Winter is here. Who’s hunting?

[Anthony Babich]

Our season here on Long Island, NY has been shaping up to be one of the best in a long time. Seen a great variety of birds pushing thru recently in the marshlands. Managed a nice mixed bag thus far of Black Duck, Broadbill, Pintails, Widgeon, Atlantic Brant, Geese and most recently a Snow-Goose! Looking forward to the final few weeks & colder weather ahead!

 

[Craig F]

Craig, that's pretty cool. Got a Teal earlier in the year that was banded in North Carolina. That was definitely a first for me. Shooting one north of where it was banded

Looks to be similar timeline too, this one was banded in late February. I must have intercepted it on the way to its more southern wintering grounds.

 

[Wyatt Russo]

Looks to be similar timeline too, this one was banded in late February. I must have intercepted it on the way to its more southern wintering grounds.

I’ve had 2 birds banded north of where they were banded. A drake mallard and a Brant, both from Jersey not far from you Craig

 

[greg setter]

Anthony, those are some great photos. I have not been able to hunt that much this year, but when out in south Jersey there have been more ducks than in the last several years. Many more black ducks also.

 

[Mark J.]

Season officially closed for us on Saturday and we finished the year with a two man duck limit – amazing hunt to wrap up the year.

Had some interesting freeze – thaw cycles in December, managed to get some hunts on small and big water. In all it was a fantastic year for me and the dogs

.

 

[greg setter]

Unfortunately I have no pictures to share. But I did have a great outing with friends on Saturday in south Jersey. We hunted a friends field that also has a pond and an impoundment, and set up with our backs to the wind on the edge of a pond(that had an ice eater to keep it open) with the field in front of us. We had Canada geese, a few mallards, and loads of black ducks all day. This farm is adjacent to a big inland tidal lake which is mostly frozen now, as is much else around here. Since the limit on black ducks is two, there were no big numbers, but two black ducks is good for me these days. We also shot a few geese, though I don't shoot many anymore because I just can't eat that much and also prefer snow geese, for which I am probably in the minority. The area also holds large numbers of snows but they were missing. It was windy and fairly cold, 30-32, and we had good action from around 12-1:30 then again from 3-4 when the three of us that were the first people there left. My friends sons and their friends started trickling in around 2:30-3 and one of his daughter-in-laws, and that added 7 more. So the day finished with 20 blacks, 7 mallards, and 10 geese. Plenty for everybody and really a great afternoon.