Aythya affinis...

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Pat Gregory

Well-known member
Jimmy Robinson called them the "Rockets of the North". The greater version is "aythya marila nearctica". Some call them broadbills, others, blackheads. Some, simply bluebills...

Why do these creatures keep some of us up at night? Why do we get up early in the morning and sometimes risk high seas to chase them? Why do they get our hearts pounding when a squadron come swinging into our decoys? Why do we travel hundreds, sometimes, thousands of miles just to shoot them? One only knows...

The scaup chaser, he is a specific waterfowler, not of the common type. But, when he meets a brother, they have an immediate bond and share something in common. They go to great lengths to hunt them, out of layouts, from boatblinds and from the marsh, some following them down the flyway.

Gordon MacQuarrie quoted them by saying "For bluebills the Honorable President will keep me company. For mergansers he will go and light a fire." Aldo Leopold, in the Sand County Almanac quoted them by saying "And when a flock of bluebills, pitching pondward, tears the dark silk of heaven in one long rending nose-dive, you catch your breath at the sound, but there is nothing to see except stars. This same performance, in daytime, would have to be looked at, shot at, missed, and then hurriedly fitted with an alibi."


I hope many in this forum experience lessers or greaters screaming through their blocks during the balance of our seasons...

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Very nice write up Pat. Thanks for taking the time.

"Bluebills" have always held a special place in both my heart, and hunting repertoire. When I was growing up, my father often talked about gunning the along the breakwalls of Lake Erie. How the skies would be black with huge flocks of the little birds. Unfortunately, something happens ed to him, (I never really knew exactly what), but he quit hunting just about the time I became old enough to start. Even though he passed his former love of the outdoors, and especially duck hunting, down to me, I never had the opportunity to enjoy the sport with him. Perhaps that is the stigma behind the little rockets for me.

As a a matter of fact even though this is no longer my truck,

DUPlate.jpg


I do get some funny looks from time to time. If you don't know - you wouldn't understand.

Thanks Pat,

Jon
 
Pat, by most measures I had an excellent season this year. On the other hand I only managed one "lesser" and that weighs upon me. When I think about scaup I immediately think about a few great hunts on Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie and my pulse increases a few beats per minute. This one is from New Year's Day 2012.



This picture sums it up for me... who wouldn't want to be out there.


 
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Pat, I agree with all your feelings , I have hunted them all my hunting Yrs here in NjJ.all different ways ,Most exiting birds ,Very few have experienced a Flock of 500) hundred come into there spread, Very Spine Tingling . Now I just enjoy watching them with there great acrobatics Have a good season. & a Happy Holiday. PAUL
 
Thanks Pat , Great pics & writing, I,m having a great year also ,hunting the break walls out in Lake Erie for the past 42 yrs. it's only getting better for me & my retrievers.Thanks for sharing your hunts,with us all,
God Bless .
 
Glad to hear someone is seeing them. I have not had one over my decoys this year and it is my primary target!!
Worst year EVER!! John
 
A few years back we were somehow given a 7 bird a day limit with no bluebill restrictions. It took a little bit of work to find a place to set up that would produce the kind of hunt I was looking for...

I finally settled on a two-set hunt. We would start at the opening of a 200 yard wide channel the bluebill love to use as a pass through, and later in the tide, when the water was more substantial, we would move quite a ways into the channel to a bend where they often piled up. Both sets allowed for us to shoot from a solid shore, which is nice but doesn't happen often.

With somewhere around 50 blocks on long lines, my father, two buddies and myself had the broadbill shoot of a lifetime. We took turns shooting while the others sat back and chuckled, and helped to identify good birds from bad.

At the end of one of the most memorable days in my waterfowling experience, 28 drake bluebill sat in a beautiful pile next to us. The next year the limit went down to three again... So I doubt I will ever get a shot at a hunt like that again.
 
I love them, my favorite duck to hunt.
We used to get both lessers and greaters.
Lessers by the thousands on MObile Bay and a good number of Greater on MS Sound.
But the last 5-6 years they have been more and more scarce here every year. Not sure what is going on but they just don't show up like they used too..
 
After what I saw this weekend, I may not even hunt this coming weekend.
Its supposed to be in the low 70s.
 
I've only ever seen them once in Maine. It's a tidal but fairly enclosed bay that usually hosts some puddle ducks and good numbers of whistlers, hooded mergansers, and buffleheads. One time we hunted it about half our bag was scaup. Never seen them before or since, and I hunt that spot at least a couple of times per year.
 
Great Thread Pat. I will add John O Cartier’s "Getting the Most out of Modern Waterfowling" chapter “Bluebills Make the Shooting” where he so a adroitly describes a bluebill hunter…” I will go to any amount of trouble to hunt these birds. I frequently endanger my happy home and my career for the ridiculous chance of stuffing shells into a bluebill gun. I have journeyed onto treacherous waters hundreds of time for no other reason than the possible opportunity of lining a shotgun barrel at a jet-streaking bluebill…”
I’m blessed to live in an area where we can hunt bluebills with regularity from mid-Oct until freeze-up, which this year might not happen for a few more weeks. My affliction normally starts around our Canadian Thanksgiving when I start glassing a few key spots to see if they’ve arrived, I normally check both on my way to work and on the way home in case I miss something. Nothing gets me more excited than when the first birds show up and I imagine the travels they’ve made to return once again to start my hunting season. I will know that for the next few months I’ll be short changed on sleep and selfishly be spending less time than I should with my family and unfortunately work will get in the way.


I’m addicted to bluebill hunting and as my wife just said as she walked in while I was typing this “there’s worse things that could happen to you”.
 
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