Winter is here. Who’s hunting?

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! Screenshot 2025-01-07 at 12.17.49 AM.png
 
jode hillman said:
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
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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.
 
Craig F said:
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.
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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
 
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.
 
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.
 
Got one more outing in store for tomorrow, will remember to take a few pics and post them. Weather is much milder tomorrow (mid 40's day) than it has been, but just a short respite until the cold weather starts back on Sunday. Supposed to see a little rain mid-day with a fair breeze which might be good. The key is really just whether or not the birds move around. The ice has and is going nowhere and open water is at a premium, it is also warmer today but not enough to melt the ice to any noticeable extent. So the fowl is still concentrated, and that is good for us. I hope to see some snow geese, they are in the locale in a big way but didn't see any last week. I'm hoping the ducks continue to feed and travel like they have been for the last couple of weeks with the cold weather, if that happens we'll have some action. And the most important things are to see some waterfowl and enjoy the day.
 
Saw some bluebills on the bay as I drove home from Clearwater Marina this evening.
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Mostly white grunts, a good number of grass porgies and a really nice Black Sea bass. Also caught some short sea bass and a couple of short red grouper. No hogfish this trip.
Yep, I will start filleting this morning!
 
Carl said:
Mostly white grunts, a good number of grass porgies and a really nice Black Sea bass. Also caught some short sea bass and a couple of short red grouper. No hogfish this trip.
Yep, I will start filleting this morning!
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I caught a couple of black sea bass while targeting false albacore on the south shore of Cape Cod a couple of years ago. Harvest was closed at the time. I'm told they are great food fish. Yesterday I jigged up a big mess of yellow perch and one black crappie yesterday while waiting for flags on tip-ups set for pike. (It was like waiting for Godot.) Fish tacos and good mess of left over panko fried strips for easy weeknight dinners. In winter I transition from FFO/C+R native trout snob to meat fishing for invasives. :)
 
Jeff Reardon said:
Yesterday I jigged up a big mess of yellow perch
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That's music to my ears. No yellow perch to speak of here in south Jersey, but they were the mainstay in my youth ice fishing in north Jersey. Nice mess of fish Carl. I prefer eating panfish to pretty much everything else.

I ended the day with the aforementioned field hunt. Only 2 blacks, 1 snow and 1 canada for 6 people. Slow? Who cares, we had a really good time. Fortunately, I stopped at a local bakery that makes real donuts and that kept everyone pretty happy. We did have enough action even though it was about 1/100th of last weekend, but the birds didn't really want to commit. It was around 38 and pretty calm and overcast, which are bad conditions in these parts. A lot of birds have left in the last week, even with a couple of mild days everything is iced up pretty good except channels in the swifter tidal waters and the Delaware. Neither of which I would want to be on right now. Bitter cold coming and the season ends mid-week. Good luck, use caution, and stay warm to anyone that ventures out around here this week.
 
Just realized that auto-type turned "bluebills" into "bluegills" in my last post.
I saw bluebills on the bay, as in lesser a/o greater scaup.
LOL
One letter can make a huge difference....
 
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