Duck Season 2019

[Armored farmer]

My son, some friends, and I made our second annual trip to Reelfoot lake, Tennessee this week.
The warm weather and bluebird skies made our trip enjoyable but wasn't great weatherfor duck hunting. The full moon probably didn't help either.
I will let my camera do most of the talking:

Needless to say, we all ate well, drank well, and enjoyed all the stories that were told to pass the time.

A little bit of info about the pickup load of gear that we hauled along:
All of the hunters including our guides have camo floating gun cases that are padded and can withstand being transferred from truck to boat to blind, and back again. They are the only defense your shotgun has against aluminum boat ribs, atv racks, splashing water and mud, and dark-thirty loading and unloading.


A handy camouflage blind bag is just the ticket to carry ammo, spare gloves, warm hats, calls, snacks, and etc.
The predawn high-speedboat ride to the blind is the coldest part. A neck gaiter or face mask is nice.

The first day brought ducks lighting in our decoy spread before legal shooting time(sunrise). We chomped at the bit like racehorses in the gates. The minutes after sunrise brought a small flight of ducks into our spread, and we were able to get a few birds into the blind pretty early in the morning. The shooting quickly slowed to a halt within an hour. We took only five ducks one day one.
Day two was slow and we only took five more all day with our final two ducks just minutes before 3pm(official quitting time).

Are there any other duck hunting stories?
We were a little disappointed with our numbers, but we're all hunters and know too well how that goes.

 

[Patocazador]

When I was really into duck hunting about 15 years ago, I wanted to go to Reelfoot real bad ... until I saw a few videos showing the ridiculously large decoy rigs plus jerk lines and aerial ducks on overhead cables. Also, the hundreds of other hunters and boat traffic.

I like duck hunting not crowd-gathering.

 

[Armored farmer]

When I was really into duck hunting about 15 years ago, I wanted to go to Reelfoot real bad ... until I saw a few videos showing the ridiculously large decoy rigs plus jerk lines and aerial ducks on overhead cables. Also, the hundreds of other hunters and boat traffic.

I like duck hunting not crowd-gathering.

Yes on the jerk lines and overhead mojos.
That is a big lake, while we did see other hunters in boats, our spreads were secluded. We heard an occasional boat pass nearby, but it wasn't bad at all.
We never waited at the boat ramp or had any contact with other hunters except for a friendly nod or wave.
Tennessee folks are pleasant and polite.

 

[Patocazador]

Tennessee folks are pleasant and polite.

Yes, I graduated from high school in Tenn. a long time ago (1961).

 

[Captcurt]

I used to hunt them, but locally it is usually January before the weather is bad enough to make it worthwhile. We need it cold enough to freeze the ponds. Then we can hunt the lake or rivers. The only other option is to take out a loan and go to eastern Arkansas.

I have 3 dozen decoys and some Canada shells that haven't been used in ten years.

 

[22250Rem]

Base on the shots heard around me; duck season is a little slow along the bays & marshes on the south side of Lake Ontario. Western zone of NY state has a split season for ducks. Oct. 19 to Nov. 10, and then Nov. 30 to Jan. 5.. Bay I'm on is partially frozen and upper 30's tomorrow with rain changing to snow by Sunday. Never duck hunted; but I'd have to go out with someone experienced or I'd be clueless. Most waterfowlers around here must be still working, as you hear the most shotgun fire on weekends. Bag limits are down this year for mallards and some other stuff so perhaps that explains why I haven't heard the usual amount of gunfire from the bay & marsh area. Here's how a small part of it looked a couple days ago.. Gotta give it a try someday.

 

[Armored farmer]

Rumor has it that the standing crops in the north are keeping the waterfowl well fed. They have no reason to head south yet.

 

[Bull Nutria]

Well I have hunted in South LA coastal marshes for 60 years, I worked on federal waterfowl refuges In LA for 31 years, Last year and this year have been the worst duck seasons in my life. I have shot 24 ducks in 12 hunts this season with a few scratches thrown in! I believe that the continental population is so depressed that there aren't enough breeders to replace the ducks killed each year. 25 years of 60 days and 6 ducks has a very gradual and incremental drain on the population. we can not control the rainfall, weather, farming practices on the breeding grounds, the only thing that we have control over is harvest. the Federal duck regulators are convinced that hunting has no effect on duck populations! Shotguns kill ducks.

The breeding success rate of ducks is very low mostly due to predation around nesting sites which are diminished by clean farming practices. Ducks have a very high breeding potential but it can only be realized in optimum water ,and nesting cover. Bottomline is don't expect a big change in the amount of ducks you see when hunting this fall--- be prepared for plenty of empty skys!

Until the federal and state regulators stop making excuse and make changes to the regulations to protect more breeding ducks!

End of rant!

Bull

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Poor season for me. Went to the Mississippi 3 or 4 times and heard about as many shots, none of them mine. A couple friends that hunt nearly every day said it was the worst season in years. Another friend to the North had very good luck.

 

[Patocazador]

I went once in early season and killed 2 wood ducks. I never saw a teal. There are some blackbellies around but that is it.

This area isn't real good for ducks but I used to be able to count on woodies, b/w teal and ringnecks with perhaps a Fla. mallard or two during the season.

 

[Random 8]

Was a pretty rough season up here in the frozen North. Ours has been thoroughly over for near a month and a half now with an early freezeup. Our local production was a little light this year for reasons I can't understand. I think it was too wet and cool in the spring and a lot of clutches didn't make it. Did manage some decent shooting on wood ducks an local mallards on the opening weekend way back in late September, but the teal were already headed South by opening weekend with some unseasonably cool weather. Seemed like it rained every weekend in October and I had to work most Saturdays so I didn't get out much. Made it out for one day of late season big water hunting just before freezeup. Got a few ringnecks, a stray mallard, and missed on a brace of buffleheads that strafed in on the tips of the whitecaps. Should have capped a limit that day. Ended up very wet, cold and tired, a perfect late season day. Field shooting on geese and mallards was near nonexistent. Most corn was still standing (including the fields I had permission on). The guys that had harvested fields to hunt did well, but they were rare. 8" or more of ice on the lakes, and even the moving water is mostly frozen. Heavy snow cover on any of the harvested fields out there, so birds are definately at least S of Minnesota by now.

 

[Random 8]

I keep pretty close tabs on the local production up here, and network with a lot of serious (retired) hunters with lots of time. Seems overall it was a thoroughly average season from MN through the Dakotas, despite high hopes given near to record rainfall in the region and lots of temporary water from a heavy snow melt. Spring thaw timing was late, and there were some late snows in N Dakota and Canada. This may have depressed nesting success. I've always seen the best local production with an early to average thaw and a wet April. There was a very good late run on divers in MN this year. This shoot might have been better than numbers would suggest, as weather patterns were favorable to concentrate the flight in late October, early November. This is what one could expect headed south in the Mississippi flyway. MN and Iowa are thoroughly frozen now, so there shouldn't be any late stragglers left.

 

[the Black Spot]

Got my first duck anout a week ago