Upland Hunting on Water

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Larry Eckart

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Guys,
Marsh hen (clapper rail) season opened today in South Carolina. We had high hopes with a high tide forecast for 9.5 feet where we would hunt. I used my “new” 13’ Grumman canoe. Friend Ted used a kayak.

The hunt focuses on 90 minutes before high tide and 90 minutes after high tide. We were hunting a new area, protected from forecast 15-20 mph winds. For the first 30 minutes we flushed nothing. I wondered if it would simply be a good day to paddle.

Then we found them or perhaps the tide rose high enough to expose these shy critters. Over the next 90 minutes we flushed 40-50 birds. Singles mostly, sometimes a pair, once a group of five that flushed like a covey of quail, each bird in a different direction. We honored their intelligent departure by missing cleanly.

There is something very wild about the salt marsh and the ack-ack-ack cackle of the marsh hens. You can hear the quack of a mallard across the country. But you don’t hear the call of the secretive marsh hen anywhere but out in the salt marsh. When the tide was about to turn the birds of this marsh had been to choir rehearsal: the whole marsh came alive with a LOUD unified cackle announcing the changing of the tide. Friend Ted and I just stopped and marveled at the volume of the sound.

We ended up with 15 birds between us. I won’t say how many shells. But we did notice that when the birds got up with the wind they found a speed that surprised us.

This kind of hunting provides a great cardio workout through the paddling, often through cover that acts as a natural resistance. End result: tired hunter in the evening!

Pics below.

Larry

Standing near my canoe (not sure why this pic came in upside down and the others did not)

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View of the marsh
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Close up
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A fine day's bag
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Nice haul!

We also had a nice big tide up here, and it was cloudy and blowing a bit at lunch time, so we planned a last-minute rail/duck hunt on Merrymeeting Bay. By the time we had the boat in the water the wind had died and the sun was high and bright, which put the kibosh on our duck opportunities, but we found one small pocket where the sora rails were pretty thick. I did all the poling and my buddy Tim did all the shooting. We only ended up with three birds--most of the flushes were of multiple birds, which I've not seen before, and poor Tim was shooting an unfamiliar gun. He did threaten to switch to his own 12 gauge with 3 1/2 inch #4's, but I convinced him small loads of #7's were a better choice if we wanted to save some meat and the best feather I know for soft hackle flies.
We did have one cripple swim and dive, which was neat, but Gus the Wonderlab figured out a new species and tracked it down. Unfortunately, that one pocket seemed to be the only spot with rails, so we were done pretty quickly.

We had a long sit for ducks at sunset as the tide dropped, but not many were flying and the only ones that gave our spread a look stayed high and went away fast. Duck numbers still seem low here, though we did see one group of 75-100 teal that got up at the first shot at a rail. We set some decoys and waited for them to come back, but we never saw another teal all afternoon.

Tim just turned 40 and me 50, and we decided we are now too old to manhandle my heavy glass over white pine sculler 15 yards onto the trailer at low tide. I'm icing my knee after the effort and I'm pretty sure he's icing his hip. We'll plan better around the tide next time so we can float it onto the trailer.

Two ibuprofen at bed time, and a wood duck hole to hunt at dawn!
 
Jeff, I'm with you on the Sora feathers for soft hackles. I kept a bunch of them last year and tied with them this past winter and spring. I did a rail hunt on Tuesday, it was fair, about 35 out of a group of 4. I got 3 on the first push then it it was slim pickings from there. There are lots of clappers on the adjacent salt marshes, I keep saying I'm going to do it and never do. There is a good population of them, I've never seen anyone hunting them.
 
Nice pictures Larry. Sure makes me wish I were rail hunting this weekend instead of working. High tides, high surge from a hurricane, add in some redfish and the makings for an epic adventure are there.....
 
Larry that's a good shoot!!! Pushing the spartina for clappers is a workout. Even more so than the Soras in rice. The salt hay tends to stick to the skiff, whereas the rice is slippery. Good tides the next few days to. We had a fair shoot yesterday.View attachment IMG_7159.JPG
 
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Looks like a great area to be out and about in, Larry.

Clicking on the upside down pic for the "full-sized" view turned it right side up. Great looking canoe!
 
Good morning, Larry~

Great story - I'm really enjoy all this railbird content!

re your "capsized" canoe photo. I notice it is rightside up when I click to enlarge. Is yours a cellphone camera? When I tried to post some phone photos for a friend recently, only a few came out with my intended orientation.

Also, I was thinking of you yesterday as I paddled my Sweet Gherkin - the decked-over 'glass canoe whose hull I molded off a Grumman 13. I always smile when paddling min.

All the best,

SJS
 
Nick,
Here is what Clapper rails aka "marsh hens" feed on:

Clapper Rails are opportunistic and omnivorous, eating whatever's available including crabs, crustaceans, fish, eggs, and plant matter. Fiddler crabs are a favorite item if they can be found. They eat vegetation and seeds more often in the winter than in the summer. Clapper Rails forage while hidden in vegetation, or along the edges between marshes and mudflats. They find prey by sight and possibly by smell, usually grabbing food items from the surface or making shallow probes into the ground. Many prey are swallowed whole, and pellets of indigestible material (such as clam shells) are later regurgitated. Clapper Rails sometimes wash debris from clams before eating.
While its been several years since I"ve eaten grouse, I would say the taste of the rails is close to grouse. Not strong like either duck or dove. Not bland like chicken. Just a nice distinctive flavor that tastes like you are eating wild game. Grill the breasts and legs to 135 degrees and you have great eating.

This is the kind of hunting that is work. That is why it's popularity has dropped off. But since SC is poor for duck hunting compared to what I knew in Michigan, I find rail hunting in the fall a really nice substitute.

Larry
 
Larry,

Thanks for the detailed reply. Was curious how fishy or marshy they might be given their habitat and diet but it sure sounds like a flavor I am compatible with.

Having grown up in Michigan and also having lived along the Pacific flyway a couple years I can sympathize with the limited hunting...I currently live in central TX and more than four hours from the coastal bays. My eyes have been opened to a new species thanks to your post. Good luck this season.
 
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