Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Waterfowl => Topic started by: lokidog on November 01, 2014, 09:19:35 PM
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So, I figured this would be a good way to keep track of my ducks/geese for the season. Follow along if you are interested. Most hunting will be done here on/near the island I live on. It will be open water drift hunting (maybe some decoying), island/rock sneaking, and some pass shooting/decoying along the beach.
So far, this year, I've gotten two geese, five Common Mergansers, one Green-winged Teal, and today five Buffleheads using two rocks as a blind (it sucks when the tide is out and you want to duck hunt). I was hoping for more fog this morning, but it cleared pretty quickly. Saw a nice group of Scoters when pulling my crab pots, note to self - don't forget shotgun when crabbing.....
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Good job Amber :chuckle: and Loki :chuckle:
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What do you do with the bufflehead and mergansers?
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Mergansers; Fish darts, Saw Bills, etc.
Are great dog training tools. They are tough and hold up to multiple retrieves. They hold together even after being frozen.
I put a couple in the freezer every year for later use.
Most other ducks turn to mush after more than a few retrieves.
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Nice start so far!
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What do you do with the bufflehead and mergansers?
Merganser I make Salsbury Steak out of (see recipe on my Merganser thread). The Buffleheads I fried up last night with onions, garlic and some seasonings. All but one were really mild.
Nice start so far!
Thanks. Sat out this eve for the last 45 minutes, tide was out a bit so the Buffleheads stayed about 80 yards out. It was a good practice time for the dog to just lay quietly and watch the birds swimming around. There was a minimum of 67 Buffles in the flock.
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WOW! 67, now that is a heard of butterballs!
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Merganser I make Salsbury Steak out of (see recipe on my Merganser thread). The Buffleheads I fried up last night with onions, garlic and some seasonings. All but one were really mild.
Cool, good for you. I was afraid they were "shoot and boot." I may have to re-think my holding off on those birds if they are actually edible! Now to track down that Merganser thread...
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No shoot and boot for me, I even keep the legs, they make great hors d'oevres when slow cooked.
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It looks like they would be pretty hard to "boot" on that gravel anyways....
:chuckle:
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I'm going to try the recipes you posted but still cannot envision a merg being edible.
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I'm going to try the recipes you posted but still cannot envision a merg being edible.
:yeah:
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WOW! 67, now that is a heard of butterballs!
I went out yesterday morning and counted 192 Buffleheads when a second huge flock came into the bay. Who knows how many were under when I went through though. Passed on some hooded Merganser hens and a few Buffles in range in the hopes that the 18 geese might swim near enough, no luck though.
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Added two gorgeous Oldsquaw today. Oops, wrong pic, let's try this one.
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Last night I set up a new decoy line so I had to try it out this morning. At low tide, I placed a cinder block at fifty yards from where I usually sit in some rocks. Attached to that is a 3' piece of 1/4 inch surgical tubing that can stretch to about 10 feet. This is then attached to a 'U' shaped piece of drain pipe. I then ran 50lb braided fishing line, fairly thick stuff, through the 'U' and back up to a driftwood pile on the beach. I tied the line in a loop and placed two snap swivels on it about five yards apart. I then attached two decoy strings to it. I can now, at least until some crap huals it away or something else happens to it, move my decoy strings either in or out with the tide. I can also stretch the tubing and release for movement other than me pulling on the line. It seemed to work pretty well this morning. The only thing I will change, for now, is that I may hang a decoy off of my anchor which will give me a fifty yard reference point.
It was a little breezy this morning but I had more birds land near my decoys than in the past. Too bad I couldn't hit much until I took off my glasses. I missed two beautiful Goldeneye drakes first thing. :(
I did have a visitor swim up to the beach in front of me, he was carrying a flounder that was about ten inches long. Luckily I had my video camera on the gun so got some video of him and a double on drake mallards.
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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.
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Great looking dog!! Love to see pictures of the Goldens in the field.
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Nice!
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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.
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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. :yike: 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. :chuckle:
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No doubt about it! Those OS are beautiful birds!
