On vacation and no ducks

T

Todd Langston

Active member
Sitting here in North Bama again with almost the entire month of December to hunt and once again, I'm a week late on the ducks. Scouted about 10 miles of shoreline and deep water today and only saw three groups of huntable ducks on Guntersville. I'm to the point where I'm gonna start taking all my vacation during the summer, so I can at least fish. Does anybody know of any birds on public water? I'm up for a roadtrip.....
 
Todd

We are bird poor at the moment. Reports have been abysmal. The only suggestion I have it to target your wood duck spots. Those are about the only huntable numbers now. We need some cold air to push the birds in the valley. You could always freelance Ark but I hear they have water issues. Missouri public is another good bet but you'll have to spin up on all their regulations.

Eric
 
Eric, I have an open invite to a club in AK, but I was hoping to find something diver related. It is also hard to hit those rivers up there on your own. I'm not as young as I used to be.....
 
If you've got a whole month, make the three day drive to Cali. We've got divers out the ying yang and little competition. Three days to make it back home would leave you at least 15 days of hunting. And 7 duck limits right in Pelosi's back yard.
 
I haven't been out yet but I hear things have gone downhill since the opener here too.
Maybe the two fronts coming (tonight and later this week) will make another push.
I hope so, since this coming weekend will be the first time we get out.
 
It's all part of being a Waterfowl hunter. Precious vacation time that you work hard to earn, plans made, money saved, preparations all in order and when you get there NO BIRDS. After many years of trips just about everywhere I've realized it's a 50/50 shot. We are totally at the mercy of the Birds, always have been always will be. We bitch and moan but still we GO, always hopeful. Drew a blind on Pea Island NC years ago in hopes of Greater snow Geese. Only to be told the total kill so far all season was 3 Snow Geese. What?

Saved all my vacation time (3 weeks) in 1987 for a well planned free lance trip to Manitoba inter lake region. When we arrived the marshes were full of birds. That night a major snow storm hit and we could hardly open the door of the motel. Only 3 coots on the marsh in the morning where thousands of ducks were the day before, and that trip triggered my DI-VORCE. Most expensive waterfowling "vacation" of my life...
 
My buddies and i are talking about doing a trip next year. We would try to cram alot of actvities in. One idea was to go to maine for eidah and grouse, get a bunch of steamers and lobster too.

Then again going to florida for some spear fishing, gators, rock lobster, wild pigs, new species of ducks, and getting to wear shorts in the winter sounds pretty good too.

The trips that i will do later in life when i can afford them are alaska and new zealand. I spend way too much time watching videos of hunting paradise duck and spearfishing in wellington. Those kiwi's have some amazing places.

Just remember any time spent in the boat is better than work
 
Chris, that sounds awesome. It is nice if you have buddies that are willing to do that stuff. Unfortunately all my buddies have slowed down, so it is pretty much me now.
 
One guy i worked with at the DEP is 7 years older than me and plays in 3 softball leagues and flag foot ball (he is way more engergetic than me but i still call him on old fart). He just got a job for noaa as a fisheries observer. He is at sea 12-20 days a month and is single. He is game for anything. Nikkis brother will do anything that gets him out of work. The other kid we hunt with is co owner of a coin/gold/collectable shop with an older guy so they just cover for each other.
 
Todd - you're not a week late, it just "hasn't happened" this year for some reason. I've had some bad opening days before but this one was just unexplainable. Birds were decoy shy as of about 1 min after shooting light (we had 20 at shooting range in the decoys before legal time). I hunted 6 of the 1st 10 days of season on public waters in NE Bama and probably had the poorest results ever with that many opportunities to hunt. One limit in all of those days and it took me until 2:30 PM.... ok, done with my rant. BTW, I can also say the number of hunters total and number of hunters out after 10AM has increased and that's not keeping the pressure off the few ducks we do still have around.... :(
 
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