SEA DUCKS/DIVERS

[Locked Up]

Do any of yall know of a reputable guide service that offers hunts on sea ducks/divers. I know of some in Maine, but looking from somthing a little closer. I want to try my luck with some of them open water ducks next year, never hunted them and alway wanted to (don't have any on the wall) I have read about some places in N.C. but don't know if I need to travel farther north? Any info will be appreciated.

[Mean2Green]

I think for sea ducks you should go farther north. Chesapeke Bay or farther. I hunt in MS more than NC so I am not a great source. I think there are some decent guides for divers out at the outer banks and you may get some goldeneyes and scoters but I don't think they get many eiders or oldsquaw if you are looking for trophies. I've heard good things about water dog guide service. They're on the web. Of course all of this is based on if you call any of these species ducks. Hope this helps.
M2G

[mottlet]

http://www.pitbosswaterfowl.com/

You're not going to get a lot of sea duck action once you get south of the Chesapeake. There's some in the Tidewater region of Virginia and some along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, but if you're going to pay money and do a trip, do it right.

If you want eiders, you're going to have to go north to Maine or Cape Cod or something. But if scoters and oldsquaw will do, I'd hit the Chesapeake. This guy can get you on some brant and divers too. Hope this helps.

mottlet

[J.Luke]

his name is jeff coats. his new site is ducksdogsanddecoys.com
i hunted with him in late december and had a blast he is not over priced and can put you on the birds. all u gotta do is tell him what u wanna kill..better hurry thoiugh. we have already booked our trip for next year

[gator]

ramsey and myself just got back from the cape cod area hunting sea ducks w/ capt reuben perez.

very good guide and very knowledgable about the birds in a given area:

http://www.seaduckhunt.com

i know both jeff and reuben and both are top-notch guides.

late season w/ jeff coates is something i'm gonna do soon.......from what i've seen he can flat put you on skunkheads and oldsquaw.

reuben's service does have an added advantage of increasing your bag by putting you on eider's.....both subspecies of common's, and although he hasn't had one killed in 3 yrs, he has had clients shoot king eiders....he flat put us on the "X" on our last day focusing on atlantic brant --- i mean PUT US ON THEM.

my advice when targeting sea ducks (and i learned it this year) is you have to be SPECIFIC. there's probably not an area in which you are gonna see ducks decoy like you will on the east coast hunting divers, due to their strong "flocking" desire......but, they don't really "flock" together.

you wanna kill eiders? TELL YOUR GUIDE.....same w/ skunkheads or squaw and the like.....

if distance is a concern and your primary goal this next year is scoters and squaw w/ the possibility of brant thrown in, jeff's service would be my choice....

if distance is not a concern and eider's are the primary goal --- perez, bar none, gets my vote....

last bit of advice --- go w/ a REPUTABLE guide.....that big water is dangerous. heck, after the first 5 minutes in the boat the first morning, i just wanted to survive

don't rush your decision, but you probably need to book before the mid-summer months as folks are eyeing seaducks more and more....

here's a few from our trip:



last days limit of brant (only 2 per man per day):



hope ya have a ball.............i fell in love w/ it, gator

[J.Luke]

we almost decided to hunt brant with jeff...but we decided against it. reason being the hunt is over in about 5 min if u want it to be.

[img][img]http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/8053/maryland011ui4.th.jpg[/img][/img]

[Locked Up]

Good info guys, much appreciated. I have heard alot of good things about Jeff since yall have posted on here. Thanks for all the help. If anyone else has something, please post.

[J.Luke]

champ if u want to go with jeff u better not wait long to book...we went in late december and booked for next november and he already had to check his calender for open dates

[Locked Up]

How many days did yall stay J. Luke.

[J.Luke]

we just hunted 2 this year. 3 next year though. hunted in the morning and striper fished the afternoons with a guy we met from there. i cant wait til november. we had a blast

[Locked Up]

J.LUKE YOU HAVE A PM