20-21 season.

[Noreaster]

I got up yesterday morning to not a breath of wind & no clouds in the sky, I thought to myself I'm not even going to go so I stayed home.

Got up this morning to light rain & wind, ok this looks better
Headed out to one of my spots, I get there and it's dense fog & no wind, nothing flew.
Tried jump shooting on less than desirable low tide & nothing in the creeks other than a handful of bufflehead, whiffed on 3 shots
Although there was geese & blacks on top of the marsh but forget getting anywhere near them
The weather is just too damn mild
Great way to start the new year...

[AvianAddict]

Had a slow day today as well. Jambrose came along today and we each shot a gadwall. Jambrose‘s first. What little birds we did see want nothing to do with decoys.


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[smithb9]

This whole week seems to have died down. Last week into last weekend there was a ton of birds flying, this past Monday a good amount but slower, managed to get a small goose early. Then Thursday it was absolutely dead, I saw maybe 10 birds total, and nothing in close to me. Same story yesterday for my buddy, so I opted to take a trip to bass pro this morning instead of getting skunked again.

[mawtrfowler]

I had high hopes for the week after our Christmas eve hunt last week but seems that the activity we saw that day was short lived. I hunted everyday this week, aside from New Years for 2 birds, didn't even get a shot off for 3 of the 6 days. This weather blows.

[JambroseOutdoors]

Big thanks AA for getting me on my first Gaddy. Maybe it’s because I never see them, but what a cool looking bird! Man, sounds like a tough week for everyone, been a strange season for sure. Feel like it’s been red hot or ice cold, and no days in between, switching on a dime. Going to make one final run at them Monday, hoping the forecast and weather gives a push of birds, but not holding my breath. Trying to live by the “hope for the best, plan for the worst” motto...

[yakattack addict]

Hunted hard the last week. Some of the days were more bird watching with some finger pointing on who messed up the shot calling. Wednesday was the day we put them in the bag though. Watching the weather for Monday and hoping to sneak in one more hunt. I was bad about photos except for the curls on one of the green heads. Not sure if I have seen curls that twist around like this before. Hope you guys can see it ok.


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[Baymen Moe]

My home spot is iced over so for the last day of central I went to one of my old spots I’ve hunted for years. I didn’t expect a whole lot and my expectations were correct. Not much activity. A few birds here and there. But I avoided the skunk when this black duck decoyed perfectly. A bit of nostalgia on this hunt as well. I broke out my 39 year old LL Bean corks and the just as old Remington 1100.

[AvianAddict]

Great pic Baymen!


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[Farmhunter]

Nice work men!

I did a afternoon hunt today just got back.
I didn’t have high hopes but there were more birds than expected. Shot three and called it a day early. Got a few photos in the last bit of sun.
Shot two mallards and a black. Dog did her thing tracking down a few cripples for the super long retrieve. Also a nice double retrieve.

[Noreaster]

I tried one of my spots yesterday that I haven't hunted much this season, it's a spot that can be hit or miss but usually has some goldeneyes buzzing around. I've been trying to get a nice drake GE for the last couple years
It was fun watching the divers divebomb the decoys, besides the flocks of buffleheads it was pretty much singles flying of the other species

[Farmhunter]

Nice golden eyes that’s awesome!
Cool gadwalls too.
I’ve only ever shot one gadwall and it was a hen. Never held a goldeneye.

[Noreaster]

I cleaned up the nicer of the GEs & put in the freezer. I'm going to get it mounted up since I zero mounts of anything

Anybody have any good recommendations for a taxidermist?

[JambroseOutdoors]

Nice work everyone. BM love the nostalgic hunt, very very cool! Farmhunter great to see you back out and getting into them! Awesome pic Noreaster, also on my bucket list of birds. I had Vic of Joppa Flatts mount a banded mallard for me last year, did a fantastic job with it and actually am bringing him a wood duck for him to do for me on Friday. Very reasonable with price as well. Think he does or did a ton of birds for Mass Audobon Society and their exhibits. I told BM the same bc I sent him his contact info for a friend, hopefully with Covid he still lets you go up to his office. Guy has every bird you could possibly think of mounted up there! I’ll pm you his info. And he’s a big model train guy, has a whole train town he is building, said that’s why he still does taxidermy work to feed his train addiction lol. Really great guy though, probably spent 2 hours just shooting the breeze last year when I took the first bird to him.

My last day was less than ideal. Saw 6 birds before shooting time. Proceeded to sit around for an hour without seeing a single bird. Then had a solo hen bomb the spread, was able to avoid the skunk. Sat around for another hour or so, place was a graveyard. Just no movement, which is strange for this spot late in the season. Just a strange strange year overall. Felt like it was either red hot or ice cold, but the slow days allowed some time to reflect on the past year. And as crappy as 2020 was overall, still feel thankful that I am able to have the opportunity to be able to do this, and the friendships and stories it has created along the way.

[Farmhunter]

Well said jambrose looking fwd to hunting with you next year bud.
Glad we are able to do what we do. Also, I love my dog, she loves me. It’s very special that partnership.

X2 on victor from Joppa. One time I went there he was working a snowy owl standing on a dead GWT for the Audubon. Incredible realism.

I have made my own wood bases and brought them in to him with the ducks. That worked well I made a few and he helped me choose the best one for the mount.

[Buffle]

X3 on Vic from Joppa. Excellent work at reasonable price. Attached is a pic of a goldeneye he did for me.

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[Buffle]

Hit the coast this afternoon. Have not scouted much so just set a few black dekes in a creek that usually produces. Was napping in the layout enjoying the early afternoon sun and heard the whistling of wings. Was able to pop up and get two shots off. Dropped two hen old squaw. Unfortunately the drake was out front. No idea what they were doing in this location especially at a low tide stage. No blacks at all! Saw on group in the distance. As much as I enjoyed the warmth, I would rather be hunting the cold and dodging the ice flows.

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[mawtrfowler]

Another recommendation for Victor, great guy and he does great work. My group uses him quite a bit. I dropped a black duck off last week and he told me he's busier than he's ever been.

Hunted yesterday from legal shooting to about noon and could not believe the lack of birds in the air and the lack of shooting. There were people out, we could see the boats but the majority of what we heard for shooting was sea duck hunters and even that was pretty low volume. I saw maybe 20-30 black ducks. Very strange season for sure.

We did have two geese fly right over and dropped both of them to avoid the skunk.

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