Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 11-22-2009 08:13
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Went out for a hunt and saw a bunch of ducks. I mean a bunch of them. But I am going to have to adjust my strategy in order to capitalize on them. It has been low water hunting for the last 3 years. Now we have high water for the first time during the season, and it is really high.
I went to one of my favorite creeks on the Nuese this morning. My usual boat ramp is unusable right now due to the high water, but I wanted to go there so I made a decision to make the epic effort. I launched at a ramp that was very far away on another small creek. This ramp is not used to access the river usually as it is 4 miles from the river, and it is a twisting,winding white knuckle ride in the dark strewn with logs,stumps and other debris. In fact, this ramp is a favorite with canoeists and kayakers in the summer.
I launched at 4 am and set out on the nerve racking obsticle course in the dark. After arriving at the river after what seemed forever(in reality about one hour), I still had a 45 minute ride down the river to the creek that was the object of my desire. But the bright spot here was that once I reached the river, it was hammer down and a clear run.
I arrived in the creek at about 5:45 and set out my decoys. The water was very high, the woods were flooded and the current was really fast in there. I got set up in the channel(which I had to find by memory as it was not recognizible in the high water)and set up the boat blind.
I saw a bunch of ducks. They were everywhere(as I was sure they would be). But the problem was that they were everywhere in the sense that there was so much water that they could use so much of this water that they were scattered and I was unable to pattern them. I missed a couple that came by me, missed many more that I did not even get to shoot at as they were coming from every direction and I could not look in every direction at once.
Mostly woodies, in huge flocks flying all around. I saw a flock of bluewings including a fully plumed drake that set down about 50 yards away from me after I called them in and they circled me about 3 times before landing.
To make a long story short, I did not get any ducks. But it was a very informative trip in the sense that now I know I need to set up so that I can limit the amount of open water they can use around me. I am going tomorrow(Monday) in the hopes that I can target some geese in the area.
Posted By:
Sloughslogger
Guest
Eastern Piedmont River 11-21-2009 12:18
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
Went to the same slough on the river I’ve hunter the past several years. Saw lots of wood ducks. Splashed one and watched about 50 fly just out of range. I didn’t want to burn this hole out so I only took the one woody. Several mallards passed over but would not commit to the spread. It was a good morning.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 11-19-2009 11:11
Cloudy, Rain & Thunderstorms – 45-50 Degrees
I went out for a hunt this morning knowing I would have to come out by 8:00 am in order to handle a prior commitment. It was raining hard when I left the house and went to a small beaverswamp a few miles from my house. I have not scouted it this year as it did not have enough water in it to float my canoe until the big rain last week.
I put in my trusty canoe and paddled in a short distance. I did not feel comfortable going way back into the swamp alone as I could dislocate my leg and be in real trouble without either my son or my hunting buddy to help me. I located a nice opening with some nearby concealment and set out 2 woodies and two mallard decoys. I then set up the canoe in the underbrush leaving Dixie in it as there was no dry ground to set her on. I then got my gear ready and looked at my watch. Shooting time in 15 minutes.
Right at legal time,(and in the pouring rain) several big flocks of woodies passed through(10 or more birds). I did not fire at them as I don’t like to educate that many ducks to my presence when hunting small water like this. If I hunt it light, shooting only singles and small groups, I can hunt it all season for quick morning hunts like today. Then I heard some woodies squealing and I set to the call. They turned and came in, a group of three. I smacked one with my second shot and missed my third shot at the escaping two.
I then had a single woodie blow through at mach II and I missed it. Then a group of four woodies passed by behind me and again I hit the call. They took a question mark shaped flight path and I smacked one as they passed over my dekes with wings set. The woodie went down like it flew into a sheet of glass. I love Black Cloud!
I saw a couple of small groups of mallards, but none that passed within range. The rain finally slacked off as I was loading the canoe back on the truck.
Two wood ducks. Wet dog. Wet gear. Wet hunter. Good day.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Spring Creek Impoundment 11-18-2009 12:22
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 40-45 Degrees
My partner and myself went out for a draw hunt in the Spring Creek Impoundment near Aurora. The word had been good about duck numbers and we were hopeful for a good day to help us recover from our poor day afield Saturday.
On Saturday hunters in the impoundments at Spring Creek and Campbell Creek did very well with several groups limiting out and most groups averaging 3 to 4 ducks each. Of the groups that limited, they included large numbers of blue wing teal ! That’s right, blue wings!
We were there just before 4 am(you can’t enter the impoundments before that time)and were a little dissapointed to find the parking lot holding 4 trucks. Then we discovered that one of the groups(of two guys) were actually hunting Hunter’s Creek Impoundment so there were only 3 groups in ours. Two guys in one group, one guy in the other. Looked like it might be a good day to be here!
