Now that the season is over and not much to do I am getting around to sorting through my pictures and figured some might enjoy seeing some duck boat and marsh scenery now that the season is over for most. For those that followed my posts on the accidents in Massachusetts this hunt is within a few hundred yards of where the survivor was rescued by the Coast Guard as well as where the boat capsized. The area behind the boat is where the search was conducted by the first responders and where the boat was retrieved.
This was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and being somewhat of a cautious freak I opted to hunt from land in the morning and head out with the little boat in the afternoon on what I consider moderate waters even on flat calm days. November in my parts is usually very slow and the birds do not start to move in until we get several nights of freezing temps and being that was not the case I opted for what I was thinking would be a good area to get a chance at a black duck on a blue bird afternoon.
Went to the first launch shortly after 1:00 pm and the low tide was a blow out there was no chance I would be able to float even the little AA Wigeon. I then started off to the next ramp that brought me to this destination shortly after 2:00 pm.
The blacks were in this area pretty good when I arrived. I set up about 18 decoys and tucked the AA Wigeon back into a cove against the marsh. With the sun at my back the birds would be at a disadvantage. About a half an hour after set up a nice pair of black ducks flying back into the area to feed lock up and commit perfectly to my spread.
After this hunt I touched up the grass with some spray paint as it was to light in color and not brown enough. Had the sun not been to my advantage I have a feeling the wary black ducks might have been more cautious and my maiden voyage wouldn't have been as successful.
View of boat with the light grass from inside of the spread of black duck decoys. Picture is facing west with sun still higher in sky than the light leads you to believe.
Below is a picture toward end of season with the painted grass. My motor blanket still stands out a bit but I think the rest of the grassing is halfway decent.
I will try and post a few more of my hunt pictorials in the coming weeks. Always hunted big transport or bay boats and in 25 years of waterfowling this is my first year of hunting out of a little marsh boat. I feel like I have been missing so much all these years.
This was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and being somewhat of a cautious freak I opted to hunt from land in the morning and head out with the little boat in the afternoon on what I consider moderate waters even on flat calm days. November in my parts is usually very slow and the birds do not start to move in until we get several nights of freezing temps and being that was not the case I opted for what I was thinking would be a good area to get a chance at a black duck on a blue bird afternoon.
Went to the first launch shortly after 1:00 pm and the low tide was a blow out there was no chance I would be able to float even the little AA Wigeon. I then started off to the next ramp that brought me to this destination shortly after 2:00 pm.
The blacks were in this area pretty good when I arrived. I set up about 18 decoys and tucked the AA Wigeon back into a cove against the marsh. With the sun at my back the birds would be at a disadvantage. About a half an hour after set up a nice pair of black ducks flying back into the area to feed lock up and commit perfectly to my spread.
After this hunt I touched up the grass with some spray paint as it was to light in color and not brown enough. Had the sun not been to my advantage I have a feeling the wary black ducks might have been more cautious and my maiden voyage wouldn't have been as successful.
View of boat with the light grass from inside of the spread of black duck decoys. Picture is facing west with sun still higher in sky than the light leads you to believe.
Below is a picture toward end of season with the painted grass. My motor blanket still stands out a bit but I think the rest of the grassing is halfway decent.
I will try and post a few more of my hunt pictorials in the coming weeks. Always hunted big transport or bay boats and in 25 years of waterfowling this is my first year of hunting out of a little marsh boat. I feel like I have been missing so much all these years.