A waterfowlin journey

waterfowlin101 · 01-20-2009, 03:33 PM

The players: Marshbum and myself

The weapons: Two rusted up 870's

The location: Don't make me lie to you

The plan: Two hunters, given one and one-half days of hunting try and take 1 drake of as many species of duck as possible.

THE MISSION: 14 drakes of different species

The story: Geoff and I decided it was time to try something different. Anyone could go out and whack a limit of greenheads, and all drake days have been done before, but this....this was something different. We set out at noon on Saturday, and decided by the end of shoot time on Sunday our goal was to have taken 14 drakes of completely different species. Seems simple you say....start doing the math. Furthermore, we decided that it would be that much more of an accomplishment to have done this in a particular area, so we kept all of our hunting within a five mile radius of a specific central location of which we will spare you the details of. I will tell you this though, I have been hunting all of my life, and I have set many goals for myself and for a hunting crew. None of these have compared to this goal both in difficulty and satisfaction. Geoff and I experienced many highs and many lows. We relished in each success that brought us one step closer to our goal, but at the same time, with every missed opportunity and struggle, we realized the difficulty of the task at hand.

At the end of the day Sunday, we looked at our pile, which was far fewer birds than our guns could have dropped had we just been shooting birds, and grinned at each other with proud hearts and satisfied souls. We stuck to our plan. We never waivered from the goal previously set forward. Any even though we did not meet this goal, we both knew deep inside that it wasn't the goal we were really after at all, it was the journey we experienced along the way.

The take:

From left to right

drake bufflehead
drake ringneck
drake greater scaup
drake common goldeneye
drake surf scoter
drake mallard
drake northern pintail
drake american widgeon
drake greenwing teal
drake hooded merganser
drake ruddy duck

11 species of different drakes, just three short of the goal.

Geoff my brother....It was epic....I can't wait till next time!!!

Jon

sprigkiller09 · 01-20-2009, 03:36 PM

That is awesome Jon and Geoff!! For you guys to get 11 drakes of different species is something else. Thanks for sharing!! Oh and next year i expect 14... sorry i had to

Headhunter · 01-20-2009, 03:38 PM

That is waterfowling right there! Ducking is one thing, this is on another level. Thanks for sharing!

MarshBum · 01-20-2009, 03:42 PM

Waterfowling is way more fun that duck hunting.

There was a time in my life that I would not have passed on a big fat greenhead in order to have a chance at a teal.

Thanks Jon. One of the best.

Geoff

Chesapeake · 01-20-2009, 04:20 PM

Did you drop any others due to collateral damage?

I'm impressed that you found an area 5 miles big that harbored all those different species. Thats coastal marsh at its best.

BrotherWolf · 01-20-2009, 04:24 PM

Thats just sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

lor · 01-20-2009, 04:27 PM

Very nice.

Mossyhorn · 01-20-2009, 04:38 PM

That is "THE" coolest thing I've seen as far as waterfowling this year! Congrats to you both! Did you miss on any species that would have put you to the 14 mark? How many different setups did you make to make that happen?

Very cool, and an awesome accomplishment. Thanks for sharing.

billc_sbio · 01-20-2009, 04:43 PM

Nice Challenge...

"Collect the Entire Set!"

Hunt'nFish · 01-20-2009, 04:43 PM

As Jon would say......THAT'S JUST PLAIN DIRTY!!!
Very nice guys!
Hunt'nFish

lentz · 01-20-2009, 05:00 PM

Congrats gents!!!

Adjhunt · 01-20-2009, 05:06 PM

Are you sure that wasn't SI??
Cause I've seen all those birds out on the Island....

Nice scoter!

jnicholson · 01-20-2009, 07:51 PM

fun hunt guys, great post.

John and Bucky

Headhunter · 01-20-2009, 09:55 PM

The more I look at this thread and think about it, the more I am in awe.

Just Saturday I started my day with a nice drake Gadwall and then a sprig, followed my a bluebill. I was thinking I had a chance to do something special as i had killed lots of widge, mallards, buffs there too. I passed up hen mallards, and a drake buff right out of the gate and probably could have limited in mixed bag of just killing ducks.