We were the last to go in(I am a disabled veteran and could not go very fast)but we were pleasantly surprised to get our traditional spot! So far we were batting 1000! We were very pleased to find that the WRC has really done some work in the impoundment, cleaning it out and getting rid of the nusiance vegetation that was choking out the good vegetation. There was plenty of open water and we set out a large spread of teal,ringnecks,mallards and widgeon. My partner set up on a small island of vegetation about 20 yards west of my position as the water was very high and the vegetation that was still above water was too sparce to hide two hunters.
Just as legal time passed, a flock of widgeon passed by. My partner and myself set to whistling for them and they turned and passed by without landing. I managed to splash a large drake and Dixie the wonder dog made short work of the retrieve. A few minutes later, a flock of bluewings went by and my partner hit one that went down in a cruising descent that carried it very far away. He got into his canoe and made a valiant attempt to recover it but was unsuccessful. Then the game warden paddled up in a kayak to check my gun and license. While he was checking me, a flock of about 20 widgeon blew in. The GW let me grab my gun and take a try, but they did not come close enough for a valid attempt as we were standing in the open while he checked my equipment. Not his fault, he was just doing his job and he was very pleasant and completed his task as quickly as he could.
It was all we shot. We heard sporadic shooting in our impoundment and Cambell Creek, but not very much. We pulled up our blocks at 11:00 am and pulled out. We stopped at the ramp at Campbell Creek to see how they did. There was a very nice lady biologist that works for the state that was doing a harvest survey as we pulled in to the parking lot and she took down our harvest numbers(our 1 sad widgeon). She told us the take was equally poor in the CC impoundment with one group taking 2 ducks and another taking 1 duck. With our widgeon, two other ducks taken in SC and the 3 taken in CC, that brought the total take in all 3 impoundments to 6 ducks.
But it was a beautiful day. We saw a fair number of ducks(mostly in the distance) and the dog got to get wet.
But I still hope to get more ducks Saturday.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Roanoke River 11-15-2009 12:18
Cloudy, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
My son, my hunting buddy and myself went out for the Nov. opener and our efforts ending in disapointment. I have to accept full responsibility for this. I wanted to go to the Roanoke River, to a small creek with a unimproved dirt ramp at the end of a long dirt road. This is a spot that produces mallards,widgeon,gadwall as well as a LOT of teal and ringnecks. With the hard north winds and heavy rains, this area would be covered up with migrators.
My hunting buddy was less enthusiastic. Not about the spot, but about his fears that the area would be flooded out with all the heavy rain. The aformentioned dirt road winds through a swamp and it is low area all around. I was undetered, besides I told him, in the unlikely (in my opinion) event it was flooded out, I had a back up location that had at least three good spots to go to. He relented and off we went.
We arrived at the dirt road to find it completely under water, not just near the ramp, but the entire 5 mile stretch of road. I started to try to go it anyway, but chickened out as I realized if the water got too deep down the road(it was only about a inch deep at the edge of the asphalt), I would not be able to turn around and would have to back out 5 miles in the dark with the road hidden by water. No problem, I have the back-up spot.
It took us about 20 minutes to get to the back up spot. When we arrived(still in time to get set up before legal time)I was a little concerned to see two groups of hunters had already put in there with the second hunter just leaving as we arrived. Not a problem I thought, I have 3 good spots down here. Our first choice was occupied. Then our second choice was occupied. Then our third choice was occupied(with the hunters coming in from a second ramp several miles away). Then a spot that was nearby and would still possibly have a decent position on the river was occupied.
We went the opposite direction and set up and hoped for the best. We saw some teal,mallards and woodies in good numbers and listened to the hunters in our preferred spots doing quite well. In our spot we were not within range of the ducks passing over as they were above treetop level and we watched group after group head into the good spots and then heard the resulting gunfire a few moments later.
My buddy and I have a draw hunt at Spring Creek on Tuesday. We are hopeful for a turn around on our luck.
But like I said in the beginning, my buddy called this one right, I was wrong.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Neuse River 11-07-2009 12:00
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Went out on a scouting trip on the Nuese, same area as Weds, different set of creeks. Saw a lot of wood ducks. Checked out a small creek I located several years ago as well and found wood ducks in it as well.
However, there was a disturbing new development. Deer hunters in boats. Close to a half dozen at the small unimproved boat ramp I was at. More at the Wildlife Resources Commission ramp about 4 miles away.
There was fairly constant rifle fire from about 6:30 am forward. Sometimes unnervingly close(within 1000 yards) and some far away(miles away). But extrodinarily constant. When I got to the ramp a man was loading his boat with a nice 6 point. While I was preparing my boat for travel after removing it from the water, 3 teens in a jon boat pulled up with a deer across the front of their boat. While I was loading, a rifle began to fire at what sounded like less than 100 yards away in the woods, 4 shots. Must have crippled it and had trouble putting it down. 4 shots in about 5 minutes. I hurriedly finished my loading and hit the road.
