Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Roanoke River 11-16-2011 05:12
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Went out with a friend of mine to hunt one of my favorite spots today. It is a pretty good drive, so we left town at 3:30am in order to be set up by legal shooting time of 6:15. We were not as early as I would have liked, so we did not put out our entire spread, instead making do with 1 dozen mallard,5 woodies and a half-dozen ringneck blocks. We did not have time to put out the spinner, instead opting to set up the blind and load up with a mere 3 minutes to spare before legal time.
About 15 minutes after legal time we had a group of 3 woodies blow through and my buddy took a nice drake. After a very excellent blind retrieve, Dixie was back at the boat, wet and happy. A teal set wings and cupped over the decoys and I took it at 20 yards. That duck will require no tenderizing. We sat there for about a hour when a flock of mallards passed over the creek, 100 yds to our east.
I hit the call and after some enthusiastic conversation with the flock, I called them in and they cupped into the decoys. We stood up and opened up. I hit a nice drake mallard, but the extractor on my gun broke and I was unable to finish up the easy shot as my gun jammed. My buddy, who is a beginning duck hunter, got so excited that he admitted he was guilty of “flock shooting” and didn’t take one.
I was forced to use my gun as a single shot as a result. A single canvasback came in at Mach II and I took it in a shot that only can be described as impressive(if I must say so myself).
We called it a day at 9:00am so I could go to the gunsmith before having to be at my grandson’s school to pick him up. Can’t wait until Thursday.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 11-12-2011 13:25
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
We went out for the Nov. opener and it was a little less than we had hoped for. In the pre-dawn darkness we heard the calls of mallards and woodies and we waited with real anticipation. Then precisely at legal shooting time, we heard hunters open up in the roost and for about 10 minutes it was constant gunfire. We saw mallards heading up the creek, high and fast, but nothing we did would turn them. Then there was silence from the roost, didn’t hear another shot all morning.
We sat there, suprised and dissapointed. Then a single woodie came up the creek and my buddy and I opened up on it, I knocked it down with the third shot from my gun. It went down in front of the boat and we sent my son’s new pup Shadow to get it, which he did. About 20 minutes later a single woodie came through and my buddy knocked it down. Shadow had a major brain fart and we lost it in the grass.
We waited about 30 minutes or so and then a single mallard flew over. I hit the call and it turned and came back. It circled and circled and I finally called it in. My son stood up for the shot but missed.
About 10:00am a pair of mallards came over, I hit the drake and my buddy hit the hen. Again Shadow would not behave and we lost the drake but we were able to recover the hen duck. Dog needs more work.
We called it a day and headed back to the ramp were I high-centered the boat on a submerged piling. Took about 30 minutes to free ourselves and then I hung up the blind on the trailer driving on it. Pretty rough day, all in all.
It was still a day spent hunting, so it goes in the good day category.
[Edited By Scott-Tolar on 2011-11-12 13:26]
Posted By:
Sloughslogger
Guest
Upper Cape Fear River 10-10-2011 09:29
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 45-50 Degrees
Report of October 8, 2011. Hunted a beaver slough and should have been on the river where all the shooting was. Maybe they were just shooting. Anyway saw two mallards out of range. I took one woody decoy and threw it out in the beaver pond. A woody buzzed me, took me by suprise and tried to set down on the decoy! Hit him on the second shot. Good way to start the season.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 10-08-2011 15:44
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
I went out for the October closer and it was a successful day. Not so much in numbers taken, but in the fact I located a awesome spot that will pay off in the future.I was hunting a small creek off the Nuese River in a location I found this last summer.
I got to the spot where I had jumped up ducks last week scouting and set up with about a hour to spare. It was a small patch of water, so I put out only 4 decoys, two woodie and two mallard hens. At legal time a group of woodies buzzed me, about 5 feet over the boat blind, but I was caught off guard and did not get off a shot. I tried to call them, but they continued on, didn’t even give my decoy spread a look. I then had a pair of mallards come in low over the grass from the side, again I was suprised and didn’t even get off a shot.
Realizing that all the ducks were going to be coming in like that, I reset and waited. I had a flock of about 7 or 8 mallards come in, when I stood up to shoot, Dixie the wonderdog bumped me, knocking me off balance as I fired. I missed a big, fat greenhead at 30 yards. Cursing my poor luck and bad shooting, I reset and waited. Then a flock of about 10 mallards passed by to the side about 50 yards away, low over the grass. I called them and they turned, coming right at me. I then had two others come in from the other direction and I stood up and took a double at about 30 yards, right over the decoys, wings cupped and feet down. Two retrieves later, Dixie was wet and happy and my day had turned around.
I had to pick up to go early as my grandson had a soccer game. I set out for the ramp and jumped up close to a hundred ducks, in different groups, on the way to the ramp. I am going back to this spot on the November opener.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Pamlico River 10-07-2011 15:38
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Went out to hunt a small creek that I found years ago, but have never had any success hunting. Some of you may remember this spot as the one the bass fisherman pulled his Ranger Bass Boat into my decoy spread at the same moment I had Canada Geese cupped and committed. He succeeded in flaring them without me getting to fire a single shot as I would have had to fire over his head to hit the geese.
Being a small area, I put out a small spread. Three mallards, three woodies and a half-dozen teal. I set up the Mojo and awaited sunrise. I had to hunt alone today, something I don’t like to do.
