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Oct 30 (Before work duck hunt)

Got out for a short hunt this AM. Not a lot going on, but enough for a fun hunt.

I got two drake mallards to come in as nice as could be. Bang, bang, bang. And they flew on as nice as could be. I must have had some of those same bad shells the guys shot at that goose yesterday

About a half hour later, a goose decides to swim and and make friends with my decoys. Bad mistake for him. Good luck for me.

I saw more mallards than I'd seen on any other day, but still not a whole lot. Still a few woodies hanging around, but nothing else.

I had about 20 or so geese come by and they seemed to love what I was saying, but unfortunately I had 4 goose decoys in the water. I think if I had been set up in the nearby field they would have all come in. They really responded nicely, but just couldn't get any of them to swing by close enough before they continued on toward the fields to the north.

And wow did I see a lot of geese in the fields and ponds driving to work.

Nov 1 (Saginaw Bay, MI)

I'm up in the Saginaw Bay area for three days of layout hunting with hopes of doing sea duck hunting out in Lake Huron. I'm hunting with my regular waterfowl traveling buddy Jeff, his nephew John and coworker Norris.

The first day the the winds offshore were too strong so plan B is diver hunting in Saginaw Bay.

The hunting was not as hot as hoped for, but certainly nothing to complain about. I got my first ever redhead, a nice drake Also picked up a hen bluebill, a drake goldeneye, and a hen hooded merganser. The total for all of us was 7 bufflehead, 1 goldeneye, 2 bluebills, 2 redheads, 1 hooded merganser, and 5 common mergansers.

Nov 2 (Lake Huron, MI)

On the second day of our hunt, the weather cooperated and we were able to go out into the lake for sea ducks. A whole lot more action than the first day. We saw a pile of birds and all four of us got our limits. We means I got my first ever legal 6 duck limit

Given that I have never even seen a sea duck before, it also means I got a new species, which is something that I really like

I got six old squaw. The group total was 22 old squaw, 1 white-winged scoter, and 1 bufflehead. And a whole lot of shells burned because it is some tough shooting.

My nice drake.


My limit.


Everybody's limit.

Whatcha gonna do with them?

A short video to show the view from the layout for those that have never done it. It's not exactly a stable platform.

It's hard as hell to shoot cripples from the layout in those kind of waves. That drake I got. I knocked it down, but it wasn't dead. Divers and sea ducks are real easy to lose because they can swim a longgggggg ways under water. After I shot 3 waves I gave up and hoped he would still be there when the tender boat showed up, which thankfully he was. I had just lost one a few minutes earlier the same way. Killed a few waves before it got out of range and it dove to neverland when the boat got close.

Rick wrote:Whatcha gonna do with them?

Something spicy

SpinnerMan wrote:A short video to show the view from the layout for those that have never done it. It's not exactly a stable platform.

It's hard as hell to shoot cripples from the layout in those kind of waves. That drake I got. I knocked it down, but it wasn't dead. Divers and sea ducks are real easy to lose because they can swim a longgggggg ways under water. After I shot 3 waves I gave up and hoped he would still be there when the tender boat showed up, which thankfully he was. I had just lost one a few minutes earlier the same way. Killed a few waves before it got out of range and it dove to neverland when the boat got close.

Layout hunting is one of those "musts," like green timber, that all God's waterfowlers should experience at least once. Though I don't mind admitting I've seen days when I was happier in the tender.

Wow, very cool! Thanks for sharing, and congrats on the new species to your list, including the waves

I guess you'd have to pivot at the hip to stabilize things? Whats the limit on waves?...

Wave limit varies with alcohol and pickled egg intake.

DComeaux wrote:I guess you'd have to pivot at the hip to stabilize things? Whats the limit on waves?...

It's like a freaking carnival game trying to shoot a cripple in 2-3' seas. He's going up and down and your going up and down. Now you see him, now you don't while your gun is up and down as you try to get it on him in that little window that you can see him before it drops into the next trough.

Not sure what the limit is, but I brought plenty of the waves home soaked up in anything that wasn't waterproof. I got stuff hanging around drying everywhere.

Hobbits don't like small boats.
Will pass on the layout experience.

Nov 3 (Lake Huron, MI)

A much calmer and beautiful day on the lake. At least to start and John and I was first up.

We had birds working before the last string of decoys was in the water. Things started off very quickly. I got a single and then shortly after I got a double. With the lighter waves, I could actually hit the ducks that still had their heads up

All three were long-tailed ducks without long tails. Hens or juveniles. I wanted to get at least one nice drake and was hoping to get a scoter. So I started trying to be a little choosy. A couple stub tails worked by me heading to John who was hunting the other layout. I let the pass and go to John. Another stub tail came in on suicide and I dropped her.

We had a HUGE flock working about 200-300 yards out in front. It was quite the wad of ducks. Unfortunately they never came our way, but it was quite a show.

About 20 ducks were looking good, but then slid off to the other side of John. Unfortunately I missed the other half of the flock because they came in from the sun. Until I noticed them they were too far to my right to shoot. There was a beautiful drake 25-30 yards away

A few more stub tails came by including two juvies that landed in the decoys. Then it slowed down quite a bit. But given it has slowed, I figured I better stop being so picky with 2 guys still in the tender boat that haven't got out yet. A nice sized stub tail came in decoying beautiful, so I take her. Clean miss on the next one. Then I got the sixth stub tail. A great day. A little disappointed I could get a long tail or a scoter, but far more excited about the great hunting.