To be in an area where all of them come together, have the self control/discipline to hold fire, pick out the drakes, make the shot, retreive the bird to hand....bravo. That is a fine example of being a waterfowler. One day I aspire to be have the skills to do something like this.

Again that is really really cool guys.

redfish89 · 01-21-2009, 05:45 AM

Very cooool

Wreckless · 01-21-2009, 08:21 AM

Impressive!!!!

Way to set the bar!!!

"anybody can shoot a limit of greenheads".......

I say this because I had 2 greenheads hanging over the decoys last Sunday. When I popped out of my Final Approach, my SAFETY WAS STUCK!!!!!! Insert whining icon here!!!!

That wouldn't have happened with my ol' 870!!!!!

Congrats on an epic hunt!!!!

waterfowlin101 · 01-21-2009, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mossyhorn

That is "THE" coolest thing I've seen as far as waterfowling this year! Congrats to you both! Did you miss on any species that would have put you to the 14 mark? How many different setups did you make to make that happen?

Very cool, and an awesome accomplishment. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the kind words!!

To answer your questions...

It took several setups each day...

and I wouldn't say we missed (cause we didn't shoot, but we did see E. Widgeon). So I would say the best we could have done if everything would have went perfect was 12.

...and yes....we accidentally killed 2 hen scaup on Saturday, but they made for some great breakfast to go along with our coffee Sunday morning before the hunt.

...and the rest of the story is...Geoff and I decided that the only thing better than getting 14 different drakes was (since we were spanning two days, was to double up on as many as we could!!)

We wouldn't have been able to get all 14 this way anyway on account of the two hen scaup

.

but we did double up on 8 of the 11 species...which made for a great pic with the rusty guns!!

Jon

ogrejager · 01-21-2009, 11:20 AM

That's awesome, Jon, Geoff!

Nw dukn · 01-21-2009, 11:57 AM

Niiiiiice set of DRAKES..

Chesapeake · 01-21-2009, 12:19 PM

I'm impressed.

I'de say not only are you two in a very small group of guys that could pull that off, but your in an even smaller group of guys that would eat all of those different ducks without resorting to pepperoni or other methods of disguising the taste.

My hats off to the true waterfowlers that will pan fry and eat thier harvest.

MarshBum · 01-21-2009, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chesapeake

IMy hats off to the true waterfowlers that will pan fry and eat thier harvest.

We had this discussion before we started. I hunt and eat divers regularly, so I was totally down with making sure we ate what we killed. Jon didn't need any convincing... he had this recipe in his back pocket.

Seriously, I'm shooting more buffleheads now (I already shoot enough blue bills). Stripping up the breast, soaking in water for a while, dredging in "Pride of the West" and frying in Canola Oil... I couldn't stop eating them. It was down right grub-a-licious. The best part... later in the day we could eat them cold right out of the zip lock bag when we needed something in our stomachs.

Thanks for the new recipe Jon!

Geoff

DakotaTheKiller · 01-21-2009, 01:40 PM

Don't get me wrong, congratulations to everyone out there shooting birds.. But those hunts are the coolest ones I've heard about in my life.. That's awesome! Congratulations!

sealgal2008 · 01-21-2009, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waterfowlin101

The players: Marshbum and myself

The weapons: Two rusted up 870's

The location: Don't make me lie to you

The plan: Two hunters, given one and one-half days of hunting try and take 1 drake of as many species of duck as possible.

THE MISSION: 14 drakes of different species

The story: Geoff and I decided it was time to try something different. Anyone could go out and whack a limit of greenheads, and all drake days have been done before, but this....this was something different. We set out at noon on Saturday, and decided by the end of shoot time on Sunday our goal was to have taken 14 drakes of completely different species. Seems simple you say....start doing the math. Furthermore, we decided that it would be that much more of an accomplishment to have done this in a particular area, so we kept all of our hunting within a five mile radius of a specific central location of which we will spare you the details of. I will tell you this though, I have been hunting all of my life, and I have set many goals for myself and for a hunting crew. None of these have compared to this goal both in difficulty and satisfaction. Geoff and I experienced many highs and many lows. We relished in each success that brought us one step closer to our goal, but at the same time, with every missed opportunity and struggle, we realized the difficulty of the task at hand.