I took a woodie drake about 7:30am using all three shots to put him down. Dixie made short work of the retrieve. We settled back in to await our next duck.
This was the only duck I took. I had opportunities, but I flubbed every one. It was just one of those days. I missed two I shouldn’t have and had 3 sets get by me before I saw them.
Oh well, there is still tomorrow to redeem myself.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Hyde Co. 10-07-2011 15:31
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Went out to hunt a creek off the Pamlico River in Hyde County. It is a spot that we like to hunt, however, for the last several years trout fishermen have been fishing the creek heavily and they will fish right in your decoys. I scouted the area last week however and no fishermen were to be seen.
We got to the ramp and set out to our spot. We were surprised to find a couple of duckhunters in the general area we were going to hunt. We normally hear hunters in the distance, see hunters at the ramp, but none of them head to the area we hunt. Turns out they were lost in the dark.We tried to help them with directions, but they were evasive in where they were trying to get to. I guess they were afraid we were going to poach thier spot. We weren’t, but I understand thier thinking. You have to be a little territorial nowadays because the common courtesy of leaving another man’s hunting spot alone is gone. My partner and I still honor it, but we are a dying breed. Without being able to find out where they were trying to get to, we weren’t able to help them much. I think they wound up hunting in the area we found them in as we heard shots in the area and saw them headed up the creek past the mouth of our tributary about 10:00 am.
After our fail attempt to be a Good Samaritan, we went to our spot and set up. We put out ringnecks(for visibility), teal,mallard and wood duck decoys as well as our Mojo gadwall. We set up the Avery and waited legal time.
We had ducks come in at a slow, but steady pace, shooting about every 30 to 45 minutes until we managed to take 4 woodies and a blue wing teal. The ducks were wary, but not overly so, with all the ducks shot directly over the decoys.
Another good day.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Roanoke River 10-05-2011 15:51
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
My hunting buddy and I went out to hunt one of our favorite spots on the Roanoke River. We have somewhat unreliable results here, but some of the hunts been some of the best of my lifetime. This spot is, however, a bit of a two-edged sword. We have also traveled up here only to not see a duck all morning. This was one of the good days.
At legal time we had several groups of woodies come through, but in the heavy shadows of the timber, it was too dark to shoot. About 20 minutes after legal time we had a pair of woodies come through and my buddy and I smacked one, the same one. Then we had two groups of woodies come in, I knocked down one from each group. My buddy forgot to reload his gun on the first group, then hit the mag cutoff by accident on the second group and missed. We then had a group of three teal come in and knocked down one each. We sat there until about 9:30am and I smacked a single woodie and the day was done. We continued to sit there until after 10:00am, but there was no action so we picked up and came home.
Five woodies, two teal. A wet dog. A good day.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Oct. preseason scouting report 10-01-2011 16:30
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
I have gone out and done some scouting, with mixed results. I am either finding plenty of ducks, or a area completely deviod of ducks. I find it a little odd that it is so extreme as far as results.
Two of the areas I checked were completely without ducks. Not a single woodie flier. Three other spots I checked were very good in duck numbers. I have seen woodies and teal at all three locations, gadwall and mallards at two locations along with the teal and woodies.
I am seeing large flocks of woodies. Five to ten ducks in a group(which is pretty large for woodies). I find this to be indicative of migrators in my experience.
I don’t think I have seen this many big ducks so early in the season in many years.
It all boils down now to pressure. If people hunt them light and smart, we should have a good season. If people start hunting areas too hard, sky-busting and hunting too many days too close together in the same spot, we will have a good day or two and then wonder where the ducks went.
We will have to see how it goes.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Dove hunt, Sept 13th, 2011 09-13-2011 09:28
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
I went out for a quick dove hunt this morning, I went to the same spot as last Sat., hoping for another limit. It was not to be, it was much slower, I saw less than 2 dozen birds all morning. This hunt I took my son’s lab Shadow as he needs more experience with doves.
I was set up about 10 minutes before legal time and sat there until 7:45am before my first bird came in. I took it with one shot and I sent Shadow to pick it up. He as a bit hesitant, but picked it up and brought it to hand. After I enthusiastically, rewarded him with attention after bringing it back, he was on fire for the next one. I took number 2 about 20 minutes later as it came in to light on the powerline. He didn’t make it to the wire. Shadow went hard and brought it back. I sat there for close to an hour before taking number 3, low and slow across the field. Retrieve number 3 was in the books and Shadow is a little more confident on doves.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Jones Co. 09-10-2011 10:44
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Went out for a dove hunt this morning near the house. Neither of my hunting buddies could make it and my son has to be in school for the next 5 Saturdays(one hurricane make-up day and five days of Drivers Ed). I took Dixie out today, I will take Logan’s dog out next Tues.
We all know the old addage about the best fishing being next to the boat dock, the same might apply to dove hunting as well. The last two trips I made were 1 1/2 hours to dove hunt for two less than stellar days. Today I went just down the road and I limited out between 7am and 9am. I was hunting a freshly cut corn field that had telephone lines bisecting the field, running north to south. There were large numbers of birds moving both as singles and doubles as well as big flocks. The singles and doubles came on it to the power line and were easy hunting, the big flocks were more wary and tended to flair off before coming in range.
Dixie did excellent work this morning. She did blinds, followed hand signals and marked birds very well. I was very pleased with her performance. She is in the backyard and the doves are breasted and filleted.
It was a good day.
[Edited By Scott-Tolar on 2011-09-10 10:45]
