2014 Duck/goose season with Amber

[lokidog]

Yesterday, I remembered to bring my shotgun with me to check my crab pots.  There was a flock of scoters and two Oldsquaw near one of my pots.  I got in close, shut the engine off and waited.  The Oldsquaw popped up nearby, took off and 'click', cycle, 'click', cycle, swing on a scoter in range, and 'click'....  WTH, broken firing pin?  Something not put together right after cleaning? Nope, stupid loose barrel nut, grrrrr, operator error.

So, I pulled my pots and got three crabs then went looking for more ducks.

I ended the cold, wet day with my first White-winged Scoter and a surf scoter.  It is amazing how much bigger the White-winged ones are.

[GoldenOscar]

Great looking dog!! Love to see pictures of the Goldens in the field.

[T Pearce]

Nice!

[lokidog]

Thanks.  I don't bring her out with me in the dinghy on the open water though.

No crabs today, but got another Oldsquaw.  I dropped him on the first shot but the others all lined up as they flew off so I had to wait for one to clear and missed my second shot.  Then missed a scoter that flew by, grrrr.  These Oldsquaw are such gorgeous birds.

[lokidog]

Well, I've been trying to get enough ducks for a big duck feed Sunday for about ten people so I "had to" go out this afternoon since I only had three Mallards, three Oldsquaw, and three Scoters.  I don't want to use the Mergansers for this if I don't have to.

As I was setting my second crab pot back in, I heard Oldsquaw squawking (wait, squawking is not politically correct is it?), and looked up to see six or seven flying toward me.  I dropped the crab line picked up the shotgun dropped a nice drake, DRT, and missed my second shot.  Out of curiosity, I checked the distance with my rangefinder and he was at 52 yards.     I don't like to shoot that far away but good thing I had 2s in the gun.  I am getting this guy mounted as he is the prettiest, and least hit (one to the head maybe?) of any I have gotten through the last few years.

I then headed to the outside of the island only to find mass amounts of trees and branches floating in a big eddy of the outgoing tide.  I eased out into the stuff and just drifted with it as the Scoters and Oldsquaw seemed to be working in the stuff.  I lucked out and had another White-winged Scoter hen fly by and dropped her, though she needed a follow up shot.  I reloaded and stayed low in the boat as a bunch of birds took off aroundd me when I shot.  A pair of Oldsquaw flew by and I pulled one out.  SHe was a toughy though as it took four or five swatters to finally flip her over, dang.....

At least I've got enough good meat now so I don't have to serve Mergs to the guests.   

[Cougar125]

No doubt about it!  Those OS are beautiful birds!

[lokidog]

Got one Bufflehead today in the 19* weather, brrrr.  I should have had a Ring-neck as he came in set to the decoys.  I pulled up and 'click', what? No way I didn't load it, eject a shell, the bird swings to a straight away shot, bang, a few feathers and it keeps going, wth?  I watched it disappear into the distance.   

I had a guy from Seattle with me who had never been on a hunt before.  It was a heck of a morning to break him in.  I think he had a good time.

Second photo is from Friday's White-winged Scoter's gizzard.  Their gizzards are about twice the size of a Surf Scoter's (the black rock is just over 1/2 inch long).

[h2ofowlr]

When the tide is out next time, you could always use a crab / shrimp buoy and paint it black or add some white spots to it.  We used to make blocks out of the buoys as well for sea duck hunting.  Use some crab lines with some droppers and spread those decoys out a little further.  Run two 20'-40' string with the decoys spaced about 2'-3' apart.  It should work for you.

[lokidog]

Thanks for the advice.  The lines I am using are from my grandfather's trot lines he used 22 years ago (the year before he died and I got all of his old fishing stuff).  The swivels are about five feet apart, which seemed too far (unfortunately there are crimps on the line holding them in place) so I added a swivel between them.  It does seem they are maybe a little close so I might do 2 skip one, three, skip one then two or three which would open it up but allow me to use the same line.  I wish it were easy to change the spacing on these as I have about 600 or so feet of line with swivels on it.

Unfortunately the tides/seaweed/driftwood twisted my line up too much to use it for anything but an anchor line yesterday.  I think I need to bite the bullet and use three hundred feet of sinking crab line for my trolley line.  I have to wait until the third though for a low enough tide to get to my anchor block.

As far as seaduck decoys go, I was thinking of waiting until the end of the season to see if anyone had some old mallards they were selling for cheap and then paint them up like Scoters.

[Cougar125]

As far as seaduck decoys go, I was thinking of waiting until the end of the season to see if anyone had some old mallards they were selling for cheap and then paint them up like Scoters.

Keep an eye on craigslist.  You can find plastic decoys for $1-$3/ea.  Flat black with some splashes of white like buffy hens work well.  I've got a couple dozen I've done this way and have shot buffies, goldeneyes, scoters, and harlequin over them.

[h2ofowlr]

As far as seaduck decoys go, I was thinking of waiting until the end of the season to see if anyone had some old mallards they were selling for cheap and then paint them up like Scoters.

Keep an eye on craigslist.  You can find plastic decoys for $1-$3/ea.  Flat black with some splashes of white like buffy hens work well.  I've got a couple dozen I've done this way and have shot buffies, goldeneyes, scoters, and harlequin over them.

Just use buoys cut in half for your sea ducks.  Cut out and make a wooden head for them out of some cedar or other wood.  They won't sink that way.  When your surrounded by water and live on an island, you should have some of these available.

[lokidog]

I gotcha now.     Yeah, there are a few buoys wash up around here through the year. That looks cheap and easy, thanks.

[lokidog]

Got out today.  At low tide last night I restrung my pulley system using crab line.  I left my decoy strings at the high tide line, or so I thought.  I arrived at 6 to only see one string... crap, I can specifically remember tying my clip to the decoys but not to the mainline and the water came up higher than I expected.  And, I hadn't gotten around to putting my name on any of them.  Seven new decoys gone as I looked up the shoreline later and they did not wash up with the wind.   

Then, I had a heck of a time hitting anything, fifteen shots for three birds (missed several Mallards, grrr), the hen Hooded Merganser took five and then I finally sent the dog after it.  She eventually caught it after all of its diving and me telling her to drop a decoy once.     She has slept almost all afternoon, that fifteen minutes in the water took a lot out of her, but she sure looked proud to bring that bird in.

I then went out to look for the decoy string, and pull crab pots.  A hefty breeze allowed me to drift into a couple groups of Oldsquaw and Scoters.  I got a triple on two Scoters and an Oldsquaw but one of the Scoters kept diving and I lost track of it eventually.  I dropped another nice drake Oldsquaw while setting a pot.  No legal crabs though.

[h2ofowlr]

Pretty one.  Freeze it for a mount.

[lokidog]

Too late....  Here's what they looked like last night after marinating in lemon juice with some minced garlic, onion powder, ground thyme, and black pepper for about four hours and then frying until browned on the outside and medium inside.  They were then served with a gravy made from one cup of chicken broth and a bit of the marinade thickened with cornstarch.  I overcooked the Oldsquaws a bit, but all of these ducks were fabulous.  After the mallard, the Scoter was probably the best but even that little Merganser was pretty good.

H2o, I saved my really pretty drake (tail was a bit longer) from last week to send to someone, maybe Charlie's.  I wish I could afford more because a double drake mount with that hen would have been phenomenal.