New Site

Anyone who comes to this site...check out www.huntersparadise.netforums.us

its an excellent place to shoot the breeze with other hunters!

Seasons over...time to move on!

I have really been slacking with posting on here. My camera died and I just didn't want to type stuff up without photos. I don't really remember all the details, so I'll just post up a few photos with some commentary if I feel like it!!


I think people from the DU site have seen these before. These are just a few of the ones I took....enjoy!!

Recap of 2007-2008 season

This has been a banner year for ducks hear in SE PA. We have had good hunts just about every trip out averaging about 4 ducks per hunt. The goose hunting was good, but we decided to stay on the ducks since the really never wanted to leave. Usually we are shooting geese and mergansers after Christmas. This year was differant. Even the types of ducks we shot were new for the area.

We were able to harvest mallards, woodies, blackducks, GW Teal, Pintails, Redheads, Ringnecks, Hooded Mergies & Common Mergies. I ended the year with 64 ducks. Not to bad considering that amount of time I hunted and the area I hunt. My goose count was really low this year. Only 14. I'll make up for that in Sept.

We also started training a new pup this year. My brother in law Tim got a great little female choc. lab. She made her first retreive at 6 mons. I'm very happy to have her in our little club now. My lab Koda on the other hand is having a little trouble learning to share the work. The last few years its been all about him. He is getting better though. We will have a chance to work them together during the off season, which in turn should make for a real good season next year.

Above are a few pics of our season.

Tom

Scratching out a few....

The weather conditons and flight patterns, have not been too friendly to those of us in the foothills of NC.... but we are managing a few birds here and there.

Hunt 1: Two weeks ago (12-29-07), I had a traveling decoy ("Dirty Bird"), made by Doom Decoy Company http://www.doomdecoy.com/DoomDecoy/DOOM-Home.html. We managed a drake Mallard and a Ruddy Duck (sorry no pic of the Ruddy) while I had "dirty bird". The decoys had been to Canada, NY, the Dakotas, Utah, and went to Oklahoma when I finished up. Below is a pic of "Dirty Bird", 2 black duck decoys of mine (also from Doom Decoy), the drake mallard I shot. The black Lab (Max) belongs to a good friend of mine (Anthony). Max made a 100+ yard retrieve on the drake mallard I shot. it was a nice show from the blind, and Anthony was quite proud.
Photo: Courtesy of Anthony

Below is another pick of the drake Mallard, and the hand made call I aquired this past summer from Waccamaw Calls. It's a hand made Curley Maple mallard call, and produces one of the best feed chuckles I have ever heard (sounds like a mallard feeding on an acorn - nice and ducky). You can check out Waccamaw calls @ http://www.waccamawcalls.com/

Photo: Courtesy of Anthony

Hunt 2: This past weekend (1-5-08), I had the privilidge of hunting on a private pond in Central NC. Had a great time, and scratched out a couple ducks. Met a couple new guys, made new friends, and had a blast. The pond was frozen over, so I got to break some ice..... set some decoys.... and have some fun! :)

Photo: Courtesy of "Mac"

You can check out "Mac" and his adventures: http://www.skinnymoose.com/moosedroppings/

Thanks to Rick for the use of his layout blind, and access to hunt.... and thanks to Billy, Rick and "Mac" for the warm welcome I recieved - and for all the good company this past weekend. ;)

While hunting, I manged a drake and hen Shoveler.... and the drake had some real nice colors (almost full plumage). In the pic below, is Billy and his Chocolate Lab Hershey. Hershey made a nice "blind" retrieve on the drake "spoonie" I shot.
You can check out Billy and Hershey @ http://www.averycreek.net/ , or at some of the field trials around NC/SC this year.

Photo: Courtesy of "Mac"

It turned out to be a real nice day (nippy, but nice), and we saw some ducks and Canadas. The birds weren't cooperating the best in the world, but it was a real good time hanging with the "crowd". I thouroughly enjoyed hunting "new water", meeting new people, and making new friends.



Happy hunting,
Troy Smart
AC Caldwell County DU
Lenoir, NC

Final Day of the First Season

Yesterday was the last day of our first season. We had hunted the past three days with some success, 2 of us killing 2 on sunday, 2 of us killing 6 on monday, and 4 of us killing 13 on tuesday. I hunted out of my layout boat yesterday after watching large numbers of Buffleheads, Goldeneye, and Canvasbacks using the river, while the other 3 guys went back in the back to some backwater. I dropped three Buffleheads, but the Cans just weren't being very cooperative. Everytime i got up to move my boat around or pee or something, thats when they would fly in.

