2022-2023 Waterfowl Reports

[nebgoosehunter]

I thought a wrench was going to be thrown into our plans as access to our field was still drifted in and had huge puddles across it from the melt. We had to come through another way and only had to navigate one big puddle. We were only supposed to have about a half inch of snow but we ended up getting 4" early this morning through late this morning with pretty strong wind. I was thankful to be in an a-frame behind some cedar trees. The ducks were a complete no show but the geese decoyed amazing. It seemed like we only worked about half the birds we saw as the other half already had their mind made up where they were going. I think all the ones we shot were 7-20 yards with their feet down, and not just singles or doubles. I could be misremembering but I think everything we shot was from decoying groups. It was just a stellar goose hunt, one that I'll always remember! And before anyone questions the hide, we had tumble weeds across the front of the blind that made it disappear, we just moved them out of the way for a picture.

 

[DGL]

Tyler, you guys make it hard to follow after that. Nice hunt!

A little update for my season since I haven’t posted in a while - In my short 3yr waterfowling career, this season has by far and away been the most challenging and least fruitful. Outside of a successful trip to ND in October, things have been rather bleak. My best producing spots were either overrun with other hunters, dry, or birds just didn’t seem to be using them like they have the last few seasons.
Due to other commitments, I was unable to hunt Thanksgiving through the middle of this month. Until tonight, I had not been able to shoot a web footed bird since the second weekend of November - and not for a lack of trying! I thought backwardsbleed was going to have to check me into a psych ward if I couldn’t find some success soon.
I’ve had more than 1 hunt scouted out recently where birds flat out did not return the next day or two, as well as hunts where I blew my only opportunity. One of the latter situations happened right before last week’s big freeze. I recently was given permission on a handful of fields near a sizable roost, and I set a traffic spread with every decoy I could get my hands on. I suffered in the cold all day, and the birds from the roost never materialized. However, a migration of geese bailing out before the true arctic blast hit started the last 2 hours of light. I called to several bunches that paid me no mind, but was later rewarded by calling down and essentially finishing the biggest flock of migrating geese I’d ever been that close to. My gun got stuck on the blind, and by the time I got it shouldered they were 50 yards out and leaving fast. That one will haunt me for eternity I’m sure.
Tonight I feel like I got just a small amount of my mojo back. I scouted the area yesterday afternoon and the closest I could get to the main part of the flight line to the main feed was about a half mile away. There were a few groups that flew right over the field I could hunt though, so I hoped at least a few would do the same tonight. For seemingly once, I was right. The birds on the main flight line never so much as looked my way, but I did have about a half dozen groups fly right over me. I was getting pretty discouraged when none acted like they wanted to play. Fun to watch a few break down and consider leaving the group even if they end up staying their original course. With 4 minutes left in legal light I see a group of about 25 flying low off my left shoulder in the next field over. I hit them on the call and they make a bee line for me. It was one of those moments when you almost know you’re going to get em lol. At this point I’ve about got buck fever for this flock of birds coming in… I hit them with some excited stuff as they start to turn into the wind. They are 100% committed and starting to put down right in middle of the hole about 30 yards out. I bust out of the layout and proceed to shoot like I’ve never shouldered a shotgun before. Luckily I connected with one, but a good shot would have easily tripled there…Huck hasn’t had the chance to retrieve geese in a while, but it was awesome to see him tackle that thing like an NFL linebacker

Long story short - I shot 1 bird tonight, but it was easily the most rewarding bird of the entire season.

 

[nebgoosehunter]

@DGL glad you found some success! Hope your season finishes strong!

 

[DGL]

@DGL glad you found some success! Hope your season finishes strong!

Thanks! You as well. We are going back out tomorrow. Saw a few high groups of geese heading back north mid day today. I think being warmer through Monday could shake things up. Get them out of survival mode and exploring a bit more. Then again, they flew a half hour/45 minutes later tonight with the warm temps over yesterday. I’ll play the hand I’m dealt, but the pressure is at least off temporarily.

 

[nebgoosehunter]

Went yesterday with my buddy back to his spot where we shot the teal and mallards and a wigeon. We were covered up with wigeon for the first half hour or 45 minutes of legal time. We should have easily had our limits but we didn't shoot a few times when we should have and missed some easy ones as well. We ended up with seven wigeon, a green wing, and a goose off this tiny creek between the two of us. I think we saw less than three or four mallards. Pretty fun hunt to get into a bunch of bonus ducks in the middle of winter!

