Best hunts/not so best hunts

[JerknPerchSD]

Now that the season has been over for a while we have to think of a way to get us through the off-season untill next September. I figured we could share our good and bad hunting stories from this past season.

GOOD:

South Dakota opening day for ducks was a good one. Hunted a barly stubble field with 8 other friends. That makes a crew. Birds worked extremely good. Before shooting hours we even had ducks that decided to plop down on top of the blinds. Birds came in great little groups of 5-25 and we called shots at 5-15 yards. Finding green was extremely difficult as most birds were still in the eclipse phase but we did our best. End result for the morning was a limit of 45 dead mallards with only 5 being suzies. Even called in 5 bonus honkers. Was a good day with good friends.

Went back to that same field 3 days later with a different crew. This time there was only 4 of us and we did well again. Ended the morning with another limit of 20 dead mallards. 17 drakes, 3 suzies. Birds worked amazing!

This hunt should of never happened. Decided to go road hunting roosters instead of scouting for ducks/geese. We went to an area not known to hold much for waterfowl. As our luck would have it we found a silage field full of ducks and geese. Funny part was those birds had to travel at leat 10 miles to get to that field because there was no water around. Obtained permission and went back the following morning with 3 friends. Again the birds worked awesome and another 20 mallards, this time all drakes hit the dirt alond with 12 honkies.

Found a silage field in early October full of honkers. A buddy and the farmer who owned the field also tagged along on this one. Birds came in in awesomely huge goups 20-100 and we killed our 9 in 20 min. For the rest of the morning we sat in the blinds and decoyed birds to film on the camcorder. Highlight was when one flock of 200+ decoyed well and landed in the pocket of the dekes. All on film.

This hunt started bad but ended well. Scouted an area and found an awesome feed of 10,000 mallards in a cornfield. Got permission but we couldnt drive out due to rain making the field muddy. Got there the next morning and walked out blinds, 3 dozen honker FB's, and all other gear over 1/3 of a mile. Nothing flew all morning. Sat and pouted all day long in that field. All day. Finally birds started to come off the water in late afternoon. This turned out to be one of the best mallard hunts of the year. Shot our 20 in about 20 minutes, funny thing was, we never shot into a group smaller than 1,500 birds....lol

3 days after that, we hunted another cornfield only 2 miles away. 4 of us again. Set up early and birds came off extremely early. We were covered up with mallards in the dark. Birds were landing all over around us and the spread. When shooting hours came we quickly shot 20 drakes. This hunt was fun because two of the guys that came along had never hunted ducks before. What a way to break them into an awesome sport.

Alright, thats only 1/6 of the good hunts and I havent got to the bad but my fingers are sick of typing...I'll continue later...

Andy

[Ray Esboldt]

Good: Sitting on a grain wagon fixing my hopelessly jammed gun watching my brother and Dad pummel snow geese in Saskatchewan. However, I would have liked to participate just a little more. The backup gun was a mile away. I killed the last bird of the day after I retrieved the backup gun.

Good: Hunting Reader Lake near the Pas, Manitoba and having so many bluebills on top of my Dad and myself that it's impossible to pick out a bird. I could have sat out there all day.

Good: Killing my first goose when I was 12.

Bad: Finding a lake the day before deer opener that was loaded with mallards and divers. The bad part, the temperature dropped to 17 degrees with no wind over night. We (3 guys, a dog, and 6 dozen decoys) managed to break ice across the lake to kill a goose and a bill. We decided to relocate near the one open pocket of water. The following conversation ensued somewhere in the middle of the lake:

Me: "Where's all the water coming from."

Hunter 1: "Did you knock the plug out."

Me: "No."

Hunter 2: "Um, we have a problem. There's about a 3 inch tear in the hull."

We made it back. Now I know that a 1977 Crestliner AMF is not real good at busting a half inch of ice.

[Rost]

Not a steller year for us...

So,so - Duck opener- We ended up with 32 teal, gadwall, and a few mallards. That night we found a good picked silage field with few geese in.. Ended up with 10 the next morning.

Not good- The few weeks following the opener were hot, sunny and calm. Only a few birds total in those weeks. Made things tough (for us atleast).

Then it was time to hit my deer stand. I spend way too much time up in that tree listening to geese fly by.

[JerknPerchSD]

Rost,

where do you hunt in SD? I go to SDSU but am from Sioux Falls. We hunt all over the state. Didnt hunt down by Madison too much this season though.

Andy

[walleyewacker]

Im at Brookings too, I think you met my roomate. I guess he slept in instead of goin to Pierre. We had some pretty crazy hunts. Patterning got tough at times and birds fed real late most of the year. Mid season was a little dry. I could add some more testimony from eastern SD if I could figure out posting pics.

