TOO Waterfowl Chronicles
- Thread starter bowhunter1023
- Start date
HAHA. I got the impression early on that water swatting was like shooting a deer with it's nose in a corn pile. Some call it cheating, others say it's fair game. IMO, it makes for clean kills. I got no shame!
We are going to make our first hunt at the new spot on Friday. Pretty excited for what might go down. Layouts will be placed in the red area. The ice situation will determine decoy placement. We'll have 4 goose floaters, 2 full bodies, 8 duck floaters, jerk cord with 4 ducks, 2 spinners and a quiver butt feeder. Wind direction is marked by the yellow arrow and will be 7-8 mph. This picture doesn't accurately reflect how grown up this area really is. Most of the stuff around the pond is head high weeds, the exception being in front of the blinds. When it iced up last time, the area in front of the blind was the only section still open. I have a feeling this spot will be hit or miss and unfortunately, I think it could be a tough hunt. However this spot will be awesome when we time it right. Really looking forward to popping our cherry here.
Rutin
Senior Member
I would think you'd want to be at the other end of the pond with that wind direction, but if that's the only open spot I'd say hunt it.
We can't hunt that end. This is in WV and you have to be 500' from an occupied dwelling. That end puts us too close to a house. The blinds are in the best spot for safe shooting and being outside the 500' radius.
Looks like a decent setup given the circumstances. More and more I find myself setting up for a crosswind too. Seems like it helps keep the birds for picking your hide apart. Good luck!
I had a guy tell me not long ago that wind direction and ducks didn't matter. Told me I was concerning myself over nothing by trying to set up to shoot them landing in to the wind. I know at our blind, birds rarely get a friendly wind to drop in there, so wind direction really doesn't matter. How much are you guys concerning yourself with the wind? Is getting a good hide what matters most?
Personally I think wind matters more with geese than with ducks, BUT I wouldn't at all say it doesn't matter for ducks. I always take wind into consideration when I'm hunting ducks or geese. However I think my hide takes precedence over wind direction most times.
Mao
Member
Finished off a bad year in the north zone today with four birds. We didn't time shots well and that cost us at least as many as we killed. Hoping for some cold to get some birds on the Ohio for next weekend.
Good deal Marcus. The North Zone has certainly sucked this year. One of the worst seasons in a while. Glad you were able to end on a positive note!!
Yesterday was terrible weather for deer hunting so we went for ducks instead. Hit up a local sulfur spring for some last minute north zone action. Betty and her brother Si did a nice job picking them up for us. We went back in the afternoon and I doubled on a pair of drakes as they flushed from the spring. Sat through the rain all afternoon and never fired another shot. Still, not a bad day of hunting.
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Good stuff fellas.
We put together a field hunt today. Scratched out 2 geese and a banded drake mallard. Seen plenty of birds, but they were working the river for some reason. With the wind, the river was really choppy. Can't figure out why they wanted to be there. We saw one flight of geese that was 300-400 easy.
We put together a field hunt today. Scratched out 2 geese and a banded drake mallard. Seen plenty of birds, but they were working the river for some reason. With the wind, the river was really choppy. Can't figure out why they wanted to be there. We saw one flight of geese that was 300-400 easy.
Last shoot of the season. Wednesday afternoon jump shooting. Elmer Fudd style.
Thursday morning coffee in the field. Saw some geese but nothing wanted to play.
Hope we get some geese here between the 14th and 30th to salvage things. I've had good times with good friends, but I really like shooting things too. Lol.
Thursday morning coffee in the field. Saw some geese but nothing wanted to play.
Hope we get some geese here between the 14th and 30th to salvage things. I've had good times with good friends, but I really like shooting things too. Lol.
Mao
Member
I told Marcus it is crazy to see how fast the river can ice up. It was fine yesterday at 3:30PM just 15 miles north of where you guys launched. I'd say a lot of the ice the Muskie was dumping out made its way down there. Just drove about 10 miles of the Muskie and it is almost locked up in places. Be a lot of ice flowing out in to the Ohio in the next few days.
Hortontoter
Senior Member
When I duck hunted I was more concerned with the sun being behind me than I was about wind direction. Identifying birds was paramount IMO. Plus birds coming at you couldn't pick you out easily. Now mind you, I was hunting from an 8' Jon boat without a boat blind, just a few pieces of buckbrush stuck in a piece of plywood in front of where I sat on the bottom of the boat.
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Yea our buddy was there last night and went out on the river and said it was still open. It got bad really in the 2 hours we were there. Pretty crazy to see the difference from when we left the trucks to when we picked up the decoys.