Waterfowl Season 2023-2024

[BilletHead]

45 minutes ago, Ryan Miloshewski said:

Hobbled my way to two teal hunts this weekend and me and a buddy shot seven birds. Not great shooting, but we saw a lot opening morning in Central MO. This cold front today should make the rest of the week/weekend solid. We grilled them up last night and as always they were delicious. 

         Last Wednesday they were on just about every pond that had water. We hit one lake Saturday morning and not one was seen. What little push there was last week was short lived. Dove hunted yesterday morning and still getting them. Made the pond round looking to see if there was any teal around. Nuttin. 

[Ryan Miloshewski]

Yea @BilletHead opening morning they got shot out pretty fast, and with these nights in the low 50s I'm sure the birds that were here booked it. Hunted Tuesday morning in Kansas and we shot three--the only ones we saw. 

I hear the NW part of the state is banging them, though. Couple buddies have been doing really well up there. I rarely hunt up there but may have to make a drive north. 

[Ryan Miloshewski]

Yesterday was an absolute beat down. We got 7 guys out in the marsh very early and had a solo guy hunt with us. We ended up being one short of an 8 man limit. It was a remarkable morning brought on by 6 miles of walking by my buddy and getting pelted by mosquitos all night. Worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gavin]

Brushing up and washing decoys. It won’t be long now.

[Ryan Miloshewski]

Only got out for four days this teal season, but I made them count. Back held up fairly decently, but I took it slow and easy. Still not 100% but getting better.

Got about 4" of rain Saturday night on the West side and in Eastern KS..hopefully that filled up some of the rivers. Need a deluge to fill up the walk-in areas. 

Teal I shot last Saturday were so fat I was able to save a good handful and add it to the render pile for later this winter. Iowa opens soon so I'll take a couple weeks off before the grind starts!

[BilletHead]

             Some Grocery shopping. 

Early Canada goose season. Sunday morning a pair for Pat and I. Been watching a field of volunteer corn coming up after the harvest, the field has also been drilled with wheat. Lots of local birds using it. Did not get to watch it Thursday through Saturday morning. We sat up there Sunday morning and got two. On way out seen where the birds changed to. I solo hunted it Monday morning. Had cut a bunch of green fescue to cover layouts. So, dry it was an easy hunt. Drove up the waterway and sat at edge of the same type of field as Sunday except this one was not as tall as the other. I sat up decoys close to me and around the blind. 

              

  First group of ten birds were in my face wings set. I lined up the heads on the lead two and dumped them both. As they dropped, I shot again and got the third bird in line and just like that it was over. Picked up quickly and got out of there with more birds coming in as I left.  Cooler again this weekend will get Pat out there again. 

[Ryan Miloshewski]

@BilletHead excellent Marty! Blind looks great in that fescue. I was deer hunting the East Central part of the state last weekend and the amount of geese and woodies I saw was unreal. I didn't have my floaters or a goose call or I would've went after them. May have to go back this weekend..

[BilletHead]

7 minutes ago, Ryan Miloshewski said:

@BilletHead excellent Marty! Blind looks great in that fescue. I was deer hunting the East Central part of the state last weekend and the amount of geese and woodies I saw was unreal. I didn't have my floaters or a goose call or I would've went after them. May have to go back this weekend..

               Thanks Ryan,

  There are some situations where I can learn to vanish really well. I was given a walk behind sickle cutter by a friend. It is not a DR but a Troy built. They don't make them anymore. The controls were broken so I did some self-engineering and made a fix. The fuel primer is getting rotten so might have to fix it someday. I keep alcohol free premium in it. If I get it primed right, it will start on one pull. Self-propelled and easy to use. If you get in some good fescue I can run, it ten to fifteen yards and fill two fifty-gallon trash bags full of grass. I run the machine and Pat walks behind picking it up. What a deal,

[Ryan Miloshewski]

Starting to see the first migrator ducks and geese in Western Missouri/Eastern Kansas. Most of the marshes in Kansas are dry right now save for the refuges. Going to be a tough opener for the Low Plains and SE zones. 

