Bird Watcher

I cleaned one during early season that had a .22 bullet lodged on the bottom of it's breast..completely healed over...like it had been shot at a long range in the back. They are some tough birds. Nice hunt.

Looks like fun, I love hunting with my Dad. He's definitely my #1 hunting buddy. Your hunt sounds a lot like mine yesterday.

Chief, my buddy and I have shot a lot of them off Shoal when it freezes in a rig sort of like that. We rig a screen of brush to the front of the canoe and take turns shooting out of the front. You can scull right into shooting range of ducks if you stay low profile and don't move until you are ready to shoot. It looks like you are setting up for a stationary blind though. If you plan to hunt them while floating, I would offer two pieces of advice, 1. check the legality of the trolling motor. I don't think you can have your craft under power of a motor while shooting. 2. lower the profile like you mentioned. The overhanging trees will rip it right off before you even get started- at least it did for us. We had to go with something abount 1.5' above the bow and hunker down behind it in order to get through the wooly chutes. Hunting Shoal Creek is a lot of fun when the conditions are right. You never know what species you will see. I haven't done it in about 5 years, but the buddy I used to do it with still says it's his favorite way to hunt.

that's a great hunt. Good job.

real nice!

nice hunt! that's a pretty picture. It just goes to show, you can't be afraid to move when you're duck hunting.

That is the only banded goldeneye I have ever heard of. Good for you and congratulations!

They've been running a 4 part series on NOVA hosted by Brian Greene. It's based on his books. Pretty interesting stuff. Something about we all exist as a 2 dimensional hologram on the side of a black hole somewhere out on the edge of the universe? I don't know about that, but it is interesting.

Shazzam! MOMO is shortstopping them. J/K, I bet they are having a hard time couting them as much water as they have down there. I know my buddies are standing them on their heads in NEAR.

I will Marty. I actually spend a lot of time right outside your back door if you live East of Nevada. There's a farmer up there that's always been real generous to me with permission, so I keep tabs on his properties when I am scouting. All you really need to know for shooting ducks out of fields is, the colder the better and scout. They really don't start dry feeding real strong until all the shallow water is iced thick. When they have to sit out in a hole in the middle of the roost with a bunch of geese just to keep water open, they start looking for dry feed with lots of calories. Corn and beans. Beans suck because they are hard to hide in, but it can still work if you can find a hide. They also get the snow blown off of them a lot quicker by the wind than a corn field will. Find a field they are dry feeding in, it's usually best to scout in the afternoon(and hunt for that matter) when it's extremely cold out. You can use your Canada goose decoys to hunt ducks, just stick as many spinners in them as possible. One of the problems with hunting a tall stubble corn field can be long range visibility of your spread to the birds. That's why we usually stick a couple dozen snow goose decoys out when we are hunting one. Actually one of the best duck decoy spreads for us is a snow goose set up. The ducks really key in on the light geese. They will usually give a snow flock a "swoop" when they see one and they can see one from a long ways away. The ducks know the light geese are usually eating something good. The biggest key though is scouting. You can be 1/2 mile off the sweet spot and never even crack a shell. I won't even go unless I scout it the day before. It's just not worth the expenditure of time and money unless I know they were there the day before and sometimes that's still not enough. Those little suckers can eat all the grain out of a field fast and they will feed late into the night sometimes, especially when you start talking tens of thousands of them with the same number of light geese. It's still not time for me to get too awful excited about it, but usually around Christmas or a little after it starts getting good. I know every year the season ends and I am thinking I could really have evened things up with the ducks if they would just give me another week or two

...and that is the kind of stuff it is all about. nice write up.

chainsaw is way quicker. Dad and I opened up this hole in less than 10 minutes. It was about 20' x 30'. It's still a little sloppy though. The trick is to leave the edges of the hole smooth. You don't want any chunks around the edge. Stick the bar on the underside of the ice and hold on! It pulls you along as it cuts! ICE2 Hey Billethead, we should get together and do that sometime. Here's some dry ground ducks from last year. I don't know what it will be like this year, seems like it's different every year, but last year was stellar. kk snow ducks

Anyone with a smoker like that and Texas Rigged decoys is alright my book. Nice hunt. I'm jealous you're hunting and I've got a list of chores to do, but other than that, good job

How about these bad boys? It seems like there are more and more of them around SWMO every year.

Elk River will be a mad house. 50-11 nascar boats above Paradise point. Fellas getting in line to throw Jerk baits at the channel swing points. That's my prediction.

I agree. Thanks F&F. You're a very generous guy. Great information. The most detailed I've seen yet.

JD, I haven't been there in about 7 years, but last time I was there, they didn't supply boats. Your Kayaks would be ok, but you will have a fairly long paddle if you draw out one of the blinds in the back. A jon boat can usually run fine in the boat lanes. A friend that went told me they had 90 parties last weekend. Woodie and teal shoot. Good luck!

Whoa there Chief, guess that really hit a nerve. How dare I? Talk about an ego. Roland Martin ain't got nothing on you, "cowboy" Maybe you could take him on a guided trip of center creek or spring river and see who's ego sinks the canoe.

You do realize that everyone who fishes a lake isn't a pro bass angler don't you? It has nothing to do with lake vs. river. I guarantee you that I enjoy some of the most peaceful, beautiful, and enjoyable days a person could ever ask for on the lake, granted they are mostly up the river arms. I don't fish competively either- Unless it's with the old man. I'd probably rather see him win though so I don't know if it counts. Sorry for the rant, I always just get irked at a "us vs. them" statement. We are all outdoor enthusiasts. Together we stand, divided we fall.

Constant last night. Every time I went outside there were specks flying over. I sure wish we could have a season the last two weeks of October just to catch some migrators. I only shoot them at the very beginning of MO's season or the very end on a warm up with a big south wind. Now Central Flyway is a different story. There's times that's all you can find to hunt out there.

Sweet. I've always thought black powder shotguns were cool. Good for you.

Nice one, oneshot. What's that gun you shooting? It looks intersting.

Uh-oh. Evil snows has made an appearance on OAF.

I don't care if there is water, I just hope there is CORN! This flock ended up in the decoys. I snuck this pic as they were swinging. by , on Flickr

Interesting. maybe some 12 slot bags rigged as saddle bags. That would get you 2 doz without a sled.