Waterfowl

We don't have any water in Kansas this year so looks like a another bad season
 
Quite the mixed bag there
 
That's a cool duck boat. Would you mind sharing the details?

Sorry I missed this. There interesting boats. Mine is a larger slightly altered version of one the original Barnegat Bay Sneak boxes. In the salt marshes on the east coast we have to travel quiet a ways into the marsh to find the ducks. History says the first one was built by Captain Hazelton Seaman in about 1836, in West Creek, New Jersey. The first ones were built with white cedar and had sails, but us new comers switched to fiberglass added engines.

sneak box1.JPG

They are 1 man boats that are stable on the sea, draft about 3 inches of water (with the motor up) and hide well in the salt marsh grass.

sneak.jpg

Best duck hunting boat ever made to this day for our kind of hunting. And there fun as all get out to drive. Mine does 30+ MPH. kinda like a big surf board with a motor.
Interestingly enough my boat was made in Hobart Indiana by Mark Rongers, the founder of mighty layout boys boats. He sold the company and they stopped making them. But the original smaller Barnegat bay sneakboxes are still made by several people along the mid Atlantic coast.
 
Oh and I took that run. Season opened Saturday but we ran the ditches Wednesday and the green wing teal aren’t here yet. Didn’t get out of bed.

DC01AA9C-8843-49B1-AF31-C0F553437B51.jpeg
 
I know I've said this before but I really thought buffle head were salt water ducks only. I've never seen one in fresh water. Nice haul.
Must be where your at geographically. We get a good number of them through KS & NE.
 
Must be where your at geographically. We get a good number of them through KS & NE.

That must be it.
We have ponds within a mile of salt and brackish water that I don’t see them on.
But they must need to drink fresh water???
 
I know I've said this before but I really thought buffle head were salt water ducks only. I've never seen one in fresh water. Nice haul.

I think technically they are sea ducks, goldeneye too.
We shoot them on fresh water all the time, scoters and oldsquaw too, every now and then we get a brant on our lake, just had one here a couple weeks ago.
I guess that is part of what makes waterfowling so interesting.

Pic is a brant in our local park two weeks ago in NW Ohio.

95F67C83-3E59-43AB-B2CA-A691B9BCFDB2.jpeg
 
We shoot them on fresh water all the time, scoters and oldsquaw too

The oldsquaw really throws me. I believe it, but here you have to hunt them in the inlet from the ocean. They will not for any reason fly over land. They won’t even fly over or under the inlet bridges. We pass shoot at them in the inlet. You get two try’s, they come in from the ocean and you shoot at them, then when they get to the bridge and turn around you shoot at them coming back out….

Brant are fun, they cross land and the bridges here and their almost as dumb as a rock which makes them fly low over decoys.
 
Today SD

ED8EA2E7-A730-4B28-8231-1B7494492D73.jpeg
 
Ended up overall being a very good waterfowl season. Had some good shoots and a couple slow days. Field hunting was really good, especially with ducks had a couple days where we stacked them. The older I get the less fun it is laying in a cold field. It’s still awesome calling them in though.

Some late season geese
37B36A89-F0DA-4D69-95AB-BA552EB55297.jpeg

E541083C-E901-43B7-B99C-12B5CEDCAD5C.jpeg
 
Man I wish Wisconsin had open seasons this late. Would be nice to field hunt in the snow . Looks like a good time with a great companion!
 
H20 .... are those 40-inch shells under the left side of your camper window ... We still use 30 - on occasion - that are more than 25 yrs old. They seem to work best for use in pulling geese in traffic situations ... rarely use them on the X; Bigfoots and DSD there. Congrats on your season; you and your sons obviously enjoy waterfowl hunting.

You folks are lucky; there aren't many places in the US where you can shoot Canada geese in Feb. Lots of Canada geese in northern and central Illinois are paired up, starting to isolate themselves, and beginning to squabble over nesting sites.
 
Last edited:
Our season went out 1/29. I was down this weekend and ducks/geese were everywhere. I think they can read the regs!
 
H20 .... are those 40-inch shells under the left side of your camper window ... We still use 30 - on occasion - that are more than 25 yrs old. They seem to work best for use in pulling geese in traffic situations ... rarely use them on the X; Bigfoots and DSD there. Congrats on your season; you and your sons obviously enjoy waterfowl hunting.

You folks are lucky; there aren't many places in the US where you can shoot Canada geese in Feb. Lots of Canada geese in northern and central Illinois are paired up, starting to isolate themselves, and beginning to squabble over nesting sites.

I’m not sure how big they are, not 40” closer to life size. I used to have some of those really big ones.
Lots of times late season I will only use 3-6 decoys spread out in little groups. I micro size this time of year.

I use flocked up BF more than anything. I think we have 4 doz or so..when we black hole them we add in ten doz silos. My youngest likes putting out big spreads, I like smaller and calling, especially late season.

I think the south side of our state is still open for geese another week or so.
 
Top