Ducks, How did you do?

[lewdogg21]

My place sucks right now. Could change tomorrow

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[duckman1]

Plenty of Sprig and geese, couldn’t get anything to finish. 3 guns 1 wigeon.


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[Blue]

Super slow at my spot in the grasslands today.

[Che762x39]

Originally Posted by CABilly

We only got one coot yesterday. I hid it around the yard and then cooked up the breasts and thighs for the dogs. Still worth going out.

Even on days I was skunked I enjoyed my duck hunting.

[Che762x39]

Originally Posted by shengyli

Today is the day. First time to shot the limit in 3 years of duck hunting. 3 Green Wing Teals, 2 Wigeons, 2 Shovelers. Central Valley.

Great shooting my friend, thank you for sharing

[Newshooter]

Raise your hand if you are tired of sitting in your blind watching sprig swarm you AFTER you have your 1 bird limit!!! Got one 5 min into shoot time and watched a ton of them fly by and circle my blind.

So frustrating!!

[NapalmCheese]

Originally Posted by Newshooter

Raise your hand if you are tired of sitting in your blind watching sprig swarm you AFTER you have your 1 bird limit!!! Got one 5 min into shoot time and watched a ton of them fly by and circle my blind.

So frustrating!!

Not quite that but...

I took 18 rounds of ammo with me yesterday afternoon. The blind was swarmed with spoonies and it was getting late so I spent the rest of my ammo shooting spoons for my end of season duck sausage.

Not 2 minutes after I fire my last round (and miss) and maybe 5 minutes before sunset, a nice bull sprig flys over checking out my decoys.

[PoorRichRichard]

Originally Posted by NapalmCheese

Not quite that but...

I took 18 rounds of ammo with me yesterday afternoon. The blind was swarmed with spoonies and it was getting late so I spent the rest of my ammo shooting spoons for my end of season duck sausage.

Not 2 minutes after I fire my last round (and miss) and maybe 5 minutes before sunset, a nice bull sprig flys over checking out my decoys.

Why in God’s green earth did you only bring out only 18 shells?!? I can understand only 25 if that’s the rules of the area you are hunting, but I always bring more in varying shot sizes if I’m able too in an effort to tailor my load to different size birds I might be seeing. It’s paid off for me carrying a few BB or T shot loads when the wayward snow goose decides to deviate from the flock while I’m out duck hunting.

[Irishfisher]

Los Banos Area today. 2 guns 2 ducks. Storm moved them out. Yesterday and last Wednesday were 2 man limit days for my buddies.

[Newshooter]

Originally Posted by NapalmCheese

Not quite that but...

I took 18 rounds of ammo with me yesterday afternoon. The blind was swarmed with spoonies and it was getting late so I spent the rest of my ammo shooting spoons for my end of season duck sausage.

Not 2 minutes after I fire my last round (and miss) and maybe 5 minutes before sunset, a nice bull sprig flys over checking out my decoys.

That would suck. At our blind, overly the last week and a half, we have seen a few teal but that is it. The only birds flying are sprig. I wish we had some spoonies to shoot at, I would take anything else to shoot at this point.

[NapalmCheese]

Originally Posted by PoorRichRichard

Why in God’s green earth did you only bring out only 18 shells?!? I can understand only 25 if that’s the rules of the area you are hunting, but I always bring more in varying shot sizes if I’m able too in an effort to tailor my load to different size birds I might be seeing. It’s paid off for me carrying a few BB or T shot loads when the wayward snow goose decides to deviate from the flock while I’m out duck hunting.

High clouds, relatively warm, little wind, and coming out just for the afternoon shoot made me think I wasn't going to have a lot of opportunity.

Turns out I was wrong, lol.

I knew a cold front was coming in, but I figured the ducks would be here today. I might have been right but, the cat had to go to the vet and I passed on shooting ducks today. Ah well, there'll be more birds next season (hell, I might even break my own rule and go out on the closer).

At least my wife had a full box of ammo!

[Arrieta578]

Klaus hunted the grasslands Saturday... He got a Speck, a Bull Sprig, a couple of Teal and a pair of Generals. He looked real hard for a Can in the tulles, but couldn't find'em.

He ate my sandwich and drank my coffee to boot. I did the driving and paid for gas.

[resistance]

Hunted Alcott again all day Saturday and a few hours Sunday. Very few shot opportunities...no birds. Started to rain and blow late Sat.

Took these 3 Cinnamons and that was it for our 2 guns.

duck1.jpg

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[shengyli]

This Wednesday, heavy rain and strong windy, Los Banos area. Is it worthy going? Thanks in advance.

[Irishfisher]

Originally Posted by shengyli

This Wednesday, heavy rain and strong windy, Los Banos area. Is it worthy going? Thanks in advance.

Those are the best conditions you will have all season. The ducks, and maybe even geese, will be flying low, slow and in range. The only question is whether your area will have ducks around. Put on some good rain gear, put your back to the wind, hunker down and wait for the shots.

Bring a dry shirt/jacket for your drive home. Every time you raise your gun to shoot, water will go up your sleeves. Good luck!

[shengyli]

Thank you for the tips.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by shengyli

This Wednesday, heavy rain and strong windy, Los Banos area. Is it worthy going? Thanks in advance.

How’d you do? My buddy sat in the blind until 1 today and only came home with two birds.

[Newshooter]

3 sprig, 2 widgeon, 1 canvas back and a snow. We were shocked to see ducks other than sprig.

We did spend quite a bit of time replacing all the decoys that were pushed against the check from last nights wind.