We are supposed to have another small cold snap over our break, so once the season comes in again on the 26th i'll probably be laying out again trying to kill the divers again, unless I can find some Canadas somewhere.

Just a couple divers....

We had been observing some divers on a local lake - in very huntable numbers. As it got closer to our last segment opener, we decided to hunt two parties - with hopes of catching the birds trading from seperate resting areas we had found. As luck would have it, the birds moved out before the opener. We only saw 4 birds, and killed 3 of them. I took a Bufflehead drake and hen with one shot, while my buddy "pillowcased" a mergie with a spectacular shot. It was a fun day in the blind, but slow over all. We also seen a drake Scaup, but his mind was on other things besides decoys.

Weather fronts/patterns looks to be shaping up nicely, so hopefully some birds will come in. Most reports across the State have been sub-par, with a few exceptions. Looking forward to a busy month and 1/2, til the season closes.

Happy hunting,
Troy Smart
AC Caldwell County DU

Finally Some Ducks!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things are starting to look up in SE PA! Myself, brother in law Tim, and good friend Rich went to are favorite spot hoping that a cold front that was coming would bring us a good day. We got what we hoped for. Cold weather, perfect wind, and hundreds of ducks mostly mallards were in the air from daybreak to shortly after lunch. The ducks didn't decoy well. I only brought 6 mallards, 6 blackducks, 6 ringnecks, and a pair of buffleheads. I went light because of what I saw the days before while scouting. I tried to match what I was seeing.....small groups! I was not expecting flights of ducks with nearly 30 birds each. We made the best of it slowly picking off pairs and single as the passed by. My decoy spread should have been 4 times larger, but who would have known that so many ducks would have showed up over a days time.

The GHG dekes did their job, and brought in 11 mallards & 1 pintail. It should have been more, but you know how it is................

I got to take a nice young drake pintail! This duck is a rare visitor hear this time of year. We always seem to see them in the spring on their way home. Not during hunting season. That duck was worth the day to me.



We also saw....Blackducks, GW Teal, Wigeon, Ringnecks, Buffleheads, and Common Mergansers.
Just a pefect day!

Tom

1st hunt of the season

Well, after a long summer, and an even longer last week (it felt that way!!) its finally that time of year again. Saturday marked the opening day of duck season for us in AR, but when I started hearing about all the people who were already camping out at the local WMAs the night before, we discussed it and then decided it would be best to get some sleep and start our season a little later.

This morning we decided to head up to Big Lake WMA in NE Arkansas. We got into the blind about 10-15 minutes after shooting time, missing some early wood duck action. It wasn't that big of a deal. As we got ready to roll, clouds started to roll in with a southern wind, which is not a very good equation for success. After watching hundreds and hundreds of birds flying in from there feeding grounds up in Missouri back to the Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge. These guys had no intentions of coming down and hanging out with us. The only birds that we could get to commit to the spread were birds that were coming from the refuge out into the management area.

After about an hour or so, we had to young hen gadwalls work the hole. They circled two or three times, dropped their feet and came over the decoys. We dropped both of those birds, Canvas made a perfect retrieve on both of them, making her 2 for 2 for the season. Good start! As Canvas got back on her stand and I put the birds on the stringer, a drake gadwall dropped in and hit the water. Jason shot him, and Canvas jumped up to 3 for 3. I stood there in the water with Can for another hour - hour and a half. She dried herself off, and looked at me like "I swear, Alex, if you shoot one more bird and I get in that water, I will rip your throat out and you will be at the bottom of this hole". SOoooo, I picked her up and carried her to the blind with the other 3 guys (My dad, my cousin Chase, and fellow Diver Destroyer member Jason Turner).

As we were there, we had quite a few groups look at us, and work and work, but just never could commit. It completely baffled me...I had no idea how to fix the problem. They weren't seeing us, there was motion on the water, and there was nothing else to flare them. They are just really hole shy for us.

At about 11:00, we had decided to call it off. As we did, we looked up to see a drake and a hen mallard come cruising over the trees, flip upside down (seriously) and fall in. We dropped them. Another gadwall came in and we took him too.

