I took the afternoon to hunt ducks, but the ducks didn't keep our appointment. I should have known--clear, warm, calm--but there were good numbers of ducks around yesterday.
After checking out three areas, spending an hour poling the boat over a huge rice flat to see if I could push up a few birds, I finally saw one small bunch of black ducks flying, so I tossed out 4 decoys and sat for an hour. Never saw another duck or heard a shot from anywhere--and there were several other parties out.
So I decided to quit early, picked up the decoys, and pole the boat out to the channel edge. About halfway there, I flushed a Sora rail. I've hunted Sora's before--usually in September while duck scouting before our season opens. Sora's seem to be on about the same schedule as the blue wing teal, which means they are usually gone when our south zone opens on October 1. I don't know anyone who hunts rails seriously. A friend recently commented that he suspects there are more falconry duck hunters than rail hunters in Maine! I know Bill Wasson used to guide for rails, but I think he was the only one, and I believe he's given up guiding. There is some nice info on rail hunts on his website: http://www.seaducks.com/Railhunting.htm
We typically hunt with two of us in a sculling boat. One man poles the boat from the stern, standing and trying to spot rails; the other sits in bow as the shooter.
Apparently the warm weather has kept them here at least a week later than usual. When I flushed the first one, I decided to see if it was possible to pole for rails solo. I pointed the boat for the thickest patch of rice I could find, and pretty quickly flushed another rail. I'm not comfortable with a loaded gun that's not in hand, so getting off a shot was tough. I ended up resting the gun with an empty chamber and one round in the magazine. When a rail flushed, I'd pick up the gun, rack in a shell, and hope the bird was still in range for a shot.
I hit the first one; failed to get the gun to shoulder in time on the next 2; and then hit a second one. At that point I declared the experiment a success, but put down the gun because a direct hit on a rail with 3 inch 12 gauge #4 duck loads is just a little bit of overkill! When I plan to hunt rails, I use a 20, and have some light #7 steel loads that are pretty good. A 28 would be about perfect.
I also got another couple of mushrooms from my friend Dave. Here's the afternoon's haul:
View attachment rails3.jpg
After checking out three areas, spending an hour poling the boat over a huge rice flat to see if I could push up a few birds, I finally saw one small bunch of black ducks flying, so I tossed out 4 decoys and sat for an hour. Never saw another duck or heard a shot from anywhere--and there were several other parties out.
So I decided to quit early, picked up the decoys, and pole the boat out to the channel edge. About halfway there, I flushed a Sora rail. I've hunted Sora's before--usually in September while duck scouting before our season opens. Sora's seem to be on about the same schedule as the blue wing teal, which means they are usually gone when our south zone opens on October 1. I don't know anyone who hunts rails seriously. A friend recently commented that he suspects there are more falconry duck hunters than rail hunters in Maine! I know Bill Wasson used to guide for rails, but I think he was the only one, and I believe he's given up guiding. There is some nice info on rail hunts on his website: http://www.seaducks.com/Railhunting.htm
We typically hunt with two of us in a sculling boat. One man poles the boat from the stern, standing and trying to spot rails; the other sits in bow as the shooter.
Apparently the warm weather has kept them here at least a week later than usual. When I flushed the first one, I decided to see if it was possible to pole for rails solo. I pointed the boat for the thickest patch of rice I could find, and pretty quickly flushed another rail. I'm not comfortable with a loaded gun that's not in hand, so getting off a shot was tough. I ended up resting the gun with an empty chamber and one round in the magazine. When a rail flushed, I'd pick up the gun, rack in a shell, and hope the bird was still in range for a shot.
I hit the first one; failed to get the gun to shoulder in time on the next 2; and then hit a second one. At that point I declared the experiment a success, but put down the gun because a direct hit on a rail with 3 inch 12 gauge #4 duck loads is just a little bit of overkill! When I plan to hunt rails, I use a 20, and have some light #7 steel loads that are pretty good. A 28 would be about perfect.
I also got another couple of mushrooms from my friend Dave. Here's the afternoon's haul:
View attachment rails3.jpg
