Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest
Button Bay 12-09-2006 08:54
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Classic diver hunt, and cooperative birds.
Lots and lots of divers and (finally) redleg mallards.
Launched from Arnold’s Bay.
Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
Lake Champlain/ East Creek 11-19-2006 15:26
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Well due to the lack of changes in waterfowling around my hunting area I’ve been keeping my posts limited. I’m sure nobody wants to read about my every outing and attempt at a bag limit. To be honest the last few weeks have been so spotty as far as duck go I havent had much to talk about except the excellent breakfast up at the Halfway House on 22A. Today however did show some potential changes for the time. My father and I noticed several hundred birds that seemed to be in atleast a light push. Mostly geese but some ducks were seen flying with the north wind to there backs way above the radar. So with any luck this may be the begining of the end of the midseason lull we were stuck in. Colder air on its way to our area over the next week will hopefully tighten up some of the potholes and get some new birds moving around. Other than that the lake is quite high and you can put a boat anywhere you want on East Creek. Just beware of debris. We’ve broke a couple of shear pins this year. And to some degree thats lucky for us.
Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest
South end of Lake Champlain 11-07-2006 07:04
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
This past weekend I experienced diver hunting like the best of the olden days of Lake Champlain.
My partner Big Jim and I hunted from his 14′ TDB – aka: a “Bean Boat – anchored 20 feet from the shoreline, over 3 doz decoys.
We were joined by my 2 yrs old MLB “Zeke” and Big Jim’s 7 yr old MBL “Woodie”.
On both SAT and SUN mornings, we had ‘bills landing in the decoys as we were setting them. After we bagged our limit of ‘bills, we had hundreds – and hundreds – of additional scaup buzzing us and landing in the decoys. We took advantage of this abundance of ‘live decoys’ to limit out on whistlers, red heads, and mallards drawn to our spread.
After picking up both mornings, we saw many, many more divers working the rafts of divers roosted mid-lake.
Both mornings, we were wrapping our cold hands around a steaming cup of coffee by 0930 hrs at the Bridge Restaurant, waiting for the staff to serve up their famous “Hunters Breakfast.”
Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
Lake Champlain 11-06-2006 15:26
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Well we hunted the big lake over the weekend and did pretty well. Saturday was a good day all round. We saw plenty of birds flying low around the lake. The full spectrum of divers was seen winging about and we bagged our share of them. Some puddlers about but not as many as I would like to see. They are no doubt enjoying our flood and high water situation and are content not being around the area my father and I hunt. Sunday was a slower day by far. Not many birds seen around and very few shots heard in the area. The bird we did see were very cautious and reluctant to come in. Alot of the puddlers we saw were ozoners and seemed to be content flying well above the radar. Freezing temps may help put more birds on the lake just so long as they dont simply bug out. Na too early for that…I hope….
Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest
Otter Valley 11-01-2006 13:05
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 40-45 Degrees
The farm fields in Addison and Rutland County have a lot of water on them, with lots of hi-pro feed for waterfowl.
The Otter, the Lemon Faire, and East Creek are high and holding ducks.
Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest
Champlain Valley 10-31-2006 16:01
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
The inland farm fields and remote wetlands are filled with ducks.
Yesterday I toured the Winooski Valley and from East Montpelier to Burlington, and today the Lamoille valley from Morrisville down.
Hay/alfalfa fields and harvested cornfields are very wet with big “ponds” of standing water. Many of them are filled with feeding and sleeping ducks.
Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest
Mallets Bay and Sandbar 10-27-2006 18:09
Cloudy, High Winds – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
If you plan to hunt The Lake Saturday, bring your own Coast Guard, because the USCG ain’t going out after you …
Heavy rain, small craft warnings, ESE winds topping 35-40 MPS.
Good day to do something else.
Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest
South Hero 10-25-2006 17:12
Cloudy, Occassional Rain Showers – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted off South Hero this morning. Saw fewer birds than I expected.
Boat ride into the NW wind this morning was “interesting . ”
Lots of trucks at the Lamoille River state launch.
Posted By:
Zeke The Zen Puppy
Guest
Dead Creek 10-10-2006 16:39
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
My son hunted the first public session of the year at the Dead Creek GMA on MON 09 OCT. No shots fired.
Not a lot of snows in evidence, and Canada’s are not open yet.
In fact, only one hunter bagged one one goose.
Ben witnessed it fall and feels it was a lucky skybust anyway.
Posted By:
Michael-Bride
Field Editor
Lake Champlain 10-09-2006 11:56
Sunny & Clear, Morning Fog – 60-65 Degrees
Even though we had the heavy fog of doom the season opener seemed to be pretty decent around the East Creek area. Shots were heard steadily on all parts of the lake and up and down East Creek. Birds were on and gone most of the morning as visibility was only about 20 yards or so. Inspite of the conditions many hunters I spoke to did well. Some even shot there limit including both my father and myself. Strange as it is we both got 2 Woodies 2 Teal (1 Bluewing) and 2 Mallards each. Most birds were drakes except the teal. Tons of Woodies around. Decent size flocks of Bluewings around. And some Mallards and Blacks . Sunday was a much slower day entirely. Not as many birds flying around us. Shots on East Creek were steady but everywhere else seemed spotty.
