The Slump Buster

Cody Williams

Cody Williams

Well-known member
This season seems to have been one of boom or bust for me. We started off strong in October with a few great weeks of hunting, and then got hit with a huge polar blast in early November that froze everything solid for a week and pushed large numbers of birds off south. Once a bit of water opened up the hunting was really good again for about 5 days and then we have had almost 6 weeks of very warm temperatures and almost no new birds migrating in. Couple the unusual weather with some severely decreased water levels in my usual spots and the last few weeks have been interesting to say the least!

After firing a grand total of 4 shots on my last 4 hunts (and getting skunked every time) a combination of another big weather front that dropped our temps into the single digits and an invite from a friend with access to a prime late-season spring pond put me back on the boom side of things-what a way to end the year! In addition to the great hunting we got some amazing duck watching in-we had flocks of 20 or 30 bluebills (which are closed for the season here) buzzing us all afternoon at head height and a constant stream of goldeneyes (which I usually refuse to shoot) landing in the decoys.

A little hardship makes the success all that much sweeter, happy new year everyone and hope everyone has a great late season!
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That is great, Cody. It is sure good to hear that you finally got into some ducks again. What a nice bag limit. I had to look twice at the gaddies because I haven't seen any this year. As for the divers, I had to look twice at them also.

My last 5 hunts I haven't even seen a feather, so it was good to hear that you at least fired a shot! We have an inch of snow on the ground and I care not to take my 2 wheel drive truck out. The locals play a game called Bumper Cars. I'll just wait for it to melt.
Al
 
That's a nice mixed bag, congrats! I had to take second look at the shovelor, thought they would have all been down to see Al by now....
 
Cody~

What an amazing mix of fine specimens! Glad you went out on such a high note. We all need an exceptional shoot every so often to keep the fires burning.

All the best in Ought-fifteen,

SJS
 
Thanks guys, it was a high note for sure! Al-I'm sure this last system will push some more birds down your way, funny thing is I haven't seen nearly as many gaddies as usual this year either. Who knows what's going on? I usually try not to shoot shovelers either but this one was such a nice colored-up drake that I couldn't resist......
 
Great mixed bag!

Gotta ask, is it normal for Spoonies and ringnecks to be that far north this time of year?
We sometimes see Spoonies in September on the Gulf coast, not the most cold tolerant ducks.
 
Nice mixed bag!

Carl,
I see more Ringers here in Decmber and January than in October. I saw Shovelers landing on an iced over lake a couple weeks ago.
 
We used to get tons of ringers. Then they stopped coming, I've shot two since 2005.
 
Carl, we always have a lot of spoonies around because they hang out in huge numbers on the Great Salt Lake. I have seen groups of them out there that were literally black clouds in the sky that looked like a huge flock of starlings. The GSL will hold a lot of birds throughout the winter because it never freezes.
As for ringnecks, they are never very common out here but there are a few spots where you can always count on seeing a few-this particular spot will typically have a few hundred ringers and scaup hanging out on it late in the season and flying around in big mixed flocks. It sure is a sight to see but it can make for tough shooting because our scaup season closes on Dec 27-you have to be really picky with your shots! They can sure put on a show though, and the sound that a big group of divers makes when they drop out of the sky and buzz your spread at mach 5 is one of my favorite in the world!
 
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Cool info, thanks.
How tasty are the GSL Spoonies, since they are most likely feeding on brine fly larvae and brine shrimp???
 
Cool info, thanks.
How tasty are the GSL Spoonies, since they are most likely feeding on brine fly larvae and brine shrimp???
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Not very-that's the main reason I try not to shoot them! I've had a few that were just like any other duck but also a few that were pretty poor eating. They usually get a free pass from me.
 
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