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Closing Out the Season

1K views 16 replies 12 participants last post by  killingteal 
#1 ·
Well.... Whether it has been a great season for you or a poor one, it comes to a close this weekend here in FL.

As for myself, it has really been better overall than the last few. The go to spot in my neck of the woods became a quota hunt this year, which changed our locals' ability to use it first come first served as it was in the past. From my own experience, this had the effect of bringing a lot of us together. Folks shared passes, new hunting buddies were made, hell I hunted a few times with a guy I had not spoken to in 25 years. It also forced a lot of us to broaden the scope of where we hunted, and sometimes how we hunted. Local marsh holes that have been "best kept secrets" for years have seen pressure this year like never before... I guess we can only wait and see what the long term effects of that will be. I have not been out as much as I would have liked (pesky job always wanting me to show up for work), but have had some real quality hunts, enjoyed some time in the marsh with my bro and with friends, and filled my freezer and belly with the rewards of our effort.

Would love to hear others' perspectives on the season and any great "last blast" plans. Hope everyone had a great one and good luck this last weekend. I'll be out there.

:beer:
 
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#2 ·
Great post! I have made so many new friends this year due to our north florida wma going to permits. My gf is constantly cracking up with "all the dudes I meet online" to hunt with :lol3: I have been fortunate enough to be able to hunt there whenever I like this season between my crew that pooled together for permits and meeting new people to hunt with. (Having a rig is a huge advantage) I will be out there for one last go in the morning, seems like the birds have filled back in for the most part.
 
#3 ·
Fold City Brigade said:
Great post! I have made so many new friends this year due to our north florida wma going to permits. My gf is constantly cracking up with "all the dudes I meet online" to hunt with :lol3: I have been fortunate enough to be able to hunt there whenever I like this season between my crew that pooled together for permits and meeting new people to hunt with. (Having a rig is a huge advantage) I will be out there for one last go in the morning, seems like the birds have filled back in for the most part.
I know who you are , you suck ! Lol , just screwing with you dude . Hope you close out that WMA with a blast . :thumbsup:
 
#6 ·
This season was interesting. Made a couple new buddies and tried some new areas this year. Getting permits was the challenge and directed most of the hunting season. Put more miles on the truck this season than in seasons past. Got to put the new rig to use and was quite pleased with it. Going to make a few changes this off season.

This season also has me thinking on whether or not to keep my other rig. I keep tossing around the idea of selling off the big motor from one boat and the hull from the other and slimming down to one rig.

Lots of work to do in the off season. Decoys to upkeep, lead to pour and texas rigs to make. Picked up a Gheenoe to rehab and sell before next season and plenty of house projects to keep me busy.
 
#7 ·
This was a year of trying new spots. Found some good ones and had fun attracting ducks to the spread and almost shooting em.

Some of the more popular spots proved to serve as host to the most stupid, pathetic, disgusting excuses for duck hunters. Worst I've ever seen. Made me want to quit.

Having fun catching crappie though.
 
#8 ·
dogyak said:
Fold City Brigade said:
Great post! I have made so many new friends this year due to our north florida wma going to permits. My gf is constantly cracking up with "all the dudes I meet online" to hunt with :lol3: I have been fortunate enough to be able to hunt there whenever I like this season between my crew that pooled together for permits and meeting new people to hunt with. (Having a rig is a huge advantage) I will be out there for one last go in the morning, seems like the birds have filled back in for the most part.
I know who you are , you suck ! Lol , just screwing with you dude . Hope you close out that WMA with a blast . :thumbsup:
I got skunked :fingerhead: lol I decided to try a new spot farther north and missed the X by a mile. While motoring back to the ramp, I jumped a good amount of teal out of the spot I hunted all year... go figure. I got back to the ramp to find all my buddies with limits. Owell, I got my redemption on Sunday with two Cans, one being a beautiful, fully plumed out bull. I will end my season on that note all day long. :beer:
 

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#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
Ended last day with 5 ringers. Nothing to boast about, but it was fun getting them to work our spread and take respectable shots.
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#10 ·
This season for me has been for the most part pretty awesome. Ended the season strong with getting the curse I've had with mottled ducks. Finally bagged one. Spent the weekend hunting the STA's and fishing Lake O. I've met some great new people on DCH. One of the best hunts I had was with a fellow member on here and we managed a 3 man limit of green wings. Also bagged my first geese. Put a ton of miles on the truck. Cant wait to get to work in the off season but I think its time to get back to Fishing in the mean time.
 

