Duck Hunters Thread

[clarksvol00]

They do open snow geese season here; and it’s no kill limit etc. Guess because they are trying to curb the population because they’re so destructive.

Farmers hate snow geese.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

I've only seen one in 20 plus years and that was before you could ask for permission to hunt them in TN.

Percy is loaded with them....

 

[bag12day]

They do open snow geese season here; and it’s no kill limit etc. Guess because they are trying to curb the population because they’re so destructive.

Yeah we have a liberal season too I suppose no plug electronic calls and I think it’s 35 a day on snows. We some winter on the banks and I have seen a Goose tornado A couple of times here but its real hit or miss and the amount of snow dekes u gotta have is ridiculous to get their attention. We had 800 or so white trash bags, canvas shells flocked and plastic and they will swing Around but just don’t want to drop.. some of the, are1/2 mile plus up. That’s what they call conservation season meaning conserve the nesting prairie by killing all u can lol. Ours are mixed specks,blues,brant, Canada’s Lesser and greater along with the snows.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

Yeah we have a liberal season too I suppose no plug electronic calls and I think it’s 35 a day on snows. We some winter on the banks and I have seen a Goose tornado A couple of times here but its real hit or miss and the amount of snow dekes u gotta have is ridiculous to get their attention. We had 800 or so white trash bags, canvas shells flocked and plastic and they will swing Around but just don’t want to drop.. some of the, are1/2 mile plus up. That’s what they call conservation season meaning conserve the nesting prairie by killing all u can lol. Ours are mixed specks,blues,brant, Canada’s Lesser and greater along with the snows.

800 ! Wowzers LOL geez. I’ve heard the Midwest is the wild Wild West with snows. We get some in middle but the most I’ve ever seen is in west tenn.

 

[clarksvol00]

800 ! Wowzers LOL geez. I’ve heard the Midwest is the wild Wild West with snows. We get some in middle but the most I’ve ever seen is in west tenn.

I went on a few snow goose hunts in Illinois when I was younger. The sound when a big tornado of a few hundred geese starts to try to sit down near you is amazing.

I've seen some of those thousand decoy spreads in Arkansas too, but never been on a conservation hunt there.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

I went on a few snow goose hunts in Illinois when I was younger. The sound when a big tornado of a few hundred geese starts to try to sit down near you is amazing.

I've seen some of those thousand decoy spreads in Arkansas too, but never been on a conservation hunt there.

I cannot imagine pitching 1000 plus decoys or something there along the lines. I think 6-7 dozen is a PITA LOL

 

[clarksvol00]

I cannot imagine pitching 1000 plus decoys or something there along the lines. I think 6-7 dozen is a PITA LOL

Every time I've gone I've caught on with somebody else that's got a lease and has already set up their decoy spread. I've got to assume its terrible. But alot of the goose spreads I've seen are dry fields, so at least you're not slogging through gumbo.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

Every time I've gone I've caught on with somebody else that's got a lease and has already set up their decoy spread. I've got to assume its terrible. But alot of the goose spreads I've seen are dry fields, so at least you're not slogging through gumbo.

Dude first thing in the morning 3-4am and trotting through that “gumbo” as you called it or muck is the worst....

 

[Jxn Vol]

Dude first thing in the morning 3-4am and trotting through that “gumbo” as you called it or muck is the worst....

I hunted rice farms for 7 seasons out of layouts. I was in my late 20s and early 30s. Would not do that now. It got so bad that by the end of the season I was relieved. But then 2 weeks later I was missing it.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

I hunted rice farms for 7 seasons out of layouts. I was in my late 20s and early 30s. Would not do that now. It got so bad that by the end of the season I was relieved. But then 2 weeks later I was missing it.

I used a layout this year; you aren’t kidding. Laying on a hard nearly frozen ground is not fun lol.

 

[Jxn Vol]

I used a layout this year; you aren’t kidding. Laying on a hard nearly frozen ground is not fun lol.

We used the Drake layout blinds that float. Thinking about dragging them 250 yards full of decoys makes my body hurt now.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

We used the Drake layout blinds that float. Thinking about dragging them 250 yards full of decoys makes my body hurt now.

Oh man y’all had those deals like the momarsh boats?

 

[Jxn Vol]

Oh man y’all had those deals like the momarsh boats?

