End of the Season - And what a season it was

[8SteelTown]

StikBrandon found this nice spot and I helped due some of the background leg work to ensure our legality. 3 weekends in a row of Saturday and Sunday hunts for 5 hours each day didn't over pressure the location. We now have a great understanding of how to hunt the spot. Sucks that it took till the end of the season to figure out but we didn't really know unless we saw how the birds reacted to out different stand locations.

Finished out the season yesterday with a pretty good pull.

I got my first ringneck drake and 2 hens (Thanks Johnny) as well as 2 mallard drakes. Brandon and his buddy Tom combined for 5 greenheads. I was on the far side of the location and the wind was pushing all my downed birds into a little cove. Brandon's dog Cali did 3 100+ yard retrieves with only 1 little hiccup when the bird was behind some brush and a bobbing bottle caught her attention for a second. Also somehow knew a mallard was sitting in some tall tulies and flushed him out like a boss. We thought she was just actin a fool and weren't ready for it. Brandon and I were in the middle of getting my birds and a flock of 12 mallards (10M @ 2F) landed 20 feet in front of my original spot. I was the next cove over in the water on top of a downed tree and almost fell in attempting the shot. Brandon took down a green head at 60 yards. Rad shot.

So for my first waterfowl season, I started hitting runoff creeks, then seasonal ponds, then an area solo in a boat, and then our secret sauce pond. I got ~20 coot, ~30 ruddys, 1 scaup, 1 shoveler, 1 merganser, 3 gadwall, 1 bufflehead, 1 green wing teal, and 7 mallards (5 drake and 2 hen). Not too bad for a jump shooter who doesn't know much besides point and shoot. I'm learning. Definitely going to be hitting it hard next year and studying up on bird identification. Good times hunting with Stik and Cali. Can't wait for next year.

 

[D16hunter]

Congrats on a good season

 

[Lungpopper]

That's cool guys. Did the homework and found your own little honey hole. Congrats.

 

[stikbrandon]

Epic ending to a great season. I had a lot of great shots on birds, had a few good campfires at wister with a little honey jack and good friends. Got my first green head this year ! Smoked a whole lot of birds. Jessie with out your help this spot wouldn't have come together the way it did!

It amazes me to see my dog just evolve from this little Puppy scared of water to this Olympic swimmer named Cali, she went from a wild puppy that broke on everything, to a steady duck dog.

If it wasn't for the friends I made in the feild (8steeltown,BuckHunter,Sdbirds,josh,aeon ect..) hunting wouldn't be what it is to me today.

Every season that past, I find myself getting deeper and deeper in to this addiction we call waterfowl.

 

[Bonejour]

Now that's a great story. Congratulations gentlemen.

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

X2 on the great season ending story.. fires me up to scout/hunt harder next year!

 

[ilovesprig]

Great going guys........Nice start to the waterfowling addiction........

 

[Aeon]

So for my first waterfowl season. I got ~20 coot, ~30 ruddys,

way to go guys you rocked it big time on your secret hole! NOW KEEP IT SECRET! first rule of duck club " you don't talk about duck club" :-X

now that you have killed a few its time to change your kill numbers and leave the poor ruddy ducks alone.

 

[8SteelTown]

So for my first waterfowl season. I got ~20 coot, ~30 ruddys,

way to go guys you rocked it big time on your secret hole! NOW KEEP IT SECRET! first rule of duck club " you don't talk about duck club" :-X

now that you have killed a few its time to change your kill numbers and leave the poor ruddy ducks alone.

Thanks everyone. Definitely cool to collaborate with Brandon on this. We already talked about keeping it a secret. Brandon was talking about bringing one or two of the SCH guys up to hunt it next year with us. You'll just have to sign a confidentiality agreement

I had the opportunity to blast ruddys every day I was at this spot but held off due to the expectation of a 747 sized green head falling from the sky. Tom dropped one that was almost the size of a goose. Thing was MASSIVE.

And, to me, duck is duck is duck. I've eaten all the birds I've gotten so far this year with the exception of 7 still in the freezer. The only bird that didn't taste like duck was coot, and I won't be doing that any more. Other than that funky critter, they all tasted the same to me. My pallet must not be as refined as you seasoned vets!

 

[Josh Pearson]

I definitely would like to get out and hunt with you guys next season.

 

[nicapopolis]

Good job.

And take what Aeon says as gospel. Even the pic at the truck I would maybe crop.

 

[8SteelTown]

Good job.

And take what Aeon says as gospel. Even the pic at the truck I would maybe crop.

Thanks Nicapopolis. I take what Aeon and a lot of you say as gospel. I did a little adjusting to my original pic to remove landmarks. If anyone was able to tell the spot from my pic, you deserve more than permission to hunt it because you are a sleuth and should probably get paid to solve murder cases or something crazy. Can't fault Brandon's pic either. There's only 1 way you'd be able to tell where this spot is and it would be if you lived next to it and if that was the case, you'd already know about this spot. You're not just going to see it as Joe Schmoe driving down the street. If someone is that much of a detective and needs to know where the spot is, it's just west of 34.007538 lat and -118.499758 long. Just gotta go for a long walk.

I appreciate your concern and good lookin out.

 

[TaftHunter]

Reminds me of that dude that thought he knew where I killed that pig lmao.

Good job steeltown!

 

[sdhunter]

Congrats on your first season! You obviously now have the "BUG"!!

I like some of the advice given....never underestimate the power of the interweb! Loose pics and loose lips kill spots fast, Just takes one azz-hat to blow out an area.

Your posts are fun reading, look forward to seeing them next duck season.

 

[nicapopolis]

Sdhunter is right. Especially the younger generation, finding spots online is simple for them. If your pics contain an xref (I believe that is the term) data they can contain GPS coordinates. All you have to do is download the pic to get the data.

I go so far to turn off my GPS when I don't need it. I don't need that info in my pics.

If I hunt the refuge I will usually post pics.... At the end of the season. Off refuge freelance type stuff, you only get the bed of my truck. Lol

Posts as general or mild as "the birds are in!" Can really flood some spots with more hunters. Why add the pressure is my theory.

 

[nicapopolis]

Edit... I will send this in a PM.

 

[8SteelTown]

This post turned sour grapes for me. I don't post straight from my phone so there's no GPS associated. If some kid is hacking online file servers to find hunting spots, he's going to have ALL OF OUR SPOTS. I appreciate everyone's concern. If I gave away a location of one or all my spots, enjoy. hope you know all the quirks I know so you don't get arrested. I've already said too much :-X. Good luck.