Lake Mattamuskeet Guide

[aclumpkin]

I will do some searches on the forum to see if I see any older posts about this but I figured I would still ask.

I live in NC and have hunted Lake Mattamuskeet a handful of times on an impoundment owned by a friend of a friend. He has since sold it.

I have a group of guys that want to try Lake Mattamuskeet (between 8 to 12 guys) and I told them that I would try to setup a guided hunt for us. My understanding (at least years ago) is that unless you own an impooundment, the best way to get on a good one is to do a guided hunt. Is this still the case? Does anyone have any recommendations for a great guide in that area?

Thanks!

[echoduck]

I assume you mean the Lake Mattamuskett area since private blinds on lake are rare. There are plenty of guides in area and most are corn impoundment hunts. Look up Joey Ben Williams. He has some good areas on North end of lake.

[EastBound&Down]

If you're going to drop some coin at least go to a flyway that holds decent numbers of ducks. Many of the high dollar clubs around the lake struggled to have consistent good hunts. I talked to a guy yesterday who booked a "private impoundment" hunt in Hyde and ended up getting taken to hunt public waters off the ICW for a cost of $350 per man. There are hunts to be had in Arkansas and West Tenn as little as $200 per man and consistently produce good solid hunts.

[KAhunter]

There are ALOT of guides around there nowadays and a decent number are not worth the drive for a free hunt. Impoundment hunts are tough to book b/c if the weather is bad, even the best impoundments wont produce. Thats why guys book impoundment hunts, then end up being dropped on a point in the marsh of Juniper or wysocking bay to shoot bufflehead as the weather isnt right for the impoundments. Leasing an impoundment is pricey but you could atleast get a spot that you could hunt on the right days or know it will be rested until you want to hunt. Hyde county is a great place but its not this magical duck mecca where the skies are black day in and day out. This year especially, the hunting was slower for the most part than it was good. I agree with looking elsewhere. Spend the money and go with a good guide in a better part of the country.

[Shurshot]

Some good ideas above. With that many people, you might could actually lease a place to where the cost wasn't much more than a couple 2 day weekend guided hunts (per person), yet still have the place to yourselves for all of the season. The last two seasons have been very slow (cyclical) so there is a good likelihood many places will become available. But you'll need to do your homework and ask lessor for kill records and/or names and ph.#s of past members to get an idea of it's potential.

As for a guide, Joey Ben Williams is a name synonymous with quality, professional hunts. But as duck hunting goes, nothing is a guarantee.

If you choose from the two above, you'll want to start the process immediately. Most good guides will probably already have their book loaded and/or reserved for his best and most frequent clients. Choose some dates, if available, and roll with it. If leasing, run an ad on CL or in other forums, papers, etc. to try to find something now that you could still look at while the birds are here. I would imagine a lot of the leasee's have already been asked if they were going to commit to the upcoming season- impoundment owners want to know these things well in advance of the planting season.

Good luck, just gonna take some digging ....

[echoduck]

Current lease rates are 1.5k-3k per acre. You are looking at 15k-20k minimum per season for a small (especially for 10-12 guys) 10 ac corn impoundment which likely isn't a very good impoundment. Leasing impoundments is like gambling. There are currently around 900 impoundments in the area, about 5-10% of those are "good" impoundments. The rest are ok or poor at best.The good impoundments don't come up often. One sold this past winter for 3 million. Could always join Hester's club, one of a few clubs in Hyde that consistently kills birds. Currently there are no available leases in Hyde to my knowledge.

[skydog]

There was a Carawan owned impoundment on the south side of the lake that came up for lease each of the past two years. $12K for ~8 acres and a house that was included for the season. Relatively cheap and available made me assume it wasn't much of a producer but who knows.

[KAhunter]

Wild wings is going for $1100 per hunt. Know some guys who hunted there who had some good days and not so good days. Thats alot for 1 duck hunt. For those guys with more money than sense.

[EastBound&Down]

Last season a full membership at Simmons went for 40k and I heard it was going up for next season. This includes having to prepick your hunt dates and being told what blind to hunt.
I can only imagine all the out of state hunting trips to prime destinations that could be done on that kind of budget.

[skydog]

Last season a full membership at Simmons went for 40k and I heard it was going up for next season. This includes having to prepick your hunt dates and being told what blind to hunt.
I can only imagine all the out of state hunting trips to prime destinations that could be done on that kind of budget.

A buddy of mine was trying to get me to go on an Argentina duck/dove hunt this summer. It was ~$4K (+ airfare, etc). for 4 days of hunting and the daily duck limit there is 50...50 birds x 4 days= 200 ducks per person. For $40K you could do 5-6 trips a year to Argentina. For much much less than that you could spend the entire season in Sask. or Arkansas and see/kill infinitely more birds than you ever will in the atlantic flyway.

