Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Opening Day Duck Season

We did pretty good, despite the typical "first day of hunting" issues. A buddy's lab pup wasn't as well trained as he thought, so he had to drive back home and get his other, older, better trained dog. I had the operating handle fly out of my 1100, on the 2nd group of ducks that flew by, never to be seen again. The gun worked without it, but to open the action I had to stick my pocket knife in the bolt and pull it open. Note to self - Bring spare "field fix" parts kit along, it doesn't do any good if they're back at the house. Mike had a factory Hevi-Shot shell stick in the chamber after firing, so we had to disassemble his Mossberg 835 and pry it out of the chamber. My other buddy tried to retrieve the duck that his dog wouldn't and ended up getting a wee bit too deep in the ditch, getting his cell phone wet over the chest waders.


Despite all that, we'll be back at it in the morning. I had forgotten just how early a 3:30 a.m. wake up alarm was......

That's cool Scott! Did the wind have any effect on the shooting? Man it's blustery out there!

It actually helped. The ditch that we were hunting runs North/South, so the ducks were either flying directly down the ditch, or they circled and came directly in to us from in front (we were facing East).

I can't believe how fast those Woodies fly. They came screaming down the ditch, put on the brakes and dropped right in. From first sighting to them hitting the water was about 3 seconds. I think the Wood Duck Decoys helped. They landed nearer them than near the Mallard Decoys that we had out.

Does 1:00 p.m. your time at my place tomorrow work for you? Mike will be home then and we can go over to his place from mine. If so, can you bring your DO meter? I'd like to check the levels.

Oh Jeeze I didn't even notice the woodie on the end!

Yeah 1:00 P.M. my time works for me. If you want it later that will work too. I will put the D.O. meter in the vehicle as soon as I get off of here so I don't forget.

I've never been Duck hunting, but I did roast one over an open fire! Well maybe that don't really count as a Keg was involved and I doubt taste buds were working properly at the time

Look's like a successful day to me!

Scott,

No pictures from us but we shot our limit of Canada Geese this morning. That is only 10 birds, a real downer since I was in Saskatchewan the first week of Oct and the slowest morning there was 23 birds.

I was meaning to post on the Saskatchewan hunt just haven't had time till none. Here are a few pictures from the trip

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/SK2011/?albumview=slideshow

Like I said, we only had one fly by, and it was a good 80 yds up there. I have no idea where it came from, it was completely alone.

It sounds like you had a great hunt. Going back at it tomorrow?

Doesn't season open in Illinois for Ducks next Saturday?
Specs and snows, huh? Any Ross's geese in the mix?

Cecil, that'll work just fine. Actually, there's 2 Woodies at the end, a hen and a drake.

Lets hope they are just as dumb tomorrow morning.

The gun is fixed, the older dog is coming out tomorrow, and we're going to a spot that had about 60 Mallards sitting on it 2 days ago. It wasn't hunted today, so hopefully they'll remember where to fly.

Always enjoyed wood duck hunting. Opening day was Oct 6th in VA. Not as many woodies this year as in years past.

I kind of thought that was a hen but wasn't sure and didn't want to say if I was wrong.

IL has 4 zones and the north opened yesterday. We where out this morning in the rain and only managed 4 geese and 2 mallards. Should of hunted longer but I had to work. Just finished a little while ago. hopefully this insane work schedule end soon so it doesn't hurt my bow hunting.

Yes we got into s few Ross geese they are a riot to shot (at).

We quit around 11:00 a.m. Here's the take:



I can't believe every woodie was a Drake. It wasn't planned that way, it just happened.

Ken, that Mitake weighed 15 3/4#. I think it'll go good with some duck breasts that are marinating right now.

That's awesome! They are some pretty birds...

We have a 4 wood duck limit per day, what is IN's limit on woodies per day?

3 per person. 6 ducks total. 3 hunters. We passed on 8 more woodies after we limited out.

First duck I ever shot was a wood duck. As luck would have it, it was a male and female taken with one shot jump shooting. Haven't gotten a double since! I hope all the duck boxes I've put up have more than made up for all the woodies I've shot!

I saved one of the ones that I shot because it was almost in perfect shape. I'd really like to get a pair mounted standing on dead limbs that are coming out of a hollow tree. Now to find the perfect piece of wood. I think the wood will be harder to find than a good hen.

The first woodie that I shot is still out there. (I think) I shot it, it dropped on the far side of the ditch. My buddies Lab retrieved it, it came in with it's head flopping, as a dead bird does. My buddy took the duck from the dog, looked it over and tossed it to me as I was about 10' away. I missed grabbing it, and when it hit the ground it came up flying and flew away like it was unhurt. I can only surmize that I knocked it out with one pellet and it bouncing on the ground woke it up. We all were so shocked at what just happened we never thought to try and shoot it as it flew off.

Now that's a good one!

Do you have any more duck hunting reports? The forecast for this year sounds really favorable. The season down here doesn't open for three more weeks.

Nothing new to report. The local birds are laying low, and there haven't been any migrants showing up. Where we hunt it usually takes a good storm up North to push the ducks down, which usually happens towards the end of November. The local resident goose population has been making an appearance, but they have been flying literally 5 minutes before legal shooting light ends, so we've been putting off going after them. Too much work with too much risk at not having them fly by in time for a 2 bird limit. In Feb we get a resident goose season, where it's a 5 bird/day limit (10 in posession) and we usually do very well then.