| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1051.1 | Too Early? | IRWIN::OUELLETTE | | Thu Oct 10 1991 12:14 | 7 |
|
Well things here in New Hampshire were not that good at least for my party.
We saw very few birds and hunted the best spots (last years) that we know of.
We only ended up with two mallard hens between the three of us! Were all
decent shots too. I believe the season start is 4 days earlier than last year
and the fairly warm weather has delayed the migration process a little so the
season may be a little young yet. Any comment from other NHers???
|
| 1051.2 | | MCIS5::PAPPALARDO | A Pure Hunter | Thu Oct 10 1991 12:37 | 27 |
|
Ditto to .1's reply.
Though I managed to take a Canada Goose we saw very few birds. In fact
the duck count was under 12 all-day long. It's the worst opener in N.H
I've ever seen.
I'd say the birds we did see were native and the migration has not
really started yet. Should get better when colder weather sets into
Canada pushing the birds south.
The weather yesterday was awfull....sunny in the 70's....Thought I was
going to get a sun-tan?
Our area is west of Concord, N.H.
Rick
BTW: The goose had a metal band on its leg and a rubber 4inch wide
collar that had the letters PFU.
Anyone know what PFU stands for?
Rick
|
| 1051.3 | Honest! | GIAMEM::J_AMBERSON | | Thu Oct 10 1991 13:39 | 9 |
| Rick,
PFU stands for Personal Floatation Unit. They noticed that the
young of the year were not as good swimmers as the older geese so
they started an effort to supply them with these collars.
We open up in MA on Tuesday. I'll let you know how we make out.
Jeff
|
| 1051.4 | | MCIS5::PAPPALARDO | A Pure Hunter | Thu Oct 10 1991 13:55 | 4 |
|
RE:3
Haw,haw,....
|
| 1051.5 | | GENRAL::WADE | | Thu Oct 10 1991 14:46 | 16 |
|
Chuck,
Bet you were at Spinney! ;^) They learn real fast up
there after opening day.
I'll take the wings from your birds if you still have
'em. I'll probably have a pup to train. I've got one
female left from the litter my dog had. She's a good
one but nobody has called. I'm keeping her if she's
not sold this weekend.
I'm skipping the 1st duck season. I'm too busy getting
ready for 2cd season deer/elk.
Clay
|
| 1051.6 | only 1 day earlier than last yr | DATABS::STORM | | Thu Oct 10 1991 14:50 | 13 |
| The NH inland season is only 1 day earlier than last. It opened Oct
10th last year.
I was set up in a corn stubble field for geese. Saw few ducks and only
1 small flock of geese. As often happens someone out of sight took a
shot when the geese way off, but close enough that they wouldn't decoy.
I doubt there are many migrating ducks around yet. The weather has
been pretty mild. I still think it would have been better if it hadn't
been such a nice beach day.
Mark,
|
| 1051.7 | Already have 2 yellow labs | COMPLX::BULLARD | | Thu Oct 10 1991 15:41 | 10 |
| re: .5
Uh-hem...no comment :^) .
I'm going again Saturday and Sunday to this undisclosed
location. I'll save some wings for ya (if I can hit some..
urggghh). I have numerous pheasant skins and tails in my
freezer, if your interested.
chuck
|
| 1051.8 | 1 down but not found, I hate that. | CHRLIE::HUSTON | | Thu Oct 10 1991 16:28 | 22 |
|
Being the first year I hunted ducks in NH I can't say anything about
being slower than the past, it was slower than the several days I
hunted in MA several years ago.
My cousin and I got sort of skunked. I knocked down a Woodie but just
when we got to it in the weeds it dove under and must have grabbed on
to something. It looked as if it was hurt pretty bad and at the
shot it went down hard. We looked for about 30-45 minutes by
probbing under the water into the weeds and mud with both the
canoe paddles and hands. No luck.
Was very hard in the fog, couldn't see them until they were just
about into the decoys. The small amount of action there was seemed to
drop off as the sun came out. Was a nice day to be outside though.