I wanted to share the KS opener story from last year. I need to start writing a book about the things I've seen duck hunting public land. But this, truly, was the most jackassery I've ever experienced.

I scouted a ton and figured out 4 spots all six of us could go across three marshes. We set camp about 6 miles from the marshes on Friday, cooked dinner and started to relax. Something inside me said we need to go see what they're looking like. Around 9:30 pm my buddy Tom and I drove to the main one we wanted to hunt. First parking lot, two trucks. Second parking lot, three trucks and guys putting waders on to go out there. "Oh s%$t." Drove to the other marsh...four trucks there. Then the final marsh: only 1 truck. I told Tom we need to get out there, called the rest of the guys and told them to suit up and get moving.

We got set up in our spot by 11pm, the other guys with boats by midnight. Time for a long sleep in the marsh. Boy did it get cold. Around 3am we were all freezing. It was a humid cold where every piece of your gear is wet. We were sitting on a dry hump so I said screw it, we're starting a fire. That boosted morale and we all got some more sleep. I stayed up keeping an eye out for any others that got a little too close. Guys in the other marsh were set up in their Invisimans, but it was getting overcrowded fast. Our marsh we ended up having 5 groups, which is too many but it was manageable. The other guys were not so lucky...22 groups. And this marsh can hunt three groups without any BS occurring. 

Shooting light starts to get close and we hear sirens getting closer and closer. "Man, they sound like they're going to the marsh." Sure enough they were. A guy was standing there, waiting for shooting light, which was less than 10-min away and had a seizure. Fell down face first, lost his gun, phone, and other items. His friend screamed for help. My buddy Dave ran over there as fast as he could and got him to the berm, still seizing. Dave called 911 and they said they were there but couldn't get around the gate. "Call the darn game warden!," Dave shouted, and started to make the 1 mile run to the lot. Sheriff's deputy was there, Dave hopped in, told him to go, and they started to the guy. Shooting light is here and shots are going off everywhere. Finally get to him and bring him back. Guy survived and was ok, amazingly.

Dave finally gets back to his Invisiman and they shoot two teal. Meanwhile, after 45 min all four of us in my marsh are done with BWT and GWT. Tom and I start to walk out and John, who had his boat, and Daniel, walk to the river to take out. Dave and Eddie say screw it and leave at 8:30 to get Dave's boat out. All's well that ends well. 

Tom and I get back to camp before those guys and start making breakfast. 30 min goes by. Nothing. An hour goes by..nothing. No texts, calls, etc. We start getting concerned. So I start calling the guys. Nothing. Finally around 11am they roll into camp. "What the heck happened?"

What happened, it turned out, was a group of doctors from Topeka launched their boat and left their ENTIRE RIG on the ramp, blocking the ENTIRE ramp. Somebody, who was a lot nicer than I would have been, let the air out of their tires. He's lucky his brake lines weren't cut and the brand new Yukon wasn't in the river. 

Our guys try to get back to camp via the lake..too shallow. So they have to wait. Finally the morons get back and are plum shocked somebody would do what they did. Dave gave them some very hash, marsh education, John had an air pump, and finally, they got out. Dave wasn't going to drink that day, but he poured himself a tall glass of vodka and pickle juice to mend his sore body and mind. 

I don't think I'll be hunting any openers any time soon. At least we shot a four man, though, eh?

 

[Gavin]

Youth open went well for three young men at our place, They all killed a duck or three. Woodies, and GWT. No big ducks sighted. Dardenne is flooded up and has some birds by latest count. Report from BK area...some big ducks on the river, youth hunter killed 4 on their MI island blind. Decoys are out, along with the side by side. So we will all go ditch work early on Friday to go muck about, to see what we need to fix Saturday & Sunday.