Eyes!!!!

 
  I am just in from one of the most memorable hunts i have ever done.

Ghost Town

   I have been wanting to pull off a diver hunt in the sound for the past few days.  I have been seeing a good amount around so i wanted to get in on some fast shooting action.  I got the boat and was at the ramp at 130pm.  I went out and set up my decoys: 16 Blue Bill, 6 Buffle Heads, and 2 Mergs.  When i was complete with my rig i got a phone call from my buddy who got out of work and wanted to go out.  So i took the 5 minute ride to a dock and picked him up.  On the way back out to the hunting grounds i noticed  a big wad of Buffle Heads in my decoys.  They jumped ship as we approached them and we were ready for some fun shooting.  Lots of gunning was not the case.  We had a lone Old Squaw buzz our decoys and my buddy didn't get a shot at it.  Finally at 10 of 4 i noticed a duck flying solo headed in our direction.  I told my buddy Mike to get ready because he is headed our way.  The duck closed the half mile distance in about 3 seconds and before i knew it he was in our decoys flapping his wings to set down.  I drew my Mossberg 835 and dropped him 4 feet off the surface of the water.  I knew this was a duck that i have not shot before so when i got up to it i saw a bright Blue Bill.  Wow!  A Blue Bill.  The whole thing was text book.  He was attempting to set down right in the landing zone i so carefully created when i hammered him.  That was it for the afternoon.  Compared to yesterday when i saw a ton of divers it was a Ghost Town today; however, i feel that it was a great hunt.  Today was 50 degrees with a light wind and my buddy and i had a bunch of laughs with out winter coats.  I can't wait to cook this one!

   Judging by the photo of the wing can someone tell me if this is a Greater or Less Scaup.

Two Down!!!!

The weather was great today.  I originally planned on a diver hunt this morning since i have been seeing a lot of blue bills and golden eyes, but my buddy canceled on me at the last minute.  I did not want to be setting out a ton of decoys by myself, so i scratched that idea.

Steel Shot

With the next few days looking to be a complete blow out i decided to take some time and contemplate what duck load i liked the best.  The first load i tried last year was the Black Cloud by the good people at Federal.  I shot my first few ducks with the Cloud, and it tore birds up.  Then i tried the Kent Fasteel.  This ammo did the job and was very affordable, but it lacked the extra punch i was looking for.  The Winchester Expert was flat out bad as i had BB sized pellets bouncing off Old squaw at 30 yards.  This current year i tried the new Remington Hypersonic #1's.  I had high hopes for this stuff with 1700FPS.  I was disappointed in it because i shot a Buffle Head  on Thanks Giving morning head on, and it needed a follow up shot, and another.  The first shot put the bird on the water with authority, but it did not do the job it needed too at 34 yards via my range finder.  Fast or not its still steel shot and should be treated as such.  I have also shot some of the Hevi-Shot loads and i have to say i really like them.  The difference is night and day when i comes to impact, and hit birds seldom go far.  The down side is that it is really expensive.  At $2.10-3.50 a shot prepare to sell the farm.  I was given Hevi-shot duck loads in #6 and another box in #2's   The 6's destroyed Birds, and the #2'  were a little over kill. 

      In conclusion i am going to stick with the Black Cloud for now.  It is affordable, patterns well, and hits hard, really hard.  Maybe next year i will cross over and buy a case of the Hevi-Shot duck loads. 

Out Again

 
Over sleeping is usually not good, and when it comes to duck hunting it seldom leads to good things.