It was a really good day to get back at it. A little warm, 70 some odd degrees, but its duck hunting none the less. Thursday we have a monstrous front pushing through (well, tomorrow night)....but I'm going to be stuck at Macks Prarie Wings working at the Wings Over the Prarie Festival for Avery. If any of you guys are around, stop in and say hey!

For some reason, the photo uploader is being retarded. I can't upload them, so here is the links to the photos.

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/greenheadslayer/?action=view&current=PB200071.jpg
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/greenheadslayer/?action=view&current=PB200073.jpg
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/greenheadslayer/?action=view&current=PB200074.jpg
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/greenheadslayer/?action=view&current=PB200076.jpg

November 2, 2007 - Another Blue Bird Day in an Eastern Nebraska Marsh

Today started off a little rough. It was one of those days that you debate getting out of bed for. According to the weather forecast the night before, there was suppose to be a little to no breeze out of the south meaning my decoys wouldn't be moving much if at all in the water and there probably wouldn't be a big push of ducks coming through. The good news was that they wind was suppose to swing around and come out of the north and just keep picking up all morning. After laying in bed and having the debate in my head, I finally decided on giving it a shot and seeing what happened. I hit a marsh fairly close to home that I hunted during the early teal season and noticed a lot of activity in certain areas that didn't look like they would get hunted much. I decided to give one of these spots a shot. I left Remington home since I knew that I would have to be standing in waist deep water the whole time with nowhere to keep him up and out of it. Needless to say he was not a very happy camper when I was getting ready to leave!

After walking in and flushing up a couple of ducks from the spot I wanted to set up in, I got everything laid out. The spread was set up in a rough "U" with the opening facing north, but with a lot of looseness to enable the ducks to pick a direction since there wasn't any wind. I hid in a small stand of reeds and cattails right next to the spread, just about 5 yards from the landing zone. Some guys who were hunting about 400 yards or so to the northwest of me started off the shooting by dropping a flock of what looked like teal (and happened to be after I talked to them later on). Then I got in on the action nabbing my first drake mallard of the season from a flock that worked into my dekes. We were put on hold for awhile while a few flocks danced around the marsh, but wouldn't commit to the particular spots that we were in.

I had another flock of mallards swing through, but they wouldn't commit all the way, so I took a shot as they swung back through the spread and missed. After standing there for another hour or so and watching the number of flocks drop off little by little, I was able to get another group of 5 mallards to drop into the decoys. From this one I ended up taking a hen mallard after missing the first shot on a drake. Once this little barrage was over, so was the day. There wasn't a flock to be seen, so I decided to pack it in, being extremely happy to have bagged my first drake mallard of the year. There is no real significance of a drake mallard, I just happen to be one of the guys who really enjoys a good mallard shoot as opposed to other types of ducks, so I was glad to see the mallards finally starting to make their way into Nebraska after seeing mostly teal, gadwalls, and widgeon so far this season. It is sure shaping up to be a good one.

C. Dill

October 19, 2007 - Blue Bird Day in the Rainwater Basin

The day started off just like all of my duck hunting excursions. Got out of bed early and loaded up all of the gear and the dog and headed out to the marsh. I did not scout this marsh as I had already hunted it once this season, just on a different section, and I have never been there when it didn't have birds, so I figured that I would at least see a few flocks around. Well, this was a costly mistake because the last time I hunted it, was about 6 inches rain ago. There was plenty of cover around the edges of the marsh when I first hunted it, however after 6+ inches of rain within the two days prior to my next hunt, the water level had risen about 3 or 4 feet considering nearly every piece of land that is close drains into this marsh. This left me trying to find cover for myself and the dog in grass that was about 3 inches tall. For those of you who duck hunt, you know this is not the ideal place to be trying to hide from the wary eyes of ducks.

After looking around the whole marsh, I saw it wasn't any better anywhere else, so I decided I would just set up and lay still and see what happened. I figured out that this wasn't too bad of a plan when shooting time rolled around and I had teal screaming by me within a few feet. Within the first few minutes, I had one blue-wing teal down and had Remington turned loose on the retrieve. Once he got back, we didn't have anything close for the next 2 hours. As this is a fairly large marsh, the ducks were loving the now completely flooded weeds about 200 yards out in the middle of the marsh. I determined that my luck wasn't going to get much better, so I started picking up decoys.