The math of high dollar clubs on the east coast just never comes anywhere close to making sense.

[EastBound&Down]

Last season a full membership at Simmons went for 40k and I heard it was going up for next season. This includes having to prepick your hunt dates and being told what blind to hunt.
I can only imagine all the out of state hunting trips to prime destinations that could be done on that kind of budget.

A buddy of mine was trying to get me to go on an Argentina duck/dove hunt this summer. It was ~$4K (+ airfare, etc). for 4 days of hunting and the daily duck limit there is 50...50 birds x 4 days= 200 ducks per person. For $40K you could do 5-6 trips a year to Argentina. For much much less than that you could spend the entire season in Sask. or Arkansas and see/kill infinitely more birds than you ever will in the atlantic flyway.

The math of high dollar clubs on the east coast just never comes anywhere close to making sense.

You nailed it

[Shurshot]

Yep, agree with the above for sure. Been to Saks. and Manitoba at least a dozen times, hunting each time for a week. I certainly haven't spent anywhere close to that amount in all those years. You have to have some mighty deep pockets to even consider joining a club like that but obviously there are many that do. Guess the social aspect of joining such a club means a whole hell of a lot but I've got no problem with that.

[aclumpkin]

I assume you mean the Lake Mattamuskett area since private blinds on lake are rare. There are plenty of guides in area and most are corn impoundment hunts. Look up Joey Ben Williams. He has some good areas on North end of lake.

Yes, that is what I meant.

[aclumpkin]

If you're going to drop some coin at least go to a flyway that holds decent numbers of ducks. Many of the high dollar clubs around the lake struggled to have consistent good hunts. I talked to a guy yesterday who booked a "private impoundment" hunt in Hyde and ended up getting taken to hunt public waters off the ICW for a cost of $350 per man. There are hunts to be had in Arkansas and West Tenn as little as $200 per man and consistently produce good solid hunts.

It is funny that you say Arkansas / West Tenn. After I posted my original comment and did a few searches on the site, I had a guy in the local DU with me that suggested a few places in West TN. After doing some initial research, I think I am shifting gears that way.

I have hunted Arkansas a number of times but I have never hunted in Tenn.

[aclumpkin]

Last season a full membership at Simmons went for 40k and I heard it was going up for next season. This includes having to prepick your hunt dates and being told what blind to hunt.
I can only imagine all the out of state hunting trips to prime destinations that could be done on that kind of budget.

A buddy of mine was trying to get me to go on an Argentina duck/dove hunt this summer. It was ~$4K (+ airfare, etc). for 4 days of hunting and the daily duck limit there is 50...50 birds x 4 days= 200 ducks per person. For $40K you could do 5-6 trips a year to Argentina. For much much less than that you could spend the entire season in Sask. or Arkansas and see/kill infinitely more birds than you ever will in the atlantic flyway.

The math of high dollar clubs on the east coast just never comes anywhere close to making sense.

You nailed it

x2! When I found out about all of the costs of the impoundment the guy I know owned and sold (and tried to sell to my group of hunters), I said "thanks for the offer but no thanks!" It sure was fun hunting there but man was that going to be a TON of cash to tie up with high yearly cash commitments.

[aclumpkin]

And thanks again everyone for the comments / suggestions. I think the western TN option is going to work out. I have the name of three guides out that way and will begin making calls this weekend.

[HydeMarsh]

Last season a full membership at Simmons went for 40k and I heard it was going up for next season. This includes having to prepick your hunt dates and being told what blind to hunt.
I can only imagine all the out of state hunting trips to prime destinations that could be done on that kind of budget.

A buddy of mine was trying to get me to go on an Argentina duck/dove hunt this summer. It was ~$4K (+ airfare, etc). for 4 days of hunting and the daily duck limit there is 50...50 birds x 4 days= 200 ducks per person. For $40K you could do 5-6 trips a year to Argentina. For much much less than that you could spend the entire season in Sask. or Arkansas and see/kill infinitely more birds than you ever will in the atlantic flyway.

The math of high dollar clubs on the east coast just never comes anywhere close to making sense.

I have access to decent impoundments in Hyde, I am going to argentina this summer. Your math is correct. Argentina is a great deal per duck.

