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Jay K

Jay K

Active member
Been a decent season for me so far. I still consider myself a pretty new hunter here in NJ. Only been really at it for 2 years seriously. For those who have hunted here, it's a pretty tough state. Anyway, onto the hunts:

Hunt 1: North zone spot close to first split opener. It's a very extreme spot. 6' tides, 5' deep mud, 25' deep channels, 7' sedges at low tide and 5 kts of current at times (or at least it seems that way). Didn't see too much. Birds must have been on the move that day. Off to work I went.

Hunt 2: Hungry for more punishment, I went back to give it another shot a week or two later. Didn't end up with much to show for it once again. The only bit of excitement I had was a mature bull sprig landing far outside a trio of pintail decoys I had set out. I waited and waited, but he pushed farther and farther out. That was it for the morning. Headed into work.

Hunt 3: Beginning to feel like groundhog day, I decided to head back AGAIN (yes, I don't learn my lesson easily) to the same spot. This time it was a little different picture. I setup on the other side of a roost. Before legal I had a black duck fly into my spread. He swam his way out before legal and took off. From the beginning of legal, I had birds pouring from the roost. They didn't give me much of a look. Around 8 I had my first taker. A black duck came in fully committed. I completely whiffed. Guess I can't blame myself since it was the first time I fired the gun in 3 hunts. Then, about 15 min later, here comes a beautiful greenhead fully committed. I took my time, place the shot, and he was down. I picked him up and it was a fine specimen indeed. I gave it about another 30 min. With nothing else showing, I headed into work.
View attachment Mallard.jpg

Hunt 4: This past Saturday, I decided to stretch my wings a little and do my first coastal hunt of the season. A buddy gave me some great insight on a new spot to try. I decided afternoon was best due to the falling tide. It was nice in that coastal opened this weekend for the second split but I was only in the company of another hunter at the ramp. I reached the spot in the middle of the small bay. I ran through a raft of 100 or so Brant to get to the spot. I was setting out 6 vintage foam Brant decoys so this was a good sign. Had lots of life but not the right kind...initially. Small groups of divers were working and the occasional V of honkers moved up high. Around mid-afternoon, I had a group of Brant fly right over top of me. It was amazing to see a bird or two look at my 6 decoys and get bumped back in line by the other birds. They had eyes on the raft on the other side of the sedge, which I could hear calling all day. Finally, shortly after that, a single mallard drake buzzed by. I stupidly took the shot and missed. Annoyed at my poor decision to not let him work, I readied myself for the next opportunity. About 30 minutes later it came in the form of 3 black ducks. They came in quick, fully committed. I waited until they were almost feet down. I picked out two and let it fly. Two birds down. Black duck limited filled. As I was moving the boat back to my hide, I turn around to see a broadbill buzzing my decoys. Sadly I was far from ready. Oh well. Later on I had another black duck or two buzz me but I knew that I was full. I really, really, really wanted a Brant or two. 4:30pm on the dot rolled around and I began to pickup decoys. I turn to my left and here come 2 Brant, right into the decoys. They were 10 yds away as I was standing tall, with orange PVC gloves on, pulling decoys. Apparently they're not very smart. Smarter than me somehow though. At this point it was 5 min past legal so it was a no go. They eventually left and so did I.




View attachment BlackDuck.jpg

There duo back at the truck.



View attachment BlackDucks.jpg

It's shaping up to be an interesting season. We had our first weather today with some snow. Can't wait to see what the rest of the season holds.
 
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Hmm not sure why the thumbnails are sideways. Pics when clicked are correct orientation.
 
Jay K said:
Hmm not sure why the thumbnails are sideways. Pics when clicked are correct orientation.
Click to expand...

Because iphones mess with the orientation of pictures. You don't know it when you view pics on your iPhone because it compensates for it's own issue but when you send the pictures to other displays they are sideways.

The below article does a nice job of explaining how to overcome iphone's inability to handle portrait orientation.

http://rotatemailer.com/sideways-pictures.html
 
It always seem the best decoying birds appear while either walking around in decoys picking up at end of hunt or sliding thru dekes with boat picking up. Always assumed the motion in decoys attributed to it when camoed up and walking in decoys but the boat thing baffles me to this day. It just happened to me couple weeks ago while picking up with boat. See it happen almost every year and I,ve been at this for about 45 years!
 
Gorgeous birds you have gotten. You'll get the marshes figured out.....

Birds always come in when you're picking up....or if it is time to relieve yourself....can't count the numbers of times that has happened....
 
Every hunt is a learning session. Wild birds, as predictable as they can seem at times, are still very unpredictable. Coastal NJ is one of the more interesting and dare I say difficult places to learn to hunt due to the conditions, tides, competition, etc.

I find I can guarantee birds showing up by taking a phone call so add that to the list. I actually shot a bird while on the phone Friday.
 
I was on the phone with a buddy (he was working) when I got a second canvasback one morning.
The only time I ever had scoters in the decoys I was picking up decoys, gun unloaded and in the boat.
It?s all good, part of the game.
 
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Eric,

Its seems like sometimes it wants to rotate the thumbnail properly, other times it does not. Some days just a simple rotation in Windows gets the job done.

Roy, Dani, Carl,

Always how it seems to go. In my case it's usually as I am motoring back to the hide to reset after picking up downed birds. Things just always seem to happen so fast in the duck hunting world. The birds you watch coming in from far off almost never seem to work. The ones that commit always seem to come in at 100mph from behind the sedge!

Craig,

Duck hunting has even surpassed offshore fishing for me in terms of learning curve. It continues to surprise me every time how hard these birds can be to pattern and predict. I've learned one thing for sure though, black ducks are about as wild as it gets. I figure I am doing something right if I am getting them to decoy.

Steve,

Thank you very much my friend!
 
My brother and I are also new to the NJ coastal marshes. This is our 4th year doing it, and we keep learning. Wind, tide, current, shifting bottom, etc. Lots of stuff to take into consideration. Lots of fun too! Plenty of screw ups, and misadventures, and a few times sitting high and dry through low tide.

I am convinced Black Ducks can read your mind because as soon as you think ?Ok, this one is coming in? they flare off. Our best shot?s on black ducks are always when we didn?t see them coming until it was time to shoot.

Best of Luck and thanks for sharing!
 
Charles,

I gauge how well I am grassed and hidden by how I get black ducks to work. Even then, they still bust me from certain angles. One thing I used to my advantage wherever possible is the sun. Having it to my back is so helpful. Even then, if they don't like the spread...they're gone. Best of luck this season.
 
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