Posted By:
Ray-Sands
Field Editor
Great Cedar Swamp 11-01-2003 18:55
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
I love the opener for Coastal Zone – I hunt the Southern Zone!! I go about 2 miles west of the parkway and catch them as they are looking for a safe heaven off the salt meadows. Everyone and their brother are banging away at specks out the salt meadows and those specks cross the parkway and just come on into the spread. They don’t even circle. Easily had 70 Blacks ducks on the water in the stools at one time. They covered about (80) yards – which hurt me when the harbor Mallards started to show up and land outside the IC choke range. If I had (250) Blacks come in today (gunned until noon), I’m low balling it. Only saw (8) Mallards for the day and no GWTeal. All those Blacks coming in, put on a great air show. Speaking of air shows, I had some horses butt come down the creek 8’ off the water in an ultra light and right over the spread – he almost went to ultra light heaven! Picture up on my field editors page. The day ended with a Black, a nice drake Woody, two Greenheads and two Suzies. I used (4) of the H2O Quiver Mags in my 15 stool rig today. I ran them 18” off the back of the stools. They gave enough motion and ripple to make the rig look like they were swimming on this no wind day. I didn’t hear too much in the way of shots this morning coming from the coast. The Black I shot wasn’t the biggest ever but was a red legger – not a local. Always out there …
Posted By:
Larry-Vankirk
Guest
Central Jersey 10-30-2003 19:41
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Its two days away from the coastal opener ,I have heard some half way decent reports about bird numbers.Mallards and blacks are always a favorite,but a few wigeon and sprig can add some color to the bag.From some reports all are showing up in small numbers.
November 15 is the goose opener in the north zone, and it looks real good with thousands of birds filling the air at 7:00 every morning.
Snow geese are few and far between ,we do have some small flocks (10-20) that loaf around with the canadas,which always keeps us on guard when we have several flocks working us.
Other than that I would like to wish you good luck to those going out Saturday.
Good luck and safe hunting
Posted By:
Brian-Lafay
Supporting Member
ocean county 10-29-2003 15:55
Cloudy, Rain & Thunderstorms – 50-60 Degrees
went out to a north zone spot this morning and really didnt expect to much with such a heavy rain, but we didnt do too bad. we wound up with a woody, mallard and two ringneck. actually, i say we didnt do too bad, when really it was our own fault we didnt do better. we had a bunch of other chances but we just blew’em.
LOTS of birds on brigintine refuge. there also seems to be a good number of birds in the area in general. good luck to all on opening day of coastal. reports so far show a bluebird day, so i hope we’re all out there in force to bounce the birds around.
Posted By:
Ray-Sands
Field Editor
Griscom Swamp 10-25-2003 20:07
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Greetings from down Jersey. OUT AND ABOUT – Wednesday had GWTeal in every direction for the first half hour. Held off with four to shoot some big puddle ducks in the limit but none were seen. Instead of limiting out, I ended up settling for a fifth teal late in the hunt. Thursday saw the same, GWTeal the first half hour and no larger puddle ducks moving at all. I made limit with a pair of GWTeal that came in just as I was getting ready to pull the stools. To change the opportunities for Saturday’s hunt, I shifted back to the tree line to pick up on some Woodies. With a 31 degree start to Saturday, I thought that more of the larger puddlers would have also shown up. Managed to bring home limit with four GWTeal, a drake woody and a juvenile Black. No “real” ducks moving at all. Some high flying Canadas and small flocks of Snows moving late morning on their way to Delaware and south.– the migration must be stalled up in NY or Canada with the weather. Strange to see so many GWTeal flying but nothing else – not even harbor mallards. I was told by Vic that it was the same scenario over on Delaware Bay. Always out there… Ray Bear
Posted By:
Brian-Lafay
Supporting Member
ocean,monmouth,middlesex county 10-23-2003 18:48
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oct. 23 and we had a couple little snow flurries in ocean county today. i rather it be a couple little flocks of snow geese. but ill take the cold weather, it should give us a good number of birds for the opening day of coastal… hunted a few times in the north zone and had some action taking wood duck, mallards and teal. hunted the south zone once and only took one teal. ive been seeing alot more than ive been shooting though. i was scouting barnegat bay this morning and saw two bunches of buffies. also heard theres a few up in spuce run.
