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South zone 12/28

3K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  duk_hunter155 
#1 ·
3 of us hunted this AM in the south zone bayside. We got set up and situated in our spot about 35 minutes before LST. Ducks were quacking everywhere, geese were honking close by. A goose flew in and landed in the spread, then a black duck. We thought it was going to be an awesome morning where we were covered up with fowl at first light. But as it turned out, 3 different boats came blowing through between 5 minutes before LST to LST and ran almost all the ducks and geese out of the place. We decoyed in a pintail drake right after LST, which would turn out to be the only bird we would shoot. Stayed till 9:30 on an almost lifeless piece of water and packed up and headed home. Bright spot of the day was the beautiful retrieve for the pup, his first ever in tidewater.
 
#5 ·
My long experience is when you go in and put up birds the likelihood of those same birds returning are nil to none. On 12/24 we went in only boat in the swamp and put up a mess of birds and geese only to have just 3 mallards buzz us the entire morning. At this time of the year those birds you put up going in are probably migrators that stopped for the night and once aroused leave for parts south. It is also true that if you go in and put up no birds at all chances are great your going to have a slow morning unless you have the perfect weather on your side but on a bright morning with open water no birds going in means slow day. On the other hand putting up alot of birds going in usually means you will get some action on a bright sunny morning and great action when you get that NE wind with light snow then you usually can"t load fast enough.
 
#8 ·
Not arguing with you dukhunter155,I see what you are saying and agree.

Just saying if all the ducks leave after you shoot it really doesn't matter that much,except you didn't get the jump on the roosters. Not that big a deal to me.

When a boat flushes your spot he is more than likely putting up birds from somewhere else also.

Some days I can't wait for some boat traffic.
 
#10 ·
I agree with duk_hunter, it seems more often than not when you're hunting a smaller piece of water, boats zipping around near LST will push ducks out and they won't return.
 
#11 ·
I hunt a fairly large well known area in the North Zone. I have seen hundreds of birds get up due to passing boats and they just dont come back. I have no idea where the feed where I hunt in the meadowlands not much for them to eat at all so mostly all are just stopping off for a rest. Hopefully after the snow on Friday it will be a bang up day as it was during the last little snow we got.

Good luck to all you brave souls going out there on Thursday and Friday be extra careful and prepare for the worst I'm waiting it out until Sat.

Happy New Year to all my fellow duck hunters and remember to take a kid duck hunting once and he will be hooked for life.
 
#13 ·
My buddy shot a mallard in the meadowlands with killies in it's stomach, a biologist told me that mallards are opportunistic and will eat any food source that is available if needed. He said the lack of normal duck food forced the mallard to eat the killies which I haven't seen before. DU was planning to plant a bunch of pilgramites and wildflower in the meadowlands but never did due to reasons I don't know. The past few years I have been seeing and shooting less mallards in that area every year.
 
#14 ·
That's very interesting. I have seen a mallard family feeding on crayfish in a mountain stream. Mom would flip up the rocks and the younguns would catch anything that swam out. They do eat many things depending on the time of year. Laying hens eat mainly insects and nymphs for protein while they need grain and vegetation for carbs in the winter.
 
#15 ·
duk_hunter155 said:
I hunt a fairly large well known area in the North Zone. I have seen hundreds of birds get up due to passing boats and they just dont come back. I have no idea where the feed where I hunt in the meadowlands not much for them to eat at all so mostly all are just stopping off for a rest. Hopefully after the snow on Friday it will be a bang up day as it was during the last little snow we got.

Good luck to all you brave souls going out there on Thursday and Friday be extra careful and prepare for the worst I'm waiting it out until Sat.

Happy New Year to all my fellow duck hunters and remember to take a kid duck hunting once and he will be hooked for life.
Many fresh water ponds outide of the Sawmill Creek area for them to feed in. Especially in the Kearny Meadow.
 
#16 ·
I am going to take a pass on hunting today and tomorrow I will leave that for those that have the burning desire to shoot ducks at any cost that I once had, but tomorrow with -10 degree wind temp and snow some of you will have a great shoot. I will be out on Sat and with every bit of sweet water frozen I'm hoping that the meadowlands will be loaded up with every duck imaginable with the exception of teal and woodies.

Again I have no idea what they will be eating there but really don't care if they eat or not as long as they are looking for some companionship amongst my block of mallards, cans, and sprigs.
 
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