Posted By:
duckbag
Web Member
12-06-2006 11:42
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 0-10 Degrees – Ice
Hunted our goose spot for the first time this year and finished a two day hunt with 18 big Canadas. Two short of a limit.
This is the earliest we’ve been into this spot and we saw at least 500+ geese. No ducks spotted at all. Hopefully they’ll be showing up soon.
JD, your fields should be full by now with lots of banded birds!!!
The farmer cut our milo down to the ground and chisel plowed, which kinda had our blinds sticking out a little. We had 40 yard shots all day long but didn’t take them, we wanted the landing gear down before firing.
It was a lot of fun even with the 7 degree, 10mph, NE winds in the morning.
SHOOT EM IN THE FACE!!!
Posted By:
John-Prentice
Field Editor
Las Vegas REfuge 12-06-2006 07:30
Arctic Blast – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
Hunted geese(ghost geese) on Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday. I can understand why the refuge personel are in non-commitment mode. What geese are in the area are on private property with lots of downed milo. I have never seen that many Snow Geese in the area. We saw two groups of Canadas-one group of 4 and another of 3. They were long ways off and flying high. Wouldn’t waste my time and money to do it over. All we was sun tan.
[Edited By John-Prentice on 2006-12-06 07:31]
Posted By:
rmarci
Guest
rio south 12-05-2006 17:58
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 0-10 Degrees – Open Water
so i went out yesterday and also saw that 9 degree reading……burrrrrrr doggy. this california guy was indeed feeling a chill. but thanks to the advice of a member here my new 1200 gram thinsulate hodgemans were working overtime. finally, warm feet. anyways saw zippo for the first 2 hours so decided to drive. hit about 3 spots before i jumped about 200 birds off one location. ran back to the truck and put out my 6 mallard dekes and banged 4 greenies in about an hour and a half as they trickled back in.
today was a completely different story. went back to that spot and again didn’t see a bird for the first 2 hours. what? went for a drive again and nada……oh well. my friend arrives from cali tomorrow or i’d hang it up for a week or 2 till this moon passes. stay safe.
randy
[Edited By rmarci on 2006-12-05 17:58]
[Edited By rmarci on 2006-12-05 21:29]
Posted By:
seeker28
Guest
12-05-2006 07:18
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GH–I think in ’95 or ’96 on the pheasant opener i recall negative temps. The river froze. Been several times when we’ve had to break ice skirts off the decoys and the river was turning to slush.
We were cautious yesterday while wading. Getting wet in the dark would be the end of your hunt. River was flowing at 1300 cfs. Stepping into waist high water in a sandy channel can get real interesting.
We use the USGS sight to check flows. A good tool. Some places you may hunt can become very dangerous if the flows get run up. This year there has been a lot of fluctuation.
Be careful everyone. Hunt safe and smart—wear a belt and use a stick. Be careful with your dogs around higher flows and the bank brush also.
Posted By:
Greenhound
Web Member
12-04-2006 20:42
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Seek, I don’t know how long you’ve been in NM but have you ever seen minus temp’s on the Rio? 9F, wow that’s cold enough!
Great story, I love reading your posts.
Posted By:
seeker28
Guest
Rio South 12-04-2006 17:44
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 0-10 Degrees – Ice
DQ, the ‘Holic and I hit the Rio this morning. Temp said 9 degrees as we got out of the truck and slapped the gear on our backs. Set up with the setting moon in our face and smoke on the water.
Gaddy pair into the decoys right at shooting time. DQ dumped the drake. A little while later and a decent group of Baldy’s lock up on final approach. The carnage began 10 yards directly in front of the blind. 4 drakes plummet and the dog gets a cold water workout. A little wait and 2 Mallards join their widgeon friends in the same fashion. 30 minutes pass and to our left we hear Mallard talk from the sky. A pair of Greenheads lead the way and committed. We hold off—-50 or so more are descending behind them. They hit the box a little high so we turn ’em and they swing. Still at the edge, we turn ’em again. 2nd swing offered a good passing shot. We hold off and turn ’em a third time. Final approach. First 2 are feet down–we let ’em slide thru to the dekes–next five stacked behind on the glide path–main group is right behind them. Cut ’em. 4 Mallards down and the dog is off to the races.
