Feathers and Fins

I should note this time of year the place is crowded with waterfowl hunters, if you are going this time of year its best to go midweek when its not as crowded and if you see hunters in one area move to another. Normally the 4 pits on the Nw Corner dont get much pressure from hunters and the big lake doesnt either, the southern pond is heavily hunted as are the marshes. Be very careful going after any type of rain I have pulled many people out the roads deap rut fast

Slow Poke lol

What he said

Try the beach area at Beavertown Ive done real well there for shad in the past or possibly near the bridge by the marina. Shoot RPS a Pm he might know.

They are all fishable by foot some less brushy than others, Nice cats in several of the NW Strip pits.

I never post about it because I honestly dont want to see it turn into a madhatter lake, We know what it can do but could you imagine if more people had more access to how to fish it and where. Its not big enough to handle that kind of Pressture

I was there when they put them out it was a nice couple guys who's trailer dropped off. It is the side of the dock nearest the cove standing on the top of the ramp looking at the water it is on your right.

I have been meaning to post this and keep forgetting. If you use the ramp stay clear from the RIGHT side looking down the ramp, several boaters have found out the ramp has a drop off and with the shallow water you WILL stick your trailer if you back down to far. I metered the ramp the other day and everyone needs to start using caution on it as another few inches and its possible most trailers could find that drop off. Remember you dont need the bumper of the truck in the water to launch or take out a boat just enough to float the boat off.

I fillet my breast out, its alot faster and less messy, Knives of Alaska's fillet knife is perfect for getting almost all the meat out. Most the birds take only about 3 minutes, and very few feathers come off, take the knife after the breast is out in the trashbag they go. Teal and Buffies I breast out for speed then fillet them out. I havent looked in a while and MDC requirements on Meat to be used but AGFC is only the breast which follows suit with many states, The only exception is late season I do alot of plucking for making pillows or if i want to tie some flies. The one reg I am concerned most with is BAITED! I had one officer tell me I was duck hunting to close to a baited field, when I asked him what he was talking about he pointed ot a farm about 1/2 mile away and told me the farmer had been putting out grain for his cows and had two deer feeders with corn in them and that made it baited and i was to close and he could site me. I didnt say a word to him but called for the SGT and had him come meet me after the other warden left and he said I was fine, He called back the first officer and after a long discussion and a call to the feds we were even more confused, apparently if you are on a property or on one birds pass over ot get to bait you could be in violation under Baiting is the direct or indirect placing, exposing, depositing, distributing, or scattering of salt, grain, or other feed that could lure or attract waterfowl to, on, or over any areas where hunters are attempting to take them. It was the OVER part, The officers agreed though as I was NOT on that property I was not in violation and the field was cleared. But they did say they were going to go tell the landowner ( who had duck blinds on his pond ) he had a baited field and could not hunt waterfowl on it for ten days. I shake my head at that law all the time because I have never thought of flooding corn to its ears for the pure purpose of luring in waterfowl other than BAITING yet its legal. But try hunting near a railroad track and see what happens.

They could write it under the technical part of The head or one fully feathered wing must remain attached to the birds while you transport them to your home or to a facility that processes waterfowl. A motel is not your home or a processing facility and yes I did see a citation written for it on several occassion as the people put the remains in a dumpster with other birds, also because the warden had no way to determine the species. I knew one of the officer who wrote it well and asked him why he wrote it, his reply was He was unable to possitively identify the birds and because they threw them all in the same dumpster it was impossible to seperate out whos bird was whos. He said had they kept the carcass then they would have been fine. the warden involved was well known for giving people the benifit of the doubt and always willing to help or give spots and the guys who got the ticket gave him no grief. I knew him well and watched him many times suggest to people that while he went to the bathroom they get birds in proper piles by the hunter who shot them and be sure the species was correct in each pile and many other shall we say helpfulness to people. So yes keep the carcass and never go over the daily or possession limit but also to be safe dont try and find the grey area of the law because the officer can find an even greyer area if he wants, AND NEVER have lead of any kind on Federal Property that one gets written every time! Oh and the Dove regs vary from state to state especially in ones with Eurasian collards. Why is everything underlined?

I do my jerky a little different than many people and thought I would share the 1 way people seem to make it disappear before my eyes. This is Goose jerky. 1. Breast the goose removing all fat and the wing socket area. 2. Place in large (sealable) bowl add 1/4 cup Accent Flavor and 1/2 cup of salt add water and shake for a couple minutes. 3. Place in fridge and let soak 24 hours 4. Take out after 24 hours and slice into 1/4 inch wide width 5. Place them on paper towels and press between sheets hard to get moisture out. 6. Place 1 bottle of (URBAN ACCENTS get this and Wal-Mart neighborhood market) in a large bowl and blend in the goose with your hands for a couple minutes. 7. Heat oven to 400. 8. Lay the jerky on a large pan and cook for 15 minutes (no more) 9. Pull out and place in dehydrator for 2 hours flip after 2 hours and let sit for another 2 hours in it. Start checking at the 4 hour mark until it’s to your liking. It takes some time but i cant keep it around when people find out i made it this way, I use many other spices as well so experiment around.

Dam if i knew it was you i would of swung you over some smoked wild turkey. Ya the whites have been thick in there for a couple weeks, shad balls from 15 to 30 ft.

Ok where were you, I was in PC untill about 1pm waiting to do a nuisance removal but they never showed up. Im thinking about doing it today, I did see a bunch of shad in the back but the wind was making it hard to see them clear enough for cast netting. I saw the loon and he was going nuts chasing shad. Large numbers of loons on the lake this year.

