Duck hunting anyone?

[ncmidda]

I am just curious as to how many duck hunters may be members here. I got into it about 6 years ago. The first year I "custom camo'd" my 14ft alum fishing boat with spray cans and leaves from the back yard. I wore my light weight waders(mistake!) and shot the trusty old mossberg 500. Luckily for me my hunting buddies had all of the decoys and robo ducks etc. The second year, I transformed my fishing boat into an extreme duck boat complete with a home made "Avery" style fold down blind. I bought a Browning 10ga, 60,000gram neoprene waders, arctic parka(wetlands camo) a heat exchanger that actually heated the inhaled air! I also purchased a gps so that I could get back to exactly 15ft from the place I was at the day before not shooting any ducks. I found a robo duck on sale for only $99, got 2 dozen decoys and spent another small fortune on calls. No duck hunter is complete without the duck call bandolier dangling around the neck, so I bought 2. Yes sir I was gonna be a ducks nightmare that 2nd year. I expended so much time and money on my new hobby, I left out one important fundamentel of duck huting, LAW. Yes I skimmed the book, I had plenty of "in the boat" duck law do's and dont's. I figured I knew enough to keep myslef legal and hunt worry free. 2nd year, opening day. Good morning hunt, not so good evening hunt. We were hunting on an island in Lake Erie. It was starting to get dark so we decided to pack up. I left my gun with safety on, and no shell chambered leaning against a stump alongside two of my buddies guns. We were all in the water pulling in decoys and taking down the robo-ducks when a small boat flies up on us. It was three DNR officers in plain clothes. No worries here, I am licensed up, stamped up, and loaded down with nothing but steel shot. My gun is plugged to accept only 3 shells, heck I even pitched some old lead sinkers I had rolling around in the bottom of the boat just in case. This is when I learned about hunting after hours. You see, you dont have to actually be holding your firearm. My gun was at least 50ft from me. Unfortunately it was loaded. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and I agree! I took my $85 ticket and chalked it up as a lesson. This did not damper my love for duck hunting. Now 6 years later, the 10ga has been sold in exchange for my carry pistol. My fancy cross breed fish/duck slaying boat sits silently in my garage full of kids roller blades, odd pieces of drywall that I just cant bring myself to throw away, and hundreds of spent 10ga shells. My collection of wetland camo patterned paraphanlia is scattered all over my house. I found a duck call I remember paying about $70 for in my kids toybox. I think back to those mornings of below zero temps at 3am, lining up at the gate of the dock in order to get out to our "special place". Filling up my waders because I slipped on a rock going out to re-adjust the spread. Now that I think about it, I hate duck hunting. Anybody wanna buy some slightly used gear? ;)

[Batman]

Sounds like your getting old. Remember, it's the journey not the destination. I used to hunt waterfowl 30 days a year and fish just as much. Now, with the kids in school I'm lucky to get out twice and the boat hasn't seen water in two years. That said, the gear doesn't go bad so you'll do it again in due time. I still love it

[Tallbear]

Ducks??? What are ducks???

I hunt geese and slam them pretty good each year. Had a guy (done deal :whistle: ) tell me I'd give up geese after hunting ducks. He even "said" he'd take me out to "convert me". Hasn't happened.......in fact, I've heard he hunted more "geese" than ducks this year. What's up with that???

[Batman]

I hunt geese and slam them pretty good each year. You wouldn't happen to need any help doing that would you?

[Done Deal]

My entire fall was not a typical one.....as far as my pursuit of waterfowl anyway.

Now with this freeze, it isn't looking like we are going to have any open water for the January split and probably no geese for the late hunt either.

While I can't say much for this season, last year...western UP to LSC chasing divers was a blast. This year, a guy I got hooked last year and his friend had my layout out more than I did.

What I am still trying to figure out is why mcmidda was using a ******* BG10 for little ol' ducks? That is a mighty big gun to be swinging on them.

And, that little island on Erie wouldn't be downriver at the mouth would it?

