Smackdown Waterfowling Adventures - Part I

Pot Hole · 10-17-2006, 05:02 AM

The Smackdown Waterfowing Crew just returned from our annual pilgrimage to the upper mid-west for a little duckin' and goosein'. I think it suffices to say we had a good time and kept our pooches busy fetchin' the feathered fowl. Weather was abnormally nice the first couple of days, but by mid-week, temps dropped 30 degrees when a front moved in, and we hunted in a blowing rain and snow for a couple of days. In addition to the ducks and geese we harvested, we also picked up a few praire chickens and a couple of sandhill cranes (aka..Ribeye in the Sky

).

Anyway, thought I would share a few pics so you can see how the Smackdown Crew did. In the the first pic, we were just getting dialed in as we hadn't yet located a good concentration of mallards so we had to fall back on divers and widgeon. It was still pretty fun...

We moved around a little and was able to find some greenheads, but they didn't cooperate as we expected (ie..wouldn't land in our hole) so we took what was available. Our bag included mallards, pintail, and widgeon...

Most of the local birds seemed kinda skittish, but fortunately we found a few holes where they hadn't seen another hunter. We should have shot more than the two snows you see in the pic, but we were loaded for duck when they came in...

Went back to one of our earlier holes where we picked up more widgeon, but while we were there noticed some northern flights of mallards had arrived. We decided to come back later and get set up better on them...

With all the new mallards in the area, we found one slough that produced a limit of greeners one snowy/rainy afternoon. We basically took one greenhead from each flock. The entire shoot lasted about an hour and a half..

With all the new arrivals, we knew it was only a matter of time before we located the mallard buffet. Shot this nice mix of mallards and widgeon laying out in a wheat field. Some of these birds came so close to our blinds we could have reached out and grabbed them with our hands...

All in all it was a fun trip - plenty of birds, great dog work, and good comaraderie, but that drive will kick your a$$!

Next up - Kansas!

d0va · 10-17-2006, 05:52 AM

Im not much of a hunter now but that looks like fun... good kill!

havent used a rifle since 1997 my last killed was a javalina in our ranch in Mexico thats how long is been since I move to San Antonio Tx. I missed hunting

tnbowhunter · 10-17-2006, 05:57 AM

Wow i'm impressed!!! Git-er-done, lol.

Sounds like you guys know what your doing. I haven't been duck hunting in years but when I did go we spent the whole day huddled up in a makeshift blind freezing our azzes off with not a duck in sight. East Tn. is not exactly duck central.

Nice pics and great story, keep us up to date.

Krodad · 10-17-2006, 06:58 AM

Beauty!!

Nice looking labs. You did not say where you were (probably keeping it a secret?) but it looks a lot like some of the North Dakota spots I hunt.

Lot's of nice greenheads there...I've noticed down here in Iowa that the Widgeon do seem thick this year...is your Widgeon take normal, or do you think there are more this year?

I can't wait to get into the wads of ducks like you just did...my trips don't really start for another week. I've passed on too many spoonbills this year and it's starting to make me a little frustrated.

Great photos, great dogs, and great shooting!

Pot Hole · 10-17-2006, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krodad

........Lot's of nice greenheads there...I've noticed down here in Iowa that the Widgeon do seem thick this year...is your Widgeon take normal, or do you think there are more this year?

I'm pretty sure we shot more widgeon this year than last. We found them in litterally every place we hunted including the field hunts. Although widgeon are a fun duck to hunt (I prefer big green heads over pretty much anything else), it was hard to pass up a nice drake baldpate when he's hovering over the decoys.

We don't shoot a lot of widgeon where I live here in NC, so it was fun getting a crack at a bird we rarely see in these parts. When we head out to Kansas later this winter, it will be almost 100% mallards we'll be hunting with a smattering of divers, sprigs, and a maybe a widgeon or two.

cassio · 10-17-2006, 01:23 PM

how the heck do you eat all of those?

i have never hunted and always wanted too... my gf's uncle has a lot of land in portland along the mountains...

i read hunting mags and can kinda talk the lingo which impressed him, but i never got the nerve to ask to go elk hunting with him.... seems like something you do with your dad as a kid not a 25 y.o.... maybe one day i will get a chance

def looks like you guys had a "blast".

-ian

njtitan · 10-17-2006, 03:28 PM

AWESOME JOB guys! where did you go? I just got back from puttin' the smackdown on pheasants in Montana.....we had a great hunt too...I was hoping to smash some ducks while I was there too but just never happened...there were ducks around though....my God....driving though North Dakota each way........HOLY COW!!! you talk about ducks brother!? they had 'em by the thousands.....I'm stopping there next year to shoot'em....

here's a few pics from our Montana hunt...

Rob[IMG][IMG]DSCF0509[/IMG][/IMG]

njtitan · 10-17-2006, 03:33 PM

hmmmm, ok...so that didn't work...

back to the drawing board...

hmmm, its still not working....

Pot Hole · 10-18-2006, 04:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cassio

how the heck do you eat all of those?..............

Between the duck jerky we made while we were there, and the ducks we marinated and BBQ'd in the evening after the hunt, a bunch of these birds were consumed before we ever headed home.

The rest, now reside in my freezor.

njtitan · 10-18-2006, 10:58 AM

yea, that's the best way to do it....bbqing or grilling wild game in the field at the end of a good day's hunt is truly food of the gods.........an ice cold beer and a bird or 2 on the barby.....no better way to finish of the day!

CFowler · 10-18-2006, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pot Hole

Between the duck jerky we made while we were there, and the ducks we marinated and BBQ'd in the evening after the hunt, a bunch of these birds were consumed before we ever headed home.

The rest, now reside in my freezor.

At least you will eat what you have harvested. As an advid deer hunter I just hate to see people hunt just for the sport and never consume what they harvest. Never have been duck hunting but that did look like a lot of fun. So how is BBQ duck anyway?

Pot Hole · 10-18-2006, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CFowler

At least you will eat what you have harvested. As an advid deer hunter I just hate to see people hunt just for the sport and never consume what they harvest. Never have been duck hunting but that did look like a lot of fun. So how is BBQ duck anyway?

Filet the breasts, marinate them in Dale's Sauce for about an hour, cut the filets in 1/2 inch strips, and then run them onto skewers along with chunk pineapple, bacon strips, green peppers cut into pieces, and a few onion pieces. Cook on the grill until the inside of the meat is pink and Yum! Yum! You've got yourself some good eatin'.

(A good cold beer goes great with this meal)

njtitan · 10-19-2006, 10:07 AM

hell yea....I do goose the same way sometimes...I don't even marinade it most times...just season the meat as I would do a steak....it comes out great....I've had it bbq'd too...that's tasty as well...the trouble with duck and goose is that most people say they don't like it because they've never had it cooked correctly...once you do....you know how good it can be...