WidgeonFest 2010
WidgeonFest 2010
All in all...I can't complain. I am done for the season. Work has kept me closer to home this year and I have been very few times. The hard freeze a few weeks ago basically ran most of the birds off from my Oklahoma hunting grounds. The refuges have mainly local geese and the ducks were sparse. BUT the ducks that remained were hitting cut milo fields hard. Typically, we are shooting birds over peanuts but there were very few planted in the area this year.
Dry field hunting is something that most folks haven't had the opportunity to experience. We have accumulated hundreds of water keel decoys over the years that have been put to good use. As decoy forms and paint schemes have improved, the old flambeaus and G&H's with or without shot holes have been converted to field decoys. The keels have been cut off and they make a great footprint that can be seen good by approaching ducks. We supplement the spread with 4 dozen full body Avery mallards and another 4 dozen Avery mallard shells. You drive to where you set up and off load the spread from the trailer..park the trucks and you are in business.
One thing that has bothered me over the last 6 seasons is the lack of widgeon. We used to see them by the hundreds in great big groups buzzing the spread right at shooting light in this part of the Central flyway. Some on this site have been fortunate enough to experience that scene with me over the years.
Growing up is Mississippi was great. I was fortunate enough to experience great shooting as a kid back in the mid 70's. Even in the hay day, I don't remember seeing a lot of widgeon in the state. We would usually kill one or two drakes 80% of the time per hunt when the ducks were there througout the season. The pattern was the same until I left the state in 2004.
The widgeon were back in full force this weekend. Four greenheads into the hunt, we decided to fill the balance with widgeon drakes. The sun was below the high birds and behind us with the wind coming from our backs....a perfect set up. When they would cup and break down to the spread, the white on the drakes' heads gave them away. Picking a single target out of 50 birds in your face isn't as easy as it seems
Here are the spoils of the hunt and a great way to end the season this year.
Dry field hunting is something that most folks haven't had the opportunity to experience. We have accumulated hundreds of water keel decoys over the years that have been put to good use. As decoy forms and paint schemes have improved, the old flambeaus and G&H's with or without shot holes have been converted to field decoys. The keels have been cut off and they make a great footprint that can be seen good by approaching ducks. We supplement the spread with 4 dozen full body Avery mallards and another 4 dozen Avery mallard shells. You drive to where you set up and off load the spread from the trailer..park the trucks and you are in business.
One thing that has bothered me over the last 6 seasons is the lack of widgeon. We used to see them by the hundreds in great big groups buzzing the spread right at shooting light in this part of the Central flyway. Some on this site have been fortunate enough to experience that scene with me over the years.
Growing up is Mississippi was great. I was fortunate enough to experience great shooting as a kid back in the mid 70's. Even in the hay day, I don't remember seeing a lot of widgeon in the state. We would usually kill one or two drakes 80% of the time per hunt when the ducks were there througout the season. The pattern was the same until I left the state in 2004.
The widgeon were back in full force this weekend. Four greenheads into the hunt, we decided to fill the balance with widgeon drakes. The sun was below the high birds and behind us with the wind coming from our backs....a perfect set up. When they would cup and break down to the spread, the white on the drakes' heads gave them away. Picking a single target out of 50 birds in your face isn't as easy as it seems
Here are the spoils of the hunt and a great way to end the season this year.
Last edited by SoftCall on Mon Jan 25, 2010 12:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
run me out in the cold rain and snow
- legends of the lower mars
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Re: WidgeonFest 2010
Man, that's freaking awsome!!! Love me some Wigeon!!! Great end of season hunt by any standard!!!
- arduckslayer
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Re: WidgeonFest 2010
Great hunt and nice pic, but wigeon doesn't have a d in it.
Re: WidgeonFest 2010
LOL@ no D...... enjoyed reading about the hunt
Re: WidgeonFest 2010
nice, i hope all is well over there. take care my friend. SB
This is no longer a vacation, this is a quest, a quest for fun---Chevy Chase.
Re: WidgeonFest 2010
Awesome bag. Those baldpates are beautiful ducks
There are two seasons...duck season and not duck season.
Re: WidgeonFest 2010
Good job, love the wigeon/mallard mixed bag. Been missing the wigeon around our place this seaon.
Are we gonna get wet?
- jperrett0101
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Re: WidgeonFest 2010
Love the story and the pics... Wigeon isn't a duck that I kill often but when I do it sure does but a smile on my face!
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Re: WidgeonFest 2010
Nothing is prettier than a bull wigeon falling from the sky, when they ball up in a wad, its time to make it rain. Love it. For years the wigeon where our enemies, in fact they stole so many working mallards we declared war on them and shot at any wigeon under 55 yards... earle wigeon must die! (we hunt in earle). Oddly, the last few years we havent had near the numbers. Killed a wonderful bull sat, and had a chance sunday but he came in too hard and the only shot was an akward one, so we didnt take it. Wigeons, like gads, if you kill over half the bunch, better than average chance of them coming back over.... bonus ducks! And almost nothing eats better than a wigeon. One of my favs. travis
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Re: WidgeonFest 2010
Bald pate is the best looking duck to me
Life's too damned complicated to make it too damned complicated
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Re: WidgeonFest 2010
Got in on some dry corn field hunting during the hard freeze, pretty fun beats the heck out of tracking through a rice field. Nice hunt. Wasn't a wilson there to help get them in was it?
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"Better to have people think your a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"- Mark Twain
"Better to have people think your a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"- Mark Twain
Re: WidgeonFest 2010
will.. nice job,...
ol brooks had a widgeon smackdown a week or so ago in that part of the world..
i aint been on a widgeon heavy hunt since 1994-5?
ol brooks had a widgeon smackdown a week or so ago in that part of the world..
i aint been on a widgeon heavy hunt since 1994-5?
"Ya ever work beef Billy?"
Re: WidgeonFest 2010
run me out in the cold rain and snow
- quack_a_tack
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Re: WidgeonFest 2010
I think that Widgeons are one of the best lookin ducks there is, killed alot 3 years ago, have yet to this year. Congrats looks like it was fun.
Damn, i thought I had that one
Is that buddy of yours tryin to blow that call or make love to it?
Is that buddy of yours tryin to blow that call or make love to it?
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