Yo!
Hope everyone enjoyed their season. I made it out this year a couple of times this year during the regular season. My wedding, honeymoon, and trip to the family ranch in Texas made opportunities short for me. I spent all of my time at Wister, just learning the property and creating game plans for future hunts. A relatively short drive from Alpine, and as a renewed San Diegan, I decided to make that place my home away from home.
Had a buddy fly in from Hawaii just to hang out and hunt Saturday. The morning started at 3:00 am at the check stand. The parking lot was practically empty, with coffee and donuts provided by the check stand for the eager veterans ready for one last weekend of waterfowling. I pulled a 57 but was easily the 12th-15th party on. I actually burned a Kern #1 to hunt Wister. Most of our buddies who we stayed with called me crazy, but I really wanted to hunt a property I was more familiar with, as I have never been to Kern.
Ended up on the far north side of the property. The nasty Wister mud made the setup and blind selection rather difficult. We threw out about 10 decoys, as we wanted to keep the load light. Our spread consisted of 2 mallards, 6 spoonies, and 2 coots. The morning shoot went as expected, with a few birds showing faces, a few birds surprising us, and a few missed shots. We ended the morning with 3 spoons and decided to grab some lunch around 10 am.
After some grilled chicken wings and a nice nap, we got back into the north zone around 12:30 pm. Same spread, but a better blind this time, filled with local brush and arroweed. The afternoon lull dragged on for a couple of hours but the birds started working again during the final two hours. We had our pintail limits rather quickly, as they were in abundance. Big bulls paired with hens and numbered in the hundreds through the evening flight. We started picking out the spoons to get a limit.
Eventually, a 4 pack of spoons was circling our pond and decided to come into the decoys straight on from us. We made it simple, I'd shoot the left birds, and my buddy would shoot the right. The shooting began and my buddy nailed it, sailing it to the pond behind us in some reeds. I missed my shot because I suck at the easy shots (too much time to think, not enough lizard brain activation). I thought my buddy winged his bird, and landed it in the reeds, all signs pointed to a lost bird (no dog for us). He went up and over the levee, and a short moment later I hear, "No fucking way...."
First band for my buddy! And actually the first band I've been a part of. Drake Spoon banded in 2017 in northern Oregon. Been avoiding shotguns for 6 seasons until he met us! Ended the day just 3 birds shy of limits.
An awesome hunt and a fun way to end the season. The vet hunt is a great way to enjoy the property without the mass amount of spot paranoia or parking lot hassles.
Cheers to 2022/23 and heres to 23/24!
Jeremy
Hope everyone enjoyed their season. I made it out this year a couple of times this year during the regular season. My wedding, honeymoon, and trip to the family ranch in Texas made opportunities short for me. I spent all of my time at Wister, just learning the property and creating game plans for future hunts. A relatively short drive from Alpine, and as a renewed San Diegan, I decided to make that place my home away from home.
Had a buddy fly in from Hawaii just to hang out and hunt Saturday. The morning started at 3:00 am at the check stand. The parking lot was practically empty, with coffee and donuts provided by the check stand for the eager veterans ready for one last weekend of waterfowling. I pulled a 57 but was easily the 12th-15th party on. I actually burned a Kern #1 to hunt Wister. Most of our buddies who we stayed with called me crazy, but I really wanted to hunt a property I was more familiar with, as I have never been to Kern.
Ended up on the far north side of the property. The nasty Wister mud made the setup and blind selection rather difficult. We threw out about 10 decoys, as we wanted to keep the load light. Our spread consisted of 2 mallards, 6 spoonies, and 2 coots. The morning shoot went as expected, with a few birds showing faces, a few birds surprising us, and a few missed shots. We ended the morning with 3 spoons and decided to grab some lunch around 10 am.
After some grilled chicken wings and a nice nap, we got back into the north zone around 12:30 pm. Same spread, but a better blind this time, filled with local brush and arroweed. The afternoon lull dragged on for a couple of hours but the birds started working again during the final two hours. We had our pintail limits rather quickly, as they were in abundance. Big bulls paired with hens and numbered in the hundreds through the evening flight. We started picking out the spoons to get a limit.
Eventually, a 4 pack of spoons was circling our pond and decided to come into the decoys straight on from us. We made it simple, I'd shoot the left birds, and my buddy would shoot the right. The shooting began and my buddy nailed it, sailing it to the pond behind us in some reeds. I missed my shot because I suck at the easy shots (too much time to think, not enough lizard brain activation). I thought my buddy winged his bird, and landed it in the reeds, all signs pointed to a lost bird (no dog for us). He went up and over the levee, and a short moment later I hear, "No fucking way...."
First band for my buddy! And actually the first band I've been a part of. Drake Spoon banded in 2017 in northern Oregon. Been avoiding shotguns for 6 seasons until he met us! Ended the day just 3 birds shy of limits.
An awesome hunt and a fun way to end the season. The vet hunt is a great way to enjoy the property without the mass amount of spot paranoia or parking lot hassles.
Cheers to 2022/23 and heres to 23/24!
Jeremy