It never ceases to fail that once you start picking up the decoys, the birds just have to check out what is going on. I started to get a few flocks closer and closer and they ducks started responding to the calls after all morning of ignoring them. I had 3 flocks of pintails lined up one after another come close and decided that they didn't want to commit, but then a small flock of teal swooped in under them right at me. I dropped my second blue-wing teal of the day and turned Rem loose. After a few hours of watching ducks fly all over the place and not get close to us, he was more than happy to take after a downed teal.

I decided that since they were starting to work a little better, we would give it a little longer and see what happened. Well, not much did. I whiffed on a green-wing teal drake and hen that gave me a perfect shot for a double, except I forgot you have to actually shoot the ducks, not the air! After that, I started picking up the rest of the decoys and had a pair of drake gadwalls swing in just outside of the decoys and I was able to drop one. It wasn't a clean kill and he started to swim towards the weeds and cover out in the middle, but Rem was able to swim him down before he made it, so we added him to the bag for the day and finished picking up. All in all, it wasn't a bad day in less than ideal conditions. Besides, one can't complain too much because a day in the marsh is always better than a day at work.

Pictures soon to come!!

C. Dill

Saskatchewan Smackdown

Now that everything has calmed down from my Canada trip I have finally got a chance to sit down and give everyone the results. Being that this was my first trip to hunt north of the border I was pretty much at the mercy of my buddies direction as to how the trip would be planned out and how the hunts would take place. And he was dead on. I was skeptical that we were headed 2600 miles away from home to a part of the world we were unfimilar with to hunt birds for a week with out a guide nor land to hunt them on. He assured me this would not be a problem.

After my flight from Baltimore to Kansas to meet up with the rest of the crew on Sept 27 we slept at a buddies house and headed out to Saskatchewan the next day. 24 hours of living in a Suburban on a road trip is not as fun as it may sound. We were all extatic to be making the journey and for the first 16 hours it was a piece of cake! We hit the Canadian border around 8am on Saturday morning. Our thoughts at this point was "alright, we are in Canada, almost there". Well 8 hours later we finally arrived at our location.

You can not hunt on Sundays in Canada, which worked out well for us. After a good nights sleep that didnt consist of a backseat bed and a seatbelt shoved in your back, we headed out at 7 am to scout the area for waterfowl. After finding tons of spots to hunt and speaking with 20+ farmers we recieved permission to hunt from all of them. We joked that we practically owned the entire area.

The rest of the week came and we hunted for 5 days straight and ended with a total of 240 birds. We harvested snows, blues, specks, canadas, mallards, gadwalls, teal (bw and gw), redheads, canvasbacks, shovlers, pintails, and widgeon. It absolutley was the best waterfowl hunting I have ever experienced.

The temps were very cool, and a few mornings even freezing (keep in mind this was the first week of October). There was plenty of water in the area and the birds were plentiful. The amount of Snow Geese in the area was overwhelming. And the duck hunting was world class. I highly recomend a trip to the area and if you go, trust me, you dont need a guide. The people are the nicest I have met and none of the locals hunt waterfowl. Everyone will allow you to hunt.

Cory Dukehart

Early Duck in SE PA

Well early duck season has come and gone hear in PA and man was it slow! Pea soup fog every morning and warm weather to boot. I hunted a total of 5 days out of a 7 day season and only bagged 6 ducks. My bag was made up of Mallards, Woodies & GW Teal.

The last day of the season was the most productive with my group harvesting 9 ducks. The weather was a touch better, and some cooler temps helped with the flight. We did have a single pintail circle a few times but didn't commit. Thats a rare bird in these parts this time of year. I have only shot one pintail in my life time. Their just not here when the season is open. So that by far was the highlight on my season.

My dog Koda was able to get some work, and his new partner Roxy made her first retrieve at 4 months old! She's my brother in law's new dog. We're seeing tons of new geese showing up. I can't wait until Nov. 15th.

Tom

10/3/07 Opening day of NC Duck Season!

Here in NC, we have a short 4 day season in Oct., which we call Wood Duck season in the Western section - because it basically consist of targeting wood ducks. I had decided to hunt on Lower Creek at a friends tree farm (25-30 arces), which boarders the creek for a couple hundred yards. This creek had been productive in the past, but with the water levels at an all time low..... I was concerned how the morning would go.