 

[ajj16]

Clouds and snow helped w/ the geese this past weekend, got the birds moving through most of the day and had the decoys looking a little more appealing. Was able to get out Friday and Sunday, no wind did hurt a little, a lot of circling but we were able to land enough to up their confidence a little, did well both days.

 

[nebgoosehunter]

I would have liked to have gotten out today and hunted in the snow but it didn't start until late morning and I didn't feel like driving back in the dark once these roads freeze up if I was to hunt this afternoon. There were lessers going north last night in the dark. I can't hunt Saturday but would like to get out on MLK day if conditions are favorable.

 

[nebgoosehunter]

It was good to get after some mallards yesterday again. We had a nice set up at first light and noticed quite a few birds off to our east but nothing really near us. We did have one group come in right after LST and I took a drake that was close right overhead. We decided to move further east to try and get in their flight path more and the move paid off. My dad was with us and shot one drake before he had to get going at 10:30. It wasn't long after he left that the birds started moving pretty good, we just weren't in their main flight path still, but close enough that we were getting occasional singles or small groups come our way. For being late season ducks, they sure needed a lot of talking to. It was almost obnoxious how much we had to call. If we didn't call they would just fly right past us or turn around before they even made it our way, or try and land short. If we stayed on them, they would mostly continue coming our way or if they had made it past us they would turn back. We had our decoys about 15-20 yards in front of us but it seemed they ignored the decoys and came literally right to the calls where we were hiding in the cattails. It made for some very difficult shooting, either right in the sun or for some reason they were coming in with the wind and screaming by. I'm not sure how many times we shot behind birds but it was a lot. We chipped away at them and for some reason about mid day they started actually committing to the decoys which presented a lot nicer shots, but we only needed a few more birds at this point. My son had been taking some shots at birds with his 20 gauge and not connecting so he was getting pretty discouraged. I told him to try my 12 gauge as it's probably the same weight as his 20 and wouldn't you know it, a pair of drakes decoy perfect and he crushed his first ever mallard! I was pretty stinking excited for him and he was too! We only needed one more mallard after that so we finished our limits and called it quits for the day. It was a memorable hunt no doubt!

 

[nebgoosehunter]

What a great unexpected hunt this morning! Honestly I didn't know what to expect. We started the morning off at my buddies spot and were covered up in birds before LST. Literally as soon as it was time the birds just vanished. We waited awhile and birds finally started flying after sunup. We picked away at them and then things kind of just shut off again so we decided to head to one of my spots to finish the morning. We had a wigeon, three green wings, and five mallards before we made the move. I was surprised at the bird numbers at my spot, probably the strongest in a few years, granted I only hunt this spot once or twice a season so it's hard to gauge. We got seven more mallards and pass shot three low geese fighting the wind. Had we been focusing on geese we could have pass shot quite a few more but ducks were working almost every time geese came by. My buddy and I got our duck limits and my dad finished two short of his. If we could have stayed longer I don't think it would have taken long to finish up but we were pressed for time. I thought Monday's hunt was going to be my last ducks of the season so this was a nice surprise. I will probably get a wild hair and take the morning off on the last day of the season and try this spot again though.

 

[nebgoosehunter]

What an amazing way to end duck season yesterday! I wasn't sure what to expect, when walking in we only bumped four mallards off the little hole we were hunting. It took my dad about 15 minutes to show up after me but he must have brought the ducks with him because they started showing up almost right away. It seemed we had mallards come in every 5-15 minutes. A lot of singles and pairs, but some nice groups of a half dozen to a dozen as well. The geese were flying pretty decent with the high wind so we pass shot a few at the beginning of the hunt. We did have a group of four come over perfect and I whiffed twice and my dad and Benjamin both got one, then I shot a single shortly after. I had a mallard limit in an hour and my dad finished up shortly after me. Benjamin still needed two I believe. We had two drakes come in and land and he shot one on the water and the other just stayed there forever but he couldn't get his empty out of the chamber. He was down to three shells and we had three groups come in and he whiffed three times just shooting once each group. I gave him my gun to finish up and we had about a dozen come in and he swung perfect on a drake and smoked it to finish his limit! It took him around 15-20 shells, but he shot his limit on his own (for those thinking we were party hunting and shooting his limit). We waited around for the last 20 minutes for bonus ducks and finally with 10 minutes left, a hen wigeon led a group of ducks in and I got excited and jumped up and shot her quick not realizing there were two more drake wigeon right behind her. I can't express how amazing this hunt was. Everything we shot was between 6 or 7 to 15 yards is all. This may be my #1 hunt all time.