Post-Season 2018

[Ericdc]

Funny that is brought up but apparently females hunt all the time at a certain camp in NE Louisiana called MEGABUCKS

Hahahahahaha ladies night in jones


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[Ericdc]

oh we not going there my friend --- but when there is a stage in a camp with a bar on the other side, complete with seating, hum? interesting

His relationship status has changed though in the last couple years so maybe things are different.


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[Darren]

in the erik rue hunt---did the guide just cluck?---they used to all do what we called the exploding chicken---too me sounds like a double cluck run started high and let down

or

did the guide use yodels,cluck,murmur,etc...

lot of his stuff the birds are already hot on the field---he knows what he's doing

when they are in that mode, you just steer them a hair and shoot,they break on the field on their own so you skip to finish sounds

Can't recall the specifics, but dont recall it being out of normal range of speck calling cadences. We always shot them at gimme range, in close. Usually had good hunts with them but it got to be too expensive for just a day hunt, and staying at the lodge is good ways from hunt location.

[aunt betty]

You're not living right until you've made the "tampon-run" for the ladies at a duck camp.
Gee God what all I've went thru just to shoot a duck.

[Darren]

that's what he was known for --- close kill shots in the hole--- but from what I understand even his hunting has dwindled over the past couple of years

Been 7-8 years since I've gone with them so haven't kept up. I'm sure costs of procuring those fields has steadily climbed

[Rick]

At an absolute minimum we will work on some divider bundles for next season, I even bought the materials for them this season but never got around to making them. Though the lid may be largely closed and grassed when just two or three hunters, the holes we do open are indeed usually more open than what would be ideal and most effective on geese studying the rig.

Darren, you'll probably find that leaving blind covers on when hunting by yourself or even with one other man can turn the pit into an echo chamber that screws up your calling. And divider bundles are apt to produce unnatural square holes. Too many of our guys who've I've converted to bundles (after learning to use them from Matt Walsh's Eastern Shore cornfield pits in the early '80s) end up making grass logs: big (durable) bundles tied near both ends. Far better for concealment (and visibility out) to use a lot of small bundles tied only once in the middle and fanned out from that tie. Make enough that folks can pull some overhead and still see out through the fanned grass. Such bundles will need replaced more often as they break up from use, but serve a whole lot better in my experience.

For the marsh blinds we can get away with much taller cover using the prevalent salt bush and some roseau cane, no issues there.

Now that I'm in the marsh, the overhead cover portion of our speck (and big duck) puzzle is a whole lot more problematic, as bundles that roll off an ag pit and onto the levee when we stand to shoot would end up in the pond. Having all my cane loose and only held in place by cattle panels lets us pull some of it over the dark hole (which the camo painted curtains hanging inside of the pit help make smaller) when a party is willing and able can help, but crowd control remains huge when birds get overhead.

So it behooves me to do my level best to afford our far too few speck chances (but also big ducks) the calling slack to work down well out over the marsh, rather than inadvertently encouraging them to work overhead. Hard, hard, hard for me to maintain the discipline to do so with our area's gunfire clock ticking double-time in my head, but it's the only way we get to shoot our specks finishing at eye level, instead of chipping away at them high overhead.

[Rick]

Thinking about pit concealment reminds me of an all-time favorite fresh levee hide a friend and I once rigged for private blind leased by a fellow he guided for. Dug the dirt up around the pit to match the levee and made individual 1/2" pvc framed covers with camo netting painted "dry dirt" on one side and "wet dirt" on the other. Bill and I shot an awful lot of landing specks from that set-up, but he told me the doctor that leased it and his buddies never could figure out just sliding their light covers back out of the way while rising and were forever getting their gun barrels stuck in the netting.

Some folks, even otherwise very intelligent ones, just aren't meant to be predators...

[aunt betty]

When I stayed at "club-x" for a whole season they had me build some covers to their very strict specifications. lol
Really didn't want anything to do with designing them. The guys found out I was a carpenter. They tested me by asking me to pound nails into oak boards they built the blind out of. Took me 3 or 4 bent nails but I finally got the bench nailed down again.
They elected me "blind cover builder" and off we went to the J-town lumber yard.