Tagging. You cannot put or leave waterfowl at any place or in the custody of another person unless you tag the birds with your signature, address, number of birds identified by species, and the date you killed them. Dressing. You cannot completely field-dress waterfowl before taking them from the field. The head or one fully feathered wing must remain attached to the birds while you transport them to your home or to a facility that processes waterfowl. http://www.fws.gov/le/waterfowl-hunting-and-baiting.html Jd three things I do to maintain legality on multy day trips and the first one applies to single day trips with more than two hunters. 1. Use multi-color zip ties to identify whos bird is whos and keep the seperated on individual lanyards. 2. Use a label maker and put on it all the legally required info wrap it around the wing of the bird after cleaning 3. Place all birds after cleaning in in individual 1 gallon ziplock backs marked on the bag with the legal info and palce each bag in a a vacum sealable Jacket bag with the persons name who shot the birds inside it. I have cleaned and ate birds in many motels and technically that could be illegal if you have a nit-picking warden. Like I said the laws need to be re-written to avoid these issues.

Very Nice Chris, looks like you found a few birds.

Great post OB, Agreed it seems from JD that the warden was looking to spill ink I have seen warnings written for that but never citations unless the offenders had a bad attitude or previous violations. If you read over the Federal laws there is many laws that at were one time needed but now are out of date. I agree that until the birds are home the wing should be attached as there are still species in trouble after they are home the labeling is rather silly as there is no possible way short of DNA testing to confirm the species of breast if the person mis-marks it. Possession limits are a pet peave of mine in a big way, If i shoot 2 days limits of Honkers in the AR Resident hunt then by LAW im in violation of possession limit the day the Special Northwest Zone or Regular season opens if I still have birds from the Resident season. The entire waterfowl regs need to be revisited and adjusted with clarity so a 3rd grader could understand them.

Hunted Beaver this morning for 3 Buffles and 2 honkers, pretty dismal numbers maybe saw 20 to 30 birds total. Im thinking the full moon phase has them in fields feeding and roosting on nearby ponds. Give us a good front and cold weather and the big waters should be good. Jeff its always great hunting the family farm, I dont care if i killed a bird just watching the kids and being around the family means so much to me. Nothing better than watching the young ones face plant in muddy buckshot and getting up with a face full of mud and a smile from ear to ear. Birds are a plus but family means everything.

Side by sides are not the best for bird hunting to many people try and sight plane on a single barrel basically rendering the other barrel useless. O/U its a constant sight plane. Draw back to both is mule kicking and on a double trigger gun high probabiity of a double barrel discharge at the same time. Its shooter prefferance but i use a OU for all my waterfowl hunting it fits and that is more important than how many barrels it has or if it pumps or is an auto, if it dont fit it isnt the right gun for you.

Home defense to me means they are in the home with intent to harm myself or my family. 12g auto with extension tube and unleash the 00 Buck They are there to harm me im not going to hurt them in my house im going to kill them dead so they cant harm my family!

Try its those 10% that cause gun laws, boating laws heck all kinds of stupidity things in life, Like Tater says YOU CANT FIX STUPID.

Not a SO MO report but 11 limits in 12 minutes this morning in the Arkansas Rice. feels wied being home eating breakfast at the in-laws less than 30 minutes after LST

NOW NOW CHAMP, Its winter and the numbnutz have all hidden their boats for winter. BTW shad in Monte Ne and bass busting them tonight looked like good size bass so go get them.

Collar is a form of tracking the birds movements, it alone is only moderately helpful, the leg band is much more important as it possitively ID's the animal. You can go online to http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/bblretrv/ to give the information. You keep the leg band and collar as a sort of trophy. After some time it will show up here http://flyways.us/surveys-and-monitoring/banding-and-marking-programs/bands-across-america where you can see where birds were banded and where they were taken.

Stump, thye did that in Lake Perris when i was growing up 15'' minimum size, it worked good for about 5 years then it slowly got to the point where you couldnt catch a spot over 13 they were thick but all small. They reduced the bag limit to no size restriction for a few years and the size started getting bigger again. To many bass competing for the same cover and prey was the outcome from the biologist. Lat time i talked to some friends they said they started doing a rotating size limit where they went a few years with NO size limit then a few years with the slot at 15'' and monitored the lake to maintain a healthy large size. Granted that lake is much smaller than Beaver but it might be an option here. As to the LMB vs spot, im curious to where they come up with that I catch more smallies and spots than LMB unless im way up the river.

I just wanted to add a little to this, Ive been using Heavy Shot 1oz 1/2 #6's all season and Must say it is very impressive, very pricey at 40 bucks a box of 10 but knocks the birds down stone cold. That scaup was taken at 83 yard ( rangefinder used ) I normally will never take a shot over 40 but really was curious to if it could be done. It stoned the bird 2 in the head, broke wing, broke leg and 2 in the breast. ( Let me state I shoot a lot of trap and skeet through the year and am very confiedent in long shots but still do not like taking them thsi was purely a " lets see thing" ) Im always looking for something that can do it all when it comes to shells and so far this specific load seems to be working, the other thing is that due to its price it forces a person to make only shots they are 100% sure of unless your rich and like dropping 4 bucks a shell. It has deffinately increased my harvest and decreased the amount of iffy shots. For instance left to right shots im very consistant with same going away or comming in but for some reason right to left shots im about an 80% shooter so I have been much more careful about those shots and im seeing a differance in harvest to shell rates. In short if you want a shell that stones geese and ducks under 40 yards its certainly capable of it, almost 0 cripples! I know many shells will bring them down at that range but the cripple rate seems much higher requiring additional shells or chase downs and that is why I started trying these shells and they work for clean kills.