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I gotcha now. :tup: Yeah, there are a few buoys wash up around here through the year. That looks cheap and easy, thanks.
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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. :bash:
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. :chuckle: 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.
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Pretty one. Freeze it for a mount.
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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.
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Wow, guess I haven't gotten out for a while. Took a couple of shots today, no pics, here's the story.
I missed a Harlequin today.... :bash: I saw some mergs and other unidentified ducks while picking up styrofoam and other garbage off the SE beach so I climbed the very steep hill and zoomed home for the gun and Amber. When I got back, they had already swam up to my access point and I could see that there were six Harlequins, five of them were drakes along with a dozen or so Common Mergansers. I waited until they (Harlys)dove and belly crawled to the edge of the grass above the beach. Unfortunately, the tide was out so they were a long way away. They worked their way behind some rocks and dove again so I bailed over the edge and belly crawled across the beach. The mergs saw me and slowly moved away. I got to a big rock only forty yards from the Harlequins. They came a little closer but I could not shoot since they were all bunched together. The mergs moved back in and I got a shot at a single drake Harlequin, and it dove. When it popped up, it flew, I shot, it dove, same thing happened again but then when it popped up, there was another one next to it then they dove and just swam out of range since I didn't want to shoot two. Amber fetched a merg that I hit with my first shot as collateral damage apparently. I watched them swim out away from me so I hurried up the hill once again (my chest still hurts, I think I need more aerobic excersize :rolleyes: ) and zoomed home to get the boat. Unfortuantely, by the time I launched the boat and motored around the island, they were nowhere in sight when I got out there. I looked until dark but only saw a bunch of Scoters. I did have a pair of Bufflehead fly by while I was drifting looking for sign, so I dropped one and couldn't pull the trigger on the second one.
Apparently there is a little bump on the back of the Nova triggers that can catch on the trigger assembly and prevent the trigger from moving. Luckily an easy fix with a file has it working again.
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Got a Bufflehead and nice drake Oldsquaw last Saturday.
Yesterday, I got a drake Mallard right after shooting time, knocked down four Red-breasted Mergansers out of a flock of fifty or so (my first ones of these that I know of), and two Buffleheads. The Buffles were funny, one swam into my decoys so I shot him, as the dog was swimming out to get him, several more landed within five feet of her. To my surprise, she stayed focused on the dead bird, grabbed it, and kept coming back even after I dropped one of the other ones that finally realized it was not a duck they were next to and took off. Then, when she was fetching that one, two more Buffles came and landed nearby for a minute as well.
Oh yeah, forgot about one of the mergs. Thought it was dead so tossed it with the others and then went out to meet Amber with the last one as she came back. I heard a noise and watched the bird go rocketing into the water and dive away. Too bad for him I still had the gun in my hands. :chuckle:
Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic, I need to start bringing my decent camera.
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Called in a hen Red-breasted to my decoys shortly after missing a dumb shot on a mallard, it had already passed me, live and learn. The mallards took off out of the bay before light, I think they heard me crunching gravel on the beach. It is amazing how quiet it can be.
As I was thinking about leaving, I saw three hen Common Mergansers swimming down the shoreline towards me. I was hoping they would line up for a multi kill swat but no luck. When the lead one got in front of me at about 15 feet, I swatted the farthest one. The two closer ones took off and I dropped each with my next two shots. The second was stone dead, the third dove, popped up and dove again when I tried finishing it. I sent Amber after it. Then I noticed the first had regained its composure and was swiming away, too far out of range. Well, Amber lost track of the one after it dove again and kept heading away from shore so I called her back to fetch the second one. We then boogied around to my dinghy to try to find the two. An hour of searching and no luck, I don't know how they could have gotten far enough away for me not to see them, especially since it was almost dead calm this morning. I was glassing (while drifting) and heard an Oldsquaw flying by, just in time to grab the shotgun, rack a round and drop her.
Still frustrated that those two mergansers didn't come home with me. >:( All looked like solid hits at less than 20 yards, I think I'm switching back to 4's for the shoreline hunts, a few more pellets might help and I keep my shots less than 45 yards anyways.