About 6:15 am, I arrived and crept down to the creek. I put out 4 Greenhead Gear wood duck decoys (2 hens, 2 drakes), and then found a spot on the bank with some cover to sit back and wait. Unfortunately I forgot my ThermaCell, and the skeeters were in full force!

As day broke..... every thing was quite (except for the skeeters), and I figured it would be a morning of empty skies. But at 7:15 am, 3 drake wood ducks coming screaming up stream, and right over the decoys!!! What a sight it was to see them coming out of "no where", and DECOY right into the spread. As they cup up to land just past the decoys, I was able to collect my thoughts and quickly take my limit (it was fast and furious).

I waded into the creek and picked up the first bird, then on up stream to get the second bird off the bank. Great opening day morning hunt, and I was still at work by 7:45 am. I was happy to have a limit of drake wood ducks, and it felt good to be back out chasing birds.

Troy Smart
AC Caldwell County DU
Lenoir, NC

Early Teal Season - Curtiss Dill

Our early teal season opener here in Nebraska had high expectations after scouting the marsh we were going to be hunting. After looking everything over, we determined that there were probably close to 1,000 ducks sitting on the water, with more than half of them being blue-wing and green-wing teal. We decided upon a course of action for the next morning and went home to get the gear ready and get some sleep. Come 3:30 the next morning, we were up and headed out to the spot we picked the day before. We got in at about 5:00 am and got our decoy spread that consisted of a half dozen teal decoys and a few drake and hen mallards. Now we were in for the wait.

Nothing beats the anticipation of listening to ducks quacking all around you and the whistle of wings over your heads in the darkness of morning waiting for shooting time to roll around. We could hear ducks everywhere and decided that we were probably in for a good morning. After checking and rechecking our guns and hiding spots, and making sure Remington (the dog) was situated, we hurried up and waited some more. Finally, the sun started coming up and we could see flock after flock of ducks circling the marsh and more headed in behind them.

Then it happened. The opening shots of the morning. We kind of have an unspoken rule, that we are never the first ones to shoot in the morning unless there is no one else in the marsh. We like to just sit and watch what the birds do and how they react, then we will start the hunt. We only had to wait for about 5 minutes before we had a flock of about 10 teal swing by our spread. After watching them circle for a minute and determine that they were definitely not going to drop into the dekes, my father-in-law started firing. Since they were closer to his side of the spread, I didn't fire, but instead just watched everything unfold. Out of that flock, he dropped one that came crashing down into the weeds. Remington immediately saw the duck fall and noticed the splash as it hit the water. He was chomping at the bit to go after it, so I released him for the retrieve. We were then able to witness one of the most beautiful sights that occurs when duck hunting, a determined retriever going after a downed bird. Rem went crashing through the weeds and water until he got to the spot of touchdown. He broke down and started searching the area, and not long after that, came up with his first duck of the season, not to mention his first duck ever! The look in his eyes was priceless as he brought back his trophy.

The rest of the morning was perfect. We didn't get a limit (2 short), but we had a great time. Ducks were everywhere, the dog was working hard, and we were missing a lot of shots and managed to drop a few, but it was all in fun. After it was all said an done, we had 5 blue-wing teal and 1 green-wing teal in the bag and both agreed that this was a great start to another duck season.

Early Season!

In my only outing thus far in the field for early season honkers was not the success I was expecting it to be. We were hunting a field that had plenty of birds working it for a few weeks.

The temps were relatively low for September 1st and that may have been what changed the birds movements. We were able to harvest a couple of honkers from the first group that came in and that was all we had to work with for the rest of the day.

The following weekend I put away the goose decoys and took out the over and under shotgun for some fast gunning for the MD dove season. Half way through the dove shoot I realized that I should have done some skeet shooting to prepare! A box and half of shells later and a limit of doves were on the ground.

In a week I will be headed to Saskatchewan Canada, to put the smack down on ducks and geese. I hope to have some good stories and pictures to share when I return.

Cory Dukehart

Residential Goose, Opening day success.....

Sept 1, 2007...

