Opening day!

[Stinkyrat]

Howdy!

First time going for waterfowl, ended the morning with two mallards! I'm hooked



How did everyone else fair today?

[Commando]

Congrats! It's very addicting.I woke up at 1215 thus morning to drive three hours to my spot, saw lots of birds and missed more than I should if but man was it fun. I have that same kayak, really like it, can't wait to try it out hunting.

[Bill W]

Bennick16, asmith and I met up at a local pond today for a morning of duck shooting-at.  We shot enough to keep the shotshell manufacturers in business for the next year.  Molly the wild dog had her first trip out as a duck dog and managed some nice retrieves of dead ducks and and additional two decoys.  Guess we weren't shooting enough for her.

Some of the ponds out here have such deep mud.  Nick went in up to his crotch.  I think that's the only thing that stopped him from going deeper.

[asmith]

Yep, it was a good time!  Definitely a lot more shooting than killing going on for us.  But between the 3 of us we where able to put 7 down.  5 hen mallards, 1 drake mallard and 1 hen gadwall.  So it was a great opening day!

[GrampasGuns]

You shot a limit on your first outing!! I'm chasing deer but can't wait to fold a few greenheads

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[asmith]

No, no limit, lol.  That was 7 for 3 people.

[CP]

Awesome opener!

[northwesthunter84]

Congrats, today was also my first duck hunting trip.  We ended up with 7 between 2 of us.  Three green heads, one green wing teal, two hooded mergansars and one bufflehead.  It was a blast, didn't know what I have been missing for the past 20 years of hunting.  Plan on making up for lost time as much as I can now.

[greenhead_killer]

It's an addiction bud. Get out while you can! We limited in 1:15 mins. Was very happy. Had the opportunity to hunt with my wife's uncle. I think I found another hunt partner. Good luck on the season and new addiction. -ghk

[GrampasGuns]

I was commenting on the OP'S two hens,making a limit of hens.

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[alwayssafe]

Hey Stinkyrat,

What's the model of that kayak and how do you like it? I've been thinking of trying hunting from a kayak... You ever worry you'll flip while shooting?

[NW-GSP]

Hey Stinkyrat,

What's the model of that kayak and how do you like it? I've been thinking of trying hunting from a kayak... You ever worry you'll flip while shooting?

Some of the newer kayaks are very stable, you can pretty much lean as far as you want over the edge without rolling. I have one of the Costco kayaks. I do not use it for hunting but I have checked the stability of it and was very surprised.

[Revwrangler]

Hey Stinkyrat,

What's the model of that kayak and how do you like it? I've been thinking of trying hunting from a kayak... You ever worry you'll flip while shooting?

I have hunted out of multiple kayaks and never had an issue.

[sakoshooter]

Went with a buddy to the Yakima Res a week ago for the opener there. Opens a week earlier than the rest of the state. My buddy shot 5 quail and a collared dove. I shot a drake wood duck and a collared dove. Lots of walking for sure.

[Commando]

It looks like my ascend fs10. I haven't shot out of it yet but have pulled many crab pots. It's very stable

[Stinkyrat]

Hey Stinkyrat,

What's the model of that kayak and how do you like it? I've been thinking of trying hunting from a kayak... You ever worry you'll flip while shooting?

Thanks guys! Alwayssafe, the model I have is the Ascend FS10 fishing kayak from Bass pro shops. It was honestly the greatest investment in my outdoor hunting/fishing I have made to date.



I'm 6'4" and 260lbs, with my safety gear, fishing tackle, shotgun, ammo, 5 gallon bucket full of water and I have zero problems with it. Very stable, I've never ever worried about it tipping over. As NW-GSP said, many newer style kayaks are built for stability, with the offset of a slower speed than other kayaks. That said, I can zip across the lake in minutes with relative ease. The FS10 has rod holders, so could fish while I was waiting for dinner to fly over head 

Stinkyrat 

[McCRIZZLEY]

18 down for the four of us... lots of missed shots and the dog sliced her leg clean open before the hike in. Almost all green winged teal. Blast of a weekend though! I am interested in a kayak too. I would like to do some solo hunting, and don't have a dog. Do you use decoys when you use your kayak? And how do you position yourself in larger lakes to be able to get short shots?

