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Worst duck season ever... #6168151 02/03/16 09:02 PM
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yakinthebox Offline OP
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Man, I hate that it's gone, but I'm definitely looking for a better 2016-17 season. I hunted a total of 11 times this year and I shot 7 ducks. YES, your read that right, 7... I'm a freelance hunter and can't afford and don't think I'd really even like to do a guided hunt. So this and every other season I've ever hunted is all public, with the exception of 1 hunt at a small piece of family property where I got the woody.


3 Redhead Drakes
1 Pintail Drake
1 Bufflehead hen
1 Scaup hen
1 Wood Duck drake
1 coot

And those ducks all came on 3 separate hunts. So I got skunked 8 times. 8 TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm on the coast and I think that there was waaaaay too much water. I also don't ever have the time and money to scout real heavily. So the problem is that my typical go to spots weren't holding ducks like they have in previous years. My observation is that, at least on the gulf coast, the hunting is significantly better during the dryer years.

Hope everyone else did much better than me.


If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready!
-Anonymous
Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6168169 02/03/16 09:12 PM
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kdub Offline
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Did you scout birds before hunting?


No offense, I didnt kill a lot of ducks this year, mostly because I just didn't hunt very much. But the people I know that scouted hard killed birds.

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: kdub] #6168179 02/03/16 09:16 PM
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Originally Posted By: kdub
Did you scout birds before hunting?
Originally Posted By: yakinthebox
I also don't ever have the time and money to scout real heavily.

Originally Posted By: kdub
But the people I know that scouted hard killed birds.

worthless
ninja


Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6168206 02/03/16 09:28 PM
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Esh and Hattie Offline
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On the bright side, good job not counting the coot as a duck!

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6168221 02/03/16 09:34 PM
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Duck ninjas don't post pics.

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6168241 02/03/16 09:46 PM
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It was our worst season in many years too. So bad, in fact, that the last 5 trips out were complete skunks. There was an abundance of water of everywhere and it really never got too cold. But there's always next year...

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: Esh and Hattie] #6168267 02/03/16 10:00 PM
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Originally Posted By: Esh and Hattie
On the bright side, good job not counting the coot as a duck!


I hear ya. Things got so slow on one hunt this season I had to shoot a coot just to give my young dog some work.

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6168310 02/03/16 10:19 PM
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Haha I've thought about it, the duck gods were watching though, the couple times I got itchy we got some action to hold us over.

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: kdub] #6168361 02/03/16 10:43 PM
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Originally Posted By: kdub
Duck ninjas don't post pics.

yingyang

But on the other hand, they're very glad that others often do.


Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6168437 02/03/16 11:27 PM
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Same here just didnt have the birds this year

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: kdub] #6168444 02/03/16 11:33 PM
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Originally Posted By: kdub
Duck ninjas don't post pics.



They do when they can't stand all the posts aim


[Linked Image]
Take a kid Huntin
Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: Greekangler] #6168825 02/04/16 03:19 AM
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Originally Posted By: Greekangler
Originally Posted By: kdub
Duck ninjas don't post pics.

They do when they can't stand all the posts aim

Private land hunting pics don't count! stir


Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6168918 02/04/16 04:15 AM
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I prefer to look at it as the most challenging duck season ever vs the worst.

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: Guy] #6168983 02/04/16 05:21 AM
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Originally Posted By: Guy
I prefer to look at it as the most challenging duck season ever vs the worst.


Positivity. I like it.

Since you went all public this year, how did you do? Did you wish you had a lease at any point during this season? Did you scout well and did it pay off?

I did not have a successful season, based on bird count, but I had a safe one, I had fun, I learned a lot and I made a new hunting buddy.


Originally Posted by bill oxner
I just turned it on . I was looking bird dogs in the butt this morning.


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Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6169005 02/04/16 05:56 AM
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Lower laguna was very good this year for reds and pintails and teal was good as well. If you ever wanna go lemme know. Im not a duck guide just public duck hunter.


“Two things that define an individual what you do when you have everything, and what you do when you have nothing."


Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: Duck_Hunter] #6169235 02/04/16 02:46 PM
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Originally Posted By: Duck_Hunter
Originally Posted By: Guy
I prefer to look at it as the most challenging duck season ever vs the worst.


Positivity. I like it.

Since you went all public this year, how did you do? Did you wish you had a lease at any point during this season? Did you scout well and did it pay off?

I did not have a successful season, based on bird count, but I had a safe one, I had fun, I learned a lot and I made a new hunting buddy.

I posted on the season totals thread a recap of my season. And no, I never once wish I had my lease back, if I had it for free, I would have never hunted it. The last couple years the only reason I did hunt it is because I was paying for it, and felt like I had to get my money's worth.

And yes I scouted hard, I can only think of one hunt out of 25 hunts where I did no scout the afternoon before. If you don't scout, you are rolling the dice, nothing wrong with this, just don't be surprised if you don't see any birds. If I scout a lake and don't find any birds, I will not hunt that lake in the morning, I would rather hunt another lake the next morning, it can't be worse than the one scouted with no birds.

The challenge this year was all the water, birds were scattered, saw many spots holding 30 birds vs prior years with less water, birds are concentrated. You hunt a spot holding 30 birds, you need to be on your game to shoot a limit the next day, and even when you find birds, it's never a sure thing. Lakes flooded over pool was a challenge, the birds were hidden in the trees, where it was shallow. This required busting through the buck brush to get to them. And sometimes they liked to land outside the buck brush and swim in, other times they wanted to land into the trees, ideally you could watch them scouting and see how they land.

