It was a slow year for me but I managed a couple of good ones.

A storm-ish wigeon and a brute of a teal.

Post up your best, worst, unusual, most memorable or an headed to the taxi.

It was a super slow year for me

Here are couple of keepers this year for me.

Great birds guys, I didn't shoot anything worth taking pics of, lol.

Not going on the wall, but shot my first Barrow's Goldeneye... hen of course. She was really lost being in West TX. First time I've had a "WTH is this" moment in many years.

Although this season was slow I had a couple memorable hunts.

This was a solo hunt on a medium sized private pond. It's big enough you need them to decoy but small enough that if they are coming in they seem to be committed off the bat. I shot a limit of gaddies and as usual Kimber handled the rest.

Some of my favorite times duck hunting are when it's just me and Kimber. .



This next hunt pictured below was probably one of my favorite all time hunts. A friend of mine owns some ranch land in an area known for good waterfowl hunting. The last few years I've been asking him periodically if he had any crane or geese in any of his fields but it's mostly pasture surrounded by wheat so they typically don't hit his property. Then one morning he called me up and said "hey the pasture behind my house flooded and the ducks are making all kinds of racket back there. Do you want to shoot them" I said "does a one legged duck swim in a circle?" Lol. Well it took me a few days to go scout it out. I had never been there before. I went up the day before I planned to hunt to check it out. Well it was thick pasture and I couldn't see crap without going in and busting it up. I could see one hole of water through the cover and saw some mallards through the binoculars. I decided to give it a shot. Next morning me and a buddy got there early not really sure where we were going to set up. I found what I thought was the open water I could see. It was basically a big swampy mess with small pockets of open water. We got settled in and made ourselves some little brush blinds to hide in, covered up Kimber's blind as well. Threw out a few dekes. Then we waited. It was about 20-30 minutes after shooting time and I started to get a bit discouraged. We hadn't heard or seen anything. Then two Mallards dropped right in and we smoked them, then 2 more, then three, then 4. Every duck we saw decoyed perfectly. Every duck we saw was a mallard. Then to top it off we had a very lively cripple that could do everything but fly. The chase was on. It was like watching those grey hounds trying to catch a rabbit but in a 50 ft circle.

I find that when you don't know what to expect it makes hunts like this even more special.

Great shots of the birds guys and Kimber. She’s pretty.

Awesome pics! That pintail looks like a good one. I killed a juvenile goldeneye drake two years ago..rare bird around here for sure. He was the first one I’ve ever seen and unfortunately wasn’t a very attractive bird.

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I've actually seen several in West Texas. My group shot a hen one day as well

When I lived in Corpus we would shoot common goldeneye once in a while, normally on open water with a scull boat when we were going after bluebills. Never did see any Barrows, only commons. They love hanging on open water oyster beds in about 10 feet of water. I ended up getting this big one mounted.

One Texas hunt, one Massachusetts hunt, you will have to guess which one...

Shot a lot of ducks this year and went duck hunting on the coast for the first time which was a cool and completely different experience to what I'm used to. Coolest duck though had to be this Mallard/Pintail Hybrid shot on a wheat field just south of the Red River. Sent him to Avian Arts and can't wait to see what he'll look like on the wall!

That’s awesome!

First one I’ve seen in person. Solo hunt and only bird I saw all day.

We had the lowest volume of ducks we’ve seen in 20+ years for our area. This year we changed our approach. We scoutedponds and instead of looking for numbers we looked for unique birds. Basically we trophy hunted. We’d set up or jump shoot for specific birds. Honestly, it was a change of pace and the freezer is full and I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Few nice widgeon.










Buddy flew in from SD. Saw this bird on a 20 acre lake. First set, first Bird. One of the coolest wigeon I’ve ever seen.

Watched this bird for almost a month on the farm. Figured out it was with a group of about 10 Ross geese within 2000 geese. They were always the 2nd or 3rd flock to leave the roost and hit outfield. Set up and Bazinga. Youngest got him.



Great wigeon same hunt.




To our surprise we drew NC swan tags the first try.





Noisy cricket style.

Usually 4-5 of us hunt together but one morning it was just me and the youngest. Filmed him shooting snows over the decks and he shot a double and got a band that there was no flipping for.





We headed out west to hunt with a buddy. Didn’t get big numbers but I watched my son shoot the only teal tri-fecta in TX in one hunt that I’ve seen.




got in on it With my 28 guage too.


Been looking for a killer gwt for years. This one will hit the wall soon.

shot this stud of a mallard

Both boys are learning to do birds and we are getting after it.









Before



After