Cherry Popped

[Ratdog68]

Had a great little adventure.  Left Tuesday for the Kingston ferry and drove on in to Port Angeles to meet up with a motorcycle riding friend of mine (Larry).  It was snowing as I was arriving to his house up on the hillside.  He and his wife (Jacki) treated me to a killer venison kabobs dinner with steamed rice and veggies.  I bought my Winchester 1500XTR 12ga. in the mid-80s (used) and don't think it's ever even had a shell shot through it.  It was missing it's bead, so I installed a green fiber optic bead.


 
We were up at 0500hrs Wednesday morning to head for Sequim to the gun club property he belongs to.  A friend of his (Art) met us there with his dog (Belle) to help out with retrieval.  All in all, it was a pretty slow day with only a few shot opportunities.  I held off on my first opportunity, I hadn't yet asked what the effective killing range was for the shot we were using.  Art and Belle had wandered to the far side of the pond we were set up by, and the birds they spooked up were coming right at us, but that left Art and Belle inline with my shot.  As it turned out, the effective range was probably less than the distance in which they were... but, I'd rather lose a duck than to risk it.  Another pair showed up and I bagged my very first duck with a shotgun (infact, the very first time I'd shot this gun since buying it in the mid-80s).  It was a Common Golden Eye hen.  Soon, another volley of birds arrived, missed a shot on one, but nailed a Green Winged Teal drake.  Larry got a pair of Hooded Mergansers (not worth eating though is the word), then, he nailed a pair of Mallards (drake and hen).  We thought we were going to get a chance at a flock of geese that came in the area, but, not to within range.  Midway through the day, Art invited us to his place for some turkey soup ('bout the best I've ever had too).
 
After legal shooting time for ducks arrived, we broke out my AR15s and tried calling in some 'yotes.  No answers to the call and nothing sighted.  When it got too dark to shoot, we gathered up the decoys and hauled the gear and ducks back to the truck... that's when the 'yotes started singing all around us, and were pretty close too.  Never saw one though.
 
After dinner, I got an edjumication in cleaning ducks.  By then, it was late.  The trip home yesterday was nice, instant stress level as soon as I got back into Seattle's traffic though.  (Ack).
 
Anywho... here's our entire string of ducks, and the pair I'm holding by themselves are the two I shot.  The Teal is the smaller of the two.  Got a recipe from Larry to try, lookin' forward to givin' it a try.





Yer a successful duck hunter if you can correctly read the following:
 
MR Ducks
MR not Ducks
OSAR CM Wangs
LIB MR 2 Ducks
 
 

[h2ofowlr]

Sounds like a good days hunt.

[Ratdog68]

Sounds like a good days hunt.

I had a ball !!!  New adventure.  I've got a recipe to try out that my friend gave me.  I'll give it a shot and then share it with a report on it.

[Widgeondeke]

Time with friends in the field and you bagged some ducks. Doesn't get much better.

[400out]

Good for you! Looks like you had a blast

[Ratdog68]

Time with friends in the field and you bagged some ducks. Doesn't get much better.

Got to make a new acquintance too.  Art's not only a great guy... but a fantastic cook too !!     And... Belle was the toast of the blind.  She recovered every duck we downed like a pro.  Great 4yr. old yellow lab.

[Ratdog68]

Good for you! Looks like you had a blast

LOL  Larry kept apologizing for it being such a slow day... but, everyone going home with ducks works for me... and it made for a great "first ever" duck hunt.

[mjbskwim]

A month ago there was probably close to 2000 birds flying around that area at any given time.
I haven't bothered going out,because the ducks haven't been around.There is probably 1/4th of what there was a month ago.You would hear a shot every couple minutes.Now you hear a bunch and then nothing.

The snow before Thanksgiving I got my limit in about 45 minutes.Now I sit out there and maybe shoot 2 times.

I may try this weekend,even though the ducks have moved out.

[ser300wsm]

Sounds & looks like you had a very good ole time.... 

[WCTaxidermy]

Congrat's on your first ducks and hopefully you now have the fever.   By the looks of your Goldeneye, it looks to me that it is actually a Goldeneye Drake that is not fully plummed out yet or a juvenile.  The bill tells the story.  Either way nice job on your hunt.  John

[Ratdog68]

Congrat's on your first ducks and hopefully you now have the fever.   By the looks of your Goldeneye, it looks to me that it is actually a Goldeneye Drake that is not fully plummed out yet or a juvenile.  The bill tells the story.  Either way nice job on your hunt.  John

Thank you... now that I have a taste of it, I know that I like duck hunting.  Hoping to do it again.  Lookin' at a book that my friend had, it was hard to tell which... may have been a drake.  Hearty little bird though. 

[bowtech721]

Congrats! it can be addicting 

[duckmen1]

congrats
looked in the regs this year and you need a sea duck authorization to hunt goldeneye in western washington
i know everyone does the best they can on the rules and you probably know this already but thought i would let everyone know of the new rule in case they did'nt so they don't get a ticket
told a buddy this the other day and he had no idea luckily he didn't shoot any on his trips

[270Shooter]

congrats
looked in the regs this year and you need a sea duck authorization to hunt goldeneye in western washington
i know everyone does the best they can on the rules and you probably know this already but thought i would let everyone know of the new rule in case they did'nt so they don't get a ticket
told a buddy this the other day and he had no idea luckily he didn't shoot any on his trips

I think thats bs, its a just a money grab for the WDFW, since when is there a shortages og GE's? Doesnmt matter to me though, im on the east side

[duckmen1]

how much does it cost
i thought it was free?

[270Shooter]

how much does it cost
i thought it was free?

lol oh I though it was an extra charge, shows how much i know

[jordano]

congrats on the first hunt! sounds like a good time

[Ratdog68]

how much does it cost
i thought it was free?

Here's the link for the application.  I wasn't billed anything for mine.  I think it's just another means for "the authority having jurisdiction" (A phrase LOVED by the City of Seattle when "edjumicating" the public about wiring/permits) to get the general public to do their leg work for them... getting US to break down our harvest numbers for them to play with, without getting their fat asses out of a chair.  I would imagine someone will get reprimanded for coming up with the idea and neglecting to charge a fee for the added paperwork to track it.     (Can ya tell I think Olympia needs a good flushing?) 

http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/permits/migratory/index.html