East Coast 'fowling out of Boston...

R

Rob_F

Active member
I'm tire kicking an idea to make a trip East in some lifetime. Have friends in Boston and with luck will be out next fall/winter. I can typically learn a lot from Google and reading regulations; however, where does one start?

I'd like to hunt sea ducks and/or divers along the coast.

I'm pretty familiar with Cape Cod geographically, and it seems there are 4 more states within a half-days drive that would all have different regs and opportunities.

Questions:
1) how does the general progression of dates move down the flyway? example: Maine starts in October, NH in November, etc.

2) How many seasons or zones are there? Is the coast guided more by Fed than State?

3) Are sea ducks/divers in that area (say Kennebunkport to Long Island sound, or is it a run half-way up the Maine coast and South of Long Island?

My schedule is pretty flexible, but the opportunity limited, so if I'm throwing darts I'd like to hit the board. I know how the Mississippi and Central Flyways work, but mostly the states are all the same, big lakes and potholes, follow the freeze line, calendar vs. weather migrators, etc.

Thanks in advance, your info is greatly appreciated.
 
hey Rob, I hunt sea ducks on long island the season starts mid oct and goes til late jan , the east end of long island ,Montauk inparticular . we shoot all the regs old squaws ,ww scoters, surf scoters, common eiders . If your gonna use a guide East Coast waterfowlers is my first choice , for sea ducks and divers , he will hunt all over the island depending on seasons and target species .The diver season starts with reg ducks at thanksgiving time. hope its a little help from the long island area, ther is some good sea ducking up the cape way but that's out of my area ! . I have a blast huntin sea ducks its a diff exp totally GOOD LUCK... Brian
 
Maine and NH open up pretty much the beginning of October, with wood ducks and resident mallards the key species inland and GW teal and resident black ducks on the coast. Cape Cod is part of the MA coastal zone, so you usually get a week around Oct. 15 and the other chunk of days from Thanksgiving on. Sea ducks open in October with scoters the early birds, eiders next, then scaup (when we get them) and oldsquaw. Divers show up on the Cape in Dec + Jan. As for puddlers, it depends on how old Canada gets but you are usually getting pushes of blacks, gadwell and mallard by December.
Mass has special early and late golf-course Canada's seasons with a five bird daily bag limit.
No Sunday hunting in Mass and Maine.
Hope this helps.
 
Where do you live? If you don't have a duck hunting buddy that lives in the area...... hire a guide........ Take notes........

Phil
 
Maine has three zones. All of the North zone is out of your area of interest. (Also, I'd suggest you expand that zone N/E to Brunswick. It's only about an hour past Kennebunk, but it opens up a lot more good duck territory.)

Either way, you'll be dealing with the South Zone and the Coastal Zone. Everything east of Route 1 is Coastal; west of Route 1 is South.

This year, the South Zone season was 10/1-19 and 11/3-12/23.

Coastal was 10/1-19 and 11/16-1/4.

Sea duck season is 10/1-1/31.

I don't chase sea ducks so can't tell you much about when to come for those.

For divers Maine is generally a lot more limited than other states. You can expect lots of mergansers if you want them, but other than sea ducks our diver hunting is really limited to buffleheads, goldeneyes, and few scaup. The buffleheads and goldeneyes are mostly a late season phenomenon. I almost always have my best goldeneye shooting just before or just after Christmas. The buffies are a little earlier and generally dependable on the coast after about December 1. Scaup are hit or miss. I found a big flock once and three of us took about 10 with some whistlers thrown in for a full limit. Never seen them since.

In your target area, there is far better hunting for puddle ducks in the salt marshes and protected bays than there is for divers--and that's coming from one of the few Maine hunters who likes to target whistlers. Early season (through mid November) you'll find teal, mallards, and blacks (and woodies where there is enough fresh water). Late season will be mostly black ducks with some mallards. In years with an early freeze, the hunting at the end of the coastal season can be really good for black ducks.

If you come chase divers, keep in mind that Barrow's goldeneye is protected in Maine. If you shoot one by accident, you are required to report it, and will not be prosecuted if you do. If you have one in the bag and get checked without reporting it, you could get a ticket. The areas where Barrows are concentrated are mostly north and east of your target area, but you'll find some in Casco Bay between Brunswick and Portland (especially Harraseeket River in Freeport) and there may be a few farther south.
 
Thank you for all the replies. I'm in Minnesota and have a fondness for the NE. Honeymooned at Cape Cod and surrounding area, and have been back a couple times. Did my basic training at Ft. Dix, NJ. Had a trip planned to see a friend in NJ in Feb for a trip to Punxsutawney, but had to cancel due to other travel for work.

Hopefully between the folks I know, business, and vacation, I'd like to take in a different local and, if possible, species I don't normally shoot, or hunt in a way I don't have opportunity to (layout just became legal again on a limited basis here).

The primer on local regs is greatly appreciated. I'll see what I can put together.

This is the reason the internet was invented :-)

Best,

Rob
 
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