Yes. They had 4 holes on each corner that a stake would go through to hold it in place. We brushed the flip lids with fast grass and rice stubble. Killed a lot of birds out of those things.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

Yes. They had 4 holes on each corner that a stake would go through to hold it in place. We brushed the flip lids with fast grass and rice stubble. Killed a lot of birds out of those things.

Those momarsh setups are nice but man they can get expensive quick.

 

[bag12day]

My goose layout blinds are in my shipping container but we got tired of paying $200 or more for junk That hurt to sit in and we made our own out of bungee cord recline beach chairs. We mostly sawed the allum legs down and glued pvc elbows over the tips to keep em from sinking. We would get em on sale in the fall for $25-40 or so and add 3D material, fast grass, a handful of whatever we were laying in and for late season a therma rest pad. i Have bad back issues but there were days I could lay in those things for 4 hours shooting geese on corn stubble or bean fields.

 

[Jxn Vol]

Those momarsh setups are nice but man they can get expensive quick.

They were pricey. One of the guys I hunted with at the time was on pro-staff with Drake and our club got a dozen of them super cheap. They were not that uncomfortable. And were surprisingly warm once you got down in them. Now hunting in the rain was miserable.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

My goose layout blinds are in my shipping container but we got tired of paying $200 or more for junk That hurt to sit in and we made our own out of bungee cord recline beach chairs. We mostly sawed the allum legs down and glued pvc elbows over the tips to keep em from sinking. We would get em on sale in the fall for $25-40 or so and add 3D material, fast grass, a handful of whatever we were laying in and for late season a therma rest pad. i Have bad back issues but there were days I could lay in those things for 4 hours shooting geese on corn stubble or bean fields.

That setup sounds interesting you got any pics of those things?

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

They were pricey. One of the guys I hunted with at the time was on pro-staff with Drake and our club got a dozen of them super cheap. They were not that uncomfortable. And were surprisingly warm once you got down in them. Now hunting in the rain was miserable.

Hunted in the rain week before last forgot how miserable that can be. Not a stitch dry and a few days later I was sick. But never fear I was right back out there 3 days later lol.

 

[Timbeau2]

Haven't gotten to hunt the last couple weeks, but am finally getting back out this weekend. Supposed to be windy, warm, and rainy on Sunday so we're gonna ditch the woods and try a field to see what happens. Weather to wrap up the season is definitely not looking good, but you never know. Good luck to everybody!

 

[bag12day]

I hunt on private ground. So I don’t deal with that type of DC crowd. Sounds terrible.

I have always wanted to do a swan hunt. Good luck!

Hope you destroy some swan.

Well half way decent showing. We had two guys who have being trying to kill swans for 15 years so our focus was getting those guys a bird and the other 3 of us didn’t mind a tag sandwich worst case scenario. Info we got from the farmer was birds have been flying later like mid morning. Place where we stay, the guy runs a guide business with usually 70-80% success rate and Thursday at 5pm when we got to cabin, his daughter said he was still out trying to get 3 more clients birds (only 4 out of 7 guys tagged out) but were not able. Didn’t bode well for us but we were ready to blast off about 7am hit the field and got dekes out and sat for two hours before we saw the first bird. Saw probably 200 birds between 9-10 but most were larger groups like 8-20 birds and they are almost impossible to decoy down lower when the are heading some where. About 10am we Had a nice mature bird break off 6 and made three loops dropping down each time before we finally called for him to shoot. He dumped all 3 shells and broke a wing and bird came down 150 yards away and it took him 4 more shots to get him. You got to understand these birds can run with a broke wing a lot faster than you can run and they can kill a dog so that’s not an option. We have chased them over 1/2 mile.
Second guy was up and we had a pair called in and told him several times to make sure he only shot at one bird. Pair circled two times then one split out a little and he made a great two shots and he was dead when he hit the ground. Btw when these things hit the ground it’s about like throwing a cider block out of a three story window, you can feel it before you hear it. My son and I looked at a lot of birds trying to find a banded bird but eventually had 4 birds drop down circle a couple of times and all three of us shot . My son and I crunched our two with one shot apiece about 11am. The other guy shot 3x at one of the other birds and no joy... he shot 7 more times at 4 more birds in the next two hours and didn’t cut a feather as far as we know . He even took a couple of shots with my Benelli SBE2 since I was running a full choke and that didn’t help either . I have duck and goose hunted with him a lot and he has killed more swans that I have but he was just having one of them days. He could not hit a horse in the arse with a 2x4 . He finally called tag sandwich about 130 and we packed it in. Good day with 2 guys breaking their swan cherry and two swans headed to the taxi (to the tune of $1200-1500 each) and mine and my sons are in a salt/ sugar brine as I type. Here’s a few pics to get a sense of the scale. The beauty is daisy my sons choc lab.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

