Posted By:
John-Prentice
Field Editor
New MExico 06-19-2007 16:40
Arctic Blast – Froze Out
Hey! Guys. Tomorrow is lucky draw day. I have heard that Gamd & Fish are having problems with the draw. So what else is new. Good Luck and may you have the luck of the Irish and draw the hunts of your hearts desire.
[Edited By John-Prentice on 2007-06-19 16:41]
Posted By:
John-Prentice
Field Editor
Oklahoma Panhandle 04-29-2007 18:24
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Just got back from Oklahoma Panhandle yesterday. Hunted near Kenton,Oklahoma on private ranch. Got the Merriam’s gobbler that I was after. The Tom weighed 22lbs and had short beard(4-5 inch) and nubbin spurs. Seems the rocks in the area wear them down. Saw a Bobcat and Coyote try to catch a Turkey but ended up with rabbits. Saw a ton of Elk on the Oklahoma side of the border-Oklahoma Game & Fish is in denial-they have no Elk. If they admit that Elk are present then they would have to start paying depredation money to the ranchers. Also saw a herd of RM Bighorn Sheep. I would never guessed that there were wild sheep on the Black Mesa. Had a great hunt. Only bird I’m missing for my “Oklahoma Slam” is the Eastern Turkey and I’ll go after that next year. Oklahoma is one of the rare states that has three species of Wild Turkeys. They have the Eastern,Rio’s and Merriam’s.
Posted By:
John-Prentice
Field Editor
Western Oklahoma 04-14-2007 14:02
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 35-40 Degrees
Hey! Guys, I could have done without the cold blast and wettnes from the West. Some buddies of mine took two big toms yeserday during the height of the storm. The turkeys are being quiet but should perk up now that the storm is passing and the sun starting to peak through. I’m saving my other tag form a Merriam’s gobbler in the Panhandle at the end of April.
Posted By:
desert drake
Guest
04-13-2007 16:58
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Congrats on all of your success, John. Wouldn’t a camera been great to try and capture what the coyote was doing? Glad we could send you some WEATHER. Al
Posted By:
John-Prentice
Field Editor
Western Oklahoma 04-12-2007 18:47
Cloudy, High Winds – –
I’m back in the Sooner State for a few days chousing the “Long Beards”.They have liberalized the Turkey regs a little. You can now bag three toms during the season. You can take two toms in one day in certain counties,which I did on Wednesday. Big tom,weighed 22 lbs-10 inch beard-3/4 inch spurs. The other bird was a large jake,weighing 19 lbs,short beard and only one nubbin spur. The whole troop came marching over the hill to my decoys and calling. When I went to check out the jake,I turned around to the gobble of the big tom. I nailed the big one,only to turn around to see another tom beating the daylights out of the downed jake. I went to get my truck to load up my gear and as I returned,there was another tom doing a number on my jake decoy-all was quite hilarious. I have a better story to top that one off. I was out after my third tom(you must have seperate tag for each bird). At about 6:45 this morning(Thursday),I was sitting well hidden near where some birds were strutting yesterday,when I heard a growl and noticed a black looking,mangy yote pounce on my hen decoy. He grapped her and took off,however,he wasn’t fast enough for a 3 1/2 load of 2 1/2 ounce load of
lead 4’s,rolled his butt. My hen decoy now sports several tooth holes from the wily coyote. I have had coyotes grab Snow Goose decoys on Bosque del Apache before bit never a turkey
I may wait to take another turkey as a friend has invited me to hunt Merriam’s in the Panhandel in a couple of weeks. Weather forecast is for bad storms over the weekend which will preclude any more turkey hunting for the weekend.
[Edited By John-Prentice on 2007-04-12 18:49]
Posted By:
John-Prentice
Field Editor
New Mexico 04-04-2007 12:34
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Randy Marci! I hate to see you leave the site. You could become another State Field Editor and get a free membership for the year. Seems like everyone is bailing out.
Posted By:
NMDuckaholic
Guest
03-30-2007 22:20
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Randy… there will be many more to come my friend!!
