Last of the Virginia Duck Season

[Dave Diefenderfer]

We had a great send off to the duck season last weekend.... we planned for full day of it, breakfast was served, wild boar sausage, fried egg and cheese on rolls:

We hunted a shore blind as well as utilized Rufus Brinn's Kalash layout that we rebuilt last year:

We finally had ice, breaking ice for more than 1/4 mile out of the bay.....

4 of us hunted the layout, and all were able to kill birds from it. It was a fun hunt, and have a better idea how to use it next season.

Lunch consisted of venison brats, and 2 different wild boar recipes.... hot off the grill, they hit the spot.

When all was said and down, we managed to shoot 6 different species on the last day, including a couple birds we seldom,
or never see in this area! Who would have though a Surf Scoter?

 

[Jon Yenulonis]

Looks like you had a pretty good hunt. (By my standards a "Great Hunt!")

Did you have any trouble with the layout and the tides?

I hunt the Eastern part of the state every year. There's a couple guys there who have talked about using a layout, but had trouble with the tidal currents and all of the grass and "junk" tangling up in the anchor ropes.

Enjoyed the pictures!

Jon

 

[Dave Diefenderfer]

Jon, we did have a couple issues to work out for next season... we had ice to deal with on the tide.... we used the tender to run back and forth to break up the large ice flows before they entered the decoys.... the individual anchored decoys kept dragging with the ice. We also need to get a much larger anchor.... I know the rule of thumb is that the anchor should be sufficient to set on the tender and layout together..... Last Saturday, we kept dragging the anchor so we had to continue to position the layout a few times.... not a big deal in light winds, but if we had wind and waves, would not have been safe. As the tide fell out, we were actually in standing water!

 

[Geo Kaiser]

If you want an anchor to bite hard and you are using a length of chain,
try adding a sash weight on the end of the chain where it meets the line !!

 

[John Augustine]

What George said and I also set the anchor hard with the tender before attaching it to the layout.
Works for us, John

 

[Al Hansen]

That is quite a selection of ducks you ended up with. Congrats on the very successful end of the season hunt.
Al

 

[Tom Hickman]

Wow, what a day !!! Congratulations days like that don't come to often. I was iced in at my location and my last day was sitting in front of the fireplace reading American water fowler. Count down to next season has begun.

 

[Victor Duskin]

That's a mix Bag for sure... Congrats on ending well...

 

[Pat Gregory]

Dave - That settles it, I want to hunt with you! Every picture you post is what I like, eat or want... Great pics and congrats on some great hunting. Pat

 

[Cas Alkanowski]

Dave nice pictures I like the one with the layout and spred of divers the over cast on the picture looks great the kind of day you want to hunt.

 

[John Bourbon]

Dave, nice pics. The layout pic is very classic.

John