[JerknPerchSD]

Whos your roomate? I met so many people that hunt, its crazy...Aaron possibly?

Andy

[Rost]

We did not leave lake county last year (as that might be part of the problem). But still, we usually have good numbers of ducks and geese. And the northern ducks usually come through too. Obviously, nothing like NE SD though.

I also have a young family, which makes it harder to pick up and leave for the weekend.

Plain and simple, I missed out on a lot waterfowl due to bowhunting last season. Although I love to bow hunt, I promised myself not to drag it out this year again. (And don't even ask if all of my time in the treestand paid off ) I MISSED the dandy I was waiting for.

[walleyewacker]

Thats him.

[JerknPerchSD]

Thats what I thought. I remeber that night, Tried to get a hold of him lots of times but never did. We didn't end up making that trip because the clutch in my truck seemed to be going out and I didnt want to make the 230 mile treck pulling the decoy trailer like that. I couldnt talk anyone else into driving and pulling my trailer, even with all 450 honker dekes in it....lol Prolly would have wacked em...oh well, tell him hi,

later,

Andy

[FOOT]

GOOD DAY - Any day hunting is a good day if you can see game, stay warm and enjoy the outdoors

GREAT DAY - Being able get some shots, hit some game, enjoy the company of freinds over a meal of the game you harvested.

BAD DAY - Sitting in our house in North Dakota shaking like a leaf, God only knows what kind of fever I had, and being unable to get out and hunt for a couple of days

[Eric Wettschreck]

This season;

Best hunt- easy one, hands down, second or third week into the season, I don't remember. My youngest son (12) calls 3 mallards in, we wait while they circle the decs in an attempt to drive us bonkers, I say,"Now." The kid stands up, pops off 3 shots, and down come 3 mallards. Then, he gets all inflated, looks at me and says,"I shot em, you go get em, dad." Not only his first mallard, but his first triple.....and the only time he's been allowed to cock off to the old man.

Worst hunt- No matter how hard I try to think of one, a bad hunt doesn't come into mind. Sure, I was skunked my share of times but no hunt is a bad hunt in my opinion.

[loc9fisher]

worst hunt:

tried to do something nice for someone else. so i hooked up with a handicap organization, bringing out disabled hunters.

1. complained about how i set my decoys, i asked for their input but none was given.

2. complained about not seeing enough ducks, apparently the day before they had done well and this days adventure wasn't good enough.

3. geese start flying back to the water at my spot at about 10:30 or 11, this couldn't wait. by 8 am they were wanting us to pack up so they could go get breakfast.

4. we did pack up to please them. then we sat around and listened to them tell us how much better their spots were than the one i supplied. we sat around so long that at about 10:30 or 11 we watched numerous flocks of geese wanting to come into water, flare from us and our trucks.

5. and this is the one that gets me the most. i invited a friend to come and hunt, just hunt. they found out where he lived and proceeded to try and solicite him into volunteering his time. it ended up being a guilt trip, with them saying "if your hearts in the right place". now my friend is a good person. his heart is always in the right place. but when someone tries to guilt him into doing something, and actually gets him second guessing his own morals, that if you ask me is a load of dump.

6. and the final straw. i tried to supply another spot, wasn't good enough for them. much work needed to be done. i didn't mind doing the work to prepare this spot for disabled hunters, i was more than happy to assist. but when an established organization, who has a booth at the game fair, news letters, and a hefty budget expects me to pay for blind materials and supply lumber, thats where i draw the line. i supplied the time, effort, and land. call me shallow but thats good enough in my book.

every hunt i had this year was good, but this one. i tried to do something nice and it turned out to be the worst mistake of the season. sometimes trying to do what i thought was the right thing, doesn't always work out...........loc9

[PLfisherman]

We had many great days hunting honkers in the metro area in minnesota. The geese are thick aroung here. In early season we had six guys and shot our limit of thirty honkers in my friends back yard which was oats. we had a lot of fun this season.

[walleyewacker]

Andy, as big of waterfowler as he is, he has been known to sleep through alarms, other days he wont go to bed. Just remember next time that there are two more in that house with another trailer full that would be more than willing to go. Weve talked about it but we have a hard time making that trip when none of us have ever been out there to know whats goin on.

Best hunt: last day SD season, 58 mallards.

