My Weekend Washington Hunt (a bit long w/ pics)

[jokester]

Well, steelheadslayer and I have been trying to hook up for the last 2 years and do some duckin'. We've fished before, and have talked about hunting together, but our schedules have never worked out. As luck would have it, the stars finally aligned and we got out last week. He had Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off, and I got my 3-day WA license and we were off!

Thursday we hunted Ridgefield WMA. I had never hunted there before, so Earl told me he'd show me the joint and how things worked. We got our blind early, and headed out in anticipation of whistling wings and cupped, committed fowl. Unfortunately, just after daylight, we got fogged in something fierce and it stuck around the rest of the day with just tiny 10 minute periods of clearing. Ended up bagging it around 2:00 with only one drake spooney to show.

I don't get to hunt the river much, due to not having a boat, so Friday Earl and I ventured out on the big CR. We setup Friday, and within the first few hours, we knew we weren't where the ducks wanted to be. They kept flying about 100 yards outside our spread. We mixed some things up, and ended up getting some shots, but nothing really decoying. Ended up walking around a bit doing some scouting for the next day, and bagged it with one drake blue bill and one Suzie. I had a beautiful drake bufflehead come into the spread, but dead-eye jokester couldn't hit squat, so he flew off unscathed. However, we now had insider information on where the birds wanted to be! :grin:

Saturday, I met Earl and his buddy Joe and Joe's dog Magnum, and we were off again to hunt the Columbia. Earl said we were gonna do some fast and furious diver hunting, and I was cool with that becuase I had never hunted them before. Didn't know what was in store, but dang was I in for a treat!! Same place as the day before, however, from yesterday's work, we knew where the birds wanted in. Setup our spread and tucked back in the marshgrass. About 10 minutes later, the shooting commenced!! We got 3 blue bill drakes in about 10 minutes and then had a little lull in the action. Earl and Joe were off doing something in the boat, and they yelled back at me "Kill that goose coming behind ya!" I blew them off cause I thought they were kidding me, but as I turned around, there was a honker coming low over the top of the trees. My high tech goose training kicked in and I scanned for the breast color...WHITE!!! Pulled up the gun and 1st shot missed, 2nd shot connected and broke a wing. He locked up and sailed off into the island right across the slough we were hunting and since they were already with the boat, Earl, Joe, and Magnum were on him in a flash. Magnum made a great retrieve after some hard work of the goose diving on him and I hear them recover the goose from where I was! WHOOO HOOOO...my 1st goose!! Well, as they're recovering the goose, I see this little whisp of white flying towards our dekes. HEY! It's that drake bufflehead again...this time, he didn't leave



I do believe i'm gonna have this one mounted...just a beautiful bird!!

We called it a day about 12:30 with 9 blue bill, 1 bufflehead, and my honker! I now know why you guys hunt divers!!! What a kick in the pants! And to say that Joe's dog Magnum was just on from the get-go would be an understatement. What a well trained dog...a joy to hunt over!!

Earl, Joe, and Magnum


Myself and Earl


My 1st three birds of the day



Total for 3 days: 1 drake spoonie, 1 hen mallard, 10 bluebill, 1 drake bufflehead, and 1 western! My 1st time hunting WA, my 1st time hunting with Earl, my 1st time hunting divers, my 1st bufflehead, and my 1st goose...who could ask for more?? :grin:

Earl, I couldn't have had a better time even if we shot limits everyday Thank you once again, and hope to do it again soon!!

-jokester

[MarshBum]

Remember, divers taste terrible, they are stupid, and aren't much fun to shoot. Be sure to tell all your friends that

Divers are the shiz. Go hunt them for a month straight, then line up on a mallard. It will seem like a giant pinata waiting to smashed. You feel like you have all the time in the world.

Sweet stuff there Jokester.

Geoff

[Tulelicious]

Good job, it sounds like you had a great time.

[steelheadslayer]

Aaron,
It was a pleasure to hunt with you, besides, the lunches were pretty good too.

I had a great time, I myself didn't kill all that many birds, my vent rib must be bent or something.

I always have fun hunting divers or anything else on the Lower Columbia. It was great to get Aaron into his firsts for the week, spoonie, bluebill, bufflehead, and a very nice western goose for Christmas dinner. That made my week. When I get my OR license next month Aaron, you're gonna have to show me how to hunt urban ducks.

[Daffyblaster]

So, Aaron, how many shells did you use? Were you practicing your ammo conservation skills on this hunt? Obviously not with all those birds. Congrats on the first, buddy! Looks like you had a great time out there!

Gil

[steelheadslayer]

Gil, Aaron left his parka at my house the night before. When i put it in the truck that morning I almost got a hernia. When I helped him get it out after the hunt it was light as a feather.

Actually, Aaron shot pretty well as did my buddy Joe. As for me, well, let's just say Aaron knows why I don't post that many pics of ducks.

[jokester]

I tried to be the long standing ammo conservationist that I am...however, when you've got that many ducks screaming by your decoys, you're gonna miss every once in awhile I missed plenty! :grin:

-jokester

[Daffyblaster]

Sweet, man! You might actually have to buy some more shells before next season!

[jokester]

Originally Posted by Daffyblaster

Sweet, man! You might actually have to buy some more shells before next season!

Hey now...don't be going that far :grin: I think i'll be able to last till the end of the season. Got 2 boxes left!

-jokester

[FeatherBusterOSU]

Sweet pics looks like fun. I've never actually been on a "diver" hunt either I think it could be fun.

-Jimmy

[Daffyblaster]

Yeah, me either. At least not an "intentional" diver hunt. I've had one where that's all that was coming in. Chest high and mach 1. It was more like shooting in self defense than hunting!

[Northwest Pest]

Nice job guys. Divers are fast and make for a fun shoot. Green heads are good too but seem way to easy to shoot.

[Ethical hunter]

Lots of firsts, great job! Diver hunts can be a lot of fun. You should try shooting bluebills from a boat over decoy stings in 35 knot winds - it is quite challenging.

EH

[quackersnacker]

Way to go Aaron! Love the pic of that honker and buffle together.

[Keeper]

Looks like a great time and a couple of very nice looking drakes!

[billc_sbio]

Nice!

[Super Fluke]

Nice job