Broke the news to some buddies last night at 8 that I'm leaving Monday while out eating and in under 2 hours we were on our way to my buddies lease last minute on a lake in west TN that me and another buddy had never been to or heard of. We got to his grandparents house which they use as camp round 1am slept til 5 and headed out another 45 minutes to the blind on the 800 acre lake. We got to the launch ramp at around 5:45 and the weather was in the high single digits and the ice nearly a half a foot thick with the last week of highs in the teens and low 20s with the low temps being single digit with wind chill in the negatives. So we drove to the other side of the lake to another one of there blinds and walked in instead of taking the boat. At around 5:30 when we arrived at the launch ramp and decided to head to the blind that's out of water on a point a miracle happened. The wind picked up. By the time we get to the blind with 2 minutes til shooting time we were frozen from the wind but we were shocked that the wind was hitting the point perfectly and knocked an 80 yard wide hole across the point and slowly got wider as the day progressed. My two buddies who both happen to be named Dylan had just put the finishing touches on the spread as quickly as possible and had just gotten onto the bank without guns about to enter the blind when the first group of ducks landed not even 10 yards from the blind. 6 shots later 2 were down from my shots and 3 from his my buddies grandad. All mergansers unfortunately but still fun to shoot and we cleared the sky. By 11:30 when we left we killed 5 mergansers 2 drake mallards and my prize of the day a perfect wall worthy Hollywood mallard that will most likely make it to the freezer instead of the wall lol. Craziest hunt I've ever witnessed in tn. The few groups of puddle ducks we saw wanted in bad and saw a few thousand divers. Only regrettable part about the experience is we passed divers we had dead to rights because of our stubbornness to kill puddlers we also couldn't find a couple and we all have old iPhone 5s not even the 5S so the battery died with minutes because of extreme cold for some reason so I was able to only get one half way decent picture in the blind of the mergansers only. One or two more hunts Saturday and or Sunday then it's back to socal Monday. Hopefully will find the time to go the valley before the seasons over.
Last days in TN
- Thread starter D16hunter
- Start date
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stikbrandon
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I used Trolling Motor Doctor in Long Beach when I was in CA. Not sure if there is something like that in the SD area though.
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Steve in have a guy who works at a boat shop but does side work. I will send you his info. He does all of my families boats they seem to like him.
I haven't had much free time lately to be on here, because I've been busting my a** trying to find a job. It's going decent but it all comes with time. Does anyone know of any good jobs/ companies to work for that are hiring that I should apply to? I also had some free time today and a buddy who has a truck that was around to get into the hills so I relocated the main group of birds I hunt and have killed 5/8 I have killed in socal from. There in the best area compared to years past to get on them so it's looking hopeful. I'm surprised they weren't even starting to strut tho. Seems like in years past they would be gobbling well before the season and stop by mid April. So honestly this season may be better than years past we will just have to see.
Luke,
Were they even in a winter flock-up?......Birds I've seen are still separated.....Hens, poults together.....Jakes & long beards in separate bachelor groups......Weird year.
Were they even in a winter flock-up?......Birds I've seen are still separated.....Hens, poults together.....Jakes & long beards in separate bachelor groups......Weird year.
Haven't been on here much lately because of work. However every chance I get i have been driving near daily looking around. No signs of winter flock up. All separate bachlor groups. We may actually have birds gobbling all season long this year. I've seen at least 30-40 toms in my favorite area so it looks promising. Also seen a few good bucks lately.