Talking to others on the way out, they did mention that it was slow.
Going again Saturday, hopefully we will do better.
--Bob
|
| 1051.9 | | GENRAL::WADE | | Thu Oct 10 1991 18:24 | 7 |
|
I'd prefer wings (if you can get 'em :^) )
That's OK Chuck. You don't have to reveal your spot.
I've got a better one! ;^)
Clay
|
| 1051.10 | | CARROL::LEFEBVRE | Boycott Columbus Day | Fri Oct 11 1991 09:23 | 17 |
| Spent yesterday at various blinds in and around Great Bay NH. Our hot
spot came up empty, but the wind was blowing pretty good and we figured
they were rafting. Didn't see a single bird fly by until about 8:30
when we saw a pair of mallards fly by.
We then went to blind number 2 on the back side of Pease AFB and in the
course of 30 minutes counted over >> 300 << blacks rafting in the
broads. The wind was gusting to 25 knots out of the south/southwest,
so were on the windward side of the bay. We wisely got our asses out
of there before the wind picked up any further.
Motoring across the rips at Great Bay in a dory with a 10 HP motor is
not my idea of fun when the wind picks up.
No shots, but plenty of ducks.
Mark.
|
| 1051.11 | From Thursday's Nashua Telegraph | CHRLIE::HUSTON | | Fri Oct 11 1991 15:14 | 11 |
|
Seems some guys in Hollis NH were in for a surprise when they got out
to there cars after the opener. Someone had let the air out of
2 tires per car while they were hunting. They said they had been
duck hunting for a few years there and nothing like this has ever
happened. They have been asked to leave but no type of vandalism.
Some people never cease to amaze me.
--Bob
|
| 1051.12 | Opening day has been better | BTOVT::PHELPS | | Mon Oct 14 1991 10:18 | 25 |
|
Hunting on my island this year on Lake Champlain wasn't great for
the opener either. Wind out of the NW at about 25 MPH Sat. slowed only
late in the afternoon. Had great weather other than that with rain on
and off and even hail for 20 minutes or so. My Lab's back was covered
in white. Managed 3 drake Bluebills Sat. and 1 Mallard and 1 Merganser
on Sunday. As usual we had many skybusters up in the creeks. Glad I
moved out to open water a dozen years ago. Thousands of geese moving
both days . Seemed like more snows than Canadas. Snows having the
traditional sqeak/squak rather than the Canadas honk.
It should be better as the season progresses as there won't be as
many hunters later on and the migraters will be moving down. We had
some nasty wind and rain on Friday that may have pushed many of this
years' locals out.
We also had the usual 1 lonely black duck drop in the middle of the
decoys with still about 3 minutes to go for legal shooting time of 7AM
Saturday. It must have set it's alarm for 1 minute later as it got up
and flew off at that point. Still not legal shooting time yet. When
it's that close I will not take the chance. My license and my ethics
mean too much to me.
I'll be there again this weekend and will let you all know next week.
John
|
| 1051.13 | Fantastic hunting... | BTOVT::REMILLARD_K | | Mon Oct 14 1991 10:26 | 43 |
|
An update from VT.
Saturday's opener found me out with a friend and his dad, as I invited
them to hunt. The weather was perfect, 10 - 20 mph north wind, rainy,
and cold. Shooting time was 7:00 am, we were setup by 6:45. The birds
had already been dropping into the spread as we were setting up, we
knew it would be a good day. My 2 invitees had never experienced the
joy of steel shot...so I knew we were in for a lot of shooting.
They both seemed to be a sleep at the switch as a green head soared
over the spread just after legal shooting time, I dropped him with
2 blasts from my Winchester pump. As I was taking the bird from my
lab a drake woodie sets into the spread, as they are praising the dog,
I drop that one too...3 shots and I have 2/3 of my limit. I sat back
and let them shoot for a while. And boy did they shoot, about a box
each, and it seems I caught the disease, it took me about 3/4 of a box
to drop my last greenhead.