Just as little kids the night before Christmas, we could hardly go to sleep - the off season had been way too long. When the alarm went off at 3:00 am, I could hardly hold my eyes open. My 18 yr old son (David), decided he was going to pull my boat for us. So while I was still sleepy eyed and in my under-roo's, David was hooking up. My 14 yr old son (Dillon) also beat me getting ready, and the 3 of us finally got out the door around 3:45 am. My oldest son Daren (20) had to work... so he would miss the hunt.

After swinging by McDonalds for some "to go" eats - we arrived at the reservoir about 45 min's later, at the boat launch closest to the dam (about 100 yards away). There were 3 boats already out, but none looked to be duck/goose hunters - so I was thinking we were "good to go", and should have our first pick of places to set up. We quietly idled straight across the lake to the other side, and then headed shortly upstream (looking for game land signs). Since I hadn't had time to scout, I elected to hunt as close as possible to the dam, where I had seen Canadas hang out over the past several years.
The lake was down 5 foot or so, and there was a lot of exposed shoreline. I found a protruding point on the game lands with some fell trees for concealment, so this was the spot I decided on (The wooded point, that protudes furthest into the lake on the right side of the pic). The wind was blowing directly up stream, so I had David to start building the blind on the upstream side of the tree laps while Dillon and I set decoys. We put out all 16 Canada floaters I had, about 15 yards off the shoreline. I added my blue heron confidence decoy on the upwind side, and a pair of mallards on the down wind side (for realism). I hid the boat on the downwind side of the tree laps, and used burlap and brush to conceal the boat. We then added some vegetation to the blind, then hunkered in for the hunt.

Legal shooting time rolled around at 6:28 am, and we loaded up - and began the wait. As I glassed down toward the dam, I saw no geese... hummmm, I figured they would be coming down the lake to loaf during the morning hours (so it was looking real good). After about a 30 min. wait, we began to get sleepy.... so I kind of laid back. Just then, Dillon said "here comes one dad". As I look up, I see it.... a blue heron, coming to our decoys. I reassured him it was not a Canada, so he continued to watch diligently.

Doves were beginning to fly by, and I was taking in the view... then Dillon again said "here they come dad" (7:15 am). I look across the lake, and sure enough... there is a flock of about 75 geese (flying 2 ft off the water), but on the far side (probably 200 yards away). I start calling, but they go on to the dam and sit down. Right behind them, was another flock of about 75. I continue to call to get their attention, and then the two tail birds fell out of formation and come right at us. As my boys get ready, I see a final third flock of about 50 birds - following the two birds that fell off the second flock. I hold the boys off of the first two birds, and we wait on the third flock. Sure enough... as the flock centered right over the decoys (15 yards out, 8-10 ft high)... Dillon can't contain himself and yells, "Take 'em"!

Dillon fired first, and dropped a bird.... then David and I took 3 shots each. As the birds drop and the smoke clears.... Dillon's gun had jammed after his first shot. I look at my watch, and it's 7:20 am.... 7 shots, 5 birds... not too bad at all.

After I collected the birds by boat, I noticed the other birds that landed near the dam had left the country (over the dam, and on down stream)... The morning would probably turn out to be real slow after the ruckus we had just made, and boats were coming on the lake in a stream now (labor Day boat traffic), so I decided that we were through for the morning (and I had a PM dove hunt lined up). We picked up decoys, spent shells, and tore the blind down - and headed on in. By 8:30 am, we were on the way home.

Dillon and David had afternoon plans, so I headed out for the Dove opener by myself (opened at 12:00 noon). I settle in to a "pass shooting field", and it is a little slow. I only had 6 birds come in range, and managed to take 3 of the 6. It was not too spectacular, but all in all - a nice day to be back "at it".

With the kids school and soccer being back in full swing this month, I'm not sure if I will be able to get back out again - but rest assured, I plan to try my best. There is 3 other places I want to try, as well as to revisit the reservoir we went to on opening day.

Happy Hunting,
Troy Smart
AC - Caldwell County DU

Pics to come, as soon as they get developed. Stay tuned...

Not Hunting Related, but Necessary

Hey Everyone!

This post isn't hunting related, however its something that is more important than hunting. Today is September 11th, and we should all just take a moment to sit back and reflect on that day and think and pray about the people who lost someone in that attack. The attack had a huge impact on everyone across the nation, and is something we need to remember.

Thanks everyone!

