Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
Lake Champlain 12-09-2004 15:49
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
W.P.
Sorry I haven’t posted something sooner but I’ve been so darn buisy I just couldn’t make the time until now.
If you’re at Larabee’s point standing on the south facing boat launch (not the one that has the old supports under water)looking south toward the mouth of East creek we have been setting up on the point of the last bay befor the creek as well as the point on the end of Mount Independence. The numbers of birds we have seen increased dramaticly over the past weekend. New puddlers as well as divers were seen steadily both days and it looked like alot of geese were on the move as well. The big push of birds we’ve been waiting for looked to be under way. The unfortunate part is we only have about a week left to “git r done”. With snow and other nastiness in the forecast I’ll surely be maintainig roads atleast on Saturday so best of luck to whoever manages to get out there.It’s sure to be interesting.
Good luck and keep swinging!Bubba…
[Edited By Michael-Bride on 2004-12-09 15:51]
Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest
11-30-2004 15:32
– – –
Mike: Larrabee’s Point at the ferry? Or Larrabee’s Point Station (the old railroad tracks and old plywood factory)?
We hunted Hands’s Cove and Beadle’s Cove a lot for whistlers and blue bills.
Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
Lake Champlain 11-27-2004 16:46
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Divers, divers, and more divers.
We hunted the point that is just south of Larabee’s boat launch near the mouth of the creek this morning. Prety much the same area we always hunt. We set up on this spot with a few extra puddler dekes because we have seen quite a few puddlers in the area and figured this would be as good a place as any. I guess the best tactic for divers is to set up for puddlers. We saw abut thirty or so big puddlers, most likely Mallards. And five to ten times that many divers. Whistlers, bills, butterballs, mergs. You name it and we saw them. A handfull of Buebills gave us a chance but I guess I must have loaded my gun with slugs or something. I can’t be that bad of a shot. Anyway that was our only shooting so I guess it’s left over turkey for dinner tonight. In all a fair number of divers around. We need some cold air. The best day we’ve had since the reopener was a couple of weeks ago when the bays and the creek were skimmed over with ice. The bad thing is there isn’t any real cold air coming for at least the next few days. As it stands right now we only have a couple more weekends left. This season has just ripped by.
We did do some scouting around in search of our missing puddlers. We came up empty but if anybody else finds them please let me know. I’m really starting to miss them.
Good luck and keep swinging!Bubba…
Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
Lake Champlain/East Creek 11-23-2004 19:45
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
We hunted the same area over the weekend with no real big changes from the past couple of weeks. With most every part of the lake and the creek open, from the previous weeks brief freeze, the birds were able to be anywhere they wanted. Saturday we noticed a bunch of ducks heading up the creek so we did a little scouting around and found where they were landing. Sunday we tried to set up on them but we just couldn’t pull them in close enough. The place where the birds were landing was all but impossible to get a boat into so we ended up just bird watching. I will say however I did get to witness a pretty awesome vortex of Mallards and Blacks while we struggled to try to get hidden. At certain points there was easily one hundred ducks plus all trying to land where we couldn’t get to. As frustrating as it was I was still very impressed. The numbers of puddlers we saw around us was like nothing we’ve seen this year. The ducks are around if you can find them. Only next time I need to be sure I can get set up to hunt them.
Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
None 11-18-2004 15:16
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
Awesome! Thanks guys. It’s been pretty quiet on the Vermont site so I wasn’t sure who was reading this stuff. It really makes you realize what a cool resource this is when hunters from across the country respond to what is going on over in this area. This area is only one small piece of a huge picture but Lake Champlain can see some major amount of birds. We may not see as many as other places on the flyway but it has it’s days when it can be more than enough to keep your heart pounding.
Thanks again and best of luck!!!
Bubba…
Posted By:
tomg
Web Member
Pennsylvania 11-18-2004 13:19
– – –
M-B,
Keep the posts coming .I enjoy reading them. I lived in S. Hero, Vermont for a while.
I really miss the place.
Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest
Colorado 11-17-2004 11:31
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Bubba: I’m reading your field reports, envisioning the spots to which you refer.
I hunted the VT side from Orwell to the Islands and Missisquoi, and the Otter and Lemon Fair, with my buddies and my son from 1977-2000.
Veteran’s Day reminded me of all the times Ben and I hunted Youth Days at Dead Creek.
I miss hunting whistlers in the Islands and the DAR in West Addison, and blue bills from Plumies Point, Howlettes, Kellogg’s …
FYI: You should consider buying a NY license. When it gets slow, you should consider hunting Bulwagga, Wood Creek, and all the little inlets and between and Port Henry and Plattsburgh. Good launch sites all up and down the lake. Also, when the launches in VT get snotty, sometimes you can launch much more smoothly across the lake at Ti, Port Henry, Crown Point, etc.
– Sully
[Edited By WP-Sullivan on 2004-11-17 16:04]
Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
Lake Champlain 11-15-2004 15:01
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Lots of birds flying around the lake Sunday. We could have had a great day of shooting if we were just alittle more on the ball. As we set up right at legal shooting time we had about fifteen Mallards buzz right through our decoys followed five minutes later by about thirty Bluebills. Finally all the camo was up and a lone Woodie came through when we were ready and we boated him. Dozens of other ducks, both puddlers and divers, came through and got shot at and left. We just had another one of those days where everything was going right but we weren’t paying any attention. If we were on the ball we could have done very well. I guess with the exception of some poor shooting and wandering minds it was still the best day of duck hunting this year. Frozen bays had all the ducks scrambling all morning for a safe place to be. As it turns out the way I was shooting they were plenty safe with me.
P.S. Is anybody else out there reading this stuff?
Good luck and keep swinging!Bubba…
Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
Lake Champlain 11-13-2004 12:37
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Another morning spent watching birds today at the lake. It looked as though the cold air moved some birds down but nothing to swat at. We did see alot of Mallards sitting happily on the far shoreline. We also saw several dozen ozoners of unknown identification. In all a fair amount of movement but nothing that wanted our spot. With the wind blowing fairly hard out of the north and whitecaps on the increase, we decided our time was better spent off the lake doing some scouting. So we took a ride up by the bridge to look around and saw very little activity. A quick ride by the goose management area showed no geese. Atleast not when we went by. So my thought is there are quite a few birds around but as usual it’s all about location.
Good luck and keep swinging!Bubba…
Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
Rutland county 11-09-2004 15:08
Arctic Blast – –
It looks like the first artic express has arrived in the area. The coldest temps we’ve seen all year and a steady wind blowing out of the north hopefully will have brought down some newbies. Although I have to somehow wait until Saturday to find out for myself. I’m sure to have some good info by later in the week. If this Northern air is anything like early November of last year we’re gonna have some fun!
Good luck and keep swinging!Bubba
[Edited By Michael-Bride on 2004-11-09 15:10]
