skeet, fabs

[DelDuck]

And anyone else on the shore or close to it. How have you guys done with the ducks so far this year?? I personnaly have not even bothered going to much caus of the weather. My buddy that hunts the marsh down in west Ocean City said he has not seen very many birds, and he has put out a ton of corn just to get them useing. But the 2 areas he dumped corn, the birds are not useing. He can watch the 2 areas from the golf course he works at, and he told me that they have not been on it yet. Not to say they have not been there but he gets there before light and no birds and leaves at dark , no birds. so the 2 prime times of the day to see the birds on it they are not there. This 50+ degree weather is killing us. I was woundering if you have had the same thing or maybe the birds are staying closer to the big bay.

Now we have a **** ton of snow birds and a fair amount of candadian geese. But they are getting real flighty caus there has been a ton of pressure on them. With no ducks around the boys are staying in the fields shooting geese.

And it seems as if the doves have dissapeared too

[fabsroman]

I went out goose hunting all of twice in December and didn't see any ducks either day, but plenty of geese. We should have limited out on geese both days, but my dog is having trouble with his new Mutt Hutt blind (i.e., he doesn't understand that he has to stay in it). Went out dove hunting all of twice in the last week of December and saw plenty of geese both days and two large groups of ducks the second day. The ducks were flying so high that they must have had oxygen masks on. The geese were so low that I could have possibly shot them while dove hunting. There were also a ton of doves in the field I was hunting, but they wouldn't let me get close and once shot at they would leave the field and not come back. The first day, we got to the field late and they were already in the field. One shot, one dove, and they were all gone. The second day we got there way before sunrise and we tried shooting them as they were coming into the field. I should have killed 4 doves that morning, but poor shooting on my part resulted in only a single kill, 2 wounded birds, and a complete miss. There were other misses, but not on gimmes.

I drove up to Long Island, New York Saturday morning and saw very little geese (i.e., 3 groups) along I-95/New Jersey Turnpike between 8:00 and 10:00 in the morning. I was truly surprised by that because I usually see tons of them at this time of the year.

I have no idea what to tell you Del, but I agree with you. The geese that I do hunt are extremely wary and I see blinds in a lot of fields out here in Western Maryland. The Saturday that I hunted geese, I must have heard at least 5 other blinds shooting on them. Then again, that does keep them moving around to other fields.

Such is hunting.

[DelDuck]

i know, was just woundering if you guys over that way were seeing any ducks.

[skeet]

Hi Jay...Fabs... We are seing a lot of puddle ducks here all of a sudden. Started last week. Migrating birds...way up there. We have had a few in the pond where we hunt geese but we really don't shoot them. Farmer asked us not to. Talking around with some of my friends on the shore. One runs an RSA in Dorchester and he has lots of wild birds including teal and woodies. A fellow on my DU commitee just called and told me he is seeing a lot of Blackheads(lesser scaup) and very few cans. The guys on the refuge forum aren't seeing many cans and Redheads either. I haven't had 10 ducks in the pond at home here in 10 days but oh boy do we have the geese. The darn things are getting call shy now too. We still limited out(14) this A M by 0910 but the darn things were tough. Bad wind too so we had to shoot them coming from behind and dropping fast. Tough shooting. Had about 2000 in the CRP ground at home today. