I'd say Maine got the dates for our new extended coastal season just about right--at least for this year, and for the areas I hunt. (I'd still like to see it apply on salt water west of Route 1 to pick up two of my favorite spots.) The season closes today, and I'd say reasonable hunting opportunities are just about used up--but still available for those willing to work at it.
Ice conditions from a three day cold snap made any boat-based hunting impossible for us yesterday, but a mid-day warm up (all the way to 29) and a wind shift created some opportunity at a walk-in spot.
This is always tough hunting. We can get to shore, and there is open water where the birds like to hang out, but there is a sharp drop off just off our hunting spot, and between that and that some moving sheets of ice, decoy setting and retrieving is problematic. It's also about a half mile walk, so we can't haul much gear.
We put together a bag of 9 of our cheapest, lightest and most expendable plastic decoys--6 mixed mallards and blacks and 3 goldeneyes.
When we walked in, there was a big raft of geese and ducks sitting on our point--mostly black ducks, but plenty of divers mixed in. To the left of the point was cove with scattered ducks, but it was mostly iced in. Out to the right, into the open bay, the wind was blowing hard out of the SW, and there was a sizable raft of ducks about 100 yards off shore, riding out the waves. The number of birds was encouraging, but we could tell we were going to have a tough afternoon, as our opportunities to place decoys were very limited, and none of those places seemed to be where the birds were sitting. Most of the birds were out in deeper water, 70-100 yards off the point.
Here's a carefully cropped GE image of the spot. (If this is enough information to burn our spot, you already know this place. Hint: it's a point located somewhere on the Maine coast.) As we came out of the woods, all the birds flew out. We figured a quick set up and hoping for birds coming right back was our best best, so we placed a handful of decoys as shown and settled into the brush on the point to wait.
View attachment point.jpg
We had a few divers flying past the point, but none of them took any interest in the GE decoys. And some big groups of black ducks were flying around, and soon began to bunch up in a raft about 250 yards to our north. Perhaps with 300 decoys we could have competed. We only had about 90 minutes to hunt before sunset, so we hunkered down for some bird watching. Nothing happened until about 5 minutes before sunset, when we got a quick flurry of activity--first gulls, then some buffleheads and whistlers flying past the point again, and finally some small groups of black ducks. Almost all of the black ducks flew around the point to take a look at our decoys, stayed just out of range, and then settled into the raft out in front of us.
Except one, about 2 minutes before sunset, who strayed a little too close. I dropped him with one shot, and he landed right at the waters edge to give the dog an easy retrieve.
Somehow the dog dislodged one of my whistler decoys, which floated away as I was enjoying the moment.
I'll trade a cheap plastic decoy for a fat black duck any day.
Ice conditions from a three day cold snap made any boat-based hunting impossible for us yesterday, but a mid-day warm up (all the way to 29) and a wind shift created some opportunity at a walk-in spot.
This is always tough hunting. We can get to shore, and there is open water where the birds like to hang out, but there is a sharp drop off just off our hunting spot, and between that and that some moving sheets of ice, decoy setting and retrieving is problematic. It's also about a half mile walk, so we can't haul much gear.
We put together a bag of 9 of our cheapest, lightest and most expendable plastic decoys--6 mixed mallards and blacks and 3 goldeneyes.
When we walked in, there was a big raft of geese and ducks sitting on our point--mostly black ducks, but plenty of divers mixed in. To the left of the point was cove with scattered ducks, but it was mostly iced in. Out to the right, into the open bay, the wind was blowing hard out of the SW, and there was a sizable raft of ducks about 100 yards off shore, riding out the waves. The number of birds was encouraging, but we could tell we were going to have a tough afternoon, as our opportunities to place decoys were very limited, and none of those places seemed to be where the birds were sitting. Most of the birds were out in deeper water, 70-100 yards off the point.
Here's a carefully cropped GE image of the spot. (If this is enough information to burn our spot, you already know this place. Hint: it's a point located somewhere on the Maine coast.) As we came out of the woods, all the birds flew out. We figured a quick set up and hoping for birds coming right back was our best best, so we placed a handful of decoys as shown and settled into the brush on the point to wait.
View attachment point.jpg
We had a few divers flying past the point, but none of them took any interest in the GE decoys. And some big groups of black ducks were flying around, and soon began to bunch up in a raft about 250 yards to our north. Perhaps with 300 decoys we could have competed. We only had about 90 minutes to hunt before sunset, so we hunkered down for some bird watching. Nothing happened until about 5 minutes before sunset, when we got a quick flurry of activity--first gulls, then some buffleheads and whistlers flying past the point again, and finally some small groups of black ducks. Almost all of the black ducks flew around the point to take a look at our decoys, stayed just out of range, and then settled into the raft out in front of us.
Except one, about 2 minutes before sunset, who strayed a little too close. I dropped him with one shot, and he landed right at the waters edge to give the dog an easy retrieve.
Somehow the dog dislodged one of my whistler decoys, which floated away as I was enjoying the moment.
I'll trade a cheap plastic decoy for a fat black duck any day.
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