Proud of Dad's Duck
Pretty Wood Duck
A friend of mine from several states over sent me a few pics of a wood duck that he & his friend shot a few days ago. His friend took his 8yr old son that looks to be very proud of his dad! His pic above says it all. Hunting is such a great way to connect with your kids – congrats on the duck and more importantly – on making a memory that will last a lifetime!
Thanks for sharing!
Results from the Morning Hunt
We had to change things up a bit today as we were hunting a cow pasture that was ate down pretty short. We ended up seeking cover under a couple trees out in the middle of the pasture. Most of the time you want to get away from trees as much as possible while goose hunting, but we had just seen them there the day before and since we were needing some cover we thought we’d give it a try.
As you can tell, we did have some success today, but they still didn’t work extremely well. You never know with waterfowl, but it seemed as if the trees might have been throwing them off just a bit. The trees didn’t do too much for the shooting either as we probably should’ve had 6 down (there was 3 of us hunting) had we had better openings above us.
Still a fun day out in creation and hopefully I’ll be able to get back out there in the near future. Until then, good luck and stay safe!
Success
Golden Eye
The Results
Had a great day on the edge of the river this morning! I started the day off with a big bang that cleared the skies – let me explain. We had everything set up and it was just past shooting time when three mallards started working our decoys. They ended up hovering 15 feet over our spread and my cousin said, “Just tell me when.” I replied with take ’em which I followed up with a shot. My cousin had his gun up but never got to shoot, because my first shot had taken out all 3 ducks! 2 mallard drakes and a hen. I do believe that’s the first time I’ve tripled, I know it is the first time that only 3 came in and I shot all 3 with one shot!! I was focused in on one of the greenheads, but evidently they lined up just right for me as I squeezed off the shot – talk about lucky 😉 I think that just might bring my shooting percentage over the 100% mark! I’ll do my best to humble myself tomorrow I’m sure.
We ended up finishing the day with 8 ducks – 3 mallards, 4 gadwall, and a golden eye. Not too bad for two guys. A beautiful morning (a little too pretty) but the ducks still filtered in giving us a very memorable hunt on the river.
Hero Pose 🙂
7 mallards - 2 gadwall - 1 pintail
Pintail Drake
One of the great pleasures of duck hunting is the fact that you never know what may try to sit in your decoys. Our day started this morning with this pintail drake sitting right in the middle of our decoys – what a way to start the day!
Pintails are rare in the places I hunt and to be perfectly honest, this is the first pintail that I’ve ever shot – and only been on one other hunt when someone else shot one. What a beautiful bird – love the long graceful neck!
The pics pretty much tell the story. We had a great day today, especially considering that the day started as clear as a bell. Still not all that many ducks down here in southwest MO (at least where we were at), but I’m expecting some good things from this nasty weather coming this next week.
Unfortunately we had to set up facing the southeast today, so I wasn’t able to catch any of the action on camera. Hopefully I’ll be getting some footage here before too long.
Best of luck to you all – happy hunting!
Hunting the River
Mallard Drake
Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a great 2010, but regardless of how your 2010 was I hope you’re expecting some great things in 2011. My hope is to live intentionally this year with my relationship with God, my family, with my career opportunities and just live the adventure that comes with living a life directed by a power bigger than myself.
Now on to hunting. Had a fun two days of hunting down here in southwest MO, not a lot to show for it, but a good time none-the-less. On Wednesday a friend of mine and I saw a conservative estimate of 1000 ducks, 0 of which we killed :-(.
Yesterday we saw maybe 50 ducks total and ended up taking three mallards, the only three that came within 500yrds from us! It’s crazy how fickle waterfowl can be, especially in the late season – you just never know.
I’m hoping to get a bit more hunting in this Saturday, we’re down to just a few more weeks of season so I’m trying to get out there every chance I can get.
I’m not making too big of a dent in the waterfowl population so if any of you other waterfowlers out there have some pics along with a story of a successful hunt – please share!
Good luck!
Geese Landing - Not in Decoys!
How many of you have made a decision while hunting, then realized shortly after that your decision had cost you big time? How many times have you said, “I’ll never do that again, I’ll stick with my original plan from now on!” If you’re not nodding your head then you’re even a bigger liar than the rest of us hunters! Well, this happened to me and my fellow hunters just a couple days ago while goose hunting.
We set up early in the morning, everything was going smoothly. The decoys looked great, we were well camouflaged in our layout blinds, these geese were in the bag. Not so fast, we barely saw the first group because they were flying about tree top high when they crested the hill and never even gave us a look before they sat down about 200 yrds from us – not good. We spooked them off to hopefully keep other geese from doing the same, but to no avail – 2 to 3 more groups ended up doing the same thing.
We were frustrated, we had obviously set up in the wrong spot, but what to do now? The decision was unanimous, we needed to MOVE! Very logical decision, but one that probably cost us all our limit for the day. It was in the process of moving the decoys that a very large group of geese coming from a bit different direction, started locking up (then flaring off) our original location that now had half the decoys moved along with decoy bags and everything else out that it takes to move 4 dozen full body decoys! We were committed to the move so we finished moving only to watch another nice group sail over our original location and then that was it, they were done flying for the morning – talk about pull your hair out!