[HydeMarsh]

There is no US trip that you can count on. This past December in the peak of the migration with what is supposed to be one of the premier waterfowl outfitters in Kansas a group of my friends and I got basically skunked. The weather was ideal and the skies were full of ducks and geese. The outfitter, Prarrie Thunder of Ellenwood Kansas, could not deliver. 7 hunters for 4 days and we killed 11 birds. I never had a shot. We could have leased a decent Hyde impoundment for what we paid. The problem, you cannot find a good one for lease. The ones worth leasing do not turn over.

[skydog]

There is no US trip that you can count on. This past December in the peak of the migration with what is supposed to be one of the premier waterfowl outfitters in Kansas a group of my friends and I got basically skunked. The weather was ideal and the skies were full of ducks and geese. The outfitter, Prarrie Thunder of Ellenwood Kansas, could not deliver. 7 hunters for 4 days and we killed 11 birds. I never had a shot. We could have leased a decent Hyde impoundment for what we paid. The problem, you cannot find a good one for lease. The ones worth leasing do not turn over.

I'm sorry to hear about the slow hunt but I don't think that is a totally true statement. All of the Kansas guys on this forum talk about how overrated of a waterfowl state it is and how extremely weather dependent the hunting is. The only place in the US that you can probably almost always count on good/great hunting would be portions of the west coast but Arkansas is also not overly weather dependent. Of course weather on any given day can dictate how well the birds work or not, but there are places in the US that will consistently have large #s of huntable birds almost regardless of weather.

[sprighunter27889]

To you Mr. sky dog, no offense, but your statement could not be more incorrect! No matter where you go in this country duck hunting is 100 percent weather dependent, wether it be from a migration stand point or from day to day movement of the ducks, you have to have weather to make them move! Now to all the folks that think Arkansas is a sure thing, wrong again...to much experience in seeing it hearing it and having clients with horror stories of failed hunts in Arkansas. The truth of the matter is, it is a gamble no matter where you are you will have good, great hunts even in Arkansas yes, but I can assure you, you will have good, great even hunts in enc. it's all about being in the blind when everything falls into place! It's hunting fellas not killing!

[skydog]

Wasn't trying to veer this thread way off topic or anything, was just commenting that Kansas is notoriously very weather dependent, and other places are less so- I'm sorry but that isn't a debatable topic. And saying duck hunting is 100% weather dependent is inaccurate. Weather plays a factor but there are places where you can stack the deck more in your favor. If you hunt a destination for ducks (Lower miss delta, sacramento valley, mexico, etc) as opposed to a flyover stop for them, you are at least much more likely to have ducks around to hunt.

The more years I hunt I actually think the calendar matters as much or more than weather, but that is a topic for another thread. Open water hunting on the east coast? Yea, weather matters a whole lot. A flooded rice field in the Sacramento valley, not so much.

[Giant Killer]

The weather was ideal and the skies were full of ducks and geese. The outfitter, Prarrie Thunder of Ellenwood Kansas, could not deliver. 7 hunters for 4 days and we killed 11 birds.

Not to veer off topic...but what was their excuse? Ideal weather, skies full of ducks, premier outfitter, 4 days of hunting....they SHOULD have been able to put you on more than 11 birds.

[KAhunter]

Wasn't trying to veer this thread way off topic or anything, was just commenting that Kansas is notoriously very weather dependent, and other places are less so- I'm sorry but that isn't a debatable topic. And saying duck hunting is 100% weather dependent is inaccurate. Weather plays a factor but there are places where you can stack the deck more in your favor. If you hunt a destination for ducks (Lower miss delta, sacramento valley, mexico, etc) as opposed to a flyover stop for them, you are at least much more likely to have ducks around to hunt.

The more years I hunt I actually think the calendar matters as much or more than weather, but that is a topic for another thread. Open water hunting on the east coast? Yea, weather matters a whole lot. A flooded rice field in the Sacramento valley, not so much.

From an impoundment in hyde to a flooded rice field in the sacramento valley weather is definetly a factor. You may get em early on in the season, but if there is no weather and no new birds, they stop killing em in california rice fields and lousiana swamps just like they do in north carolina. There may be more birds in general in those areas but still hit some times when they dont kill ducks . Yes some birds move with the calender, but if its a poor weather year your success will be limited no matter how many birds are in the area.

[skydog]

I apologize I somehow missed where Hyde said the weather conditions were ideal. I would also be curious to hear what the outfitter's excuse was?

I'm obviously in the minority of people that think the importance of weather is, in general, overstated so I'll leave it at that.

[sprighunter27889]

KAhunter im gonna assume that you and I have had much of the same expierence in hunting enc, and Hyde...IMO I count my blessing when the forcast calls from snow and 25 to 35 knot north winds, and much less so when it's 70 degrees and not a breath of wind, but maybe my expierence is a fluke...or perhaps the weather really does play a very important role