Trailer load of gear…..
I thought this picture from the wall of the motel was kinda neat. Think they cater to hunters?
The beavers are big
The doors are small
Saw some small old windmills…..
Even saw some new biguns….
Shot this one grouse. He landed along with a few more behind my layout blind so I put the stalk on him. Upland numbers are down drastically due to some hard winters. Prospects are grim and will likely take a few years to rebound
“Continental Gumbo” I cooked and froze this gumbo prior to our trip. I thought the name was fitting since it had blue crabs that I caught in Perdido, AL, crawfish tails from LA, wild hog sausage that I killed in Texas, deer sausage from a deer in MS, shrimp from Biloxi, MS, and dove breasts from the MS Delta. Topped with fried mallard fritters from North Dakota. Needless to say it was a hit….. Went good with a Grain Belt beer from the Midwest…….
My photo skills are lacking but thought yall would appreciate this picture
He’s not that pretty…. But a mallard helps….
Nice pintail from day one shot by Wally Majors
Day #1 we rented a cargo trailer full of full body duck and goose decoys along with some layout blinds for the day even though we hauled our own stuff up there to hunt. We limited in about 2 hours in a dry field hunt on mallards and pintails with a couple widgeon and 1 or 2 gadwall thrown in. We were shooting them at 10-15 yards and would not make any passing or marginal shots. All in your face action. Weather was nice with a good wind. Temps in mid 70s. All freelance except for renting the trailer that day.
Limits from day one
Day #2 We were scouting and found a field that was holding a ton of birds. We saw that the land was posted and with a little checking around found the landowner who owned about 5 sections of land and he gave us permission to hunt. We did another dry field spread with our own decoys. The wind was slow and 2 of the 5 hunters in our group had Winchester SX3 shotgun failure. We killed around 25 that morning and left around 9 am to go eat breakfast. I like hunting later but was out voted. No doubt would have limited if gun failure would not have happened and we would have stayed later. We also were only taking in your face shots and if we had known that the wind would die down we would have taken shots that would be normal in MS. The highlight of the day was 3 mallards came in to my left just after shooting time. I killed one with my first shot and the other two split off to the left. I shot again and missed and my 3rd shot dropped the other 2. Lucky of course but it was still cool to take all 3 in one volley. That afternoon we went back and shifted our spread to the edge of a pothole in the field we were hunting. This was a small pothole that was holding a good many birds. Didn’t hunt late and got out so the ducks could settle in. Needless to say we finished our limit. All freelance that day.
Thought this barn was a nice place for the ducks from day 2
Day #3. Well day number 3 has to go down as the best duck hunt I have ever been on. We went with the guide that day and he told us he had put about 3000 mallards to bed the day before. Well sunrise was 7:44 am which of course made legal shooting time 7:14 am. We did a dry field spread and there was no shooting for the first 20 minutes. I was beginning to wonder if we were in the wrong spot. At 7:54 am we had limited out with all mallards and pintail no off ducks. All shots were landing or nearly landing on the mojos at about 12 yards. This was the most incredible hunt and words can’t describe it. On Day 3 we had groups of 20-100 mallards and pintail trying to land on the mojos the entire time. I have video but am trying to edit it to condense it.
Photo from an awesome day 3
Day #4 We were supposed to do a crane hunt but since the duck hunting was so good on day 3 we went back with the guide to the same place as day 3 since the ducks were still pouring in as we were picking up. The guide got stuck helping his son put out another spread and showed up late. When we got to the field there was another guide (we found out he was unlicensed) that had setup on the X where we were going to hunt since the area where the ducks were sitting the previous day was visible from the road. Our guide went over and told them to leave as he actually had this place leased from the landowner and it was visibly posted. The other guide had about 500 decoys out in a field spread and it was the best field spread I have ever seen. The other guide refused to leave so the landowner and game warden were called and the guy was forced to leave and he was in fact trespassing. We sat up within 300 yards of him but and at daylight started shooting ducks. It took the other guys about 45 minutes to load all of their stuff so it hurt our odds some. It was obvious that he was intentionally taking his time and making as much noise as possible. We ended up getting 18 ducks with 6 shooters (all mallards and pintail) and if we would have stayed a little longer we would have gotten our limit but had to drive back that day. Learned a valuable lesson that day that I had somewhat learned before which was that you stay away from big potholes. All of those ducks the day before were roosting in a large pothole nearby and another group about 1/2 mile away hunted them the same morning that we had trouble with the other guide. If they would have left them alone and hunted the fields we would have had them come back in large groups.
The highlight of the day was that a friend of my wife’s boss was in the area and had his 9 year old son, Hunter with him. It was Hunter’s birthday so we invited him to come hunting with us. We all agreed that we would back Hunter up at least on the first few shots. Well just past legal shooting time a big fat mallard drake cupped up and sailed in. Hunter rose up out of his layout blind and with one shot folded the duck up. It was the highlight of the trip and was his first mallard . He was shooting Hevi Shot in a .410. My dog retrieved the duck and brought it back to me and I was impressed that the duck didn’t move a muscle…..Awesome shot with a .410.
Photo from Day 4
Overall this trip was a blast. Met some new friends and hunted some land that I had never seen before. The potholes have more water and ducks than they have had in several years according to talks with the locals. The upland numbers are down drastically due to a couple hard winters and locals feel that it will take several years to rebound. I was very impressed by the numbers of birds that were there and the fact that we were wearing ducks out in temps over 80 degrees. I am also impressed by the amount of land that is easily accessed and easy to hunt. I have already booked the house for the first Saturday in October 2012…. May not need it since I found a house I may buy……