[Stinkyrat]

I am interested in a kayak too. I would like to do some solo hunting, and don't have a dog. Do you use decoys when you use your kayak? And how do you position yourself in larger lakes to be able to get short shots?

Howdy McCrizzley, that was my first outing duck hunting ever so I'm still figuring it out myself  I wasn't in camo or had any decoys when I was out, but here is what I'm thinking:

- after getting shot at repeatedly, birds are gonna get weary of landing at the lake, I should wear camo from now on and get anything colorful off the kayak (Like my bright orange home depot bucket...)
 
- I should invest in a good duck call and a few decoys to help draw birds in. Right now it seemed the birds didn't care about calls or decoys (Totally my observation only, heard a ton of calls that morning but no ducks seemed to just be drawn to them..), but again I think they will get skittery after being shot at a bunch and people must use them for a reason. 
 
- I don't feel like I will need dozens of decoys to drag around, think the kayak is small and part of the benefit is that it keeps me mobile depending on where the birds were locating

The lake I was on is fairly large, but you could tell where the birds were flying through the most, so I just moved into that area and kept watch. I did fish while I was out there too which was nice and kept me a little more involved than staring at the sky the entire time so I stayed out longer.

Stinkyrat

[h2ofowlr]

I am interested in a kayak too. I would like to do some solo hunting, and don't have a dog. Do you use decoys when you use your kayak? And how do you position yourself in larger lakes to be able to get short shots?

- I should invest in a good duck call and a few decoys to help draw birds in. Right now it seemed the birds didn't care about calls or decoys (Totally my observation only, heard a ton of calls that morning but no ducks seemed to just be drawn to them..), but again I think they will get skittery after being shot at a bunch and people must use them for a reason. 
 
Stinkyrat

The birds are very receptive to good calling right now.  They have not been over called at and it's the start of the season.  If you sound like a Kazoo or scream at them the entire time, probably not very receptive.

[Stinkyrat]

I totally agree h20fowler, good calling technique has definitely gotta have something to do with working properly and people wouldn't use calls and decoys if they didn't work.

My observation was purely off of what I saw on my first time out, folks were calling from all over the lake and as groups of birds flew over they didn't seem drawn to the calls as I've seen in the duck hunting shows  I will say I did see one bird make a circle back over one group of guys, didn't see them shoot at it though but it flew in behind them and that may be the reason why.

[pentale]

Three of us got 12 on the opener. We started with some heavy calling and about 3 dozen decoys. Then, not seeing a lot of birds finishing, we pushed all but three of our dekes (a drake and 2 hens) close to the shore, only made quacks and feeding chuckles and started to get birds coming in easily. We ended the day with a flock of 8 mallards feet down into out trio. We dropped 4 of them - 2 drakes and 2 hens.

As long as there are birds around you have the chance to adapt your spreads and techniques. That's what adds to the challenge.

On the bad side I had the opening day jitters on the shotgun. I'm glad one of our group is a police sniper. He was money!

[WSU]

I totally agree h20fowler, good calling technique has definitely gotta have something to do with working properly and people wouldn't use calls and decoys if they didn't work.

My observation was purely off of what I saw on my first time out, folks were calling from all over the lake and as groups of birds flew over they didn't seem drawn to the calls as I've seen in the duck hunting shows  I will say I did see one bird make a circle back over one group of guys, didn't see them shoot at it though but it flew in behind them and that may be the reason why.

I've had better luck with very light calling in those crowded situations. 

[JJD]

I am interested in a kayak too. I would like to do some solo hunting, and don't have a dog. Do you use decoys when you use your kayak? And how do you position yourself in larger lakes to be able to get short shots?

- I should invest in a good duck call and a few decoys to help draw birds in. Right now it seemed the birds didn't care about calls or decoys (Totally my observation only, heard a ton of calls that morning but no ducks seemed to just be drawn to them..), but again I think they will get skittery after being shot at a bunch and people must use them for a reason. 
 
Stinkyrat

The birds are very receptive to good calling right now.  They have not been over called at and it's the start of the season.  If you sound like a Kazoo or scream at them the entire time, probably not very receptive.

I agree,  I will add that "good calling" involves more than just making good or even great sounds come out of the call.  Knowing when and how to call waterfowl in flight is more important than perfect sounds.