[Roosterslayer05]

Loc9fisher- wow what a horrible story, i dont care if they were disabled what a bunch of whiners. YOu put in your time and effort and all they do is complain. That story really makes me angry even though it dident happen to me. Anyways

Good Hunt: One of the last days you could shoot pintails i was hunting SW MN. It was too windy to use my spining wing decoy, so i got on my duck call and called in just as many ducks as thge spinner would have got in. I shot maybe a box of shells and got 4 ducks. I should have got my limit but dident shoot that well. I got my first Pintail ever. A nice drake that came in with a flock of Widgoen. I also got 2 widgoen and a gadwall. I called in every duck i shot that day. The best was when i called in the gadwall, i got on my call, he started coming so i stopped calling. He then turned and flew away so i got on my call again and just kept calling at him, he finally turned and came all the way back to the dekes and i made a nice shot at about 25 yards. That was the first day i ever called in allot of ducks, im glad it was too windy for the spinner it gave me some confidence in my calling.

Opening day of early goose me and 3 friends shot 5. We should have got more but 2 of my friends cant hit the broadside of a barn. It was a fun trip though, i got to spend some time with my friend that moved up to Detroit lakes at the begining of the summer to live by himself and work. It was a good time.

Bad day: wow too many to count. The duck season was so bad this year in MN. I had plenty of days when i only shot at maybe 1 duck all day.

[Sartell Angler]

loc9- props to you man...you went out of your way to help out those less fortunate and that is commendable...too bad you got stomped on in the process. Sounds like the organization you tried to help out with isn't worth investing your time/effort with in the future. Also sounds like you ended up with a few bad apples in your group...I'm sure 99% of the disabled hunters you could have gotten grouped up with would have been gracious and thankful regardless of whether or not you saw or shot birds...just sucks you ended up with the ones you did.

S.A./wdw

[Farley]

Good- 13 ducks in 1 hour second weekend on a pond we let sit opening weekend.

Not so good- Kansas second week in december. Nothing but blues and snows, all the Canadians got pushed to Oklahoma because of a storm a couple days before we got there. Needless to say we were set up for Canadians. Still was a blast though, first out of state hunt for me.

[Beeman]

Best hunt was the first year with my first Lab.Did all the training and handleing myself. He didn't shine in the feild right away but after 5 or 6 times out I had a hard double and I beleave even a seasoned dog would have had a hard time. Well it took some time but he used his nose and worked it out and got both duck. Two really nice Green head.

worst hunt was after a 6hour pot hole walk I was crossing a narrow beaver run by way of a fallin log over the water. Half way across a woody got up out of the small river I was crossing. Well not really thinking I pulled up on it and fired. The log was a big oak and I felt I could keep my balance. I was wrong. I landed in the water below and Had a hour long walk back to the truck in totaly wet clothes. thankfully it didn't ruin or hurt anything but my pride. O and by the way I missed the Duck. Joke on me!

[Dean Schellinger]

There were several but the one that sticks out in my mind was the day I went out on the second to last day of the season with just my dog.I knew it was going to be tough because I had school that morning and the ducks that I get in that spot on the river are the ducks returning from the fields, at just about the time I had to leave for class. After about 2 hours of no action I was just about to pack up when I heard a quack. A lone mallard circled numerous times to my call. Finally she presented a shot at about 20 yards, she was just too perfect to let go and it made my dog and me really happy when I dumped her one my first shot.

Worst hunt of the year would have to be second or third weekend on the river again. It was a Sunday morning that I commented on here before but it was a horrible morning. We got out their late and by the time we got to our good spot it was taken. So we proceeded to drive back up river during 1st shootin hours, watching many ducks fly around. We got the lousy spot and ended up seeing a couple ducks getting zero. I proceeded to pop a hole in my new waders, and when I shot a tree in frustration my guns chamber screw fell out ending the hunt/putting me out of my misery. That morning really hit hard and afterwords I swore to be done for the season. But that was a pipe-dream, I was hunting again by midweek.

[The_Duckslayer]

FT, I do not think that you and I will be sharing a duck blind anytime soon. In all the years that I have hunted the only thing that I have ever shot with my gun is something that I intended to eat, well except for crows. I have never shot an inademet object out of frustration! Good thing there were no people with you. Take care and N Hoy the Hunt././Jimbo

[MattKeller]

Is shooting a crow and not eating it wanton waste?

[The_Duckslayer]

Quote:

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Is shooting a crow and not eating it wanton waste?

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Matt, some folks think that it is. I have been in disucssions on other forums where there have been people that would like to have them as a pet (it is illeagle to do that). There is a season on them because they are a nusiance, and in my opinoin it is not wanton waste to shoot and not eat them. But that is a whole nuther story. Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[MattKeller]

I agree Jimbo... I love to shoot crows and they do serve a purpose for us, fertilizer (I'm serious). All though if you shoot them when they're working the grain fields they are not that bad...

[Dean Schellinger]

Yeah, well thats unfortunate. So you have never shot a clay target huh?? Or are those good table fare?

[Goosepimp]

I shoot crows all the time. Its just another predator for ducks etc.