Late season

[The_Real_TCIII]

Are any of you maniacs going out today? I'll admit to being a wimp, I'm not braving this wind

[BigVal]

I opted for a hunt in the southernteir, only 8mph winds rather than 20 on the river, headed in now. 

[The_Real_TCIII]

I opted for a hunt in the southernteir, only 8mph winds rather than 20 on the river, headed in now. 

Good luck and be safe!

[MrGroundhog]

We were out for most of the day. Field hunted geese. Boy was it cold. We shot eight birds out of the two focks we had comitt.  Not many birds flying, and what was flying was later in the day. 

[BigVal]

We moved to the river, smart move !! Smack down 

[Lawdwaz]

Pics..........please!

[BigVal]

Here's a pic, added a few more birds, was so cold I didn't take a final pic 

[reeltime]

hunted for a few hours before I had to leave to go back to the surgeon to get my stitches out, should get a reduced rate since 2 of them were MIA. 

we needed more wind first thing as the water was freezing up around the decoys which made for a lousy looking spread in short order but still managed a few drake buffs and a drake bluebill.

things should start to tighten up with the temps if the wind dies down a little, give me an ice line and i am a happy camper LOL

[The_Real_TCIII]

Im headed to pick up the Sodfather for a stream hunt, we will see how it goes. First one to put gloves on buys lunch!

[Lawdwaz]

The Creek by work is froze over as of yesterday. Should go ice fishing.........

Good luck and be safe!!!!

[reeltime]

time to roll, boats hooked up and trucks warming up, Ziva just brought out her vest so she is ready to go.  we will see how the conditions are before we make a final decision.

 

[Lawdwaz]

4 degrees here.......

[Paula]

You guys are crazy! 

[vizslas]

i went in to get a cam and a blind yesterday  the trees were all covered with ice and snow didnt see a thing moving. there are however a lot of deer tracks near the back of the field. Looks like I have a survivor on cam

[grampy]

-14 here this morning. "Almost," happy to be live from the office!  The yote's were going crazy out there last night! Will get after them this weekend. The ice on the local lakes is good to go for some hard water fishing too. Nice to have options!!!

[BigVal]

Good luck guys I won't be able to get out until Sunday

[reeltime]

was likE hunting in a giant slurpee this morning, shot some old squaws to freeze for summer training. Then had to coordinate a boat rescue of a couple young guys that wouldn't listen before daylight......lesson learned after they were safe back at shore.

time to fill up the truck and go do some scouting.

 

[Pygmy]

15 hours ago, BigVal said:

Here's a pic, added a few more birds, was so cold I didn't take a final pic 

Nice mixed bag, Big Fella !!

The mallards and redheads make my mouth water...Who's gonna eat the mergie  ?.... Hehehehe...

[helmut in the bush]

15 hours ago, BigVal said:

Here's a pic, added a few more birds, was so cold I didn't take a final pic 

Nice haul

[BigVal]

34 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Nice mixed bag, Big Fella !!

The mallards and redheads make my mouth water...Who's gonna eat the mergie  ?.... Hehehehe...

Thanks pygmy, 

All I know is the merg didn't come home with me! Lol

[reeltime]

a nice balmy morning, time to gear up and head out into the wind. LOL.

 

[BigVal]

Stupidly blew off work to hunt. Ice killed the am , no wind. 

Pm shot 7 mallards. 

[The_Real_TCIII]

was likE hunting in a giant slurpee this morning, shot some old squaws to freeze for summer training. Then had to coordinate a boat rescue of a couple young guys that wouldn't listen before daylight......lesson learned after they were safe back at shore.
time to fill up the truck and go do some scouting.
 

Details on the rescue situation?

[philoshop]

My buddy and I had about a dozen spots with natural springs that stayed clear of ice during the winter. We were running trap lines anyway, so might as well carry the shotguns too. It was a lot of walking and exhausting work, but I only remember the good parts. Oh, and a Popeil Pocket Fisherman with a snag hook for the dead ducks in deeper water. ;-]

[reeltime]

11 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

Details on the rescue situation?

couple of young energetic duck hunters that were way under boated and certainly under powered motor.

when I pulled in to the ramp they were trying to start the boat motor and after watching them pulling on the starter rope for better than 10 minutes I walked down to talk to them.

they said the motor is always hard to start,  my response was that if your having that much trouble before you leave the launch maybe it would be best to not go out as there is nobody here to come and get you and you will not get to where you want to go as its all packed in with ice.  I went back to the truck and changed up plans to keep an eye on them and another boat came in and launched, a much bigger boat.

my buddy bailed on me so I rigged off the shore and off the kids went. when I saw them dropping the decoys I knew it was not going to be good. so I shot a few birds and watched them shoot a couple also and then saw that they were really starting to get packed in with ice.

where they set up along the ice line the wind was pushing flow ice right to them and by 830 they were packed in so bad the motor wouldn't move them.  So I went over to where the second boat was and when they went to pick up birds I walked down and called them over and asked them to go help those kids before they really got in trouble and the ice got too bad to even get to them while I would stand by with my boat in case something bad happened.

so with some work they were able to get close enough to get a rope to them and they were finally able to drag them out of the ice and back to the ramp.  they were more than a little happy to be back on land and knew they made a mistake not listening, finally in daylight I saw they were dressed like they were going deer hunting, no waders.  They said they were told not to wear waders......OIY and they also had no life jackets on.  I had a lengthy talk with them about cold water,big water late season duck hunting and in the end I think they have a much better awareness of the dangers of this late season game of waterfowling on the big waters. 

I talked to the guys that brought them in and thanked them for helping out,,  this having my guts still healing sucks, well that and the massive amount of ice that has built up in the last 30 hours.