Eider Hunting

B

Bill Gass

Active member
Just wondering if anyone can tell me how much impact that the tide has on eiders? Movements, feeding/rest cycle etc? As our tide in the Bay of Fundy is extremely high. Thanks

Bill G.
 
You will tend to see a greater congregation of eider and sea ducks at or around feeding places during lower tides. You will see them at high tides near ledges and bars, but they tend to seek those places out more at low tide. Do some scouting. Find a ledge or bar where there are mussels, starfish, urchins, etc., and set up on or very close to that spot. You want to be where the birds are landing and not so much in the flight path or even in the vicinity. Set up right where the birds are landing and feeding. A good decoy spread is key. Most guys will use sleds. They are a great decoy for pulling birds in from a distance. If you do a search of past threads, you will find some pictures of scoter/eider sleds. I can send you some patterns and dimensions if you like.

Nate
 
I've been working on some eider sillouettes last weekend, off of a template that I borrowed. They are put on 1x3 that will fold out into a triangle shape base when done. Or so thats how I understand it. Yes i did a quick search and saw some of the previous posts I will have to scour over them more tomorrow.

Thanks
Bill G.
 
Ditto Nate.

I have found the best example of what you describe to be Lynn harbor. At low tide, the mud flats are laden with muscles and the Eiders particularly congregate there.

I have your silo pattern for scoters but am a poor artist. May look you up to get an actual size version.

Bill
 
hey Bill,long time ,

In my experiance in tidal waters them tastey treats like to fly point to to point or shoal to shoal ,they dont like to close to treed land ,they prefer water over there muscles and clam beds enough they can escape buy swimming away. only prob i have found they like the rough water areas close to reefs and shoals...its a blast

ive used sleds and ive used painted javex jugs all work ,here a few years back i bought 2 dozen eider floaters and i have not gotten them bloddied yet ,one needs a calm day to use my shallow boat to hunt ,one needs a deep hull and big boat to brave the rollers...where the birds realy love to play..

where ya going for them up there,i had buddies go up there for the late season and had a ball hunting from shore..

shermie
 
Hi Shermie

We are looking to get out and do some early hunting on October so as to get accustomed to the hunting areas prior to the late season. The Saint John to St Stephen shore (zone 1 I think) opens in mid Oct with the rest of the prov opening on 01 oct. We're thinking of starting at some coves between Saint John and St Martins. Can't go too far along that shore as it turns to high cliffs pretty quick so there are limited places that you can access the beach. Probably try the shore west of Saint Joh after it opens there. My boat is a 14'6" Princecraft with a 25 HP outboard, so it's a substantial boat for inland waters but the salt water can get mean and nasty so I won't be setting up too far from my launch point, especially to start. So what I'm getting is to set up near some rocky shoreline where there will be some critters living that they will feed on and not too far back in the coves, unless you see birds there.

Bill G.
 
If you are launching from a beach, look for rock jetties. I have seen eiders pile up on even the smallest of rock jetties coming off of sand beaches (I guess that the mussels attach themselves to the rocks).

But hey, I wouldn't blame you for a minute if you were leary of Eider advice from a guy that lives in Alabama...



dscn9219.jpg

 
Nope, never did get to do the East Coast last year. As you remember, we were all set to go and thanks to your wisdom and warnings, we had to cancel at the last minute due to that nasty Nor'Easter that ended up blowing something like 40 mph all week. I am so thankful that you were looking out for us and were able to save us the 1200 mile one-way drive that would have resulted in us sitting in the truck at the boat ramp saying "Dang-gone! Look at the size of those freakin' waves!!!"

As much as we wanted to, we were not able to reschedule due to other planned trips.

I am planning on hitting North Carolina again this year for scoters.
 
Forgot to add -- I will be in MA a few times this fall, travelling for business. I will certainly give you a shout when I'm headed that way so that we can meet face to face.
 
That would be great. Give me a shout when you are up here. We'll hit Woodman's for fried clams!


Nate
cell: 617 240-8145
home: 978 283-0582
 
That would be great. Give me a shout when you are up here. We'll hit Woodman's for fried clams!


Nate
Click to expand...
Don't tease a fat boy with fried clams, Nate... LOL I'll definately give you a shout.


//sorry everyone for our little hi-jack. Back to Eiders now...
 
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I'm still working on my eider sillouette set up and have more questions. I'm planning to mount them on 1x3 and put 4 on one side and three on the other such that they alternate. I'm wondering what would be the correct ratio of drakes to hens? I'm thinking of putting 2 drakes and 2 hens on one side and 1 drake and 2 hens on the other. The hens are just painted flat black. In the end it will be a big triangle floating on the water with 4 on one side and 3 on the other. What would be the best color to paint the 1x3's that the sillouettes are attached to? Any advice is appreciated.

Bill G.
 
im confussed as to your set up how about a pic or two,as for colors black or brown for the hens 2 to one ratio or even numbers...on our sillys sleds we painted males on one side and females on the other side and had one male facing out and one female on the other side.

so are your X or a Y pattern??

you are gonna need good anchors i tried 10lbs at sea and they float away on the tide or current and even rollers move them around

i have to search out some 20 pounders for my rig for this fall....

oh and the boards inbetween we painted black but most are weather beaten grey now
 
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how did you do that carl awesome tech drawings.. i use the floating Y boards i bought off a fella here..they work but they have there limitations that a wooden set wouldnt have ..but there light...
 
Ok just picture a big isosceles triangle. 1x3's will be pinned together at one end, so they can open and close. The bottom of the triangle will be a 1x2, really just something that will hold the 1x3's in place. The whole set up will be able to fold up by disconnecting one end of the 1x2. On one side I'm putting 4 sillouettes and three on the other. I'm just copying a set up that another guy in the area uses. I'm going to make two of these set ups. So to answer the question this will be neither a sled or Y board. Lets call it the NB Eider Triangle. My digital camera went missing during the summer and the wife says that it's at the bottom of a local lake.

Bill G.
 
Just sat down with MS Paint and drew it up. I have done lots of diagrams with it, even sketched out the addition for our house with it! It's pretty easy to use once you get used to using it.
 
Paint the supports a medium gray, they will all but disappear in the water.
I like to have mostly drakes, with just enough hens to keep it broken up. If you
stand 50 yards away the hens will not be half as visible as the drakes, so load that
triangle up!
I havent used a NB Eider Triangle but the thought makes sense. If you are going to
string more than one of them per line though make sure you use a lot of weight.
I couldnt believe how much drag there was on a y-board with the tide moving.

Good Luck
 
As the other poster said, a light gray is the colour you want. In early October on a sunny day the water may still be a blue-green but the gray will still hide well. Later on in December the water gets very gray .... I wondered why the Grandfathers painted the duck tub gray ..... I was smart and did a blue-gray .... and quickly found out that they knew best.

Your wise not to go to far in a 14 1/2 footer ...... its O.k early in the season but it's not big enough for the late season when the water gets cold, wind, ice, currents ... take it from a fisherman's son. If something happens it doesn't matter what your wearing .... you can freeze very quickly in an open boat.
 
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