Any reports from hunters after this "blue northern" has blown in?
Lots of unhunted habitat for them to rest in below the hard freeze line. Thankyou Ducks Unlimited!
Went to Monroe this morning. 18 degrees 10 mile/hour wind frozen field and 1 gad. There are no ducks here.
You're not alone. I've heard the same thing from alot of folks. This has been one of the worst seasons ever, for not only me, but several people I know that hunt ALOT. I know that DU said the numbers were up and everyone expected to have a great year, but I just don't believe it. The ducks are not here. Period. Sure, you're gonna have a decent hunt every now and then, but I've heard of very very few places consistently killing ducks. It is a very expensive habit to get nothing (as far as ducks) in return.
killed 10 ducks and 4 geese yesterday....had to brake ice....one goose had some jewelry on it....went this morning....it was cold and had some thick ice to break up....one speck and a pintail hen with some jewelry on it as well...
I haven't hunted in a few years partly due to the decline in Ducks around here. I can tell you that as I drive to S. LA this year I am seeing a whole lot more ducks than in the last couple of years. I figured you guys would be tearing them up.
had an awesome hunt this morning on a farm pond, about 2 miles from Lake Darbonne on the Downsville side. We had 3 limits in about 20 minutes. Of course, this was a pond that had NEVER been hunted and they were really dumb. We'd shoot and within seconds we'd have them swarming us. All were gadwalls.
Speaking of jewelry, on new year's eve, we killed a greenhead and a pintail drake (in different groups) with bands. The next day we dropped a banded pintail hen.
Overall though, it has been a pretty dismal season, except for the week between Christmas and New Year. We did not have water the first split, and the ducks have left the Jonesville/Catahoula Lake area now.
Just got back from Welsch, LA and we spanked the geese. Limits of specks and a some snows. Duck hunting was a little slow but I did shoot a nice Mexican Tree Duck that I plan on having mounted. I'll post some pics when I figure out how to upload from my new camera.
“Towie Barclay of the Glen, Happy to the maids, But never to the men.”
Did your Mexican duck look like this?
http://www1.nhl.nl/~ribot/english/debi_ng.htm
Or did it look like this?
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/i1770id.html
“Towie Barclay of the Glen, Happy to the maids, But never to the men.”