Finally Back in the Blind

Carl

Carl

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Staff member
finally back in the blind, first time since weekend before Christmas. Down on Mississippi Sound again. Reports are good, guys at ramp did great yesterday, and the scoters are still around. They've killed all 3 species this year.
Lots of boats again. Including latecomers just getting out here 30 minutes before shooting time
More to come.
 
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Hey Carl do you think you?ve got the numbers of divers you normally would? We?ve got so much open water up here there doesn?t seem to be the birds we normally would(season closed). Normally you glass the water in certain spots and see tons of cans reds bb but none of the Great Lakes are froze up . My assumption is they haven?t needed to migrate anywhere but maybe they left?

Tony
 
Dow here on the Sound, yes, we?ve got above average numbers of redheads and greater scaup compared to recent years. But up on Mobile Bay/lower Mobile-Tensaw Delta, fewer than normal.
The entire Mobile Tensaw Delta is flooded. Thousands of acres of flooded timber and old clearcuts, our puddle duck hunting is messed up, too much water!
 
Tony,

I live on the Indiana / Michigan border. Still open water in our area. Our push of divers came through later than normal and not the numbers we are used to. I watched close to 500 Goldeneye the week before the two day Michigan split. Saturday morning we shot a two man limit of Goldeneye in open water. Sunday was nothing flying. All other divers have been gone for weeks.

What part of Michigan are you from Tony?

RVZ
 
Carl

Our rivers have been out of their banks most of the season and combined with the abnormally warm weather has created awful hunting conditions. This is by far the poorest season of my duck hunting career. It does look like we will get a cold blast the last week of the season so I'm hoping for a strong finish.

Nice apple-head.
 
Rod VanZile said:
Tony,

I live on the Indiana / Michigan border. Still open water in our area. Our push of divers came through later than normal and not the numbers we are used to. I watched close to 500 Goldeneye the week before the two day Michigan split. Saturday morning we shot a two man limit of Goldeneye in open water. Sunday was nothing flying. All other divers have been gone for weeks.

What part of Michigan are you from Tony?

RVZ
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Rod I?m in SE Michigan Lake Erie area. We had a weird season, the warmth didn?t help. Ice is our friend. Ruins some marsh hunting but helps the diver hunting

Tony
 
All that were flying were redheads, and they were very blind shy. I cant believe the hunting pressure on the sound this year, there is a boat on every island and point. Tons of pressure. Even the buffies are blind shy!

Met up with a few guys back at the ramp who had varied success, some had a few redheads and buffies, one group of 3 guys had a limit of scaup but no redheads. No one had any other species and everyone was talking about how many boats are hunting the area now.

Headed home around 11am. Got within 1/2 mile of my exit off I-65 when a loud thumping starting coming from the trailer. Coasted down the ramp, luckily there was a red light. Got out and passenger side trailed tire was shredded. Young guy in the right lane let me in & followed me to a parking lot to make sure everything was OK, good kid, thanked him a bunch.
Threw the decoys and gear into the back of the Pilot, unhooked the boat and made the run to the house for my spare. It was flat. pumped it up & it was holding air but looking really rough. Went back to the boat and started cranking on the rusty lugs. Took me 30 minutes to get them off and Split my thumb open in the process. Luckily my daughter was with me and my first aid kit was in the boat. She patched me back up.
Got the old tire and rim off, put on the spare, tightened up the lugs (the went back on much more easily) and limped back home on the horrid looking spare.
Once home, found out my iPhone stopped charging and wont charge no matter what cord I use. Looks like I will be hitting the boss at work up for a new phone!
One hell of a day. Thumb tip is still throbbing, need a new tire (probably two), and a new phone, hopefully I will get back in the game next weekend.
 
Eric, I feel very lucky with the season I have been having. Its been a very strange season, the upper bay and lower delta has had very high water almost every weekend and now its in full blown flood stage. The "river" is 12 miles wide in some places. I think out gadwalls went up there, especially since the water down here is too deep to reach the grass in most places. Barring a north wind blowout, I dont think I will hunt the causeway again this year.
The hunting pressure on MS Sound is unbelievable. The fact we are still killing redheads and scaup is a testament to how many are down there.
I hope this cold snap blows some more birds in for y'all.
 
Carl,

When the birds get decoy and blind shy, are you able to hunt open water? I run long lines for a my diver hunting and when the birds don't run points or shorelines, I move out from shore in my TDB. However, even when they are flying, when they swing behind the boat, you know it's going to be a long day.

Thanks for taking us along on your hunts.

RVZ
 
Erik,Tony and Rod. I feel your pain, this is the fourth season of poor hunting is southern ohio the rivers stay too high , can't hold decoys on the main stem and no backwaters in my area.
Tony, I am not very far from you down the Ohio River Have not seen any ducks grouping up. Too much water and housing along the river.
Rod, I owned a 17' TDB for 19 years and had good success on divers,puddlers and geese but they seemed to get smart to the rig. I switched to an aluminum mod-vee with a "Bustem Blind" which hides very well but i can't get the weather to cooperate. Didn't even put the blind on the boat this year, still have a couple of weeks left.

At 76 i fear my waterfowling may be over.
Bill.
 
Carl, try taking a paper clip and pull all the lint that is in your charger port!

Bill , do you ever use long lines in the river? Sometimes we get away with coffee can full of cement but other times we will use a 5lb plate weight with an eye bolt or use 6x6x1 thick lead plate w bolt through.

Also I made some homemade decoy rafts that look pretty good the little we used it.


Tony
 
Tony, Yes i use what i call modified longlines. I like 8 pocket bags and rig my lines five and three four and four six and two. You get the idea. These are easier to handle and look more natural [to me] than strings of 12.

My anchors will hold the decoys but in high water conditions the first birds will half submerge and look unnatural. Also in high water you must be mindful of brush,logs,refrigerators,pop machines, dead hogs etc. No fun chasing decoys.

Slightly exaggerated but if it can float i have seen it on the river.

Bill.
 
Yes, that is a trick I use in this specific area, just couldnt yesterday due to weather conditions. Too much wind from the wrong direction (E-SE) and to much water vs what we should have had under normal wind/water conditions.
Most guys down there dont use boat blinds, they park the boat, then walk down the shoreline 100 yards and hunt from the bank.
So the birds seem more "island/shoreline" shy vs actually blind shy. Moving out from the shoreline just 50 yards seems to make a difference.

Thanks, Glad to share!
 
Carl, try taking a paper clip and pull all the lint that is in your charger port!
Click to expand...


Tried cleaning out but might try again! We have some compressed air electronics cleaner at the office
 
BTW, ordered two galvanized 4.8x12 tires & rims from Wallie World, $89 delivered. cheaper than ordering two new tires and having them put on the old rims.
I'll post a pic of my old tire tomorrow if I can get my phone working, blown out tire aint pretty.
 
never seize those threads before you reinstall new rims and tires. makes a huge difference especially in salt water exposure when trying to remove eventually. I even coat hub face where rim contacts it. Makes removal a lot easier.
 
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