So who is ready for duck season? I’m used to the season starting the first part of October so I’m chomping at the bit to shoot some birds. I’ve been doing a ton of scouting and got the kayak/layout blind all grassed up and looking good. I also have about 10 dozen decoys all rigged up but I doubt I’ll need that many haha. If anyone wants to get out and pool resources to find the birds hit me up…The countdown has begun!
Ahhhhh, another Yankee.
I cant wait either. Been doing a lot of scouting and will be scouting even harder the next couple weeks.
17 Carolina Skiff
60 Johnson
quote:
Originally posted by flyinghighAhhhhh, another Yankee.
Yankee??? I was born and raised in a latitude lower than SC…
Dear Fresh…I believe the reference to your origin was related to your experience hunting ducks in October. We shoot doves in October here in SC, that is if they are still around. Mostly going to football games and fishing for spottails. Duck hunting in this state has been in a steady decline for over 30 years. The population migration to the coast has disrupted and impacted the Eastern Flyway migration significantly for the most Southern coastal states. Many acres of farmland in coastal Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have learned to short stop the migration by keeping food forage at a premium during our duck season in Nov., Dec., and Jan. The farmers have discovered a huge cash flow opportunity by keeping the ducks and running or leasing to duck hunting operations. It’s a rare winter that freezes them out and sends the ducks south. So, it’s very weather dependent. Quite a few duck club operations have sprung up with pen raised birds as a result of this decline in migration, and the SCDNR has also gotten into the pen raised duck business up on the larger lakes in the state. According to the SCWA the largest migration of ducks into SC is the Ring Necked duck, and it primarily stops over in the Santee lake region. There has been ongoing efforts by the SCWA to enhance the habitat for this migration over the last 20 or so years. The Wood Duck, or as we call them locally, Summer Duck, is the #1 duck in the bag year to year. They nest here, and reproduce at a stable rate. The 3 bird limit is currently the highest bag limit that we’ve had for many, many years. Wood Duck hunting is low key, low equipment, fast action hunting found primarily in hardwood swamps and river basins, but managed habitat on small and man made lakes can produce predictable populations of birds. As far as layout blinds, dozens of decoys, etc. the #1 thing to have for consistently killing ducks, if you live around here, is an airline ticket to a Central or Mississippi flyway destination. Good luck Fresh, and don’t forget to get
Saw a good mix of birds on the marshes in Bear Island this past Sat on the way to Bennetts shrimping. Light and dark geese, shovlers, teal, mottled, and I think some redheads.
J Ford
You can’t catch 'um on the couch!
[quote]Originally posted by bossdog1
Dear Fresh…I believe the reference to your origin was related to your experience hunting ducks in October. We shoot doves in October here in SC, that is if they are still around. Mostly going to football games and fishing for spottails. Duck hunting in this state has been in a steady decline for over 30 years. The population migration to the coast has disrupted and impacted the Eastern Flyway migration significantly for the most Southern coastal states. Many acres of farmland in coastal Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have learned to short stop the migration by keeping food forage at a premium during our duck season in Nov., Dec., and Jan. The farmers have discovered a huge cash flow opportunity by keeping the ducks and running or leasing to duck hunting operations. It’s a rare winter that freezes them out and sends the ducks south. So, it’s very weather dependent. Quite a few duck club operations have sprung up with pen raised birds as a result of this decline in migration, and the SCDNR has also gotten into the pen raised duck business up on the larger lakes in the state. According to the SCWA the largest migration of ducks into SC is the Ring Necked duck, and it primarily stops over in the Santee lake region. There has been ongoing efforts by the SCWA to enhance the habitat for this migration over the last 20 or so years. The Wood Duck, or as we call them locally, Summer Duck, is the #1 duck in the bag year to year. They nest here, and reproduce at a stable rate. The 3 bird limit is currently the highest bag limit that we’ve had for many, many years. Wood Duck hunting is low key, low equipment, fast action hunting found primarily in hardwood swamps and river basins, but managed habitat on small and man made lakes can produce predictable populations of birds. As far as layout blinds, dozens of decoys, etc. the #1 thing to have for consistently killing ducks, if you live around here, is an airline ticket to a Central or Mississippi flyway dest