Posted By:
jerseywaterfowler
Guest
navisink river 10-23-2003 18:14
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Good sign for the upcoming costal season. Flocks of Brants on the lower Navasink.Very few other waterfowl around.
Posted By:
Ray-Sands
Field Editor
Griscom Swamp 10-19-2003 18:34
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Greeting from the flat lands down Jersey. OUT AND ABOUT – Brant, Brant and more Brant – Yes they are finally here. Numbers have steadily increased and the bulk of the migrants have arrived on Great Egg, Lakes Bay and Scull Bay. Should be hearing the sound of Snows in the air soon! The first Buffleheads were spied right off the Tennessee Ave. ramp in Ocean City. No BWTeal in the air. GWTeal seem to be everywhere you look first hour of light. OPENING DAY – What happened to the rain? I had four GWTeal down in the first five minutes. Put the gun down and took out the camera. I killed a roll of film shooting the drive bombers as they came into the spread. At 8am, back to the gun and picked up a Suzy, then a Greenhead. The Day was done. A few single Sprig in the air but they were as spooky as they come. Circled 70 yards out and landed 90 yards out. Report bird bands 1-800-327-BAND or on line at http://www.bbl-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/bblretrv/webrec.cfm . Always out there… Ray Bear
Posted By:
Ray-Sands
Field Editor
Cape May – Atlantic County 10-16-2003 19:04
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 60-65 Degrees
Greetings from Down Jersey. Not enough snows around yet to make it worth while dragging out the wagon load of stools – so out and about scouting this morning. GWTeal are down in good numbers out in Griscom and are the number one duck. This morning they seemed to be the Corbin side of Middle river to Mayslanding – probably pushed up 1K in total. Mallards were next and we pushed maybe +80 birds. Blacks, Sprig and Cottontops were all about the same – few and far in between. Didn’t jump many birds from Tuckahoe out to Great Egg. Heard quite a few Woodies early but did not see them after the sun came up. Only saw (6) BWTeal the entire trip out.
Jumped quite a few GWTeal off Dennis Creek in the afternoon. Jumping all the teal made me feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. Came home pulled the rig from the rafters and bagged it up, cleaned the gun changed the chock to IC and cased it. Then packed everything to go for Saturday except for lunch. The wait for Saturday will seem like it is taking forever to get here! All ways out there…
Posted By:
Donovan
Web Member
South Zone 10-15-2003 20:52
– – –
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m so excited about opening day I could pop. I have got my 18′ Outlaw in tip top shape and added a depth finder, installed new decoy lines, went to the new Cabela’s and picked up some new waders, and scouted all over south Jersey. I haven’t been this giddy about duck hunting since I started over 25 years ago. Is this crazy? I have even had a hard time sleeping at night.
I moved to NJ last year from Michigan. Finding decent spots in a new state is tough but I found a couple last year and was happy. This year, while I was working on my boat, a fellow Outlaw owner – Chuck B. – introduced himself and he took me to the area he and his friends have hunted for years to show me the ramps. My wife can’t understand how I could go out on a boat with someone I had met in the driveway. This is why duck hunting is so great! Not only do you weave yourself into the intricate web of the marsh, soak in some awesome sunrises – things most people will never know – but you meet some pretty good guys, like Chuck B., who will share his favorite spots with the new kid on the block.
Thanks for the good guys out there and I hope we all have some great shoots this season.
Now, get some sleep.
Posted By:
Ray-Sands
Field Editor
Forsythe NWR 10-14-2003 20:26
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Greetings from the flat lands. I have had several e-mails making inquiry about the snows at Forsythe. As of today they totaled 200 birds per Audubon – I only saw maybe 60. A couple of A1 blues in the crowd. Still very few Brant down. Snows always seem to make it down a day or two after them. Ducks galore – Sprig, GWTeal, Blacks and Mallards in the west impoundment – probably +5K ducks. Not as many down Griscom swamp – GWTeal, Blacks and Mallards but in the +500 range. Will be keeping an eye out for you opening of Southern this Saturday – Always out there
[Edited By Ray-Sands on 2003-10-14 20:26]