First they made me paint the pits then they pointed at the pile of "sticks" and tiny nails they'd bought.
Recall thinking that "these guys think I'm Rumplestiltskin and am going to spin straw into gold".

So I nailed together their little "sticks" and stapled some mesh to them. They used fabric. It was cheap and they fell apart on day one. I'm so glad I kept my mouth shut about designing the covers right. They blamed me for everything that failed in that camp so finally I left them to their misery. It was getting pretty miserable watching all the waterfowl heading the wrong way every day way up high.

Went to public and slaughtered the greenheads which is why I was there in the first place.


Secretly I wanted to build them out of PVC but they were all stuck in "he can pound nails" mode.

[Darren]

At an absolute minimum we will work on some divider bundles for next season, I even bought the materials for them this season but never got around to making them. Though the lid may be largely closed and grassed when just two or three hunters, the holes we do open are indeed usually more open than what would be ideal and most effective on geese studying the rig.

Darren, you'll probably find that leaving blind covers on when hunting by yourself or even with one other man can turn the pit into an echo chamber that screws up your calling. And divider bundles are apt to produce unnatural square holes. Too many of our guys who've I've converted to bundles (after learning to use them from Matt Walsh's Eastern Shore cornfield pits in the early '80s) end up making grass logs: big (durable) bundles tied near both ends. Far better for concealment (and visibility out) to use a lot of small bundles tied only once in the middle and fanned out from that tie. Make enough that folks can pull some overhead and still see out through the fanned grass. Such bundles will need replaced more often as they break up from use, but serve a whole lot better in my experience.

For the marsh blinds we can get away with much taller cover using the prevalent salt bush and some roseau cane, no issues there.

Now that I'm in the marsh, the overhead cover portion of our speck (and big duck) puzzle is a whole lot more problematic, as bundles that roll off an ag pit and onto the levee when we stand to shoot would end up in the pond. Having all my cane loose and only held in place by cattle panels lets us pull some of it over the dark hole (which the camo painted curtains hanging inside of the pit help make smaller) when a party is willing and able can help, but crowd control remains huge when birds get overhead.

So it behooves me to do my level best to afford our far too few speck chances (but also big ducks) the calling slack to work down well out over the marsh, rather than inadvertently encouraging them to work overhead. Hard, hard, hard for me to maintain the discipline to do so with our area's gunfire clock ticking double-time in my head, but it's the only way we get to shoot our specks finishing at eye level, instead of chipping away at them high overhead.

Will give that bundle method a shot and report back for more info when season is on us. I was surprised by how wide open Clyde's blind was when I hunted it this season; wide open over the top and nothing propped forward or behind blind like what you use. Granted Clyde wasn't there, but didn't notice any portable items that would have been employed had he been there. I did like Isaac's bundles that seemed to do us pretty well so long as no one broke them down....got to go UNDER them to get to other end of blind, not through them! haha Regardless of what you choose to do, it would likewise drive me nuts watching guests tear it up or not take proper advantage of how it's supposed to help them kill more birds.

[Rick]

I was surprised by how wide open Clyde's blind was when I hunted it this season; wide open over the top and nothing propped forward or behind blind like what you use.

Pretty sure that's how he hunts it, and whatever goes over the top gets shot at on the first pass. I can't hit squat up where he sometimes clips them, but others are apparently fine with it. Only common complaint I hear is that his cane cover is broken over too high for short people to shoot low little birds - but it probably saves a few decoys.

Was sorry he was off deer hunting when you were there.

[Rick]

in the erik rue hunt---did the guide just cluck?---they used to all do what we called the exploding chicken---too me sounds like a double cluck run started high and let down

Speaking of Rue's chicken, it appears popular in not-so-sunny NE California. Just saw this on another site:

[Ericdc]

It’s really hard to judge from videos and I watched first 5 minutes but man it looks like those birds were shot first pass and flaring hard before shot was called. Lot of birds falling though.