Thanks for the compliment Fred. I’m one of those “passionate” duck hunters at heart. I often wish that I had been born 100 years ago just to be able to fill a croker sack full of big ducks over wooden blocks. I was a dedicated “river rat” back in the day, but Q-beams and credit cards started to take their toll. The forces that be turned the harbor into a bird sanctuary, the Navy put the spoil areas off limits, and if you got set up on the Quinby ahead of sunrise some A-hole with a Q-beam came blasting through your decoy spread 15 minutes before shooting time. Of course if you got to the landing after 4:00AM the parking lot was full up all the way back to Hwy 41. Skybusting with 31/2" shells became the norm vs. working the birds. I tried The Hatchery a couple times, but I was underpowered with my 25HP, and usually got waked by several rednecks with NASCAR rigs posing as duck hunting boats. I finished out driving an hour and a half to Bennetts Point, leaving the house at 2:00AM to get there in time. And those were the days with a 4 bird limit. Needless to say I didn’t have a blue blood connection, and I remember watching the birds rise and settle back into the impoundments while the Edisto River tide ripped a few decoys loose, and swirled the rest into a tangled mess. I finally wore out, and started paying for airline tickets, motel rooms and guides. Once you’ve shot ducks in Canada, the Dakota’s, Mississippi, Arkansas, etc. a good Wood Duck hunt in SC is about all I’m interested in locally. As a matter of fact, I enjoy it most of all.
Sol Mate
Mako 20B
225 Optimax
quote:
Originally posted by Fresh One 619So who is ready for duck season? I’m used to the season starting the first part of October so I’m chomping at the bit to shoot some birds. I’ve been doing a ton of scouting and got the kayak/layout blind all grassed up and looking good. I also have about 10 dozen decoys all rigged up but I doubt I’ll need that many haha. If anyone wants to get out and pool resources to find the birds hit me up…The countdown has begun!
Good for you man. Glad you are excited. Lots of negative nellies on this forum. I’m a Mississippi hick by the way. Go get em.
I can’t wait to put on my waders to shoot a few woodys and hope to get lucky enough to pick up one or two of any other variety.
bossdog - enjoyed your comments - infact as I read them it was like reading something I wrote in my hunting logbook! I have had all of those experiences (quinby and edisto were right out of my exact experiences) but I have yet to buy the air ticket yet. Anyways I love it enough I guess I’ll keep on keeping on. Good luck Saturday!
The birds are here!!! Should be a great opener. Warms up some after that and they will likely go back to NC.
My bud scouted again this past Sat and saw a bunch of grey ducks, ringers, a few greenheads, and woodies. Just can’t tell you where - or I’d have to kill ya. Gonna be a long night Friday night sitting out the X. Calling for 35 and wind @10.
J Ford
You can’t catch 'um on the couch!
Thanks for the good read bossdog. I’m only interested in the occasional Canada goose but its nice to keep up on what the other guys are up to.
“You can have my gun when you pry my cold…forget that, you can’t have my gun!”
Glad you enjoyed the post Happy! Speaking of happy, I just got my confirmation in the mail from SCDNR that I won a lottery duck hunt in early December for Murphy Island in the Santee Delta. I’m anxious as all get out to just experience a duck hunt in the old Santee Gun Club location. The history of duck hunting in that location is immeasurable. The ghosts of many famous men will be swirling in the early morning mist, and just maybe a group of sprigs will will lock up over the decoys and invite me into the past for a memory to last the rest of this old duck hunter’s lifetime.
Sol Mate
Mako 20B
225 Optimax
Nothing like waking up to walk through the woods at dark…experiencing the temp drop right before sunrise making your decoys freeze up and then your hands being too dang cold to pull the trigger when some fly in.
It is exciting calling them in though.
How can you get into the kayak after loading 10 dozen decoys!
we did pretty decent.
G. perry pickering
Got on a couple birds, I handed out a lot of free passes on Sunday waiting for big ducks but my kid was wet so I let the spoonies have it.
Good job! That looks like fun.
G. perry pickering
That’s some good killin! I got a new first for me on Wednesday. 2 woodies in one shot.
17 Carolina Skiff
60 Johnson