I saw one deer hunter Weds. Actually two, a father and son team. They had a nice little cow horn and were headed out about the same time as me, but they were using another boat ramp. Today it sounded like there were dozens of hunters in the area.
I will not hunt this spot on Sat. until after deer season ends.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 11-04-2009 13:52
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Went out for a scouting trip this morning and had excellent results. I located large numbers of wood ducks in a creek off the Nuese River. This is now at least 4 good areas that I have located that should produce well for me in the November season. I payed for it in hassle, I knocked off the transponder to my depth finder on a log and I knocked the rivets for my duck blind off the side of my boat when I sideswiped a limb. But both situations have already been repaired at this time and I feel pretty good about this morning’s outing. The river is prop-busting low, so be careful out there.
Of course this is subject to change, both in water level reports as well as duck locations. If the water comes up, the ducks will move to the backwaters and out of these creeks. If other hunters hunt in these areas before I get back to them in the hunting rotation, then the ducks will be gone when I get there.
But as of right now, I know where some ducks are.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Nuese River 10-28-2009 17:03
Cloudy, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
Went out on the Nuese River this morning and had a eventful day. First of all, it was raining in buckets when I left the house at 5 am. Luckily it had resided to a drizzle by the time I arrived at the ramp and was completely abated by the time I launched the boat. I took off from the ramp attempted to go to a small creek I like to hunt in. It quickly became apparent that the river was so low that I could not travel the distance from the ramp to my chosen destination as there were too many obstructions and sand bars to make that distance feasable in the dark(close to 5 miles). I chose a secondary location and set up waiting for first light to check it out as a possible location. I saw a few ducks, but the trip turned out to be more productive than I thought it would at first.
About 8 am I took off in the opposite direction from that in which I usually traveled and set out to look around. About 3 miles in that direction(downstream and deeper water)I passed a private boat ramp. I saw the owner out at his shelter and I pulled up to talk to him. After a moment or two, he invited me up to have some boiled peanuts that he had just finished cooking. As we talked on, he began to fill me in on the area that we were in as he had lived there all his life(he was in his 60’s). He told me the locations of the ponds that held ducks off the river. He told me about creeks that were full of ducks every winter. He gave me the name of a landowner that might let me hunt her property which had a huge beaverpond on it that he told me held huge numbers of ducks. He was extremely helpful to me and I can’t wait to go back to this area armed with this information.
There are still some nice people left in the world.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Neuse River 10-24-2009 14:36
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 60-65 Degrees
My son and I went out to do a little scouting this morning and we hit the motherlode. We saw over 100 wood ducks with a smattering of mallards. We were checking out a small creek off the Neuse and the ducks were really in there. We jumped up a single flock of over 50, another of at least 25 to 30 and then at least 20(or more) in smaller groups of anywhere from a single to groups of 5 or 6. Also jumped up a few mallards as singles and doubles on the creek.
This spot is going in the lottery for the Nov. opener.
Posted By:
Scott-Tolar
Field Editor
Craven Co. 10-10-2009 11:42
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – Over 70 Degrees
Went out to hunt the “Wood Duck Hole”, a small creek off the Nuese in Craven Co. We have to go to New Bern and east in order to find water as the river in Kinston and up the river is so low that there are not any ducks to hunt if you could find enough water to float your boat!
We were at the small unimproved ramp at 5:30 am and at the spot by 6:00 am. We quickly set out a very small spread of decoys(2 mallards, 3 woodies). The wobbler was not necessary as the wind was blowing Mach II.
We were in the boat about 20 minutes before legal shooting time when woodies began to blow out of the small creek to our left. That is the location of the roost. We saw between 25 and 30 birds in less than 5 minutes. I told my son that if we were seeing that many birds in the dark, wait till they starting flying at first light! This was his first shooting hunt, I was hoping he would take a nice bird. The words were barely out of my mouth when shooting erupted from in the roost. At least 15 minutes or more before legal time. That is why all the birds left before shooting time, a roost shooter ran them off before we could at least hunt the birds he flared. Evidently he had come in across the land on the back side of the roost. He fired 4 or 5 volleys of fire in less than 10 minutes, then silence. We didn’t get to shoot today. We had a flock of geese come over at about 7:30 am. They were too high, but they banked to circle around. They didn’t get a chance. The roost shooter opened up on them out of range and they flew off to the east.
We sat there until 11:00 am, hoping for some ducks to come down the creek, but we were not successful. We got skunked. But my son and I had a good time, some laughs in the boat blind(I told him of the time I accidently picked up my wood duck call and tried to blow a mallard hi-ball at a passing flock, it sounded like I was trying to play “Who let the dogs out” on a kazoo). It was still a good day. But I don’t know if I will be returning to the Wood Duck Hole this year.
[Edited By Scott-Tolar on 2009-10-10 11:44]