Lesson learned: Stick with your original plan while goose hunting – at least until the morning flight is over. Geese have a weird ability to fly all at roughly the same time. You’re better off being concealed in a nice spread, even if it is in the less than perfect location for that hunt. I realize I wouldn’t be writing this if our move had worked, and sometimes it does, which is what keep us making this mistake. My experience has shown that most of the time this doesn’t work while goose hunting, at least not during the big morning flight time.
Best solution in my opinion is to stick it out for that hunt where you are. At least you’re not educating the geese by being caught running around in your goose spread. There’s usually a next time – take notes for your next hunt.
Awesome Deer
You just don’t see too many 14 pt typical bucks like this! This is a trail camera pic from a cousin of mine.
Now for the heartbreaking news. He was hunting with his muzzleloader a few days ago up in north MO when this brute walked out in front of him. He made what he thought was a good shot and the buck dropped like a sack of potatoes. He was talking to one of his buddies on the phone as he walked up to the deer and his buddy had just told him that he’d better go ahead and put another one in him to be sure.
Well you can guess the rest of the story – the deer jumped up right in front of him and ran off! I don’t know a lot of the details at this point, I can just imagine the sleepless nights! He’s looked for him the past couple of days, and he might be looking again today – I sure hope he finds him – what a beautiful deer!
Now is the time to be hunting over a good food source. Young does can be key right now as well as some of them are coming in to estrous which can potentially lead a buck such as this one right into your life!
Best of luck and I’ll keep you posted on this deer!
UPDATE: I thought I’d give you the promised update on this deer. Unfortunately I have to report the bad news that this deer was never found. After posting this story and talking with many blackpowder hunters, I’ve heard many, many stories just like this one where the deer drops in his tracks then jumps up and runs off with little or no blood. I guess the lesson to learn here is to pack plenty of powder behind your sabot/ball, practice (even if it takes longer), and reload as soon as you shoot your deer just in case!
Great Hunt!
Cut Em!!
Take Em!!
Some early season goose hunting is a great way to relieve that itchy trigger finger from sitting countless hours trying to get a shot at the “big boy” in your deer stand.
That’s what I, my twin brother and a good friend did Monday, December 6 here in North Missouri. We set up in a bean field that had some grassy drainage areas running through it which provided perfect cover for our layout blinds. We were in a spot where they wanted to be so we only set out about two dozen full body decoys, and half dozen shells.
It was a cold yet beautiful afternoon with a slight NW wind. After waiting about an hour, a group of about 20 geese came from behind us, made a big circle, got the wind right for landing and sailed in with wings cupped about 10 ft. off the ground. This is the sight that will get any waterfowler’s blood pumping.
Needless to say we opened fire and in seconds had seven geese down. That was only two geese shy our limit. A few minutes later there were about one hundred geese were circling overhead. Luckily a pair broke off from the group and sailed in like a couple of 747’s. Two shots later our limit was
filled. Laying back in our blinds we watched multiple groups well within shooting range fly over and eventually land in the field we were in. Two groups, nine geese equals one great hunt! Hunts like this will bring you back to the field again and again!
Hopefully it’s a good sign as to how the rest of the season will be!
This is a post submitted by my cousins Bryan & Ryan – thanks for the post & the great pics!!
Mmmmm.....Mmmmm.....Good
Mmmm…. Summer Sausage from my early bow season doe. Just recently got it back and boy is it good!! A package of Ritz, sausage, and cheese – that’s a snack that can’t be beat! Ok, on to a scouting update….
In Missouri we just wrapped up our regular firearms deer season a week or so ago and are still in the extended doe season for most of the state. Needless to say, this is making for some tricky hunting when it comes to getting back into the swing of bowhunting.
Not only are the deer spooky, they are also unpredictable during this time of year due to another pattern change as the rut starts to slow. I was finally able to get back out in the woods for a short evening hunt tonight and saw two fresh scrapes that had recently been cleaned. As the temps drop you can expect to see more and more deer hitting food sources. They do this to both keep their calorie intake high for warmth, and to recover from the rut that has had them running hard for a few weeks. This being said, I wouldn’t forsake the grunt tube and the estrous scent altogether. Young does come into estrous late many times and you can bet the bucks will still be up for a little, shall we say “tail” even late in the game.
My best guess for this time of year is to still focus a bit on the pinch points for bucks still doing a little cruising for does as well as setting up in staging areas 50 to 60 yrds into the brush right near a food source. I know that bowhunting is tough work this time of year, but hey, someone’s got to do it!!
Good luck – let me know what’s going on in your woods right now.
Nathan
Compensating for Ground Shrinkage 😉
Rutting Buck
Ryan shot this buck on Friday Nov. 19th. He was hunting in an area where we’ve seen a really mature buck. After doing a little scouting he hung a new stand. I believe this was his second hunt from the stand and he’d only been there about 15 min when a smaller buck came through chasing a doe. Needless to say, he was getting pretty excited seeing all the action and it wasn’t much longer when this guy came through. Seeing the tall tines, Ryan made the quick decision to take this buck. He made a good shot and the buck dropped in his tracks!
This wasn’t quite the buck he was after, but this will fill the freezer just the same. Congrats little cousin, use your bow like a real man next time 😉 !!!