Ended up with 8 Mallards, 4 Baldy, and a Gaddy. Worked several groups of Mallards in 5-10 bird numbers. Blew a couple opportunities due to jibberjabber, movement, and coffee breaks. Good time by all.
Call’em, Kill’em, Let the Dog Get’em.
[Edited By seeker28 on 2006-12-04 17:46]
Posted By:
Norman-Harris
Guest
12-04-2006 15:55
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Hunted on the Rio south, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.I can’t believe that there are still no birds. I don’t know if they are on the refuges chowing down the free corn or what. A teal and a wood duck was all that I took……
Posted By:
Greenhound
Web Member
Rio del Norte 11-30-2006 00:43
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Well I guess I better get in the mix here. Went out Friday, day after Thanksgiving with my brother-in-law who was in town for the holiday. We didn’t get out super early as we weren’t going to decoy but rather just jump shoot a few spots near my old stomping grounds I used to hunt about 10 years ago.
We got there right at sunrise and the mallards were flying. First spotted about 5 mallrds sitting on the river and they jumped before we could! They were spooky. Then we got up on top of a bluff overlooking the river up and down. Below us was a clump of Russian olives and a mallard pair flushed from under it. We decided to put the stalk on what we thought were another five or six up river and by the time we got there they had floated down river. Anyway as I was standing on the bank of the river my brother-in-law whistles at me and about six mallards were coming right over me. I dropped a single greenhead. Then we headed up river.
To cut the story short, we saw two greenheads and a suzie sitting in the middle of a bend in the river. I came right up on them and picked out the greenheads and let the suzie go, although I should have nailed her too so I could have gotten closer to my limit. The water wasn’t flowing too fast so I got down river and picked up one drake. Walked up river to pick up the other drake and fellas his right leg was glistening silver!!! Yep he was banded. That’s the second banded mallard I’ve shot on that river in over ten years of hunting it. Anyway it was really worn down and missing about three numbers. I’m anxious to see where it came from and how old a fella he was.
Anyway a single gadwall flew by and I took it and we called it a day. We had an unbelievable time. It was great to be out with someone so close to me who I hardly see each year. LW glad your hunt went well. Randy I can’t believe your friend missed a collared bird!!
Good luck to you all with this new front that has passed through. There should defintely be new birds coming in.
– The Hound, aka Aggiequack
Posted By:
rmarci
Guest
11-29-2006 16:27
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trip was alright. i was not as nervous on stage as i thought i would be. i was real worried about drying out however, and made the mistake of holding in a mouthful of water just before taking the stage. i swallowed, did my warm up, and then got to it. first note hit it hard and it sounded great. next note, something felt wrong and by the 3rd note of my opening hail i locked ‘er up. oh well. finished my routine like a pro and walked off stage waitin to become a spectator. had to sit in the back for 2 more hours waiting for the 1st round to end. i did meet some great guys, but after the comp was over, i was ready to get home. that place is………different. now it’s time to try and get after the ducks here and forget about contests until after the season. went out today in this nasty storm and couldn’t help but wonder where all the birds are. very slow considering the weather. oh well, back at it tomorrow to my “make me feel all warm and fuzzy” spot. good luck to everyone headin out in the next couple days.
duckbag, glad the spot worked out for ya. my buddy shot 2 honks and missed a collared honk on thanksgiving there.
Randy
[Edited By rmarci on 2006-11-29 16:29]
Posted By:
duckbag
Web Member
NNM 11-29-2006 11:22
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted Sun and Mon at a new spot. Lots of birds moving thru this area and big birds!
Had a fairly easy shoot Sun and had to work the ducks real hard on Mon. Finished those days with limits of mallards, no other ducks to finish off the 6 bird limit. There were a bunch of pinners of course, now that we can’t shoot them. Lots of Canadas, but they didn’t want to play.
Mallards had at least 1/3″ of fat on them, big ol’ fatties.
How was the trip Randy??????
SHOOT EM IN THE FACE!!!