We saw hundreds of birds, and thousands of geese. It was the best
opener I've seen since I hunted in the National Wildlife Refugee in
the youth waterfowl program. We ended the first day with:
1 black
1 hen pintail
1 drake woodie
1 hen mallard
5 drake mallards
My buddy and I went out again Sunday, to see a clear sky and south
winds. Actually a better wind for decoying in this bay. The ducks
were there and we were done in 1 hour, picking our shots on the bigger
ducks only. Our shooting was much better, 1/2 box each, and a few of
those were to dispatch cripples. We ended Sunday with:
2 Blacks
2 Hen Mallards
2 Drake Mallards
Two days of hunting picking the birds we wanted to take, and a dog that
performed almost flawless, what more can one ask for?
Kevin
|
| 1051.14 | | GIAMEM::J_AMBERSON | | Mon Oct 14 1991 10:31 | 13 |
| I think the weather is finally starting to cooperate down here in
MA. Seemed like the woodies at our favorite spot were not nearly as
thick as last year. The last couple of days has seen a BIG increase
in there numbers. Makes me think that mayby some northern birds are
starting to get a bit chilley and heading south. The geese are
everywhere, only problem is my farmers haven't cut all there corn yet!
Hopefully this week. If we can get a couple of hard frosts it should
help to push the honkers into the cut corn. the frost kills a good
portion of there other food sources and sustained cold forces them to
feed more and on higher protein foods (corn). Opening is tomorrow.
I'm taking Tues-Fri off but will report back in on Monday.
Jeff
|
| 1051.15 | They're on the way... | BTOVT::REMILLARD_K | | Mon Oct 14 1991 10:31 | 13 |
|
re .13
An Addendum.
You guys in NH and MA should be getting some good shooting, as I
believe the migrators are already here. Some of the birds were locals,
some were migrators...I'm guessing that by the fat layer and leg
colorations. From my experience the migrators have a thicker fat
layer and darker colored legs, 3/4 of the birds we took were migrators.
That had to account for the unusually large numbers of ducks.
Kevin
|
| 1051.16 | Getting better, bring on the mallards | CHRLIE::HUSTON | | Mon Oct 14 1991 13:56 | 23 |
|
Went out again Saturday, saw more ducks than on Wednesday (NH),
problem was, I can't reload that fast. They all (woodies) seemed
to be coming in in groups of 2-5, but the groups were coming in
one after the other, once a group came in while we both had empty
guns. Was sort of funny. Ended up with 2 ducks, if we could have
shot straight we would have had more. Even got a shot at a
Goose.
Seems to really fizzle out after 8.
Great weather on Sat, was pouring when we got to the put in spot.
Stayed in the truck for 10 minutes, was a heavey mist when we put the
canoe in. By the time we were in the canoe the rain had stopped
and it never started again. Really overcast and a decent wind, made it
very predictable were the birds would come in. New it was a going to
be a good day when one of the guys called me at 3:45 AM and said he
had to cancel. That convinced me we would see ducks. There are
certain rules of duck hunting that can't be messed with.
--Bob
|
| 1051.17 | VT opener | BTOVT::MCCUIN_G | | Tue Oct 15 1991 07:36 | 17 |
| Opening day in VT. Four people in a delux blind in Goose Bay. The bay
was full of Geese before daylight. We were just a few miles from Kevin
so I don't need to go into weather and wind. the bottom line was;
3-Canadas
1-Snow Goose
4-Blacks, one with a band.
4-Drake mallards, one banded.
1-Hen mallard
1-Widgeon
2-Ringbills
We had a great day. Hunting with my buddies is the best, thanks
Kevin,Paul and Dave.
I would say it won't be long before some of these ducks and geese
are down your way boy's. Have at um. Good luck.
