Gotta luv it

[arkansasbasser]

I grew up duck hunting in Arkansas and I gotta say, I didn't know how good I had it. Down there, hunting in the woods, you just motor through the timber until you get to your hole. Then you jump out on rock hard flooded ground, about knee deep. Put a cover over the boat. Pitch the dekes out, sidle up to a tree on the shady side and get ready. There is so much cover around you that it makes it much harder for the ducks to spot you. You must call more in the timber to get them to come in to the hole but when you get them in it's a massacre. The ducks try to back peddle straight up and out of the hole, like they came in, and you have tremendous hang time while they are trying to get out. Most of the time, you don't need a dog. They are nice, but not a neccesity. The best hunting is on cold, blue bird days. We stayed home when it rained. The sun also makes it much easier to ID the drakes.

Then I moved up here. Nasty weather. Tides. Long walks carring tons of gear. Boggy bottoms that pull your waders off. The hide is much more important here. Calling is done sparingly. Going back to check on your boat. You must have a dog here. On the plus side, there are 107 days of hunting versus around 60 if your lucky down there. And 7 birds, versus a 4 bird average there.

You gotta love it to do it here. I do or I wouldn't keep doing it. In fact, I might have never started duck hunting had I lived here all my life. My hats off to all you waterfowlers from the PNW. I have learned much about hunting here from you all. It's harder, but still a blast.

[Teton]

Originally Posted by arkansasbasser

. . . It's harder, but still a blast.

That about sums it up.

I grew up shooting ducks on my own private pond in the middle of nowhere in Eastern Idaho, the only open water for miles. Easy peasy. Hundreds of ducks on the pond at a time. No decoys, calling or camo necessary. They just piled in. No need to distinguish birds because they were all Mallards. Nobody to compete with. No tidal fluctuations.

Not any more!

[Hunt'nFish]

Originally Posted by Teton

Easy peasy. Hundreds of ducks on the pond at a time. No decoys, calling or camo necessary. They just piled in. No need to distinguish birds because they were all Mallards. Nobody to compete with. No tidal fluctuations.

I hear ya. It was sooooo much easier.

But like AB said, waterfowl hunting is a way of life. I love it anyway I can get it.
But man I gotta tell ya I sure would have a hard time giving up the flooded river timber hunts.
Can't wait for the river to come up more.
"I'm singing in the rain".........Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain.
Then a good hard freeze.....
Hunt'nFish

[Teton]

Originally Posted by Hunt'nFish

. . .
Then a good hard freeze.....
Hunt'nFish

That's what I'm talking about. Too hot around here in winter if you ask me.

[Threemuch]

Originally Posted by arkansasbasser

You must call more in the timber to get them to come in to the hole but when you get them in it's a massacre. .

I have been watching this on Waterfowler TV. Massacre is right. 10 ducks land in the hole, and they just keep calling until there are so many birds piled up 30 yards from where the hunters stand it is nuts. It looks so easy. I don't even see decoys being used. And then they just slaughter them as the ducs try to fly straight up to get back out of the timber. It looks like it would be hard to finish out and make sure you don't go over limit.

[Linejerk]

Originally Posted by arkansasbasser

I grew up duck hunting in Arkansas and I gotta say, I didn't know how good I had it. Down there, hunting in the woods, you just motor through the timber until you get to your hole. Then you jump out on rock hard flooded ground, about knee deep. Put a cover over the boat. Pitch the dekes out, sidle up to a tree on the shady side and get ready. There is so much cover around you that it makes it much harder for the ducks to spot you. You must call more in the timber to get them to come in to the hole but when you get them in it's a massacre. The ducks try to back peddle straight up and out of the hole, like they came in, and you have tremendous hang time while they are trying to get out. Most of the time, you don't need a dog. They are nice, but not a neccesity. The best hunting is on cold, blue bird days. We stayed home when it rained. The sun also makes it much easier to ID the drakes.

Then I moved up here. Nasty weather. Tides. Long walks carring tons of gear. Boggy bottoms that pull your waders off. The hide is much more important here. Calling is done sparingly. Going back to check on your boat. You must have a dog here. On the plus side, there are 107 days of hunting versus around 60 if your lucky down there. And 7 birds, versus a 4 bird average there.

You gotta love it to do it here. I do or I wouldn't keep doing it. In fact, I might have never started duck hunting had I lived here all my life. My hats off to all you waterfowlers from the PNW. I have learned much about hunting here from you all. It's harder, but still a blast.

I was born and raised in Vancouver WA so i don't know any better but I would sure like to try it your way some time sounds like fun, but the good thing about it being so hard is if it was easy everyone would do it, come late Dec it's only us hard core guy's out in the blinds and all the Italian made over under guy's are at home leaving all the birds for us

[arkansasbasser]

I have been thinking about waiting until late season (their season just began last Sat.) and driving night and day with a few hardcore hunters to get there. It takes 2 days and 1 night. Then hooking up with some old friends and doing some timber hunting for a few days. Now that gas is dropping. It's do-able.
They could let me know when and where. Late season is most times the best there. They close the season when the birds are really piling in. Like here.

[arkansasbasser]

Originally Posted by Threemuch

I have been watching this on Waterfowler TV. Massacre is right. 10 ducks land in the hole, and they just keep calling until there are so many birds piled up 30 yards from where the hunters stand it is nuts. It looks so easy. I don't even see decoys being used. And then they just slaughter them as the ducs try to fly straight up to get back out of the timber. It looks like it would be hard to finish out and make sure you don't go over limit.

You have to keep careful count until you get close and then assign someone to finish it up at the end.

Another thing, like Teton said, if it's a big duck, it's a mallard. There are tons of wood ducks that migrate down there as well, but it was easy to tell the difference. They bombed through the tree limbs at break neck speed and of course were a little smaller. The woodies ate so well there too. When you got one you could usually pop 4 or 5 acorns out of their craws. That's why they tasted so good.