Larry Eckart
Well-known member
Guys,
I took the time to write up/chronicle my two day trip to the Outer Banks. It is a long read with a link at the end to images on my Flickr site. You might want to get a cup of coffee or a beer first. Thanks for all the posts and advice shared so freely by so many great guys on this site. Enjoy this. Happy New Year to all.
Larry Eckart
Outer Banks Trip 2015
“You should have been here yesterday!”
“What a difference a day makes!”
“Location! Location! Location!”
“Be where the ducks want to be!”
How many times have we heard those four jingoes in our hunting experience?
All four were replayed in my two-day trip to the Outer Banks with childhood friend Ron Fricke.
We arrived on Monday afternoon with a stiff northwest blowing that offered a temporary drop in temperatures. With both of those variables working, the guides along the Outer Banks shot ducks with their clients that day. But we were not hunting Monday. We arrived Monday.
Before I get to Tuesday’s hunt, let’s take a look at the setting.
The Outer Banks is a thin strip of sand stretching for 200 miles, primarily along North Carolina’s eastern coast. This is historic hunting ground going back to the days of the market hunters who provided game for the restaurants of Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. As you move south, Currituck Sound leads to the Albemarle Sound leads to the Pamlico Sound. Just off to the east is Mattamuskeet Lake, which once was a goose hunting magnet.
What draws ducks to this area are these three factors: shallow water, low salinity, and grasses growing up from the bottom. I was surprised that most of the water is only 3’-5’ deep, good for ducks but makes for very rough water when the wind blows. I was surprised that due to the few number of inlets from the ocean, the water has a low salinity, very much unlike the salt marsh in my home state of South Carolina. And when you looked over the side of the boat or the blind there was a continual stream of grass in the water. Food!
So hunters came and still come to this area. But what does not draw hunters to this area is easy access for freelancers. Nada! I was surprised, or maybe not surprised, to find the hunt is tied up by two factors that limit setting up without a guide: 1) stake blinds are handed down year after year and only those who are registered to those blinds can hunt them; 2) there is a “moratorium” on boat blinds so that only those who have current boat blind permits can use a boat blind. These are local rules, with “local” meaning by county, not state!
That moratorium on boat blinds has been in effect for twenty years! In other words, even with all the open water of Pamlico Sound around the Outer Banks, you cannot simply drop your boat and hunt. As you move east and south these local rules change. But in the Outer Banks, you essentially need a guide to hunt.
Funny how things are different in various parts of the country. I never met a hunting guide in 26 years in Michigan. Everything was freelance.
On our first day the temperature rose to 75 degrees (on December 29!) and the wind blew 15-20 out of the southwest. In that wind, I expected divers to move well. So much for my thinking! We saw seven birds all day. Not seven birds in the decoys. We saw just seven birds even though we were hunting on the fabled Currituck Sound. The ducks evidently don’t pay attention to history. And history doesn’t pay attention to today when it comes to hunting.
We packed up at 1:00, ate a great local lunch of shrimp tacos and toured the magnificent beauty that is the Outer Banks. In one area on Cape Hatteras National Seashore drift fences are put up along route 12. Drift fences, not for snow but for sand. And huge bucket loaders are left along the road to remove sand drifts that occur on a regular basis. The “banks” of sand are just that: sand hills that rise as much as 100’ above the sea and sound. Fragile. Shifting. Marvelous. Especially in the National Seashore where houses are not allowed.
A different guide on day two took us to the shallow shoals of Pamlico Sound. The forecast was more warm weather and rain, rain, rain. The rain held off and the ducks came before the rain.
This day we were not in a stake blind but our guide had one of the few authorized boat blind permits. This hunt would have been familiar to all freelancers. The guide had scouted. We set up where the birds wanted to be. And friend Ron who had not shot his gun the day before had four birds within ten minutes.
The birds this day were mostly buffleheads, but we saw sea ducks regularly with occasional flights of high pintails. Even though the migration this year appears to be stalled with birds bunched up north, there are still plenty of birds around the Outer Banks. But like any place else, if you are limited to stake blinds where the birds don’t want to be then you are stuck with a stake blind watching empty skies.
We limited out early on buffleheads and common scoters. Question: did God give scoters a shell of Kevlar? Dang! Those dudes seem impervious even to a patterned load of #2 heavy metal at close range. Upon cleaning the birds and grabbing a fistful of feathers, skin and fatty “underwear”, you understood again why these birds seem quite happy in the cold rolling environment of the sea.
Back at the dock while cleaning the birds I looked up to see a heavy rain front approaching quickly over the Pamlico Sound. “Speed it up guys or we are going to be drenched!” My friend heard me say quietly, “Lord hold that off till we get done here.”
We cleaned the birds, took care of the carcasses, tipped the guide and climbed into our cars.
Then and only then, it began to rain. Friend Ron looked at me and said, “Is this how it always works hunting with pastors?”
For the next three hours the clouds drew low and the heavens opened. And it rained.
