Baja Black Brant Blast

[The Waterfowler]

For those of you that have never shot Brant, either on the East or West coast you have missed a great waterfowling tradition dating back to the days of market hunters. They rush the decoys like Teal on steroids and offer some great and unique gunning opportunities. One of the largest eel grass beds, which is highly favored by Brant, is in San Quintin Bay, Mexico and is home to roughly 3/4 of the total Black Brant population. The majority make this flight non-stop from Cold Bay, Alaska to winter in the rich esturaries there. Last year was great, but this year was even better. to a man we experienced terrific shooting, good food, great hospitality and an added bonus of one in every 15 birds carrying a band and often a plastic tarsus band on the other leg. This trip also yielded four web-tags that dated back to 2007 which is unusual for them to stay on that long.

For those of you that are buying in to the perils of Mexico, let me say I feel safer down there than I do in downtown Memphis. Fact is that Patrick and I each took our precious wives with us to enjoy the unspoiled beaches and sights of this area. Spending a couple of days in San Diego visiting the USS Midway and the incredible San Diego Zoo was an added bonus.

First morning had our Brant hunt finished by 7:30.



Day 3 was a repeat of the first and mirrored day 2 also.




Did I mention bands!! All but three are shown here as the others were on birds to mount and in the freezer. The Teal blue barsus band, fifth from left, was on an 18 year old bird.



First web tags I have seen since the 70's.

[CW]

Fantastic

I'm envious

[vicksburg]

I have GOT to do that!

[ACEINTHEHOLE]

This always looks like an amazing hunt on tv! Maybe someday.

[RedEyed Duck]

Wow Pat just wow!

[arduckslayer]

To add to the safety concerns, we were actually in more danger in San Diego with Chris Dorner running around town (Dad and I watched no less than a dozen cop cars and 2 Coast Guard helicopters go into the harbor when they thought he was hijacking a boat) than we ever were in Mexico. The Baja Peninsula and quaint and almost entirely agriculture based.

As for the hunting, it's all I could ever have imagined it to be and added a new species to my collection while visiting a beautiful destination in the process!

[.tadpole]

Nice hat the guide guy on the left has.

[Double R 2]

Nice hat the guide guy on the left has.

That's what I was thinking

[kris Schaumburg]

what is the limit?

[vicksburg]

10/person/day

[The Waterfowler]

And that can happen quickly. Two of our group killed 18 out of one flock!!

[kris Schaumburg]

i am eyeing this.

[duramax]

First web tags I have seen since the 70's.

That's cool. I found a bunch of those in drawer in the garage that my dad had from when he used them to tag birds back in the 70's as a field biologist. I tried using them to tag the fins on bass I caught in a pond by our house to see how much they grew in a summer. I only caught a couple fish that still had tags in their fins, but a bunch that had holes or cuts where they had come out.

Awesome trip though. Did you eat any of them? I've heard brants don't tend to eat as well as non-coastal geese.

[Double R 2]

First web tags I have seen since the 70's.

That's cool. I found a bunch of those in drawer in the garage that my dad had from when he used them to tag birds back in the 70's as a field biologist. I tried using them to tag the fins on bass I caught in a pond by our house to see how much they grew in a summer. I only caught a couple fish that still had tags in their fins, but a bunch that had holes or cuts where they had come out.

Awesome trip though. Did you eat any of them? I've heard brants don't tend to eat as well as non-coastal geese.

I had heard that, too, and it apropos to Atlantic brant but to Pacifics. Pacific black brant are the world's BEST tasting waterfowl. They eat eelgrass exclusively and are excellent. Will bet that Waterfowler and Hambone will agree.

[champcaller]

might have to make that trip one day...