Opening day ducks

[SeaDuck]

How did everyone do?
We had one drake woodie come in all AM.. Guess its time to hit the big water..

Saw many rafts of Buffleheads around our spot on the bay and watched DNR check the guy that got my old spot near Oyster Creek..Someone should have told this guy that its not a good idea to setup 50 yrds off a community beach on a day when its going to be 65 and eveyone and their brother will be walking dogs, jogging etc.
Maybe its just me but shooting marina ducks while in full view of 15 houses aint hunting..

When I had it , we only used in in the third split on the worst of days and never got checked.

[choptank]

We did not fair well at all on the Wye river. we have a leased Booby on the East part loads of geese but no Duck movement. Should have gone Seduckin'.

[eastduck]

Didn't shoot anything but we saw alot of ducks.

[poon patrol]

Where is your booby blind on the Wye? My deer and goose farm is on the wye east. Poon

[pbramble]

We killed fluffy RSA mallards. Lots of fun, but man are they dumb. Had a few woodies buzz in early, but technical difficulties prevented us from getting any shots.

Was in Canada all last week shooting, if the bird numbers up there are any indication, this could be an excellent winter.

[choptank]

Poon,

We leased from shraeder north of Wye landing between the Eskay farm and University Md property tons of geese.

[choptank]

Poon,

We leased from shraeder north of Wye landing between the Eskay farm and University Md property tons of geese.

[poon patrol]

That's where my farm is. Good goose spot!

[choptank]

The Eskay farm??? Was you hunting deer Sat for the youth hunt? We had some close shots behind us! Real good goose spot!

[bcw1]

i talked to schrader about subletting a small part of the Eskay farm this year. Nice spot but there are other things i need to be doing with that kind of money. Like buying gas. Not that its not worth it, but just not for me. like ya said great area.

[SeaDuck]

Just out of curiousity what is the going rate for a decent waterfowl lease..water blinds, pits etc.

I have always gone the route of public land and stake lottery but with all the idiots sky blasting public lands and all the home owners licencing the shoreline, the options are running out.

[choptank]

I talked with Shraders right hand man Billy at the East coast sports show in Harrisburg last year and he got the ball rolling for us At the Wye. I wanted in on a deer lease also since I was going to be new over on the shore. I believe since we were the first in line we were shown the best/most expensive. they were asking $35,000 for the Eskay farm Max of 15 hunters But this was primo land. The Booby blind went for $4,000 and the rest of his Wye blinds went for $3,000. We took the Booby blind.

I am sure there are cheaper ones around and I would like to know of them for next year.

[moronehead]

Not good on the ol' Elk. Weather sucked. Need a north wind for my 2 spots. It'll be here later in the week but the tides suck then. Guys facing me on the other side of the river had a few good blazes. I packed at 800, ran home hitched the "big" boat and went fishing down on the Tank. Got into them good from 3-5 pm, no keepers but alot of 17" footballs. More seaducks than gulls. No blastin' but alot of castin'.

[crow]

We hunted on the Choptank, managed to scratch out a 3 person limit on woodies and 2 mallards. Saw lots of birds , most were on the other side of the river of course.

[fish1]

I had 6 of us on a offshore zone hunt and we had 5 buffleheads,1 bluebill,3 old squaw and 21 scoters.

Real nice fun hunt, and was done by 9:30


Bill

[SeaDuck]

Choptank.. thanks for the info. Thats actually not as bad as I thought it might be. Finding a group of guys to go in may be the harder part.

Next hunt will be on Friday after T giving at our squatter sight on marley creek.. never hunted it before so we'll see, will report then.

l

[swancaller]

OPENING DAY- legal shooting time was 6:09 limit at 7:09
5 hen mallards
5 drake mallards
5 ring necks
2 scaup
1 drake green wing

currituck sound is on fire boys. hunted yester day it took us until 1030 to limit out again.

[SeaDuck]

Nice mixed bag for the table.. good job..

[saltylady]

Awesome first day for me. Beautiful weather and Lew set us up in a perfect spot across from East Neck Island. Way to go Lew!! Five of us - got 8 blue bill and one golden eye and lost three cripples. My husband and I left at 10:00 to go to a wedding down in Denton. We crashed when we got home later that afternoon. I was surprised the birds were flying as good as they were since it was such a nice sunny day. First time for me to actually shot at something other than Mallard and Wood Ducks.

[SeaDuck]

Lew who?? Assume its a guide service.. if so which one?? Glad to hear you did so well. .Dont discount the bluebill.. it makes decent table fare and a the drakes, a nice mount.. Never tasted Golden eye but have one mounted.. love the green head..

Love to hear from a lady in camo....

[saltylady]

SeaDuck - we decided to join a hunting club this year and Lew is the manager of it. It as been a long time since I have been duck hunting. My husband and I lost our place about 5 or so years ago due to the sale of the property. I really had a good time. I will keep that in mind when my husband cooks the birds up. Don (guy who also joined the club with us) took the goldeneye hen home. He is going to keep that one in the freezer to see if he can get a drake to go along with it for mounting. I am really looking forward to hopefully getting my first canvasback this season and of course if it is in good condition I will have it mounted.

I am so looking forward to this saturday - should be nice and cold [grin]! Doing both duck and goose that day. I am so excited, i just love hunting season!!