(The link below will take you to pics on my Flickr site. Highlight the link, right click and follow the instruction, “go to address.” You can click on each picture to see a larger image. Many images have descriptions if you are interested.)
https://www.flickr.com/gp/riverlarry2/8jU485
I took the time to write up/chronicle my two day trip to the Outer Banks. It is a long read with a link at the end to images on my Flickr site. You might want to get a cup of coffee or a beer first. Thanks for all the posts and advice shared so freely by so many great guys on this site. Enjoy this. Happy New Year to all.
Larry Eckart
Outer Banks Trip 2015
“You should have been here yesterday!”
“What a difference a day makes!”
“Location! Location! Location!”
“Be where the ducks want to be!”
How many times have we heard those four jingoes in our hunting experience?
All four were replayed in my two-day trip to the Outer Banks with childhood friend Ron Fricke.
We arrived on Monday afternoon with a stiff northwest blowing that offered a temporary drop in temperatures. With both of those variables working, the guides along the Outer Banks shot ducks with their clients that day. But we were not hunting Monday. We arrived Monday.
Before I get to Tuesday’s hunt, let’s take a look at the setting.
The Outer Banks is a thin strip of sand stretching for 200 miles, primarily along North Carolina’s eastern coast. This is historic hunting ground going back to the days of the market hunters who provided game for the restaurants of Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. As you move south, Currituck Sound leads to the Albemarle Sound leads to the Pamlico Sound. Just off to the east is Mattamuskeet Lake, which once was a goose hunting magnet.
What draws ducks to this area are these three factors: shallow water, low salinity, and grasses growing up from the bottom. I was surprised that most of the water is only 3’-5’ deep, good for ducks but makes for very rough water when the wind blows. I was surprised that due to the few number of inlets from the ocean, the water has a low salinity, very much unlike the salt marsh in my home state of South Carolina. And when you looked over the side of the boat or the blind there was a continual stream of grass in the water. Food!
So hunters came and still come to this area. But what does not draw hunters to this area is easy access for freelancers. Nada! I was surprised, or maybe not surprised, to find the hunt is tied up by two factors that limit setting up without a guide: 1) stake blinds are handed down year after year and only those who are registered to those blinds can hunt them; 2) there is a “moratorium” on boat blinds so that only those who have current boat blind permits can use a boat blind. These are local rules, with “local” meaning by county, not state!
That moratorium on boat blinds has been in effect for twenty years! In other words, even with all the open water of Pamlico Sound around the Outer Banks, you cannot simply drop your boat and hunt. As you move east and south these local rules change. But in the Outer Banks, you essentially need a guide to hunt.
Funny how things are different in various parts of the country. I never met a hunting guide in 26 years in Michigan. Everything was freelance.
On our first day the temperature rose to 75 degrees (on December 29!) and the wind blew 15-20 out of the southwest. In that wind, I expected divers to move well. So much for my thinking! We saw seven birds all day. Not seven birds in the decoys. We saw just seven birds even though we were hunting on the fabled Currituck Sound. The ducks evidently don’t pay attention to history. And history doesn’t pay attention to today when it comes to hunting.
We packed up at 1:00, ate a great local lunch of shrimp tacos and toured the magnificent beauty that is the Outer Banks. In one area on Cape Hatteras National Seashore drift fences are put up along route 12. Drift fences, not for snow but for sand. And huge bucket loaders are left along the road to remove sand drifts that occur on a regular basis. The “banks” of sand are just that: sand hills that rise as much as 100’ above the sea and sound. Fragile. Shifting. Marvelous. Especially in the National Seashore where houses are not allowed.
A different guide on day two took us to the shallow shoals of Pamlico Sound. The forecast was more warm weather and rain, rain, rain. The rain held off and the ducks came before the rain.
This day we were not in a stake blind but our guide had one of the few authorized boat blind permits. This hunt would have been familiar to all freelancers. The guide had scouted. We set up where the birds wanted to be. And friend Ron who had not shot his gun the day before had four birds within ten minutes.
The birds this day were mostly buffleheads, but we saw sea ducks regularly with occasional flights of high pintails. Even though the migration this year appears to be stalled with birds bunched up north, there are still plenty of birds around the Outer Banks. But like any place else, if you are limited to stake blinds where the birds don’t want to be then you are stuck with a stake blind watching empty skies.
We limited out early on buffleheads and common scoters. Question: did God give scoters a shell of Kevlar? Dang! Those dudes seem impervious even to a patterned load of #2 heavy metal at close range. Upon cleaning the birds and grabbing a fistful of feathers, skin and fatty “underwear”, you understood again why these birds seem quite happy in the cold rolling environment of the sea.
Back at the dock while cleaning the birds I looked up to see a heavy rain front approaching quickly over the Pamlico Sound. “Speed it up guys or we are going to be drenched!” My friend heard me say quietly, “Lord hold that off till we get done here.”
We cleaned the birds, took care of the carcasses, tipped the guide and climbed into our cars.
Then and only then, it began to rain. Friend Ron looked at me and said, “Is this how it always works hunting with pastors?”
For the next three hours the clouds drew low and the heavens opened. And it rained.
(The link below will take you to pics on my Flickr site. Highlight the link, right click and follow the instruction, “go to address.” You can click on each picture to see a larger image. Many images have descriptions if you are interested.)
https://www.flickr.com/gp/riverlarry2/8jU485
