Last Week of the Season: Who's Hunting?
- Thread starter Carl
- Start date
Dave Diefenderfer
Well-known member
Hoping for thaw this week to get out on Friday, the last day. Ramps are locked up this past weekend, and with the tide, the ice is a PITA if we could get out. Will fight it regardless on Friday, as we have all off season to untangle the decoys!
Paul Taylor
Active member
My season ended last week at camp in SE La even though it runs until the 31st. .
The morning my son and I arrived at camp in SE La last Friday. Third split opened the 18th.
Tuesday night of the coastal snow storm and we got 3-4 inches!! I'm 80 miles South of New Orleans. One of the coolest sights I've ever seen, snow over the Gulf of America!
My son and with his pup in her first snow
My son with beautiful Sprig
We like to hunt old school in the marsh, from a pirogue
The morning my son and I arrived at camp in SE La last Friday. Third split opened the 18th.
Tuesday night of the coastal snow storm and we got 3-4 inches!! I'm 80 miles South of New Orleans. One of the coolest sights I've ever seen, snow over the Gulf of America!
My son and with his pup in her first snow
My son with beautiful Sprig
We like to hunt old school in the marsh, from a pirogue
@Paul Taylor nice pictures . Glad you had a good time.
Did it big the last week for me. Flew out to my buddy’s house in Washington and we got into a whole mess of mallards the first day and blue bills and ring necks the second day
I’m in Texas this week working and season ended here the 26th. I was able to get out on my new property I have access to and see what happened.
Great way to start the morning before work. Unfortunately I won’t be able to get back to Alabama before it ends there.
Did it big the last week for me. Flew out to my buddy’s house in Washington and we got into a whole mess of mallards the first day and blue bills and ring necks the second day
I’m in Texas this week working and season ended here the 26th. I was able to get out on my new property I have access to and see what happened.
Great way to start the morning before work. Unfortunately I won’t be able to get back to Alabama before it ends there.
tod osier
Well-known member
We don't run completely to the end here, which is a bummer some years. This year we would have been froze out even on the coast.
roy brewington
Well-known member
Yesterday A.M. Blowout low tide. Normally at least 2' of water over that ice you see my Molly retrieving on. Ice in pics is sitting on mud. Decoys are in water at ice edge . Made for tricky shooting as we had to shoot birds over ice on swing so she could make retrieves. I wouldn,t send her in water because my 20' boat was sitting completely on mud sticking half way out of boat hide behind blind. If she got in trouble in outgoing flows I wouldn,t have been able to help her with boat. First morning river had actually opened up a bit from complete ice over.
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Troy Nicolls
New member
Today was my last day. Shoreline froze solid in the morning. Warm and sunny by noon. Sculled up a trio of GWT.
jode hillman
Well-known member
We've been frozen out in southern New Jersey for the past two weeks.
I was able to get a few walk in Hunts under my belt.
The ice has finally cleared and Saturday is our youth/veterans hunt. I'll either take someone for that. Or set up on the Bayshore for snows.
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Jay K
Active member
Put in my last hunt for the season yesterday. Arrived at spot #1 at 5am. Immediately started to get ready. Luckily, I decided to check the ramp before loading the boat and unhooking everything. Good thing I did. The NNW wind from the night had blown all the ice onto the ramp and the water was a good 60 yds away. So that wasn't going to work.
I hit the road to spot #2 which was my backup. I arrived right at first light. It was nice, calm, and no ice. I was really excited to hit the water after a very tough season for me. The plan was to set a broadbill rig on a point with some black ducks tucked into the cove. Conditions were nice, but unfortunately, I was a day late and a dollar short. The rafts of broadbill had hit the road leaving just a handful behind. I had 2-3 buzz me early on which was encouraging. About an hour later I had a really nice drake come in hot. Shot him. He tumbled. Shot him again. He disappeared. I searched for a good 30 min for him. He briefly popped back up 100 yds out. I followed. He dove again and that was that. Very discouraging.
The rest of the day was very quiet. Bufflehead traded around which were a pass for me. Black ducks did their gets ups and put downs in the puddles inshore of my setup. The second most exciting part of the day was when I spotted a small raft of canvasback through my binos, heads tucked, sleeping as they floated along. First time seeing them for me. They just floated along, peacefully, across the bay.
My season came to an end. I picked up my rig and headed back to the ramp.
2024 was a blessing for us with some challenges as well. Two young kids, work, and lots of responsibilities put a huge damper on my hunting. In 10 years, this was the least I've hunted. Hoping for a better season in 2025-2026.