We swapped out Jeff and Norris for John and I. Norris really struggled with his shooting. Jeff got 5 and was happy, so John swapped back in and ended up getting a beautiful drake among his last two. When we went to pick up John, Norris had had enough and called it day. Which may have been a good thing because the wind had started to really pick up and the seas were starting to build and it was getting a bit rough. We had a pretty bumpy run back to the ramp.

We ended up 16 old squaw, 2 scoters, and 1 common merganser.





One of the two redheads I bagged during the trip

SpinnerMan wrote:A little disappointed I could get a long tail or a scoter, but...

Now you've a great excuse to go back.

Rick wrote:

SpinnerMan wrote:A little disappointed I could get a long tail or a scoter, but...

Now you've a great excuse to go back.

No excuse needed. That was a lot of fun. I love being out on the water like that.

Jeff wants to hunt everyone of the Great Lakes. We'll probably be hitting Erie next fall.

Nov 7 (AM Archery hunt)

Did not see nor hear any signs of deer. Had a small bunch of cardinals hang around and a few other birds to at least keep it a little interesting.

I pulled my closest trail cam to see if deer activity had started to pick up. I think its been a week and a half or so since I last checked it. Not one single picture of anything on it

Things should be picking up. From end of Oct through about the 3rd week in Nov is prime time. To not have anything at all on the camera is very concerning.

Sounds like fun doing the layout thing Spinner, and congrats on your successes How was the back afterwards?

SpinnerMan wrote:To not have anything at all on the camera is very concerning.

Maybe you need to put a camera on the camera to catch whoever has been deleting your pics.

Deltaman wrote:Sounds like fun doing the layout thing Spinner, and congrats on your successes How was the back afterwards?

No problems with the back. One shot I either really poorly mounted my gun or got my waders buckle in between because I have a hell of a bruise on my shoulder.

aunt betty wrote:Maybe you need to put a camera on the camera to catch whoever has been deleting your pics.

I wish that were it. If they are deleting the pictures that means there are actually deer around that I might be able to shoot.

Nov 9 (Another archery bust)

For whatever reason, nobody is seeing hardly any deer in our area and things should have really started to pick up.

I pulled two other cameras I have in the area and had one picture of one deer in the middle of the night from a couple weeks ago. Hell, I'm not even getting pictures of coyotes or raccoons or birds or freaking anything at all any more.

I had a flock of about 10 really big geese fly over when I was walking out this AM. They were some big honkers. There are a bunch of really big geese around right now. About 2/3rds of the geese I get are in the 10-12 lb range and the biggest was 14 lbs on a fishing scale. 10-12 is normal around here so to stand out as big birds, they are big birds. Not as big as the flock of Mute swans I also so this AM, but all of them easily over 12 lbs. And I've noticed other really big birds around.

Nov 10 & 11 - bust archery hunts.

For a variety of reason, I won't be hunting for the next couple weeks. So that means for all practical purposes my archery season is over without even seeing a deer.

Far worse than the bust season is the reason I won't be hunting this week. My Dad is in very poor health and I wanted to make sure I got back to see him. There is a pretty good chance this could be the last time I see him. Hopefully not, but the time he has left is at most measured in months.

Good Luck with Dad Spinner, time well spent!

Your priorities are plainly in order.

My wife an I got back home on Tuesday night. Wednesday We went in to see my Dad. He was in very bad shape, but he knew me. We talked a little, as much as he could. Thursday he was unconscious when we arrived and we were with him when he passed.

My father is why I love hunting. I remember so many good times as a kid hunting and trapping with him. In his mid 40's he became seriously disabled with a neurological disorder that caused him a lot of pain and other serious problems and he has been unable to hunt for more than 20 years. He had really enjoyed duck hunting when he was younger, but had gotten away from it when hunting got really poor so I never hunted ducks or geese with him. I so wished he could have gotten out goose hunting with me. I know he would have loved it.

As tough as it is to lose him, it was his time and his suffering is over.

May he and those who love him know God's grace.

You have my condolences, Spinner.

Thanks.

Sorry to hear that you lost him Spinner, never easy, but glad you were there to say goodbye!

After the worst few weeks of my life, my Dad passed away 11/16 and my Mom passed away 11/24, both were in very poor health but fuck, it was nice to finally get out to do a little hunting.

Things are starting to get cold, although not as cold as I'd like. I decided to go out for a late day hunt just to get out. I really wasn't expecting to see anything, but it turned out to be a decent hunt. I probably saw 100 or more geese and a couple dozen ducks. Nothing showed any interest in what I had going on, but I was in the right spot. Took one goose out of a fast moving flock at the edge of my range. Should have had another one the same way but the goose I focused on started dipping and swerve like he knew I had singled him out and I missed.

Things are starting to freeze up.


The goose had a little bit of a hard landing


Fortunately he didn't hit too far from shore because I could have never rowed over there. Over there the ice was too thick. I drug the boat across the grass and pushed it out onto the ice and used it to retrieve him.

Hadn't known you lost your mother, as well, but it gather it may have been something of a blessing for her, given her circumstance and loss of he life mate. Glad your own path is returning to normal.