Gordy
|
| 1051.18 | Mass started today | ASDG::DUFFY | | Tue Oct 15 1991 14:43 | 35 |
| Yes, the Ma. season started today and the ducks were flying.
I set up on shore(first mistake)because I had to come to work(second
mistake).
Where I hunt there are 2 swamps on different sides of the highway and
it is usually gets alot of attention. Not too many hunters on my side this
morning, I counted 4 groups. On the other side must have been side by
side hunters from the sound of gun shots that went off when legal time
came around (6:30).
After I set up (bout 6:10) and sitting drinking my hot chocolate I was
getting pump, ducks flying everywhere and since this was Kelseys (1 yr
old Lab) first time out duck hunting (she has put up and retrieved
grouse) I thought our hard work over the summer was going to be put
to work.
Well when all the action started I sat there and listend and watch
everybody else drop the ducks,mainly woodies. Then when I did start
to get some of the mallards to work in on my decoys, the closes group
near (80 yards in front of me)me had alot of confidence in the guns
reaching the stars. Unfortunatly the wind was coming from my back
and the bird were cupping and coming right over there heads.Needless
to say I got 1 shot off in 2 hours.
Well I guess next time I'll go out in the canoe.
It was the best day for ducks I've seen in 3 or 4 years here.So I guess
some will be there tonight when I go back after work.
Still waiting to take that first picture of my dog with the duck in her
mouth.
Duff
|
| 1051.19 | Pup likes the big water and the big ducks. | DNEAST::BAKER_CHUCK | Human Input Required... | Wed Oct 16 1991 07:27 | 21 |
|
My hunting buddy and I, his veteran yellow lab and my 7 month old
black lab took yesterday off to try some early sea duck hunting. I
really wanted to get my pup as much experience as possible this year
and sea ducks seemed the best way.
The weather was clear and cold, (actually only cool by duck hunters
standards / 32 degrees) and the wind out of the NW. Seas were supposed
to build to 6' with the wind switching around to the South so we set up
on a ledge in a more protected part of our favorite bay. We were
flushing birds as we approached the ledge and started setting the 28
Eider decoys that filled the front quarter of my 17' center console.
Had birds land in the decoys as we unloaded the boat. A very good
sign. By 9:30 we had our limit of 7 Eiders each and my pup had learned
a lot, getting 7 retrieves in about 3 hours.
This is going to be a good season.
Chuck
|
| 1051.20 | | GENRAL::WADE | | Wed Oct 16 1991 12:19 | 15 |
|
I have a question on bag limits. Out here in Colorado,
we're allowed a 100 pt. limit (ie reach or exceed 100
points w/ the last duck taken).
A mallard hen and pintails are 100 points each. We (me
and my buddies) do not shoot at them.
I thought I saw in earlier replies where mallard hens and
some pintails were taken along with other types. Don't
you folks back east have a "population declining" problem
with mallards and pintails? Or, is it just limited to our
flyway? I'm not trying to flame anybody.
Clay
|
| 1051.21 | bag limit vs. point system... | BTOVT::REMILLARD_K | | Wed Oct 16 1991 12:42 | 26 |
|
In VT we have never used the point system. There are several options
the Fed's give the states, our Fish and Game dept. always goes with
a bag limit.
Our total bag limit is 3 birds, those three can consist of;
3 mallards (only 1 can be a hen)
2 wood ducks
1 black duck
1 pintail
2 Redheads
all other species (expect Canvasback and Harlequin) have a 3 bird bag
limit, i.e. - 3 Lesser Scaup, 3 Teal, etc.
How does that compare to the point system? How many bluebills (Lesser
Scaup) can you shoot for instance? What are some point values for the
not so sought after species?
I try and stay away from shooting the hen mallards as well, but
occaisonally I'll take some.
Hope I answered some questions...
