly left that spot and headed to another field to set up my goose decoys. I had 2 dozen in place by the start of the magic hour; 7:30Am to 8:30Am. That is the time geese traditionally arrive in the fields to feed. Fifteen minutes into my goose hunt seven tried to land without circling and I took two with two shots. As I picked up three more flocks went by looking over the field and my best guess was a total of 100 birds or more.
I checked in with a friend at Fish & Game to see what he was seeing and he made similiar observations. My friend is a biologist and a long time waterfowler and he reported a rather disturbing statistic to me over the phone; we are down to 1900 duck hunters statewide. Not seeing anyone out, not hearing shots in the distance, now you know why. I can remember when I started waterfowling in the mid seventies, duck hunting was popular and we had 15,000 duck hunters across the state at the high point. Two years ago we were down to 2700 and since then we have lost another 800.
Why? I suspect like everything else related to hunting that is due to a mix of factors. Increasing regulations, loss of places to hunt, and let’s face it waterfowling is an expensive sport to particpate in. This decline has some terrible consequences because without the participation revenues don’t come in to protect and manage habitat. I wish I had a suggested solution to the problem but I don’t. I thought when we got down to fewer than 3000 duck hunters we were down to the hard core but apparently not. Let’s hope we have hit the bottom and the trend starts to reverse because if it does not the consequences to those who love the sport will not be good.
With the muzzle loader season for deer starting next weekend this may be my last post until the second half opens next month. Good luck and good shootiing to those of you hunting right up to the end of the first half.
[Edited By Peter-Lester on 2005-10-24 08:09]
Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member
Sullivan County 10-23-2005 17:26
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 45-50 Degrees
I let the cornfields rest on Friday and worked the water spread. Saw a fair number of woodies and teal, a handful of mallards and a common merganser. Lots of Canadas were headed to cornfields but none cared to stop and rest for a spell with my dekes.
Saturday morning I hunted a new cornfield but didn’t have much luck. Saw only a couple small flocks of geese and the only one that wanted into the field approached just as I was getting in the truck after picking up to leave! I hate it when geese are late!
Posted By:
Msg&son
Guest
coos county corn fields 10-17-2005 17:04
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 45-50 Degrees
well we set up in a corn field on sat with everything we had almost 9 dozens decoys and had no takers at all one big flock flew by and up and other couple landed infield but near the crows they are doing that this yr not sure why maybe they know the crows are scittorish.but nothing saw few flocks of ducks not alot. on sun tried to hunt same area but turned into lake lancaster wow lots of rain and wind holy smokes set up in field as best we could and got a visit from fish and game seems moose hunt was slow on sun. hehehe and they said same thing not many birds just yet. say a few tried stalking up on a flock of geese ina field i got the grutn part of it pushed them to the other 2 hunters of the group no luck but wet me. lots of water right now will hit them again this weekand might get snow flurries up here tonight so mayeb they might start moving we will see. take care and good shooting all. Mark
Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member
Grafton County 10-16-2005 16:40
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
We need a weather catagory for “Cloudy, torrential downpours and Near Category I winds”. That describes Saturday to a T.
I took a buddy cornfield goose hunting in the morning and saw loads of geese. None of which felt like working our field! We did have a pair of geese transit our airspace and we sure scared the hell out of em for doing so. They promised to never get close to us again and kept going.
There were a fair number of new ducks in the area, mallards and several large flocks of teal. First sign of any migration I’ve seen so far.
Posted By:
Jerry-Nicholson
Web Member
Grafton County 10-16-2005 16:34
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Shooting light on Friday the 14th found me in a cornfield for the first time this year. About 7:45 the geese started moving from the roosts and 4 flocks veered in my direction one by one. For some reason they wouldn’t work and kept going. After things quieted down I moved my blind to the other side of the spread so I’d have a better view when the birds came back.
It turned out to be a good idea, that and making sure my dog’s head stayed IN the blind this time. On the return flight the first two flocks, 1 small and one large, blended forces and started to circle. This turned out to be their mistake and those Federal BB Ultra-Shoks did their duty.
The geese were locals. I saw no ducks at all.
