Least favorite weather and/or time to hunt ducks?

least favorite time to go duckin was during rain. 2nd least was heavy fog. Not because of bird visability but because of haveing to navigate my local river , missing stumps that are remembered from landmarks in the dark. Most favorite was an overnite snow and blow that ends as your setting decoys. Didn,t get to do that till I retired as I worked for Md. St. Hwys and was out working in various capacitys during ice, snow, etc. Close 2nd for favorite is an ice up of local waterways ( impoundments) that forces ducks out of their unmolested resting spots.
 
Well I guess I don't need to worry about too many of you coming to hunt the PNW if you don't like hunting in the rain. I have found the only weather that I really don't like to hunt is tornados, 50 mph winds that shift 180 degrees in 5 minutes and heavy thunderstorms. I got all 3 on day last season.

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Brad, I sure wished that system would work its way to us. The Rio Grande dried up two weeks ago and has been flat lining it ever since. Just two days ago, ABQ got over an inch of rain but in a down pour. The arroyos ran, some of the streets looked like waterways, and even a young man was killed when he got caught in an arroyo. Well, with all this activity I thought for sure that we would once again see water flowing in the river down here---not so. It was totally consumed on its way down.
Al
 
Al

That was a storm cell that moved through last season. Tornado, thunderstorms, torrential rain and a 180 degree wind change with about 50 mph winds. My crew and I were blown almost on shore. We finally got to boat pointed out into the waves and wind and abandoned the decoy spread. We were able to motor into the Lee of the island and ride it out while the front passed. Third time in 23 years of hunting there that there has been tornados sighted in the general vicinity.


All I hope it breaks for you soon. Lots of birds headed your way.
 
Hard Northwest wind, blows all of the water out of the marshes
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Those are actually our best days, reduces the amount of areas the birds have to feed & concentrates them on the normally deeper grass flats. Plus brings in "fresh" birds.
 
I'll take the rain any day. At least birds get up and move. I don't like hunting in clear skies.
Brad, I hunted LCR with a kayak for a full season a few years ago before I had a boat. It was a blast. Paddle around the islands and get up in the shallows, sneak on birds, go as far as you were willing to paddle back, and keep an eye on the wind and tides unless you were willing to paddle against them.
One day I had planned with a moderate paddle upstream to make it around the point of an island (~a mile) then a couple miles back down river with the tide to get to the launch. Pretty typical. Got caught by a hard wind switch early on the downstream stretch as a front came through. The channels between some of the islands are large and whip up with some massive standing waves when the tide is running out against the wind, but I was pretty much committed at that point and there wasn't anywhere to go...an impossible bank on one side and a steep rocky shore loaded with snags on the other. It stands out among my stateside oh-crap moments. I'll count my blessings that it wasn't 50mph, and especially that there were no tornadoes. Glad you rode it out safe, the Big C is merciless.
 
Nick

Yes it is. Your story reminds me of Lewis and Clark. They named a spot like that Dismal snitch because they were hemmed in by a high rock cliff during a flood tide. I can't imagine standing thigh deep water for hours wearing elk hide clothes. Would have made for an uncomfortable night.

During my years I know of numerous accidents, even more near misses, several drownings and I am always amazed when I see guys go out in small boats in the dark at high speed and no lights and not wearing PFDs. I've rescued more than one guy out there. One night I was staying in a camper at the launch and heard choppers during the night. Turned out that a good sized sailboat with two people aboard had sunk presumably by a log. Sank in 100 feet of water near one of my favorite coves. They never found the bodies. The depth goes from over 100 feet to less than 3 feet in about 20-30 yards.

My oh-crap stories would fill a book but one of the most vivid ones is like yours. I anchored my 17 foot aluminum boat in one of the sloughs in the interior of one of those islands. I paddled a couple hundred yards up the slough to hunt a hole in the willows and weeds. At high tide, the wind shifted 180 degrees straight out of the west. So wind and tide were running together starting somewhere in the vicinity of Japan. The marsh was entirely flooded and I could not paddle against the tide and the wind. My only choice was to tie the aquapod to the stoutest willow tree and ride it out til the tide dropped enough that I could paddle the slough with some wind protection. My lab and I ate a sandwich and hunkered down in that pod for 3 or 4 hours. And then there was the time.......
 
Brad - I am with you. A couple of years ago we hunted our club a day before and the morning of the big tornado in Washington, Illinois which we didn't know the magnitude at the time. The difficulty I've experienced is the lure to ride it out not knowing the power of the storm. On both the day before and the morning of, the ducks were stirred significantly and we were enjoying good shooting. I can remember large flocks of migrating green wing teal coming off the river in big waves. The wind was howling. To a waterfowler, it was gorgeous... But, we did the right thing, got off the water, and everyone was safe.

The force of nature is never something to be tampered with...
 
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