So, How do you like duck hunting, Now?

[davidees]

I asked the question to see if those guys that seemed so 'enthusiastic' before the season were still enthusiastic now.......at the 'tail-end' of the season.

Most of the folks that have responded have been here a while - no surprising comments. Which may indicate that the relatively new crowd has lost enthusiasm to the point they aren't interested in ducks, duck hunting, or 'forum discussion'.....are hunting hard the last few days........or have figured-out the magic formula and are still killing them by the boat-loads (no time to post silly messages or 'in-the-know' acknowledgements).

I also asked because honestly, my interest had waned a bit......mainly due to mud motor troubles and loss of use (and access - now resolved), missing 16 days of January due to the flu/crud and slow re-gain of strength and desire to get-out after a week's worth of rain, cold, and snow. Fortunately, the weather seemed to push just enough 'workable' birds down at the right time........and not a moment too late.

So, I'll just say that nothing rekindles the fire like:

Good health and.....

.........the first sight of big ducks, a crisp chop-chop, a little 'happy' tail-wagging, altered wingbeats, 2 passes over soft clucks and quacks, following the dog's head to avoid wary eyes, the cup 'n glide, bank 'n pitch, parachuting downward, orange feet reaching for the water, back-peddling wings and arched necks, a clean shot, a steady dog, the release to fetch a belly-up fathead with both orange feet slowly pumping, a big smile from a grateful wife, a clean delivery, and a happy dog shaking-off and resuming her position on the hunt deck.

It only takes seeing that picture once to disolve memory of all the slow days of what otherwise might have been accurately categorized as a dismal season........and keeps you wanting more.

Long live the Fatheads

As much as I love to hunt, I do find myself getting pretty worn down this time of year. I've been up at 0400, sometimes as early as 0200 every off day since October 1st and staying in the woods all day. I'm looking forward to cleaning up my truck and taking care of things I've neglected for the last several months. I'm also looking forward to sleeping late a day or two. But until then, I'll be hunting. Then the fishin' starts.

[SWAG]

tooo many cloudy/rainy days.... days we saw the sun where bad days for the ducks

Ready for some sun shine too. Tired of ducks in slash water instead of in the trees. Overall it has been a great year. Early on numbers were high...then fell at Christmas....now back up again. Less time hunting this year because of other family duties, but we have scratched out ducks even when we thought we would not. Hunted some spots that we have not hunted in years. Played around with #s of decoys and decoy placement. It is always entertaining when most of your hunting group is not yet old enough to drink....or even buy tobacco for that matter Have watched my son (15) really turn the corner on waterfowl hunting in general. He likes to kill ducks, don't get me wrong; but he is also very much into watching ducks and working for ducks and learning the tricks of the trade himself. He has always been a fairly good shot and now is working on being a better caller, better woodsman, better conservationist. We have enjoyed the decoy discussions, the wind discussions, the habitat condition discussions. Waterfowl hunting runs deep in his veins from both sire and dam. It will always be a pleasure to watch him hunt regadless of how things are #s wise. I have a nice spreadsheet that I have kept his info on since he shot his first duck. From a pure #s standpoint, this seaon will be one of the top 3 in the last 9 years. If the last 10 days are as good as the past 10 days....it may be his best season yet. My success is rated on how much fun he is having.....SO I will say this season is a 9.0 right now. If you asked him he would probably say every duck hunt is a 10.0

Has not panned out to be the last 10 days we thought was coming. Although best habitat conditions we have had in quite some time, we lost ducks over the last 10 days.

Your question was about expectations, not about ratings. So in that regard I can say that I have learned to never know what to expect so expect nothing. I did think the Midwest drought and such was going to be helpful so I may have had some expectations of an above average year. It has met those expectations to an extent because we had more mallards early and throughout even when duck #s in general were avg or below avg. Good season...almost great season. And yes we are already talking about some things for next year

[feather]

Been tough hunting public. Sometimes good but mostly sketchy. But JaMak's right...going tomorrow and, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, I somehow manage to think we'll smoke 'em in the morning.

[H20 Fowl]

I should have said the worst January I've had since 02. Nov, and Dec were great! I hunted 18 times in those two months, and limited out 15 of those times! With mallards filling most of the strap! In January I hunted 14 days and limited out once!

I ended my season yesterday at camp with a big green head that gave it up right!! All in all I can't complain. It was a strange season, but I enjoyed every minute of it!!

[Caller1]

I second the strange season part from above. Hunted a lot less, like many of my friends, but mainly due to just not seeing birds on our fields. Hardly any pintails this year.?! Which is very odd for this area. Very few teal killed, and not many mallards. That leaves the grey ducks and shovelators. Same old tired flock of snow geese have been here in a 3 mile area for two weeks. Odd to see them hang out for that long. Saw times when it seemed like just our fields were being avoided by the ducks when other nearby fields would have 'em. We have 3 of the "prettiest places" for ducks you could draw up, and never any large amounts of birds.

Enjoyed camp life nonetheless. Hard to rank it, did not meet high expectations, but enjoyed it all along.

[cupnglide]

Expectations for this season were higher than the realities supported. I didn't have as many opportunities to hunt this season. And of those, the hunts always seemed a few days before or after it got really good. Perhaps it's heavier pressure, but ducks seems more transient this year than some past seasons.

Some great things that came out of this year were new friends, some great lessons learned, new huntin areas, and some personal improvements. I practiced pretty hard this season to get better on the Canada and speck calls.

[Anatidae]

^^^Good post right there......

......especially from a guy that has had a brand new 1650 Gator Trax Hybrid w/hd since October - did not use it all season - because he has been patiently awaiting delivery of the MB 'V' motor originally scheduled for October shipment.

Gary, I don't know how you've done it, but your post just shows what an admirable outlook you have.