NMDuckaholic
Posted By:
rmarci
Guest
03-29-2007 09:33
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Al, i always enjoy your account of how things happened. there is more to duck hunting than just killing. after enduring 24 long seasons, i’m starting to realize this. still got a long way to go though. i just want to say to those on here i have met and had the pleasure to share a blind with, Thanks. my first season in new mexico was awesome. my membership for this site expires shortly and i will not be renewing. there are alot of free sites i frequent alot more and only come here about once a week or so. so with this, i bid farewell. good luck to all of ya and most of you already know how to get ahold of me if need be.
Randy Marci
Posted By:
desert drake
Guest
03-28-2007 16:54
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A Miserable Day But Fun!
You have to be a nut to say in one breath that it was miserable but fun! I guess I qualify probably more so than the average duck hunter or at least that is what my wife thinks.
This morning it was 14 degrees when I left the house to go hunting. I didn’t realize how cold it was until I began sitting in the blind for a while. A hot cup of coffee only temporarily helps in this kind of situation and I did have my fair share this morning.
At first light I had a pair of mallards come in and I swore that I took the drake but it was a hen. The first word out of my mouth was, “Damn!”, because I missed the second mallard. The ice was thick enough to make it just flat out miserable today. Chili was just heavy enough to break through and the water was just deep enough that I couldn’t step down upon it. Thus, my shins took a beating and it was a chore to say the least.
After Chili found the first bird I ended up waiting about 15 minutes when a lone greenhead came in—-flaps fully extended. That was an easy shot. I watched my pup as she constantly had to break ice to get to the downed drake. When she got back to the blind, she immediately started to lick herself.
The bad thing about this morning was the fact that there were so few ducks and it was hard to sit there, rationalizing why I should be staying. It seemed like an awfully long time when finally I heard the quack of a hen mallard. I watched her fly far overhead and I knew it was time to go home because I thought this——if she comes back, she’s dead. She came back. I was now sitting there in the blind with two hens and a greenhead and starting to shake because of the cold.
It was time for another cup of coffee and that always seems to help bring a positive note to things especially this morning. As I sat there sipping and going “AHHH” in came three gadwalls. I dropped the cup out of my hands and grabbed my Nova, just in time to fire a quick round at the trailing drake gadwall. It dropped like a stone and that brought a smile to my whiskered face. When Chili brought it back and gave it to me, it was then that I found out why it dropped like a rock. I had shot a perfect hole out of the top part of its head. Thank goodness I hit the head instead of the body. I knew those ducks were close but this was a lot closer than I thought.
Well, things started to warm up just because of the fact that it was now 90 minutes into the season and the sun was up. I poured a fresh cup of coffee into the dirty cup that had been tossed onto the pallet. Chili was once again licking herself down when I happened to see her give that fixed gaze look. I followed it and sure enough saw four mallards coming in to have a look at the spread. As they got closer I saw that there were two pairs. They sure did want to come in and as they had their wings cupped flying from left to right and coming down, I put my bead on the first drake. I followed him for a second or so and waited until he got to a perfect spot for me to pull the trigger. I wanted him to drop in the open and not in the cattails. As he got to that magic spot, the other drake flew down and within inches of the first one. That is when I pulled the trigger on the Benelli.
I love shooting Scotch doubles and this was no exception. Both birds CRUMPLED, and I mean CRUMPLED in mid air and then plummeted to the ice laden marsh.
Chili had her work cut out once again. Today there was no wild dashing out into the marsh to retrieve ducks. It was a very slow and methodical retrieving machine that was doing the best she could with the given environment she was working in.
With the six ducks in the sled and breaking ice all over again to get out of the marsh, we headed back towards the four-wheeler so that we could get to the truck. I could have kissed the GMC’s heater when I finally got inside!
I guess I must be one of those crazy duck hunters because today sure was miserable, but, boy, was it fun!!!!!
Al
Posted By:
rmarci
Guest
03-18-2007 09:32
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come on september…….was out yesterday with the family and saw large groups of ducks still around. lots of ringnecks, gaddy, and wigeon. few mallard and woody’s mixed in.
