Posted By:
Kenneth-Burnett
Guest
James River 11-04-2006 15:41
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Went fishing down near Curles Neck. Geese all over the river. The boys that hunt down that way will have plenty of birds. Also did not see a single duck.
Stripers and catfish were snapping.
Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor
Potomac River – NVA 10-31-2006 22:09
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Pre-Season Report
Did some work on the blinds this past weekend and saw some very promising things. Very good numbers of Ruddy ducks. The most I’ve seen in about three years. Also saw a small group of Readheads! So the divers are on the move, no bluebills yet but they’ll be here soon.
Canada geese number also look real good as well – at least as far as the residents are concerned.
Only big ducks spotted were 5 woodies. But I’ve heard reports of big ducks being around just not in large numbers yet.
We’ll it’s almst time again come on Nov 18 or go across the river and start on the 11th!
Posted By:
Richard-Nunnally
Web Member
10-25-2006 19:36
– – –
I hope everyone had a good early season. Some I talked to had ducks and some did not. The boys on the coast did ok with the wind blowing. Reports of mallards pintails ball crown and teal. The eastern shore did well for the most part. While building blinds last week we saw a good number of birds moving on a front. Good sign. I will let you know more soon.
Posted By:
Cliff-Brown
Field Editor
Md 10-12-2006 06:06
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Sorry my typing & spelling stinks in last message..at least we do WD right…..
Posted By:
Cliff-Brown
Field Editor
MD 10-12-2006 06:05
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Greetings, I’m a Field Editor for MD and have just posted the SAV report for Potomac, James and other VA rivers along w/ MD reports…you might find it of interest.
Also, I’m Executive Director of the Maryland Wood Duck Initiative and our website will be up in 4 weeks…MWDI.net. Of direct interest to some VA hunters is the work we’re doing at McKee Beshers WMA and Dierssen. In 2005, there were 59 WD boxes w/ an estimated 40 hatches yielding 162 ducklings. In 2006, our first year, MWDI increased the boxes to 117, had 55 hatches yielding 381 ducklings (339 WD and 42 Hooded mergansers). Predator guards were fixed up and several boxes relocated. Use was low in sopme excellent areas and we expect gradual increase in the remaining boxes over time. McKee has the highest Hooded neting status of any MD project site – 28 on public lands. Give us a month and check out the website!! Our 2nd year or activity, causng more than 1,200 new ducklings on public land alone. We’re all volunteer, non-profit, seek no $$ from participants.
Good luck thid season.
Cliff Brown
Posted By:
Bluebill Buster
Web Member
Potomac River – NVA 10-10-2006 09:09
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Hunted the early season on the Potomac and faired pretty well. 6 wood ducks and 4 mallards total, with one woodie being banded.
The weather changed bird flights significantly and pushed a lot of local ducks out. We saw very few woodies yesterday but drastic increase of big puddlers… mallards and blacks.
Geese migration seems to be in full swing and will probably continue with cold weather approaching this weekend.
Looking forward to the middle of November now!
Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor
Potomac River – NVA 10-09-2006 12:57
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Had a good woodduck hunt this morning – 5 Wooducks (with one being banded), 1 mallard
Action was fast and done by 7:30. It appears some of the woodducks that were here have moved on. Only saw about half of what I scouted on Friday night at the same location. Hope everyone had a good early spit.
Good luck to people going to MD for the opener over there.
[Edited By Drew-Hawkins on 2006-10-09 12:58]
Posted By:
Drew-Hawkins
Field Editor
Potomac River – NVA – Various Areas 10-07-2006 21:35
Cloudy, High Winds – 50-60 Degrees
Had a strong NE wind this a.m. so we hunted in a marsh to stay off the main river.
Saw 20 +/- Woodducks throughout the a.m. The group managed to get three. Saw some teal- no shot presented. Saw vey few big ducks, but did get visited at least twice if not three times by the same trio of Black ducks. Over all number of ducks seen between 30-40 total.
On the flip side saw the largest numbers of Resident Geese that I ‘ve seen in about 3 years. I would estimate somewhere in the neighborhood on 500 plus. We watched them all morning long fighting the wind and then “maple leafing” (flipping upside down) almost playing in the stiff breeze. That made up for the lack of numbers of ducks seen in my book.
It definately was one of the “duckiest” days we’ve had in October in a long time, which one of the guys metioned today. I was in full agreement, thankful for the day, and hopeful for the upcoming second split!!
Will get out on Monday for sure for the quick “before work” woodduck shoot.
I’ll report then.
Drew
