Jon Zuccolo
Active member
Today I slept in until about 6, and then I got up to walk the dog, and have a coffee and a few egg sandwiches and send my wife off to New Brunswick for her weekend girls trip...The house was quiet as she took the dog, and the cat was happy to not be retrieved by the dog. My wife texted me a while later "What are you going to do today?" I wrote back "Duck hunting of course". I guess she was surprised that I was still at home for breakfast on a duck hunting day. When people ask me why I like duck hunting, I usually tell them its cold, everything is wet, the ducks laugh at my decoys, and walking in mud is exhausting, whats not to like about that?
I loaded up the van with my 6 least laughable decoys, some shells and my 20 gauge and the little canoe on top, and headed out.
I stopped by the local DU pond (2 minute drive from my house), and there were already 3 cars in the parking lot and one on the road. They probably didn't get to sleep in like I did
I had a different idea for today. No ponds, no blinds, and possibly no ducks, but I kept on driving another 2 minutes down the road and stopped where a "river" passes thru a culvert. Before I unloaded any gear, I went back down to the "river" for one last check to see if my canoe would even fit... Just barely 
so I loaded my gear into the canoe and was on the water by 8am! Ankle deep water that is
I've looked at this creek before and thought it MIGHT be passable with a bit of rain, or if I was feeling a bit energetic, I could drag the boat thru the woods a bit when needed... My old pokeboat would have been perfect for this, but I have a stubby canoe for that job now, and this was a perfect test for it.
It turned out to be more dragging than paddling, but I took my time, and canoed a bit, and dragged a bit more. Many times, the paddle could reach both banks, and I had many spiders and branches in my boat before 9am. It was exhausting at times, but quite pleasant, and I started thinking that this is my favorite part of hunting.
As the creek started to get deeper I started seeing ducks. I saw MANY wood ducks, but all out of range as they usually saw the front of my canoe coming around the corners before I could see the birds. I also saw a good count of teal and 2 grouse, and got a single shot off on one grouse. Leaves flew from the bush I hit, but no feathers. It would have been nice to get a grouse, it would have been nice if the creek was a bit deeper also And as I came around to a rehabilitated riparian zone, I started flushing woodcock. When I got to 7 birds counted, I thought to my self "Wow, my buddy is gonna be so stoked to try his dog out here!"... within another hour or so I lost count but I would guess more than 25 flushed woodcock. I made a few shots, but couldn't quite connect. In that hour, I didn't move very far in the canoe.
Eventually, I realized I was 2/3rds of the way to a private pond, and I didn't want to start running into hunting parties coming up from the pond. So I sat for a while, and took a little break before turning it around and heading back up.
The little canoe has MANY scratches in its new paint and I found a cool spot to hunt on days when I am not feeling lazy
Hope everyone else had a good hunt today.
I loaded up the van with my 6 least laughable decoys, some shells and my 20 gauge and the little canoe on top, and headed out.
I stopped by the local DU pond (2 minute drive from my house), and there were already 3 cars in the parking lot and one on the road. They probably didn't get to sleep in like I did
I had a different idea for today. No ponds, no blinds, and possibly no ducks, but I kept on driving another 2 minutes down the road and stopped where a "river" passes thru a culvert. Before I unloaded any gear, I went back down to the "river" for one last check to see if my canoe would even fit... Just barely so I loaded my gear into the canoe and was on the water by 8am! Ankle deep water that is I've looked at this creek before and thought it MIGHT be passable with a bit of rain, or if I was feeling a bit energetic, I could drag the boat thru the woods a bit when needed... My old pokeboat would have been perfect for this, but I have a stubby canoe for that job now, and this was a perfect test for it.
It turned out to be more dragging than paddling, but I took my time, and canoed a bit, and dragged a bit more. Many times, the paddle could reach both banks, and I had many spiders and branches in my boat before 9am. It was exhausting at times, but quite pleasant, and I started thinking that this is my favorite part of hunting.
As the creek started to get deeper I started seeing ducks. I saw MANY wood ducks, but all out of range as they usually saw the front of my canoe coming around the corners before I could see the birds. I also saw a good count of teal and 2 grouse, and got a single shot off on one grouse. Leaves flew from the bush I hit, but no feathers. It would have been nice to get a grouse, it would have been nice if the creek was a bit deeper also
And as I came around to a rehabilitated riparian zone, I started flushing woodcock. When I got to 7 birds counted, I thought to my self "Wow, my buddy is gonna be so stoked to try his dog out here!"... within another hour or so I lost count but I would guess more than 25 flushed woodcock. I made a few shots, but couldn't quite connect. In that hour, I didn't move very far in the canoe. Eventually, I realized I was 2/3rds of the way to a private pond, and I didn't want to start running into hunting parties coming up from the pond. So I sat for a while, and took a little break before turning it around and heading back up.
The little canoe has MANY scratches in its new paint and I found a cool spot to hunt on days when I am not feeling lazy
Hope everyone else had a good hunt today.
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