Washington trip
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 11:40 am
Just got back from a trip west to see my ole buddy and try and get some sea ducks. Worked all night the night before departure.. Got plenty of slee on the 5 HR plane ride from the delta connector .
Landed in Seattle to cold wet nasty weather (34 with moderate rain).. My buddy's hunting partner cooked us a hearty batch of elk stew (wonderful)
The following morning was my first time hunting the salt... My goal was the king / Mac daddy harlequin. I don't think I had the jitters that bad since my first morning ever duck hunting. Seas were mild, slight 9" chop where we were anchored.
I awaited patiently as dawn broke with few birds working... All of a sudden a beautiful drake came in from the left... Threw the gun up...miss , miss , MISS..
About 30 min later an even prettier drake came in... Hit, and dropped. However he was only wounded and diving. Took us about 45 min to track his movements in the surf before we got him in the boat... Very nice mature bird.
Birds continued to work but slowly throughout the day.. Every one connected with a harlequin
The next morning we set up for scoter.. Each of us limiting out quickly. Most difficult part of the day was watching Brant skirt the decoys and being unable to harvest one due to season closure
The sunrise and weather much more beautiful and calm the second day
Third day we were back across the mountains at my buddy's house hunting the rivers .
Connected with a mix bag of wigeon, ringnecks and bluebells.
My buddy's Chessie would get absolutely pissed if we let the birds land in the decoys and not shoot..
Not a lot of pics from the third day until I figure out how to load them from my go-pro
Landed in Seattle to cold wet nasty weather (34 with moderate rain).. My buddy's hunting partner cooked us a hearty batch of elk stew (wonderful)
The following morning was my first time hunting the salt... My goal was the king / Mac daddy harlequin. I don't think I had the jitters that bad since my first morning ever duck hunting. Seas were mild, slight 9" chop where we were anchored.
I awaited patiently as dawn broke with few birds working... All of a sudden a beautiful drake came in from the left... Threw the gun up...miss , miss , MISS..
About 30 min later an even prettier drake came in... Hit, and dropped. However he was only wounded and diving. Took us about 45 min to track his movements in the surf before we got him in the boat... Very nice mature bird.
Birds continued to work but slowly throughout the day.. Every one connected with a harlequin
The next morning we set up for scoter.. Each of us limiting out quickly. Most difficult part of the day was watching Brant skirt the decoys and being unable to harvest one due to season closure
The sunrise and weather much more beautiful and calm the second day
Third day we were back across the mountains at my buddy's house hunting the rivers .
Connected with a mix bag of wigeon, ringnecks and bluebells.
My buddy's Chessie would get absolutely pissed if we let the birds land in the decoys and not shoot..
Not a lot of pics from the third day until I figure out how to load them from my go-pro