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you are a MERG slayer this year! :chuckle:
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I saw a flock of 300-500 the other day, plenty to go around. :chuckle:
Gotta collect enough for the summer get-together. :drool:
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Nice. I only saw one merganser today. Looks like they're heading back your way. :chuckle:
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Brought the gun with me on the way to work today.
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Beautiful pair Loki!
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Thanks.
So today I decided to try to ambush a Harlequin. I got down to the beach, where I have been seeing them in the evenings, and found a nice pile of driftwood to hide in. It was a bit windier than I was hoping since last night was calm. This beach gets a bit stirred up when wavy so the birds will often feed farther out from shore. Well, the tide was a fairly high low near dawn so the water was about six yards away. A hen bufflehead came by but I passed on her. Eventually, I saw a flock of Mergansers out in the bay heading toward shore so hoped they might come by. Before too long, I could tell they were heading away from me. :(
Then, I saw three Harlequins about 90 yards down the shore feeding and heading in my direction. They were one drake and two hens. They would dive and surface closer each time. They hit 40 yards and dove. They popped up about 35 yards and I had to wait for the drake to clear the hens. I sat up, he lept into the air, boom, drop and dive... pop up, boom, dive... pop up, boom, dive. He popped up again swimming hard to shore about 15 yards away. I had told Amber to stay as I did not want him roughed up. The bird went out of site on the other side of a rootwad so I got up to see what it was going to do. I figured I would wait for it to go up the shore a little and then run over and grab it. Unfortunately, I didn't see Amber jump out from the pile, but the bird did. He made a U-turn and dove back into the water so I sent Amber after him. He popped up but she didn't see him and I didn't want to shoot over her and deafen her. The bird dove again and I stepped sideways, he came up and no boom, damn safety... dives again. I shot three more shots trying to swat him as he dove and swam away. All I ever saw of him again was about 1/2 X 1 inch of his head and then he disappeared into the waves.
I waited a while hoping he might come back into shore before I headed back to my beach access area, but no luck. I did see three Harlequins, two hens and a drake, that took off when I approached. I don't know if it was the same birds.
Harlequin tag notched for the season. :bash: I can't afford to have another duck mounted this year anyways I guess....
Back to trying to get Mergansers for the summer get-together. :tup:
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Update on the Harlequin. Well, I decided to go down this afternoon to see if the Harly came ashore, dead or alive. Amber and I took a three mile plus walk, up and back and did not find anything along the high tide or the driftwood lines. :( Well, we did find more of the giant octopus that we saw part of this morning, too bad I already have too much crap in my freezers or it might have made some good halibut/ling bait.
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Sucks that you lost him. :/ Maybe next year I'll swap hunts with ya. Harli for some mergs. :)
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Unfortunately, for me, there are lots of other guys with better opportunities at Harlequins. Unless you want mergs for a chance at me getting a nice Harli.... :chuckle:
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Nice ...I need to get me one of those squaws :tup:
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Brought the gun with me on the way to work today.
Repeat this picture for another pair on MLK Day
Here's the photo, I forgot that I had a real camera with me that day.
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Went out this morning, with the rain forecast I figured it would be more productive in a blind than finishing a metal roof. :o
I set up a bit closer to where I see most of the ducks in the bay hoping I might be able to pull some mallards in. I could hear a few out on the edge of the water when I set my dekes up at low tide last night. I put out my string of six mallards, an additional pair and two of my new floater goose decoys, even though I have not seen a goose out here for weeks. Well, I got in this morning and it was not quite as comfy as I thought it would be, the dog took up more room than I had anticipated so after some reorienting I settled in.