Kevin
|
| 1051.22 | | GENRAL::WADE | | Wed Oct 16 1991 13:41 | 15 |
|
Thanks Kev. It must be flyway specific. However, I
remember reading pintails somewhere (Sports Afield I
think) that pintail numbers are way down. Maybe you
could spread the word to cut them some slack :^)
Anyway, off the top of my head: 100 pts - mallard hen,
redhead (either sex), pintail (either sex), and I
think there is one more but I don't have the regs with
me; 50 pts. - mallard drakes; 35 pts. - just about
any other except canvasback which we're not allowed to
take. Again, the limit is 100 pts. You're done when
you meet or exceed 100 pts. with the last bird taken.
Clay
|
| 1051.23 | We don't go by points (NH) | CHRLIE::HUSTON | | Wed Oct 16 1991 14:11 | 20 |
|
NH looks pretty much like VT, for the ducks I see:
You can take 3 ducks, that are limited too:
3 mallards, only 1 hen
1 black
2 wood ducks
The other things look the same, but I never see them.
As for Geese, I believe its:
3 Canada's and 5 Snow/Blue Geese. This doesn't seem to make sense to
me since I have never seen any Geese other than Canada's, maybe I just
hunt in the wrong swamp. But then again this is year 1 for NH duck
hunting.
--Bob
|
| 1051.24 | Geese are doing great... | BTOVT::REMILLARD_K | | Wed Oct 16 1991 16:21 | 8 |
|
re .23
I saw at least 10,000 snows this past weekend. Their populations
are WAY up...
Kevin
|
| 1051.25 | Last weekend...not bad | COMPLX::BULLARD | | Wed Oct 16 1991 16:40 | 29 |
| Location: Spinney reservoir (Can't hide nothin' from Clay ;^)
Saturday was moderate in number of ducks flying. I took a green
-wing teal and mallard drake. My friend took a mallard drake.
Was shootin' much better, good to get back 'the touch'.
Sunday, a lot less ducks flying. Could only hear one other hunter
shooting, only the first 2 hours. Hardly any ducks flying after
9:00 am. I really got my 'touch' back sunday, nailing a teal and
a mallard drake. The teal was taken from lying down, sitting up
turning around and shooting (flew behind us). The drake did some
very evasive tactics when he seen me sit up, but I got him anyway.
Think I only shot 5 rounds that day. My friend shot about 15 and
did'nt connect.
Spinney is a resevoir in the middle of high desert plain surrounded
by mountains. It is very sandy with short grazed grass surrounding
it (NO cover whatsoever). My friend I was hunting with was from
Ohio and could'nt believe the lake would even have ducks. He
could'nt believe it when I explained we lay down, cover legs with
burlap, uper body camo-ed as best as possible. When ducks come in,
sit up and shoot. After the first saturday he said it was the
strangest but best duck hunting he had ever done. Even after the
hunting slowed down after the opening day, he still thought it was
great compared to Ohio. To keep the ducks moving Spinney could have
used more hunters after opening day. So thats why the secret is out.
Hey Clay, where do you hunt that's better than Spinney ? :^)
chuck
|
| 1051.26 | | GENRAL::WADE | | Wed Oct 16 1991 17:54 | 11 |
|
Sounds like an average day at Spinney. I've done the
laying down bit up there. It really cuts down on what
you can see coming into your decoys (duh!). The best
luck I've had up there is setting up by the nesting
islands they built up there (they are a group of about
20 islands surrounded by a man made mote(sp?) to keep predators
away from nests). It's a good place to go to knock the dust
off the ole shooting skills.
Clay
|
| 1051.27 | seeking elk | CSC32::G_ROBERTS | she cried more, more, more | Thu Oct 17 1991 12:16 | 11 |
| RE: last couple
You guys should check out Antero. The west side where the Platte and
Salt Creek come in is loaded with ducks. If you have a shallow bottom
boat setup between the islands and the shore. Very hot spot. Should
be able to pick up some geese too.
I'm out of here.
Gordon
|
| 1051.28 | Where's the snow? | BTOVT::PHELPS | | Mon Oct 21 1991 10:39 | 16 |
|
An update for the weekend on Lake Champlain here in Vt..