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#11 ·
Pretty solid year for me and buddies. Most of the bluewings in our area dissapeared and weren't as plentiful as they have been in previous years, but they were replaced by nice flocks of greenwings. Cant complain there.Divers on the big lake were hit or miss all year long, but was able to get on them a few times. Didn't get to travel as much as I would have wanted to for personal reasons, but can't complain with the year we had. Hoping to get some more traveling in next year if possible. Glad to see most of you guys had solid years as well!
 
#12 ·
Fold City, I'm sorry to hear your Saturday was a bust, but it looks like your Sunday closer made up for it!

My bro and I were fortunate enough to scratch it out before we left that morning. The early morning was a little sketchy - we were one of the first few in line and got to our spot pretty quick, but it filled in fast. Had a couple other groups of hunters that were VERY close by. We were a little anxious about it keeping us from being able to work them in, concerned about getting peppered etc like that area has been known for in the past - but it actually turned out to be a banner day. This is gonna sound really strange but the folks closest to us showed some of the best etiquette as hunting neighbors I've witnessed here. I know - can't be FL right? But seriously... allowed birds we were working to pass and return to our spread, we did the same for them - care in direction of shot - couple friendly hollers on the great shots of the morning, and of course a well deserved boo on a shot I ain't proud of - thanked us on the way out for working with them... weird. I'm sure some ass-hat will bring me back down to Earth promptly next season, but hey it was nice to see some folks like that out there for the last blast.

All in all, had a great season. Already looking forward to September.

Now... couple of projects around the house to get the wife happy again and let's do some fishing!!! Oh, and the range... got to hit the range for sure.
 
#13 ·
quackerjax said:
Fold City, I'm sorry to hear your Saturday was a bust, but it looks like your Sunday closer made up for it!

My bro and I were fortunate enough to scratch it out before we left that morning. The early morning was a little sketchy - we were one of the first few in line and got to our spot pretty quick, but it filled in fast. Had a couple other groups of hunters that were VERY close by. We were a little anxious about it keeping us from being able to work them in, concerned about getting peppered etc like that area has been known for in the past - but it actually turned out to be a banner day. This is gonna sound really strange but the folks closest to us showed some of the best etiquette as hunting neighbors I've witnessed here. I know - can't be FL right? But seriously... allowed birds we were working to pass and return to our spread, we did the same for them - care in direction of shot - couple friendly hollers on the great shots of the morning, and of course a well deserved boo on a shot I ain't proud of - thanked us on the way out for working with them... weird. I'm sure some ass-hat will bring me back down to Earth promptly next season, but hey it was nice to see some folks like that out there for the last blast.

All in all, had a great season. Already looking forward to September.

Now... couple of projects around the house to get the wife happy again and let's do some fishing!!! Oh, and the range... got to hit the range for sure.
Hopefully Florida hunters are maturing. This etiquette is the norm where I hunt up north as opposed to the exception.
 
#16 ·
chris_k said:
That's an Oxymoron
Well that's how it worked out. We kept moving our spread slowly away from them as we noticed where the ducks were wanting to land as opposed to where they got up from when we put in. Once we were 50-60 yards from where our original spread was set up we had them coming in to us no problem. I like that you can pretty much wade the entire STA so it's no big deal to relocate if you didn't throw out a bunch of decoys. We put out a dozen decoys once this past weekend, the rest of the time it was 3 or 9 depending on where we were hunting.
 
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