Nice ShurShot! Still ice on the water too, glad we've been out of the ice box for a while here. Trying to gather up some video from Sundays hunt........incredible amount of birds, who didn't want to cooperate, but still fun hunts.
Had lots of birds Sunday morning who didn't want our end of the field..........2 pintails taken. Sunday evening is in the video, 4 mallards taken(one not found, Justin's daughter was carrying the other one around, lol.), incredible number of birds tornadoing over us, but wouldn't commit. Seems the later in the season, birds were clumped up by the hundreds and wouldn't trickle in for us. Great way to end the the last night of Zone 1...............time to move east a few miles for the last week of Zone 2!
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nice sprigs bobby, its been awhile since I've seen any around here. did a little scouting after our goose hunt this morning. wouldn't you know it, we found a pond and no-till field that we can hunt covered up in ducks!
All I can say is wow.............and I wish this was Zone 2! Hardly any geese in the pic, and this isn't all of them, most are still in the milo. Started some video rolling and ran out of room on my card!!!
DANG! - That's a LOT of birds!!!
Thanks for sharing....
Thanks for sharing....
Got out this morning for a couple of hours close to the house and had a hunt I'll never forget.
We had a few birds in and out of the decoys before LST, but I could already tell it was not going to be a lights out shoot by any means. About three minutes till LST we had a "ringneck" land about 60 yds off the decoys and slowly work towards the spread. He made it to the decoys on my side just about the time shooting light hit, but I didn't shoot as we were working a couple of groups of puddle ducks. Finally after a couple of minutes in the spread he decided to head out about the same time we quit working the other groups. I sat up and dusted him with one shot as he tried to get out.
The light conditions were still pretty low but as I got out to the "ringneck", I could see his bill didn't quite match up. It turned out to be a Greater Scaup AKA Bluebill AKA a species I've never killed. Now, I'm a stickler for bird ID, but I can honestly say I thought I had killed a ringneck and had no idea it was a Scaup. Otherwise he would have been shot the second LST hit! In my defense, the colors are very similar even in full light conditions. I have killed an immature Lesser Scaup before, but never a Greater and never a bird this plumed out.
Before I could turn around and head back to the blind I saw a bird make a wide swing around the pond and head my way. He came by from right to left and was just inside the range of where I felt comfortable making the shot. I could see the red head and it made a nice target. He rolled up nicely with one shot as well. I have a history with these birds. I've killed them over the years but they were either torn up or immature and never suitable for the wall. I have a hand carved redhead decoy that sits on the entertainment center and my 2 year old daughter encourages me to "Get a redhead daddy" every time I go hunting. Well, we both got our wish today with a very fine specimen.
So when it was all said and done, two shots were fired today and I got two birds for the wall. I felt a little bad for the two friends I shared the blind with, but they were happy for me. Some days it just pays to be in the right place at the right time. I will trade days full of high numbers for rare species any day of the week!
We had a few birds in and out of the decoys before LST, but I could already tell it was not going to be a lights out shoot by any means. About three minutes till LST we had a "ringneck" land about 60 yds off the decoys and slowly work towards the spread. He made it to the decoys on my side just about the time shooting light hit, but I didn't shoot as we were working a couple of groups of puddle ducks. Finally after a couple of minutes in the spread he decided to head out about the same time we quit working the other groups. I sat up and dusted him with one shot as he tried to get out.
The light conditions were still pretty low but as I got out to the "ringneck", I could see his bill didn't quite match up. It turned out to be a Greater Scaup AKA Bluebill AKA a species I've never killed. Now, I'm a stickler for bird ID, but I can honestly say I thought I had killed a ringneck and had no idea it was a Scaup. Otherwise he would have been shot the second LST hit! In my defense, the colors are very similar even in full light conditions. I have killed an immature Lesser Scaup before, but never a Greater and never a bird this plumed out.
Before I could turn around and head back to the blind I saw a bird make a wide swing around the pond and head my way. He came by from right to left and was just inside the range of where I felt comfortable making the shot. I could see the red head and it made a nice target. He rolled up nicely with one shot as well. I have a history with these birds. I've killed them over the years but they were either torn up or immature and never suitable for the wall. I have a hand carved redhead decoy that sits on the entertainment center and my 2 year old daughter encourages me to "Get a redhead daddy" every time I go hunting. Well, we both got our wish today with a very fine specimen.
So when it was all said and done, two shots were fired today and I got two birds for the wall. I felt a little bad for the two friends I shared the blind with, but they were happy for me. Some days it just pays to be in the right place at the right time. I will trade days full of high numbers for rare species any day of the week!
Congrats Porter! I love a good rare bird vs a full strap.
Congratulations Porter, beautiful birds....
Went out this morning. The wind never hit the 10-15mph is was supposed to be. The dog got itch on the leash twice when birds were circling, so all I ended up shooting was a crow. About the best $0.50 I've spent.
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