Ducks, How did you do?

[yoteassasin]

Originally Posted by Jusgunn3

Got a #2 for los banos on Saturday anyone been shooting out there? What blind should I take? Thought about bringing my little cousin and gettin a jr

Don't burn a #2 on a jr blind

[Irishfisher]

Best thing to do is get there early and ask to see the blind averages. Pick the one with the best average, most likely near the close zone.

[duckman1]

Robbins CA

Best bird activity to date. It appears we have some new birds in the area. Strapped a drake Mallard and drake Sprig.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Boarhuntor]

They are finally here.
Spoonbills and golden eyes disappeared and quality ducks came in.
I even got my first redhead hen. Spoke with some hunters on the ramp who for years hunt in the area. They say they never saw one here let alone kill one.
I did it!!!

[HighWildFree]

Finally got out Saturday, first hunt since opener. Hit a teal trifecta, bluewing drake, cinnamon drake, and hen green wing. My first bluewing drake, very happy with it. Also snagged a hen gaddy.

[resistance]

We hunted Alcott south of the Salton Sea last Saturday w/ 2 guns. Not a lot of birds in the area yet.

We took these 5. Should have had another Mallard but unfortunately it dropped straight into some heavy cattails. We slogged around for 30 minutes and still could not find him. A few hours later a passing hunter offered his dog to go in and search. The dog couldn't find the bird either, the scent was probably cold by then.

Thankful for these birds and a wonderful day outdoors.

ab.jpg

ab1.jpg

[bigbossman]

Originally Posted by Boarhuntor

.....I even got my first redhead hen. Spoke with some hunters on the ramp who for years hunt in the area. They say they never saw one here let alone kill one...

Are you meaning Redhead hens in particular, or Redheads in general? Just curious, because we killed more than a few Redheads over on the west side of Coyote Creek. They aren't too uncommon in the south bay.

[Boarhuntor]

Redheads in general.

I hunt there for over 10 years, one of my friends was born and raised just 2 miles from there and spent the whole life hunting area, he is my age, he told me he killed only one in his 50 years of hunting there. 2 guys of my age and one well older on the rump also confirmed it is an extremely rare bird in the area and only one of them ever killed one.

Are you sure it is not Canvasbacks you mentioning, because there are plenty of them in the area you used to hunt?






..

[bigbossman]

Nope, Redheads for sure. In the two seasons of hunting there I killed a total of six. I have witnesses that may or may not see this post.and collaborate. Only ever saw two Canvas Backs, and killed one of them. Evan got the other.

[NapalmCheese]

Seems to me the number of redheads in that area is growing every year. I never used to see them, but over the last couple of years or so I've been seeing more. I still haven't shot one, but I've taken a few cans.

[Irishfisher]

Hunted Suisun Marsh this morning. All of Boarhuntor's divers moved here. We were being swarmed by scaup all day. Ended up with 6 scaup, 2 canvasback, 1 goldeneye, 1 spoon and 1 green wing for 3 guns.

[Boarhuntor]

Originally Posted by bigbossman

Nope, Redheads for sure. In the two seasons of hunting there I killed a total of six. I have witnesses that may or may not see this post.and collaborate. Only ever saw two Canvas Backs, and killed one of them. Evan got the other.

Great, I know that you have luck.
It is good they started coming to the area.
I just tell my experience and experience of others hunting in the area.
I, on the other hand, used to kill Canvasbacks regularly. And I know the guy who goes to the Redwood area. Every time he goes there he gets his pair of Cans. I never go there because it is a very shallow area and you have only a small window on high tides or need to have a surface drive which I don't.

Originally Posted by Irishfisher

Hunted Suisun Marsh this morning. All of Boarhuntor's divers moved here. We were being swarmed by scaup all day. Ended up with 6 scaup, 2 canvasback, 1 goldeneye, 1 spoon and 1 green wing for 3 guns.

Wow, you drive all the way from Salinas to the Suisun...
Kudos!
BTW, nice haul, I love scoups.

..

[bigbossman]

Originally Posted by Boarhuntor

Great, I know that you have luck.

With regards to Redheads....... you have no idea.

I know Canvasbacks frequent that area, and I used to see them. Only one ever got close enough for me to shoot, though. I was pretty excited about it, because I was told they were the most delicious of ducks. Mine was full of little clams, and wasn't all that good.

[Boarhuntor]

I also find Cans being just regular ducks, I'd better take teal or widgeon.

[Newshooter]

Birds are finally here and working. Ended the day with 6 (2 teal, 2 widgeon, 1 bull sprig and 1 Great Northern Shoveler). Could have filled my limit had I been able to hit the broadside of a barn with some early shots and not having to leave to get to a meeting in town.

[bigbossman]

Originally Posted by Boarhuntor

I also find Cans being just regular ducks, I'd better take teal or widgeon.

Teal are the best, but too small so you need a bunch of them. Therefore, Mallards are my preferred duck...... and that almost all I see around here. Big, fat, Mallards.

[chris]

went out last Wednesday and shot a nice cinnamon teal and a pintail. After that it was all pintail flying around. This one pintail limit is BS.,

[Boarhuntor]

Originally Posted by bigbossman

..... Mallards are my preferred duck...... and that almost all I see around here. Big, fat, Mallards.

Yea, keep rubbing it in...

[bigbossman]

Originally Posted by Boarhuntor

Yea, keep rubbing it in...

To be fair, I killed a couple of teal once, and I hear there are Wood Ducks about..... I just haven't seen one yet. Just boring old Greenheads. That's all I ever get.

