Busted by Buffleheads

[hanson]

We screwed up this morning.

Birds were not flying anywhere. None. We might as well have been sitting out with no decoys.

Then it happened... time to go. I was starting to push the canoe out of the cattails, my brother was walking over to get in, and I spotted birds out of the corner of my eye. Buffleheads! 4 absolutely gorgeous drakes and 2 hens. We stared as they banked away and continued on their way.

If we would have sat still for 30 more seconds, those birds would have been in the dekes and we would have been paying a visit to the taxidermy man. Doh!

Quite the change in bird activity lately. I think the big front a few days ago pushed our birds out and there aren't many on their way down right now. The buffies were obviously migrators but where's the rest of their buddies?

[Eric Wettschreck]

Dood, that's how it goes man. Seems like nothing all day then just when you go to shake the dew from the lilly in they come. Or when out getting decoys or taking a nap. It's part of what makes it fun.

[The_Duckslayer]

I have a sling on my gun and it goes with me always when I am picking up the dekes. I have killed a lot of birds while picking up decoys. Sometimes makes ya wonder if all that camo is necessary when they come zooming in like that when you are standing in the middle of the dekes. Midnites favorites used to be the ones that landed in the dekes when I had a sandwich. Seems it always hit the floor and then it was hers, after she brought back the ducks of course! Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[Bushwacker]

We were field hunting for mallards in ND last weekend and limited out(20 mallard drakes) by 9:00am for four guys on Saturday. On Sunday we set up in the same spot and we had 2 mallard drakes by 10:15am so we decided to pack up. We had everything stacked up and were waiting for the truck and here they came. Two of us shot our limit on two flocks with all the full body geese piled up and all the shells stacked. Only thing still going was the mojo. Crazy hunt. We packed up too early, but it still worked out.

[Crappie_ Kid]

that happened to us last year. but i got one out of there and it happened to be a banded drake got him mounted

[Dean Schellinger]

I know how it is, you ALWAYS pick up 5 minutes early.

Here is my story. On second weekend up north we were out and had shot a couple ducks but we didn't see anything for about 20 minutes so we agreed to pick up. I however had a wierd feeling and actually said, "lets wait another 5 min., just to see what happens." Well we waited and of course nothing came by. But as soon as we cased the guns and were pushing out of the weeds we look across the lake and a flock of 25-30 BWT were about a 3 ft off the water zipping across the lake right at us.

We quickly uncased the guns and tried to get a shell or two in as they were just ripped through the dekes and circled 15 feet above our heads. I managed to get 1 shell in and fired as the circled around another time. I dropped one and then my bro had got 2 shells in and doubled as they flared up. It was the wierdest thing, but it also worked out in the end.

But that is the kind of stuff that always has me coming back for more!!

[Kodiak]

man, that sucks....they would have looked good on the wall!!

[hanson]

Quote:

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man, that sucks....they would have looked good on the wall!!

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Yeah. Thats what I was thinking too!

We must have buffleheads all over the place NW MN right now. Had 3 hens pull into the dekes this morning and shot 2 of them. We broke the wings on them otherwise they might have gone to the taxidermist as well. We just didn't see any more drakes this morning though.

[outdoor ran]

I noticed it doesnt matter if you leave at 9 or noon its always 5 min to soon. Never fails, they see the boat and come right in . I have a rule in my boat that every gun must be unloaded and put away when we pick up. To dangerous with a loaded gun when everyones grabbing dekes. Plus its against the law to shoot from open water, to tempting. So we just watch them fly by, its not the end of the world

On a side note I did get a drake butterball and a bull can this morning. Still lots of geese around, Seeing quite a few snows and blues. Thats from all that strong Northwest winds I believe.

[hanson]

The bufflehead saga continued all weekend.

I cannot remember 4 straight days of hunting where we had buffleheads coming in every single morning. Unfortunately, most were hens until this drake came by with 2 hens. My brother and dad were pretty proud of this pair. I should have taken a picture of the 2 hens because there was a huge disparity in the size of the 2 birds. The hen pictured with the drake was huge, nearly twice the size of the other hen!

I absolutely love these birds!

[buzzsaw]

Nice picture Hanson! I wish I could get a drake Bufflehead to fly by my dekes.... the way I'm missing these turbo Green Wing Teal this year... I'd probably miss the Buffleheads as well!

[Sartell Angler]

regarding the size discrepancy Hanson, I can relate...a few years ago I shot the smallest duck of my life-- a hen buffie that honestly was no bigger than a mourning dove...

actually hit it as it buzzed the dekes and was going away from me at probably 50 yards...don't know how I hit the little thing but when one of my hunting buddies picked it up with the boat he fell over he was laughing so hard. It is pictured next to another hen buffie in this pic:

(sorry the size is poor but you get the idea)

[Ely Lake Expert]

I have shot 1 drake bufflehead in my life. I really wish I would have known better and gotten it mounted.

[FarByondDrivn]

Its heating up fellas. We've had Buffies in the decoys fort the last three straight days. I don't ever remember seeing so many.