Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

1210.0. "Far fewer ducks in S. NH ??" by CHRLIE::HUSTON () Mon Oct 19 1992 12:24

    
    I have a question for all you duck hunters (S. NH specifically)
    
    We have been to the same place we hunted last year. Last year the
    first half of the season, we would have wood ducks pouring in on
    us, and not see many mallards/blacks. The second half, the 
    woodies were gone (as expected) and the mallards/blacks were in.
    
    THis year we have seen next to no woodies, just the occasion
    trio or pair, but have seen a few mallards and blacks.  But overall
    the number of ducks that we have seen has been down.
    
    Is this happening to everyone? 
    
    A couple of other things to point out...
    
    We couldn't make it there anytime during the opening week, until Sat 
    morning, the marsh was just about empty of hunters (it was raining),
    and the ducks were very jumpy, circled teh decoy from up high for quite
    a while before coming down, if they came at all. We guessed it was
    due to being blased at for the Wed-Fri.
    
    This last weekend,(very nice morning), we again basically had the 
    swamp to ourselves, at least judging by teh amount of shots we heard,
    there were some, but far from alot.  Again we saw almost no woodies
    and several mallards and blacks.
    
    Also, we went in opening morning to the sight of a beaver dam we had
    to portage the canoe over. This caused the water level in the portion
    of the swamp we hunt to be about 10 inches, as opposed to last year
    when it was about 2-3 feet. There are still plenty of lilly pads and
    other weeds around for food.
    
    Anyway, the big question is: have teh woodies just left early due
    to the cold week we had in late Sept, or has the place just been
    shot out, or are we just unlucks :-)
    
    --Bob
    

    Bob, ducks are definitely down in the Seacoast area.  I took a woodie
    opening day, and my father missed a gimmee on a brace of mallards that
    decoyed perfectly.  Other than that, we saw few birds Saturday or
    Sunday, and it was a perfect weekend.
    
    Of course, the private pond across the street is loaded :^).
    
    Didn't get out this weekend, but I didn't hear much shootin' at all.
    
    Mark.

    
    
    Hi Bob,
    
        Here in Mass. we seen plenty of wood ducks opening day (Oct 13th).
    As a matter of fact thats about all we did see. There were hundreds of
    them. Opening was GREAT! We seen a couple of hundred birds that day.
    The next day was a different story, we did not see many birds at all.
    Didn't hear one quarter of the shooting we heard the day before.
    
        Attepted some Sea-ducking yesterday down the Cape, seen thousands
    of birds! Just couldn't get many to land into the decoys. It was alot
    of fun watching those huge flocks!
    
    
      Looking for a more active second half of the season!
    
    Take care,
    
    Wildman
           

    
    I also hunt So. N.H... I feel the opener is to early. I think most of
    the birds are local with the migration not yet started.
    
    Another problem seems to be so many lakes and ponds off limits to
    hunting these days, no one is there to push the birds from one place
    to the next.
    
    I've been spending my time doing float trips in back out of the way
    rivers and been having better luck.
    
    Rick