The Diver Destroyers Team

Slow Start to Resident Goose

It was a real slow start for my crew in SE PA. Everything looked perfect leading up to opening day, but the geese had other plans. Sat. morning was warm with no wind. The geese didn't move much at all. The ones who did knew right where they were going. We finally go a single to decoy in and our youngest shooter (Conner Moran) was able to make quick work ot him! That was the only bird for the opening day. We went back Monday morning with hopes of making up for lost time, but this time we left empty handed. Not a total lost though. I got to spent time with a couple of good friends drinking coffee thinking of what might have been.

I spent the next two days trying to figure out why the geese stayed away. I checked the pond on my lunch hour the follow two days and found out that the geese were back, but I wasn't sure at what time. I desided to hunt Thursday morning. It was just me and my dog (Koda) this time. It started just like the other days. At 7:30 Am a single bird answered the call of my canada hammer and he went down. Finally I broke the ice! At 9:30 Am two nice flocks of about 15 each started my way. It didn' take much calling to convince these birds this was the place to be.

I let the first flock land and waited for the second. Just as the second bunch started to touch down I unload my benelli supernova on them. 3 fell hard. I had enough time to reload before the first flock could figure out what was happening. The benelli found its mark again and 3 more splashed down.

After Koda made the retreives we packed up and headed home one bird short of the 8 bird limit. The moral of the story.............Don't give up! Keep scouting. It will pay off in the end!

Tom Hindman Jr

Diver Destroyers

Teal Season

Well...its about that time of year again. First up we have Canada geese at the start of September, followed by Teal season. I don't know how many AR readers are out there, but thats what I am and thats how I'm going to be describing things, from an AR standpoint!

Here are a few tips to think about while looking for blue and greenwing teal. First of all, don't over do it.

Honestly, Teal aren't very bright. Especially this early in the year. You can do just about anything and get teal in the decoys. So, don't strain yourself, don't overwork to make your spread look good. Throw out about a dozen decoys, and maybe some full body decoys on land, and your good to go.

When you are packing your decoys, to get the ultimate realism, I recommend packing just hen decoys. This isn't completley necessary, but it does bring in a bit more realism. When we go out, we take about one dozen mallard hen decoys, throw in a couple of diver hens just for the smaller size, and about a half dozen full body mallard hens.

Remember...its going to be hot. Don't be afraid to where shorts, or a short sleeved shirt.

If you just remember this, and be where the birds want to be, you can be successful

NC Residential Goose Season

The long off season has been tough, but soon enough (Sept. 1) the early residential goose season will be upon us here in NC. Alex, Tom and Corey mentioned a ton of good tips in their post, so don't miss those!

Myself, I concentrate on hunting bodies of water. Here's my early season tips....

1) Go to the range and "knock the dust of". Shoot you shotgun, and get some practice in.
2) Double check your choke, to assure you have the one you prefer for geese.
3) Double check equipment... boat, decoys (clean & paint), rigging, calls, shells, gun - the whole 9 yards.
4) Check the regulation digest, and note any changes from last season (bag limits, shooting hours, plug restriction, etc). Be legal - be a Sportsman.

http://www.ncwildlife.org/pg04_HuntingTrapping/pg4b1.htm

5) Scout. This is the single most important tip I can give you. Scout early morning, mid day, and late afternoon.
6) Show up early on opening day, and try and prepare a temporary shore blind using the native vegetation. Blend in (fresh vegetation on blinds match the surroundings better), and don't waste the efforts of building a permanent blind that may be useless later in the season. Using a hatchet and pruning sheers, a nice temporary blind can be made in 15-20 mins. of effort.

As for hunting..... I try and find where the geese roost, and which way they normally leave the roost. Then, I'll set up close by in that path. The geese normally feed morning and afternoon, so day break till 10:00 is usually a key time to be in the blind, and in the afternoon until sunset when they return from the fields. For my experiences, I do better using a dozen or two floaters. If the geese are in large flocks, it's hard to get them to decoy (try to bust them up while scouting). Singles, doubles, triples will be easier to decoy - but if you are at the right location, large flocks will decoy too.

As for calling.... I'll call to get their attention. Once they seem to see the spread and are approaching I don't call, unless it's just a couple short confidence calls.

Have fun, be safe, and good luck to you all.

Share the passion,
Troy Smart

AC Caldwell County DU

Lenoir, NC