[MeatyMac]

Fun morning at Grizzly Island with my son hunting in the reeds, between us, 2 cinnamon teal, 3 green wing teal, 2 wigeon and a drake mallard and a coot. Rained almost all night but let up about 4am.

[shengyli]

Originally Posted by Blue

How’d you do? My buddy sat in the blind until 1 today and only came home with two birds.

I shot one duck, Scaup. Heavy rain and strong wind in the morning but calmed down when shoting time started. Many hunters though. Last Wednesday, there were less than 15 lottery draws. But today, there were 36. Reservation people showed up less than last Wednesday. I couldn't go to the parking lot I wanted and settled in a pond I have never shot there before. The birds don't come close to decoys.

[Blue]

What’s everyone do with their decoys this point in the year? My spread got hammered in the weather this week and I need to reorganize before Saturday. I’m almost thinking of pulling them all in because nothing has wanted to come near our blind lately?

[Newshooter]

We finally are seeing a mixed bag of ducks at our place. Tons and tons of teal, widgeon, some spoons and of course the sprig. We had a blast today and did good. The weather moved them around as we have only seen sprig the last week or so.

[Delta Duckman]

Down here in SE Louisiana we shot mostly divers this year where we use to shoot puddle ducks. Times have changed here in the Mississippi flyway with the advent of short stopping ducks coming to Louisiana. Big agriculture and farmers up the line have figured out how much money can be made in the duck business so they plant the corn, cut it down and flood the fields with water. They use ice breakers if it gets cold enough to keep ponds from freezing. Now the migrating ducks have food and water so they are not coming here like they use to. Who would have thought Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas would be slaying the ducks 10 years ago but they are now. The game has changed for us for the bad.

[chris]

Originally Posted by Newshooter

Raise your hand if you are tired of sitting in your blind watching sprig swarm you AFTER you have your 1 bird limit!!! Got one 5 min into shoot time and watched a ton of them fly by and circle my blind.

So frustrating!!

Someone likes that dam bird for the 1 bird limit we get. Been there done that. Shot one and had them flying around me.

Pintail love the Pacific Flyway that limit should be at least two birds.

[PoorRichRichard]

Delta D, that sucks man. I thought we had it bad here in So Cal. I consistently shoot more dabbling ducks than divers. Guess I should count my blessings...

[PoorRichRichard]

Originally Posted by chris

Pintail love the Pacific Flyway that limit should be at least two birds.

They were at 2 up until a few seasons ago. Hopefully the feds can do a proper bird count this upcoming spring and get us back to 2. I’m not holding my breath...

[Arrieta578]

Delta Duck...

Similar things happening in California... 60% of our Mallards are homegrown, but big cooperate agriculture has destroyed habitat and water issues in the Klamath and elsewhere has turned marshes into grasslands. Add to that, uncontrolled urban sprawl and a constantly increasing population and you can't even buy a Mallard in San Francisco's China Town.

Our migration has been interrupted by corn farmers in Eastern Oregon and Washington and migrating Mallards just don't seem to make it down anymore. Trust me, I feel your pain.

[Delta Duckman]

The confusing part of all of this is the old saying - "You can bring the water to the corn and that is legal, but you can't bring the corn to the water that is illegal".

[Newshooter]

Shot one of my bucket list birds yesterday.

Great way to spend the last days of this season.

[edgerly779]

Down in east texas my buddy is letting 15 hunters from ft. bliss on again this morning. Last hunt for ducks. 2 weeks ago 16 hunters from Bliss shot 96 ducks in morning full limits. Will post oics later of the hunts.

[bigbossman]

Saw one Mallard, killed one Mallard. Thus ends my 2020/2021 duck season.

Rabbit is open until 2/28 and I just found a field full of them, so there's that.

[CABilly]

Today we bagged a drake bufflehead, drake greenwing and two hens, drake spoon, and 6 coots.

The coots are for the slow times so the dog can get some work. I breast them out and plain fry them with the hearts as the dog’s reward.

The weather did not cooperate but we had a good morning. Back at it tomorrow to close it out.

[yoteassasin]

Originally Posted by bigbossman

Saw one Mallard, killed one Mallard. Thus ends my 2020/2021 duck season.

Rabbit is open until 2/28 and I just found a field full of them, so there's that.

The only thing that scares me about moving to Idaho is not shooting pigs and turkeys .... what else would I do during spring time ... haha oh and dungys... but that snake river mallard life sure is nice

[bigbossman]

Originally Posted by yoteassasin

The only thing that scares me about moving to Idaho is not shooting pigs and turkeys .... what else would I do during spring time ... haha oh and dungys... but that snake river mallard life sure is nice

Lots of turkeys - no pigs, though. I can't lie, I do miss pig hunting. But a freezer full of deer and antelope helps to ease the pain.

[Blue]

Finished my season with a spoon and a limit of coots. Worst duck season of my life.

[shengyli]

Shot 3 ducks. 1 teal and 2 ducks I thought they were scaup but seems not. Can anyone look at the picture and tell what kid of duck?

[yoteassasin]

Originally Posted by shengyli

Shot 3 ducks. 1 teal and 2 ducks I thought they were scaup but seems not. Can anyone look at the picture and tell what kid of duck?

Ruddys .. look for the short tail feathers that flip up and quit shooting birds that fly close to the water

[yoteassasin]

Originally Posted by Blue

Finished my season with a spoon and a limit of coots. Worst duck season of my life.

Please post a picture

[Blue]

Originally Posted by yoteassasin

Please post a picture

Boom

[tnlrat37]

Went to SJWA yesterday, super slow, even the fly off was bad, my group got 4 teal. Hardly any birds flying. Gonna take my son out for Jr. hunt next week, he won a 870 20g shotgun there last year.