Everyone would probably agree west coast specks are the most gullible?


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[aunt betty]

Speaking of California I recently watched a pretty cool YT video about a ghost town called Drawbridge, Ca.
Here watch it for yourselves and you can clearly see how much (I mean little) our nation really cares about the environment it's charged with protecting.

Before you disregard the video it's about duck hunting sort of. "Duck hunting paradise".
Enjoy



then cry at the end.

[Ericdc]

They were definitely on the x.

Might have better said that specks out west aren’t pressured as much as here, which is obvious by the days of season and bag limit they have.


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[Darren]

They're falling in that speck vid but lawd they are high, even if GoPro footage. Johnny and Raymond run them on some of our hunts and the birds definitely look further than they are.

[aunt betty]

I could not believe how far we were shooting specks from and how dead they were. The Canadas I'm used to are much tougher.
Is that just me or has anyone else had enough experience to observe the same?
I'm still learning so humor me.

[Rick]

The Ohio Valley Canadas I was used to were much tamer than specks. We'd as often or more so as not land them, then being sportsmen and all, flush and shoot them a foot or two off the ground. Wasn't at all hard to kill them.

Repainted my very successful mixed decoy Canada spread as specks when I moved here in '83, but didn't start finishing specks until I ditched the six or seven dozen silhouettes and three dozen one-piece Carry-Lite shells and just used the dozen better looking G&H shells that remained.

If you were stoning them all or perhaps even most, I'd guess the specks' smaller size made them appear higher to a Canada hunter than they were.

[aunt betty]

Sorry I meant that Honkers are harder to bring down. Treetop a Canada and you're going to get to watch the mile-long death glide. Don't do it.
Decoying them is easier, much easier, and even "caterwalling" will get them curious enough to take a look. Plus you don't have to work and work and work on the call. It's not easy but compared to specks is child's play.
Comparing the excitement level...oh God specks get me all quivering.

[Rick]

I was surprised by how wide open Clyde's blind was when I hunted it this season; wide open over the top and nothing propped forward or behind blind like what you use.

Been plotting to exploit the little birds staying between Clyde and I, and was reminded of the above by the latest (12/1/17) in-season satellite shot:

[Rick]

---to me,if you are under traffic there is no reason why you should not be killing geese,period

Been my early morning experience that it sure do help if that traffic you're under is over a potential feeding area. Tough to stop a feeding flight to ag land while sitting in the marsh. (Even worse than being in a dry field late in the day when most birds are headed to roost.) Throw in a lot of area gunfire, and you've got yourself a puzzle.

Don't see specks coming, going or sideways over my part of the marsh most days and often feel I'm conceding too many as locked in on ag land on those when there is a high flight out of the marsh. But hailing too many without success is like "crying wolf" to guests who soon grow deaf to it and go on about the business of looking like men in the marsh, instead of watching their hunting Ps and Qs. Still, it's gotten so marsh speck hunting is about the only speck hunting I've left, so we're working on improving it...

[SpinnerMan]

Tough to stop a feeding flight to ag land while sitting in the marsh.

Where I duck hunt, we usually see a ton of Canadas doing just that.

Unless I am bored, I only call at singles and those that are looking for something.

Even worse than being in a dry field late in the day when most birds are headed to roost.

If they let us hunt that half hour between sunset and dark, I'd hunt geese every day where I duck hunt. They bomb right in, but rarely do they start heading back before LST is over.

it's gotten so marsh speck hunting is about the only speck hunting I've left, so we're working on improving it...

Not an option I'm sure, but we built three small fields. They want fields, so we gave them fields.

We get a ton flying over the water at our club. If specks are like Canadas, it's just about hopeless unless you cross paths with those rare birds looking for something. Singles and birds that are showing signs are all I call at unless I'm bored which is often enough to confirm what I have learned. They just left water and are looking for dinner. But the rare birds that are not, you can read their body language. If they show no signs, you are just crying wolf.