In the first forty minutes of legal shooting, I had one hen Bufflehead land in the decoys but let her live, to the annoyance of Amber. :chuckle: I also saw about two dozen Mallards fly by and drop into the pond that I can't hunt. :(
Then a hen Merganser came and landed in front of me. Boom, flipped her over. I made Amber wait on the retrieve for two reasons, one to teach her patience and to wait for my release of her, and two, because other ducks will often pop up and fly around, especially after the first shot of the morning. Well, nothing came close enough for a shot, so I just sat back and waited. I was ready to send Amber, who was vibrating like she was plugged into an outlet, so I peeked out the front of my "blind" to see if it was clear. My heart leapt as I saw a bird by my two goose decoys about 25 yards away, dang, just a white seagull... wait, what, a Snow Goose? No Way! Sure enough, boom, sent my load of 4's. I swatted it again and then sent Amber after it. I thought I would have to argue with her to go after it since she could not see the goose and had been glued to the Merg for the last five or ten minutes. She looked where I pointed and went and fetched her first goose, only my third Snow and the first adult.
She retrieved the goose so I sent her after the Merganser, as she swam past the decoys, a little hen Bufflehead landed within ten feet of her. The Buffle finally flew away after I stood up to take the Merg from Amber. A little bit later, I noticed five hen Mergansers working their way down the shoreline toward me. They pulled up in front of me so I dusted two in the first shot , dropped another with my second shot and had a fail to fire on my third shot, the trigger would not pull. I sent Amber to retrieve the birds, which she did just fine. I tested the trigger and it clicked, so I don't know what happened there.
It turned out to be a nice morning weather-wise as well.
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Take what you can get when hunting the islands :tup: Always enjoy your waterfowl adventures,it's almost like being there.
That was unusual to have a lone snow goose come in. Do you suppose it was lost or a cripple?
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Take what you can get when hunting the islands :tup: Always enjoy your waterfowl adventures,it's almost like being there.
That was unusual to have a lone snow goose come in. Do you suppose it was lost or a cripple?
My wife said she thought somebody posted something about a goose yesterday that they didn't know if it was a Snow or domestic (turns out it was posted on tuesday that it was hanging out on the beach where I hunted, I should scout on FB more often :chuckle: ). I'm thinking it might have been wounded and had to leave the flock since we see them fly over once in a while but never actually land.
I'm thinking of having goose for dinner. Ended up eating the Oldsquaws from Monday instead. Goose for the weekend.
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Second attempt at write-up. I lost everything with a bad file extension. >:(
Anyways, I went to the outside beach today to target Mergansers and maybe a Harlequin, didn't see any Harlis. I had two groups of Mergs come in/by but couldn't get decent shots on either. Finally, about a dozen came in and I knocked down four, though one dove and popped up too far out for a shot, then flew away.
There was a pretty strong current and by the time I sent Amber, the birds were already 70 or so yards away. I followed her, and the birds, down the beach. I lined her up and sent her for the second bird. She was heading toward the one that was farthest out when she saw the closer one and turned to pick it up. By the time I sent her to the third one we were a couple hundred yards down the beach and it was over 120 yards out. She was heading on the line I sent her but then got to a long piece of kelp and got confused losing the bird. We do not have the "back" command down very well, so she started swimming back to shore. When she got close enough that I figured I could chuck a rock over her head, I did and got her going back out. She was off the line though as my throw was not super accurate. Fortunately, when I gave her the "over" signal she turned and picked up the bird that was now about 30 yards away. Good thing it was belly up and quite calm this morning.
Anyways, got a little wet in the rain, but got to work Amber a bit more before the end of the season. Good luck everyone out there still gunning.
The fetching photo is after we got back to the log where we were sitting. When I flung the duck out for her to retrieve it, a herring or anchovy flipped out of its crop.
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Those are some dandy pictures :tup:
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nice i like this it pretty cool to see those ducks great job :tup:
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Those are some dandy pictures :tup:
Thanks Seth. I'll have the camera on it's proper settings tomorrow for that last ditch effort.
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Congrats on the snow goose. And a great season
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So, ended the season with a total of 58 ducks and three geese, a little better than last year.
Thanks for following along with Amber and I. She is about to start a new adventure as she is going to be bred next week. Woohoo, puppies!
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Keep the hunting pics, NOT the breeding pics, coming!