Most excellent!
Nice mess of birds badrinker!
FANTASTIC! That's a good looking "retriever" you got there....
Very cool!
I've only seen a Redhead once. It was in a pond (more of a ditch really) in front of the Scout offices in Lawton a couple of years ago.
Gonna get back out in the morning. Hopefully they are still hanging around and the ice melts a little before we get there.
Good luck to everybody else getting out this weekend!
I've only seen a Redhead once. It was in a pond (more of a ditch really) in front of the Scout offices in Lawton a couple of years ago.
Gonna get back out in the morning. Hopefully they are still hanging around and the ice melts a little before we get there.
Good luck to everybody else getting out this weekend!
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!
Few years ago we were loaded up with redheads around here, ironically that same year I shot a scaup along with some redheads. I haven't seen any redheads or any divers for that matter in several years unless you count a Gulf of Mexico hunt. RH's are early migratory I believe.
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