Do specks respond to flags like Canadas? Hit them with the flag and if they show signs of responding, then you will be calling at birds that have shown interest and your guests will take your speck calling more seriously. I should flag more at the passing geese. We just get so many geese flying over us that mostly when duck hunting I just watch them unless I see something or am really bored. It's also why I try to get one of the goose fields. Hunt ducks until the geese start to fly and then hop over to the field.

My main duck hunting partner has an annoying habit of not putting out any goose decoys in the water. He usually goes out the night before and sets up when we have a good blind for the week. I've bugged him about it. About once a year it costs as a goose or two. I call them over and then they hang up because there are no geese, just some guy hiding in the bushes. It's rare enough I just gave up, but it still annoys me, but I do appreciate him doing nearly all of the decoy setting and picking up, so I don't complain too much.

[Rick]

Makes me wonder how late you hunt, Spinner, as I've had some of my very best Canada hunting later in the morning over water the birds wanted after feeding in dry fields. Even got to where our main Ohio River spread was mostly geese with a few duck decoys on the side, as that seemed to work best for both birds. But our feeding fields here usually have water in the field, ruts or nearby.

Still, as one might expect, our far-and-away best speck chances in the marsh are on birds coming off of ag land looking to loaf and/or, perhaps, drink - or just lost?. We're at the bottom of a coastal marsh peninsula sticking up into farmland, and the marsh to our north is better situated between ag-lands and sees considerably more lateral traffic between those. Often hear them calling birds I can't see and know they kill considerably more specks than we do.

Re: flagging, I used to do a lot of it when hunting lay-out style in white spreads, actually walking around the spread, mostly laterally to the birds I was hoping to turn, flipping rags horizontally and running to "land" at my spot in the middle of the gun line when they did. (Got that idea after hearing about a Eastern Shore guide who did much the same in a goose suit his wife made for him. Was told he took so much abuse from other guides that he quit, but I've no pride whatsoever.) Got teased about my "goose dance," but it worked.

What hasn't worked nearly so well for me has been flagging from blinds outside of the spread, as it calls attention to our location and I quit experimenting with flags, per se, years ago. Have a friend still experimenting with "goose-hammer" (electronic version of pull-string "Magic Mikes") within his spread with mixed results, and still haven't talked my own self into using an Ex-Flapper decoy I've worked most of the kinks out of during fits of "gotta try it" over the past 3? or so years. Even set up a base for it on the flotant last season, but never used it. Excuse being: "Just one more thing to fool with that I'd rather not."

[SpinnerMan]

Makes me wonder how late you hunt, Spinner, as I've had some of my very best Canada hunting later in the morning over water the birds wanted after feeding in dry fields.

There are a million retention ponds in the area, so I think they hit water near where they are feeding and only come back when they are heading back to roost. Occasionally, some geese will come back for water, but it is rare. We see a ton head out, but very rare to see any coming back until sunset and most come back after dark.

Flagging geese from the duck blind. I only flag when the geese are far off. Any reaction, I stop flagging and immediately start calling. My duck blind flag is just a black square about 18" and I just make figure 8's in the air with it. I hunted on the Chesapeake bay in a shoreline water blind when I was 15. This is what we did and it worked. I went home and made my own flag and still have it. Only when I started hunting from pits did I get a better flag for using on birds closer in.

I prefer to flag at geese I think are hopeless than call at them. Never thought about the aspect that if I am hunting with others that they then take me calling as serious as opposed to me blowing the call at every goose we see. It works as well as calling, which is to say very rarely. Just something to think about for your situation.

[Darren]

I was surprised by how wide open Clyde's blind was when I hunted it this season; wide open over the top and nothing propped forward or behind blind like what you use.

Been plotting to exploit the little birds staying between Clyde and I, and was reminded of the above by the latest (12/1/17) in-season satellite shot:

After finally seeing things first hand from Clyde's vantage point, I'd definitely say there's some birds to be had off your back porch, especially teal but also others. Seemed a fair flight, on that one particular day at least, that was rebounding back westward from the ponds on east end as we'd see them pass us but later come trickling back. If you could see them.....who knows what it may turn up