BigBendFishing.Net

Another interesting day Duck Hunting...
Went with a friend who is big in DU. We were out an hour before daylight and set up in a spot I scouted the other day.

We watched two boats come out from the landing and set up about 125 yards from us- not bad but not good.
They began yelling at each other- one complaining that the other had been skybusting the weekend before. Then it degraded into cussing... You could tell by the voices they were kids. About 15min till legal time they were still at it.
I yelled over the lake- "Shut Up, Its almost Legal time" and they quited down.
As sunrise came very few birds came in- and these kids shot at them all- 100 yards up in the air.
Then to our surprise one of them shot a Hooded Tern- a shore bird that is not a game bird. A few moments later they shot another one.
No way you think this is a duck...

They laughed and hooted at the birds fell.
That put my friend over the edge and he called a local game warden that is also active in DU.

The Warden came to the landing- asked us by cell phone to help them locate the kids. We helped- guiding them in. According to the warden, the kids, 16 years old, admitted almost immediately but will still get in trouble. They had broken several other regulations. He said they will go to court and do community service hours. The warden said the kids mothers were all very upset by his calls and he thought they may get the worst punishment from home.
I think my parents would take my boat and gun for a year if a Warden had to call them because I broke the game laws.

We watched all of this from our blind... After they left the lake one loan Ringneck came into the decoys. I folded him.
That was it for the morning. My buddy had to get back by lunch and I had In-laws coming into town.

We might have shot a few other birds if those kids had been sportsmen- but there really were very few ducks on the lake.

Again- good to be out, interesting story and a Duck...

Barry

Hopefully they'll learn from this. Nice job Barry.

Maybe they'll learn and straighten up.

Sorry about your hunt. Good on you for teaching them a lesson the hard way.

We went to Jackson this morning and it was, as I thaught it would be, horrible.

Wakulla river was bad too,1 bluebill,2 hooded megansers,splashed 2 woodies and both made the woods and I couldn't find them,one of them flew after 2 1/2 hours

Well, I had a pretty good experience on public water Saturday morn. Went on a quota hunt and the 4 of us picked up 22, including blue and green winged teal, mottle duck, spoony and 2 pintails. Lost a mottle and another big duck. Had a group come into our designated area and flare some of the ducks or we would have finished earlier.

Went back to a nearby area the yesterday morning with the airboat, but the birds were so spooked by the day before blasting, we only got marginal shots at 2 ducks. When I went down there back on the opening day of the 2nd season, I saw thousands of ducks here. This time, just thousands of coots. Saturday morning we could here this non-quota block and it sounded like an airboat regatta in there.

I guess the hardcore just have to wait until the newness wears off of the sport again. Seems to go through cycles this way.

I hope those are the boys that drive the white f150, with the Browning sticker in the back window, and that pull their boat with a flat bed trailer. If not, there day is coming too.

I'm glad I don't have to identify the fish before i catch them but it would be easier than knowingwhich of those birds is which. Thats why I only shoot dove and quail. Is Hooded Tern good fried?

jsuber wrote:I'm glad I don't have to identify the fish before i catch them but it would be easier than knowingwhich of those birds is which. Thats why I only shoot dove and quail. Is Hooded Tern good fried?

This is the first year I have hunted after I got to the point of needing glasses that I haven't got yet,IDing ducks is tough now and I just about have to ground check them
Hooded Tern are like Bald Eagle,much better in gravy

Nice Job! I'm glad everyone came out of that safe.
Hooded Tern is a generic term for the (roughly) ten Tern species we get here.

jsuber wrote:I'm glad I don't have to identify the fish before i catch them but it would be easier than knowingwhich of those birds is which. Thats why I only shoot dove and quail. Is Hooded Tern good fried?

Jeff, only an idiot would mistake a tern for a duck.

At least with a fish you can put it back if it is the wrong size or species.
Its a little harder to do with a bird that you just shot!

RD wrote:

jsuber wrote:I'm glad I don't have to identify the fish before i catch them but it would be easier than knowingwhich of those birds is which. Thats why I only shoot dove and quail. Is Hooded Tern good fried?

This is the first year I have hunted after I got to the point of needing glasses that I haven't got yet,IDing ducks is tough now and I just about have to ground check them
Hooded Tern are like Bald Eagle,much better in gravy

I'm pretty good at duck Id and not far from your blind (at least I've been told it's yours). If you ever need another pair of eyes let me know.

I'm pretty good at duck Id and not far from your blind (at least I've been told it's yours). If you ever need another pair of eyes let me know. [/quote]

Tyler,thats not my blind but belongs to friends,ours was on the point of Boggy but there was no use to rebuild it this year with the boats anchored off in the creek.
We did hunt the other blind a few days ago but most of what we saw were mergansers,in years past we wood have Wigeon,GWT,Gad-wall,a few Mallards now and then and always a couple of flights of woodies but you just never see many of those birds anymore up there.

I've heard about the way it used to be around there. I hunted one afternoon a mile or so south of that blind and killed 1 goldeneye and 1 buffie, cripped another buffie and a bluebill. No decoying birds only passing shots when the fishing boats were moving them. Better than dealing with crowds and screamers but I prefer to have them with their landing gear down in the dekes not passing. It's getting harder and harder to find a peaceful place to hunt where you can actually have some quality shooting.