[Boarhuntor]

They are definitely here,
Many ducks around. Mallards and gadwalls are all highfliers and do not decoy.
Bluebills come in waves of dozens every 5 minutes.
Today i was really selective, passed on 100s of goldeneyes as usual, dozens of Spoonbills which is unusual.
Missed 2 Cans.
By 8AM total- 5 wigeons and 2 bluebills

[duckman1]

Robbins, CA

Saturday light fog plenty of bird activity we took (11) teal, spoonies, sprig, wigeon. The other blind took one teal.

Sunday heavy fog we could hear the birds but could not see them. Lots of shooting around us, finally connected on a GWT as we were packing up.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[resistance]

Hunted Alcott again Tuesday, 12/22.

Still not a lot flying. 2 guns, 4 birds. 2 hen Pintails and 2 GW Teal.

Had a couple of more Pintails checking out the dekes in the afternoon but had to let them go.

332.jpg

335.jpg

[Boarhuntor]

Today was windy as hell.
I thought I'll get an easy limit, but ducks had different plans.
Nothing was flying. Hardly got a couple of widgeons, teal, and two bluebills.
But when I was already leaving and picking up dekes, they started moving, but I was already fed-up and did not want to take my gun out of the case.
Oh well, there is another day.

[Irishfisher]

Two limits this morning at the Suisun Marsh. Fewer divers than last week. We passed on goldeneyes and scaup and upgraded to spoonies, a teal, a canvasback, a ringneck and a couple of wigeon. The wind was great. I haven't seen so many birds moving before shoot time in a couple of years. Plenty of work for the retriever in training.

IMG_E7549.jpg

[shengyli]

I had one of the best shooting on 12/23 on my 3 years of hunting ducks. Two cavasbacks, one teal, two ring necks and a coot. Central valley.

[Blue]

Ended up with a pin, teal and two spoons today in Los Banos. Lots of big groups moving around finally.

[Irishfisher]

Suisun Marsh today. 7 spoonies, 4 GWT, 1 scaup, 1 goldeneye, 1 ringneck for 2 guns. Way fewer birds than mid-week. Storm pushed them out. Had to work for these.

[lewdogg21]

5 ducks and 2 specks today.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[9mmrevolver]

I managed to get 41 resi for greylodge. It was supposed to rain a week ago for tommorow but has since changed. Hoping we get at least 4 birds a piece. Normally about 1-2.

[bigbossman]

Well..... surprise, surprise. Killed a few Spoonbills yesterday - or as the locals call them, "Northern Shovelers". This is my second year in Idaho, and the first time I've seen them here - and yesterday we saw a ton of them. Up until now it has been all Mallard and Teal. Gonna be interesting to see how these taste, as compared to the "settlement pond" Spoonies of the south SF Bay. My hunting buddy says the ones he killed have white fat, so that's a good sign.

[Irishfisher]

Los Banos area today. 2 GWT and 2 ringnecks for 2 guns. Pretty slow.

[Boarhuntor]

Today i could not hit s**t, one of those days when you get a feeling you shoot duds.
At the end - 1 GWT, 1 BWT, 2 bluebills and 3 wigeons by 9:30AM

[bigbossman]

Originally Posted by Boarhuntor

Today i could not hit s**t, one of those days when you get a feeling you shoot duds.
At the end - 1 GWT, 1 BWT, 2 bluebills and 3 widgeons by 9:30AM

The Blue Wing Teals are fairly uncommon where you're at, I believe. I've killed tons of GW, and even a Cinnamon or two in the Central Valley, but never shot a BW.

[Boarhuntor]

Originally Posted by bigbossman

The Blue Wing Teals are fairly uncommon where you're at, I believe. I've killed tons of GW, and even a Cinnamon or two in the Central Valley, but never shot a BW.

You are right, last year was the first time I killed some, like 3 or 4.
Same with cinnamon, last year was 4-5 hens but no drake yet. Never saw them in my area before.
This year it is the first BWT, and it was a hen. No cinnamon yet but I got my first redhead.

I'm very happy with the wigeons.
Last week I put 6 in into the smoker. Came out excellent.

[shengyli]

I went out on 12/30 in central valley again. Shot 4 but only was able to find one and lost others in the Tully. One lesson for me is to shot again even the bird dropped down. One fell just a couple of feet beside me but dived away into tullys when I tried to fetch it.

[Boarhuntor]

LOL.. if you shoot it 2 feet away, not much is gonna be left for the dinner.
I'm in a pretty much similar situation. I hunt canals and sloughs.
Took me a little while to learn to shoot them so they drop in the water, but still, I lose ones in a while.
The easiest is to shoot only ones that fly alongside the slough and let go of the ones who cross.
I don't know your situation but sounds similar.

[duckman1]

Rice Blinds in Robbins, CA

1 snow goose on Sat.

Today 3 snows in one blind and a Speck in the other.

Foggy both days, with wind. Not as much bird activity as I was expecting or would have liked. This time of year we should be loaded with ducks but they are just not here.

Hunted in Durham on Monday, warm day second day of the full moon. Managed 40 Specs and few snows.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[HighWildFree]

Saturday at San Jacinto - 8 birds for 3 shooters. 2 GWT, 1 Cinnamon, 1 Spoon, and 4 Ruddy. Nothing flying after the first 15 minutes. Hopefully picks up next weekend on a better draw.

[lewdogg21]

Last 3 days were zero before yesterday which was 3 ducks and a goose. Today was 9 ducks and 2 geese before I had to leave at 9:15am to go to work. If we stayed 14 ducks would have occured.

The band on the Redhead is nearly paper thin and all worn off. Also got a Hen Can (Pleasant Grove area) but mostly wigeon along with the 2 snows.

[edgerly779]

10 ducks 4 quail and a hog in texas last tue/wed