The last 2 days have been days that you sit around in the blind thinking about the could have’s, would have’s and should have’s. I had the pleasure of hunting with Kevin and Bud that joined me last year and this year they brought along Aaron that wanted to spend his senior trip this year duck hunting instead of looking at gal’s in bikini’s on a typical senior beach trip. We wanted some good birds for him and that’s what we got.
The first day we hunted on a great little spot of mine that has always produced variety. I see puddlers, divers and scoters all in this spot and we weren’t too disappointed today. We had two nice groups of 30 to 40 bluebills decoy a couple times tha t morning and unfortunately none got splashed down. We did manage to get a few scoters including a nice black drake and the biggest suprise of the season so far. A gorgeous White wing scoter hen. So rare to see them down this far. I only saw one white wing last year. This one buzzed by and made the mistake of coming back by a few minutes later. We were thrilled to see it was the white winged scoter we had seen earlier. The shot of the day right there! Later Aaron scored a nice shot overhead at a single bluebill that came through. The bird flew out about 150 yards looking like it hadn’t been touched… and made a 90 degree turn mach 3 straight down into the water dead! Amazing sight. 2 birds that that today. Unfortunately one did it WAY WAY back in the marsh and could not be found. So scoters and bluebills for the day with some chances at black ducks and a couple other puddlers. Here’s some photos!
Day 2 was even better! We hunted a little different spot I found that afternoon before and it promised to hold some serious puddler action. We were not disappointed in the birds… but maybe just a bit in the ones that got away. We had a scoter and bluebill early that we just could not find after a lot of looking so disappointment set in. Then we had a puddler locked up shortly thereafter. It came in really nice like it was on a rope and the guys dropped it. Nice gadwall drake. A first for any of the guys. They were pumped. Later we had a duck come in and get dropped but while the guy was out wading to it a bufflehead drake came through and he dropped it was well. We had to take the boat to get the distant bird and he went back to shore. As we retrieved a nice gadwall hen and returned to the boat he said you won’t believe what I saw. 3 pintails locked up about 20 yards overhead and he didn’t have shells in his gun since he waded out to shoot the cripple and bufflehead. He’s seeing those pintails in his dreams I assure you. Later we had group after group of black ducks come through and had shots close to 40 yards at a couple. Had one group of about 50 bluebills come in and they got 2 of those. Other puddlers came in and got away with their lives against all odds. That’s duck hunting. A fantastic day on the water with some fantastic fellas. They are already talking about next year. Can’t wait to see you again! Here’s a few of the photos from the day:
If we had a day this good when it’s 65 degrees… I can’t wait for it to drop below freezing! Looks like a great season on the NC Coast if you’re in the right locations!
Jan 1, 2 (Tom). Jan 4, 5 (Scott)
Saturdays: 13 (Scott), 20th (Scott and Tom)
In addition we both have a good smattering of weekdays between the 15th (monday) and the 25th (Thursday).
If you’d like to book one of our few remaining days, give me a call on my cell phone at 919 423 6310
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