Well half way decent showing. We had two guys who have being trying to kill swans for 15 years so our focus was getting those guys a bird and the other 3 of us didn’t mind a tag sandwich worst case scenario. Info we got from the farmer was birds have been flying later like mid morning. Place where we stay, the guy runs a guide business with usually 70-80% success rate and Thursday at 5pm when we got to cabin, his daughter said he was still out trying to get 3 more clients birds (only 4 out of 7 guys tagged out) but were not able. Didn’t bode well for us but we were ready to blast off about 7am hit the field and got dekes out and sat for two hours before we saw the first bird. Saw probably 200 birds between 9-10 but most were larger groups like 8-20 birds and they are almost impossible to decoy down lower when the are heading some where. About 10am we Had a nice mature bird break off 6 and made three loops dropping down each time before we finally called for him to shoot. He dumped all 3 shells and broke a wing and bird came down 150 yards away and it took him 4 more shots to get him. You got to understand these birds can run with a broke wing a lot faster than you can run and they can kill a dog so that’s not an option. We have chased them over 1/2 mile.
Second guy was up and we had a pair called in and told him several times to make sure he only shot at one bird. Pair circled two times then one split out a little and he made a great two shots and he was dead when he hit the ground. Btw when these things hit the ground it’s about like throwing a cider block out of a three story window, you can feel it before you hear it. My son and I looked at a lot of birds trying to find a banded bird but eventually had 4 birds drop down circle a couple of times and all three of us shot . My son and I crunched our two with one shot apiece about 11am. The other guy shot 3x at one of the other birds and no joy... he shot 7 more times at 4 more birds in the next two hours and didn’t cut a feather as far as we know . He even took a couple of shots with my Benelli SBE2 since I was running a full choke and that didn’t help either . I have duck and goose hunted with him a lot and he has killed more swans that I have but he was just having one of them days. He could not hit a horse in the arse with a 2x4 . He finally called tag sandwich about 130 and we packed it in. Good day with 2 guys breaking their swan cherry and two swans headed to the taxi (to the tune of $1200-1500 each) and mine and my sons are in a salt/ sugar brine as I type. Here’s a few pics to get a sense of the scale. The beauty is daisy my sons choc lab.
View attachment 342615View attachment 342616View attachment 342618View attachment 342619View attachment 342620

God those things are freaking massive. That chocolate lab is beautiful. Did y’all use Snow Geese decoys or swan? Hold on do make swan decoys LOL?

 

[bag12day]

That setup sounds interesting you got any pics of those things?

Remind me in a couple of days when I have to open the shipping container up to store the dekes for the year. Got back late today and tired and tomorrow got all day training at our fire dept with live burn and Im the safety officer so wont be putting stuff up til SUnday or Monday. I have the blind in there...

 

[Jxn Vol]

Remind me in a couple of days when I have to open the shipping container up to store the dekes for the year. Got back late today and tired and tomorrow got all day training at our fire dept with live burn and Im the safety officer so wont be putting stuff up til SUnday or Monday. I have the blind in there...

Thanks for sharing your hunt with us. Looks fun. I am chasing birds in the morning. Will let y’all know how it goes.

 

[VOL-TIL-I-DIE]

Thanks for sharing your hunt with us. Looks fun. I am chasing birds in the morning. Will let y’all know how it goes.

Any luck? It’s completely stopped here (Middle Tenn) which we normally don’t have a lot of “flyway traffic” to begin with. Cousins pulled their blind out yesterday afternoon (in west tenn near reelfoot) said “it’s dead dude we’re not seeing squat”.

 

[Jxn Vol]

Any luck? It’s completely stopped here (Middle Tenn) which we normally don’t have a lot of “flyway traffic” to begin with. Cousins pulled their blind out yesterday afternoon (in west tenn near reelfoot) said “it’s dead dude we’re not seeing squat”.

Killed 15 on Saturday. Mixed bag. Pintails, Mallards, Grey Ducks, Teal, and Spoons. Killed 9 today. Going to chase them this week. But I know how it’s going to go. We will scratch out a few here and there. But I don’t expect it to be any different from what we normally do.