Still having the blue bird weather with warm temps..
Managed to get:
1 Woodie
1 Ruddy
2 White winged scoters
Weather's not supposed to get any colder this week either and the
first segment of our split season ends at the close of this coming
Sunday.
John
|
| 1051.29 | | GIAMEM::J_AMBERSON | | Mon Oct 21 1991 11:12 | 18 |
| Took last week off to hunt ducks. Tuesday was opening day in MA.
The spot we hunted is usually full of woodies with a few mallards
thrown in. With the way the bag limits are set up, we were allowed
3 ducks (1 hen mallard, 1 black, or 2 woodies only). This meens that
you hope to shoot drake mallards. As it turned out we had a great day.
We ended up with 3 drake mallards, 1 hen, and 2 woodies. Plus we got
two Canada's. The geese were iceing on the cake. We had finished with
the ducks and were sitting there talking with the dogs. We still had
1/2 dozen dekes (mallard) out. We heard the geese coming before we saw
them, Never expected them to pull. When they came over the tree line
they were headed for the middle of the bog. Gave them about three
clucks on the call and they turned right in to us! Stupid birds. They
pulled right towards the mallard spread. We had point blank shots.
That's probably why we only dropped two of them. They were young birds
and they acted like it. Guarenteed that they wouldn't do that after
opening day again.
Jeff
|
| 1051.30 | What about the rest of the week? | DATABS::STORM | | Mon Oct 21 1991 16:27 | 5 |
| Jeff, it sounds like you had a good opener. How did you do on
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, while the rest of us were working?????
Mark,
|
| 1051.31 | Another good opener... | BTOVT::REMILLARD_K | | Wed Oct 07 1992 12:17 | 48 |
|
So is anyone duck hunting yet?
VT's opener was today. I managed to get out for a couple of hours
before work. My partner and I set up in the same bay I hunted last
year. I knew it was going to be a "blue-bird" day as far as weather
goes, you could practically drive the boat by the starlight.
My partner was a late arrival, my other 2 hunting partners bowed out
early this week. He hasn't duck hunted much, so I knew he'd be in for
a treat...if there were any ducks.
They started coming in slow around 6:30, 1's and 2's, and then the
big flocks stated coming in...mallards and blacks in flocks by the
20's and 30's, coming right into the spread...they'd settle in and
swim up the shore to feed. By shooting time most of birds were out
of range, but we pulled up on 2 greenheads and my partner dropped
his with the Browning 3 1/2" mag (whatta gun!!!). Shortly after that
I drop a woodie screaming over the decoys with a single shot.
I was checking out his gun when in comes a mallard about 45 yds. off
the front of the boat, he yells, "take 'em"...so I did, 1 shot dead
on the spot. I'm getting hooked on this magnum stuff. In comes 2 more
mallards, he drops one, so we have 4 birds and it's 7:15 (shooting time
started at 7:00). This bird took my dog out about 100 yds. and dove,
the dog got on it quick and went under once and came up with the bird,
first time this guy has hunted with a dog...he's hooked.
Things sloooooowed way down after that with only a few shots, so I decided
to take a walk on shore with the dog. A mallard and woodie had landed in
the tall grass about 200 yds. upshore, I was going to try and put them
up. They must have flushed when I was in the woods, because nothing
jumped up...so I let the dog run the weeds to run down some energy.
Low and behold here she comes with this dead mallard in her
mouth..."Where'd you find that one girl?" It must have been one of the
ones we shot at real early that got hit, never showed any signs of
being hit, but flew off almost 300 yds. before croaking...strange stuff
this steel shot..
It was a good time, especially seeing the dog work and my friend going
banana's waiting for legal shooting time...I don't know who was
shivering more the dog or him. The ducks were making quite a racket
when they were pouring in early, splashing - and quacking up a storm,
it was good to sit back and look up at the stars and enjoy it.
Good luck fellow waterfowlers.
Kevin
|