Also, I have had encounters with a Lund Pro V down there too...they damned near dropped my A-5 in the drink passing it back to our boat. Lake Erie is NOT the place you want to figure out the waterfowl regs....thats for sure. I know a bunch of guys down there in Gibtucky that have had run ins with some of the CO's that have been assigned there. Let me just say,.....naw, never mind.


I love to read what the newbies go out and buy to kill ducks. Kinda like all the fishing lures painted in colors to attract fisherman more than fish it seems.
I love it....

But, that comment from somebody who prolly has too many decoys (no such thing) and enough gear to outfit the entire crew. Ah yes, the joys of duck hunting....

I am still recovering from the fact that this last Thanksgiving weekend was the first in over 30 years that I haven't hunted. Absolutely shameful being in Georgia....disgraceful I say.

[ncmidda]

I purchsed that 10ga land cannon because I figured why wait for the single duck when I can take down the whole squadron at once:cannon: Seriously though, that 10ga was great. Expensive and painful to shoot. The island we were hunting on that certain day was located directly south of Lake Erie metro park. I hunted out there on the ice before. We walked to the edge of the ice and threw the decoys out and laid under drop clothes in a flat bottom boat that we had drug out there. Its a good thing Lake Erie is shallow.:?

[RSF]

once you go to texas to hunt geese, and sandhill cranes, there is non better.

I grew up in a waterfowl family my dad was very involved in MDH and DU
we have had a blind on 4 mile lake since the early 70's and i can think of the times being a 5 year old sitting in those boats and blind then i graduated to big game. and forgot all about it for a few years. i love hunting the ice in pinckney and soke other fields here near me but man on man go to texas and wow.......... 20 bird limits and more. 5 years ago i hunted timber in south for woodys and more what a great time. but texas is great........ and sandhills are some of the best eating i have ever had. aka ribeye in the sky....

[Done Deal]

I purchsed that 10ga land cannon because I figured why wait for the single duck when I can take down the whole squadron at once:cannon:

Hey, you had that robo. Those park ducks you were hunting were sissy ducks, from eating hand outs at the park. They prolly faint at the mere sight of a monstrousity like that.

My BG10 sits in the safe, waiting for me to take it coyote hunting because there won't be a late season goose hunt around here again this year unless we have more warm days like this one.

[ncmidda]

It used to kill me when we would run the canal up to the Humbug marsh area and see all the ducks sitting on the backs of peoples boats. Hundreds. We got pretty lucky on woodys up that way, but mostly hunted further down close to Pte. Moulie-eieio. There is a nice refuge back there, but if you get your boat right on the rocks and blend in you can get them coming and going. The trick is being the first one out there. Launch by 3am and you might have a shot at getting a spot down there.:grouphug: Never saw many layout hunters much south of Erie Metro. I spent the night on one of the islands on the night before the opener. I figured it would be wise to pull my boat as far up close to land as possible in case the tide came in and carried my boat away. Unfortunately the tide WAS in when I got there, so you could imagine my horror the next morning when I awoke to find about 100ft of nothing but mud behind my boat.:hot: Good times right there!

[Rolex Dr.]

thanks nick

stuff was better then described

thanks a million



JD

[ncmidda]

It was very good to meet you sir. I hope you get much enjoyment out of your new hobby. I hope you are able to get your Dad out next year for some duck hunting, I am sure that shoulder should be good by then. Do me a favor though, I lost my Dad 7 yrs ago to cancer at the young age of 47. Like you described with your Dad, him and I were best friends. Make sure every minute counts. BTW, I hope my Chevy hat didnt throw you off, I too am a Chrysler man. The hat was camo and on sale!:smile: . Stay safe Dr.

[Dave]

Duck hunter here. I have also been known to hike out into the field to swat some geese as well.

I am set up for hunting small water. I run a 1448 with a 23 hp hyper mini. With just 2 guys and no gear, it runs at 23 mph but slows down quite a bit when fully loaded.

This past season was my worst season on record. I don't think I shot 10 ducks all season. Many many days of no ducks and a few with only 1 duck in the bag. It was a dissapointing season but it still beat the heck out of working.