I hit the road to spot #2 which was my backup. I arrived right at first light. It was nice, calm, and no ice. I was really excited to hit the water after a very tough season for me. The plan was to set a broadbill rig on a point with some black ducks tucked into the cove. Conditions were nice, but unfortunately, I was a day late and a dollar short. The rafts of broadbill had hit the road leaving just a handful behind. I had 2-3 buzz me early on which was encouraging. About an hour later I had a really nice drake come in hot. Shot him. He tumbled. Shot him again. He disappeared. I searched for a good 30 min for him. He briefly popped back up 100 yds out. I followed. He dove again and that was that. Very discouraging.
The rest of the day was very quiet. Bufflehead traded around which were a pass for me. Black ducks did their gets ups and put downs in the puddles inshore of my setup. The second most exciting part of the day was when I spotted a small raft of canvasback through my binos, heads tucked, sleeping as they floated along. First time seeing them for me. They just floated along, peacefully, across the bay.
My season came to an end. I picked up my rig and headed back to the ramp.
2024 was a blessing for us with some challenges as well. Two young kids, work, and lots of responsibilities put a huge damper on my hunting. In 10 years, this was the least I've hunted. Hoping for a better season in 2025-2026.
Tim Clark
New member
Closed out the 24-25 this past weekend out on Long Island with some good friends. A big thanks to Anthony for helping me find a place to launch without having to pay exorbitant ramp fees or needing to be from "the island." Two days of hunting and one day of scouting in very cold conditions. There was little open water on the part of Great South Bay that we were hunting, but we managed to find some, and most importantly some of it was by the ramp. A couple boats had launched before me on Friday. But their smashed trailer lights on the ramp and the bent light frames suggested that the ice at the ramp didn't go down without a fight.
I scouted most of Friday trying to find the ducks and maybe some brant. I could see ducks working throughout much of the bay, but getting to them through the ice proved to be the challenging part. Ultimately, I settled on a compromise of a good hide capable of concealing five hunters, relatively easy access (about a 4 mile or so motor from the ramp through ice-free water), and seeing some birds, though not in the numbers I witnessed in other parts of the bay.
Saturday came and with it blue bird skies, cold temps, and increasing winds throughout the day. Hunting on dry land and not from the marsh or a boat blind is a rare experience for me. We made the most of it by hunting all day and enjoyed the time outside together. I ran the boat back around noon to grab sandwiches for the group, kept hunting, some sunbathing/naps, and a few more birds. We watched some impressive flights of broadbill, though we were nowhere near where they wanted to be. Still fun to watch nonetheless. Sunday was no different, though cloud cover yielded a slightly later flight of birds. Great weekend with friends and good memories. My pup, Cedar, closed out his first season with a couple dozen good retrieves. He now gets to sleep a bit and relax before we dive back into our training schedule. Only 9 months until the next season.
I scouted most of Friday trying to find the ducks and maybe some brant. I could see ducks working throughout much of the bay, but getting to them through the ice proved to be the challenging part. Ultimately, I settled on a compromise of a good hide capable of concealing five hunters, relatively easy access (about a 4 mile or so motor from the ramp through ice-free water), and seeing some birds, though not in the numbers I witnessed in other parts of the bay.
Saturday came and with it blue bird skies, cold temps, and increasing winds throughout the day. Hunting on dry land and not from the marsh or a boat blind is a rare experience for me. We made the most of it by hunting all day and enjoyed the time outside together. I ran the boat back around noon to grab sandwiches for the group, kept hunting, some sunbathing/naps, and a few more birds. We watched some impressive flights of broadbill, though we were nowhere near where they wanted to be. Still fun to watch nonetheless. Sunday was no different, though cloud cover yielded a slightly later flight of birds. Great weekend with friends and good memories. My pup, Cedar, closed out his first season with a couple dozen good retrieves. He now gets to sleep a bit and relax before we dive back into our training schedule. Only 9 months until the next season.
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justin boucher
New member
Wyatt Russo
Member
We finished up our Long Island duck season on January 26. Was a great year, very consistent. Shot I believe the count was 112 puddle ducks consisting of black ducks, pintails, mallards, gadwall, wigeon and teal. Chipped away at 22 geese as well, 31 Brant and a few broadbill. Brant numbers seemed to be up which is a great sight to see. I definitely had luck on my side this year shooting a personal record 13 bands in one season, 11 Brant and 2 geese. The highlight being a Brant from Iceland. Our late goose season goes until February 22 hopefully scratch out a few more honkers for the meat pile.
RM Anderson
Member
Beautiful GWP! Fear the Beard!!!
MIKE-SID
Active member
Congratulations for sure from across the sound.
31 brant! Wow, you went out a lot. I'm yearning for a banded brant!
Wyatt Russo
Member
Yeah I’m fortunate to have a very flexible work schedule and half the time I work midnights so I can hunt during the day lol
Wyatt Russo
Member
Also that was supposed to be 21… my fault.