11/19 – Scott and I got out for a quick morning hunt and scouting trip for the last week of the season. The action was fast and furious – we hunted till 9am and had good action from shooting light onward.

We had several single bluebills come in and 4 large groups that decoyed like as if on a string – we got our limit but unfortunately lost one of them (willy criple). Also in the mix were a good number of scoters – we managed a drake surf and an immature drake surf. We also saw several groups of pintails, had a hen pin come io the decoys and were passed by a drake goldeneye right at 40 yds – we only took good shots today.

After we picked up decoys we got to see a sight – a white wing scoter!!! A really rare bird for our area! Those suckers are HUGE – 3.5lbs plus and one of the largest ducks! We also had a great conversation with one of the federal game wardens on patrol – always good to see them out there doing their job.

11/18 – 40 knot winds = not safe on open water.

11/17 – Day two with Dave and Tom – since it was supposed to blow up bad (Which it didnt), we hunted one of my favorite little spots that tends to be very productive in the morning.

From 7am till 8:45 it was non-stop – group after group of bluebills came right into my spread and the BB limit was finished off quickly. In addition, a handful of scoters, a big flock of teal, countless mergansers, and a lonely gadwall that almost ran into my blind rounded out what we saw come through the decoys this morning!!!

IT was a quick hunt but well worth it – they fired over 40 rounds between them in less than 2 hours!!! For the rest of the morning we picked away at scoter shots, watched some more BBs and a few blackducks give us good looks. They enjoyed some fine steaks and I picked up decoys and drove them home – another great day!!!

A couple Bluebill drakes…

11/16 – The big sunday blow really helped us out – we saw massive #s of birds and even many species that I don’t normally see that often.

[b]GOLDENEYES[/b] – today I literally saw hundreds of them. 5 seperate times we had single drakes or pairs land right outside our decoys and barely out of range. Man, what a sight! We also saw several strings of Brant (not common where I was hunting), a group of canadian geese that came right overhead (very uncommon where I hunt), several groups of canvasbacks, etc. etc etc.

I hunted with Dave and Tom and they were in for some graet shooting. Very different from the waterfowl hunting they are experienced in, they were amazed at the challenge of divers and seaducks. Since I know them very well, I am not embarassed to say that they could have shot their limit 5 times over if they had brought their A game!!!!

From 7am steady until early afternoon we had very very steady action. Big groups of BBs, lots of singles and constant passing shots at scoters. The end of the hunt brought us a great treat – a pair of Bluewing teal came through and both were dropped with 1 shot at 45yds!!!

Over 60 shells fired between two guns – AWESOME!

11/14 – After having fished with Brant and his son Jim, I had the pleasure of hunting with them and Brant’s father this Saturday. Woith 30 knot winds forcast, I was expecting bumpy conditions and good flying weather. Well, the strong thunderstorms delayed our departure but killed the wind and gave me great conditions in which to put out the decoys.

From 7am to 9 am we were covered up in action – single BBs, big groups of BBs, scoters, buffied – even 3 drake pintails that came through our decoys at less than 20 yds. You’ll get one next time boys! My favorite part about the morning was when a group of 75+ BBs came low overhead and despite me advising for them to let them decoy, all three conner’s opened up and the next thing I know it was raining birds – it was awesome!!!!

The funniest part of the day was when a school of menhaden invaded my decoys and were flipping all over the place – mergansers were coming in from all angles and after the pintails came through, two were unfortunate casualties. Over 3 boxes of shells fired and a fun time was had by all.

Gret hunting with you guys – look forward to it again next year!

11/11 – the week of the 9-13 was a bit slow, i must say. 70 degree temps nearly every day with zero wind for nearly 4 days…all that combined with the full moon and lots of dog gave us poor flying conditions.

Nonetheless, we still had productive days. I hunt with Bill and his friend on the 11th and we managed to get 2 good groups of bluebills to decoy in, several groups of bufflehead, about 7 good close shots at scoters, a hen GWT and a pair of blackducks that twice cupped their wings and came straight into the decoys.

It was sunny, it was hot – but still a good day. Good hunting with you guys!