Pintails.
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I have only seen a couple in the state --mostly down on the coast later in the season --but this year I saw multiple groups in a marsh in the Augusta area.
It was right at the end of the cold snap we had in early Oct. We actually had a fair amount of ice on the marsh (kind of hard to belief considering how warm the rest of the season was). But it was an epic morning. I was shooting much better than I deserve considering the time I put in practicing and my buddy was shooting far worse than would be expected given the time he puts in at the range.
We had seen a couple of groups of pintail circling high above the marsh, and I thought to myself that I would trade all the teal and mallard I shot that day for one pin. No sooner than that occurred that a single drake pin came in and it was my friend's turn... Well he took two shots --missing both and before he could squeeze off a third I dropped the drake.
Should I have given him the third shoot?
Don't get many chances to drop a drake pintail....
It was right at the end of the cold snap we had in early Oct. We actually had a fair amount of ice on the marsh (kind of hard to belief considering how warm the rest of the season was). But it was an epic morning. I was shooting much better than I deserve considering the time I put in practicing and my buddy was shooting far worse than would be expected given the time he puts in at the range.
We had seen a couple of groups of pintail circling high above the marsh, and I thought to myself that I would trade all the teal and mallard I shot that day for one pin. No sooner than that occurred that a single drake pin came in and it was my friend's turn... Well he took two shots --missing both and before he could squeeze off a third I dropped the drake.
Should I have given him the third shoot?
Don't get many chances to drop a drake pintail....
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Shot a hen pintail a few years back in Whiting, it was mixed in with some blacks in a salt marsh in early October
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Used to shoot a ton of them on the "left" coast, even a few 7 drake only limits (ahhh those were the days), but here in Maine I've only bagged 1, a female, early October in Bowdoinham, a few year back.
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I shot a hen on the salt a couple of years ago in Harpswell. She was in with a flock of Black ducks as well.
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i saw a few in the bay this year. tried pass shoting one. no luck. i heard of two males coming from the bay this year
me and a bud hunted in turner two days in arrow and 2 huge flocks of red headed birds flew over us. either cans or red heads, we couldnt pass up trying to drop one. we cried when we both skybusted and nothing fell
me and a bud hunted in turner two days in arrow and 2 huge flocks of red headed birds flew over us. either cans or red heads, we couldnt pass up trying to drop one. we cried when we both skybusted and nothing fell
I love going from Farmington (where I live) to Bucksport (where my family lives) because you would swear you were hunting to completely different parts of the country. I had Mallards, Wodducks, Mergansers and Ringnecks coming in over the mountains everyday in Farmington. Then when I was at my folks house it was all Buffleheads, Black ducks, Geese, and I saw two Pintails fly over but they wouldn't come in to the dekes.
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I had 2 pintails in the decoys this year in my secret spot, you can't mistake them! I took the hen my buddy shot at the drake I put mine in the freezer to mount soon,his is still out there,i hope breeding this spring,been in maine since 87,from upstate N.Y. pintail country,I also saw blue bills im my bay this year, i've observed different birds in the last 5 years I believe do to EEL GRASS comming back in to the bays,this is a primary food source for waterfowl on the coast,plent of geese staying around now too.
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