At the end of the day Sunday, we looked at our pile, which was far fewer birds than our guns could have dropped had we just been shooting birds, and grinned at each other with proud hearts and satisfied souls. We stuck to our plan. We never waivered from the goal previously set forward. Any even though we did not meet this goal, we both knew deep inside that it wasn't the goal we were really after at all, it was the journey we experienced along the way.

The take:

From left to right

drake bufflehead
drake ringneck
drake greater scaup
drake common goldeneye
drake surf scoter
drake mallard
drake northern pintail
drake american widgeon
drake greenwing teal
drake hooded merganser
drake ruddy duck

11 species of different drakes, just three short of the goal.

Geoff my brother....It was epic....I can't wait till next time!!!

Jon

What a neat idea! I'm glad you guys are targeting drakes.

The rudy is my favorite duck (for looking at not eating) and I was hoping you guys have a better picture of that Rudy. From the one photo I cannot tell if that is a drake or not, it could go either way but I think it looks a lot like a hen.

Anyway, great hunt.

Betty

MarshBum · 01-21-2009, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sealgal2008

From the one photo I cannot tell if that is a drake or not, it could go either way but I think it looks a lot like a hen.

The photo doesn't show it, but there's no black bar across the white cheek patch.

Geoff

sealgal2008 · 01-21-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarshBum

The photo doesn't show it, but there's no black bar across the white cheek patch.

Geoff

I see. What about the deep rust colored breast and sides that the drakes have, the breast of the bird in the photo looks gray.

Betty

MarshBum · 01-21-2009, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sealgal2008

I see. What about the deep rust colored breast and sides that the drakes have, the breast of the bird in the photo looks gray.

Betty

That coloration is the breeding plumage which, unlike most other birds, Ruddys do not have this time of year. The nice bright blue bill is something hunters never see.

Geoff

HuntNFishAddict · 01-21-2009, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarshBum

We had this discussion before we started. I hunt and eat divers regularly, so I was totally down with making sure we ate what we killed. Jon didn't need any convincing... he had this recipe in his back pocket.

Seriously, I'm shooting more buffleheads now (I already shoot enough blue bills). Stripping up the breast, soaking in water for a while, dredging in "Pride of the West" and frying in Canola Oil... I couldn't stop eating them. It was down right grub-a-licious. The best part... later in the day we could eat them cold right out of the zip lock bag when we needed something in our stomachs.

Thanks for the new recipe Jon!

Geoff

Geoff,
Did I read this right? You are shooting more buffleheads. I seem to remember a conversation that went something like this "I don't shoot buffleheads, they are not worth the time." I don't recall the exact wording, but it was something of this nature.

Anyway, I am proud of you guys. That was quite a feat. As far as shooting all Green, I am still waiting. I always seem to get 6 out of 7.

UnoMas · 01-21-2009, 04:55 PM

Hey if you ever need another gunner let me know!!!!

Great looking birds, solidly filled out!

seabass · 01-21-2009, 05:21 PM

Impressive!

H2Ofuzz · 01-21-2009, 06:56 PM

WOW:applau se:

Clamman · 01-21-2009, 07:01 PM

Just out of curiosity what were the unobtainable drake species?

Clam

MarshBum · 01-21-2009, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clamman

Just out of curiosity what were the unobtainable drake species?

Clam

We say three E. Wigeon.

We were hoping to get lucky on a white winged scoter, black scoter, Barrow's Goldeneye, or a lesser scaup.

Geoff

Mossyhorn · 01-21-2009, 09:39 PM

WOW! THE SECOND PIC IS EVEN COOLER! I could only dream of something like that. I have a hard enough time shooting a limit of anything, LOL!

merten · 01-22-2009, 10:47 AM

nice work good luck this weekend

john merten

Tulelicious · 01-22-2009, 11:52 AM

My hats off to you guys. This is what its all about. Its not just meat in the freezer or about getting a limits at whatever the cost. Its about Successful hunt and what that means to you. Definatly makes me think more about why I love waterfowling so much.

Good Job, Im sure this very post will have a positive impact on a bunch of people.