And to your last comment, having fun and learning is what its all about. For me scouting the afternoon before a hunt triples the fun and learning.

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: Guy] #6169253 02/04/16 02:54 PM
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This was the first year I have ever hunted public land and we had some excellent hunts. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of hunting. Just need to get a 9" prop to put on the gator tail and then I have access to 30,000+ acres probably of public marsh to hunt. I swear there is more people hunting on or nearby all of the private family owned stuff I hunt than on the public stuff we hunted.


Originally Posted by garrett
I'm with GK because I like salty old dudes.
Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6169356 02/04/16 03:52 PM
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Hunting public is dang near the only way I've ever hunted waterfowl and more often than not I'm solo (not really solo 'cause I've always got my pup).
Didn't do too bad this year...you get out of it what you put in usually.





"Duck hunter's minds are like concrete. All mixed up and permanently set."
Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6169379 02/04/16 04:10 PM
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I went back and looked over the last 5 years or so. I ended up with more ducks than I did in either of of the last 2 seasons, but I also hunted 4-5 more times. This year was 5 early teal and 24 big duck hunts, all public but one or two. Averaged exactly 5 ducks per hunt during big duck season and I didn't get rollin' til mid November after I got my deer in the freezer. It usually isn't very good until then anyway. Mainly GWT and mallards this year, different from the grey duck fest over the last couple of years. Not saying that's a bad thing, I love the way gaddies dive on in.

Can't wait to see what next year throws at us. Every season is more unique than I think it should be.


Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6169480 02/04/16 05:37 PM
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I like the attitude of the most challenging season.

I guess my issues were that I had wader issues right off the bat this year. So I was dealing with leaking waders the first couple hunts which were both skunks. Then I was borrowing waders which were still leaking. Then I hunted a public pond by myself and after I got completely setup some guys less than 100 yards away start harassing me. (why wouldn't they let me know they were over there before I got totally setup?) I ended up hunting with them which was fine but I still got skunked. Only one duck between 3 of us.

I didn't shoot my first ducks of the year until the second split. 2 hunts in a row I got 3 ducks. Then I got skunked a couple more times.

Then the last week of the season I got the woody.

Most of the reason I say it was a bad season also stems from just all the issues I had. My brother who used to hunt with me every weekend now has a girlfriend and only hunted twice all season. My other hunting buddy just bought a house and was working a second job on Saturdays so he only hunted once all season. Just kind of ho hum season with the lack of comradery and all the issues with waders, not to mention there was another hunt that was totally ruined by a bunch of yahoos blowing on their calls every two seconds even when there were no ducks around. I mean constant hail calling. They were calling at birds that were 200-300 yards on the other side of my spread that was 200+ yards from them. completely ruined my hunt. I don't think the ducks even noticed me due to the calling. Maybe they know more than me. They did shoot like 4 while I was there. I left at about 8:30 cause I was so mad...

I'm sorry that I'm whining. Just gotta find some better more secluded places to hunt.

How do you guys have so much time to go scout the evening before? I can barely get away just for the 11 hunts I went on. Do y'all even work? Lol.


If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready!
-Anonymous
Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6169489 02/04/16 05:51 PM
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Originally Posted By: yakinthebox
I guess my issues were that I had wader issues right off the bat this year.


Same here. I finally got a leak in one boot of my 12+ year old Cabela's waders. I ordered a new pair but they were backordered. As if Cabela's has a sick sense of humor, they were delivered this week.

Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6169535 02/04/16 06:33 PM
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My leaking waders were on a pair that was only one season old. Luckily they saw it the same as me and said it was a defect and warrantied them. It took a few weeks to get everything lined out though.


If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready!
-Anonymous
Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6169561 02/04/16 06:49 PM
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Man, I don't mean to sound rude or boastful, but if you were hunting the coast and not killing birds, you need to switch areas. Since I moved down here July '14, I've had some of the best hunting of anywhere I've lived in the country, and I lived in North Dakota for 2 years. On top of that, last year was all foot power and this year I only had a canoe. Scouting doesn't necessarily have to be a huge event that takes your entire day. If you go out in the am and aren't killing birds within the first hour, pick up and go scouting instead of settling for another skunk. Find a bay or area that looks good on Google maps and just get close to it. Sit and watch from a distance for 45 mins. If there's ducks around, you'll see em flying. Then get close enough to see where they wanna be. Leaking waders are no excuse. Mine had a hole since the beginning of the season but since I'm more or less broke right now, I just had to deal with it and put a lot of miles walking with wet feet. I'm still alive. If you don't have money for a boat or a vehicle to tow one, get a canoe or kayak for $250 & strap it to the top of your car. Sure it sucks, but it'll open worlds of new water to ya. Yeah, it was tougher with all the water this year. I had 5 buds come down from MN to hunt on Jan 1. On Jan 2 we had some epic hunting in that rain storm that dumped several inches on our area & the birds disappeared. We found a new area. Took us a few days but it was worth it. Anyways, sorry for the sermon, but my point is that if you really wanted to kill birds, they were out there in huge numbers


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Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6169597 02/04/16 07:16 PM
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yakinthebox Offline OP
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What I'm saying is I don't have time to scout. I'm assuming you are a bachelor and don't have kids... If not, I apologize...


If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready!
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Re: Worst duck season ever... [Re: yakinthebox] #6169624 02/04/16 07:38 PM
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Also, I'm not saying I didn't hunt because of the waders, it just sucked...


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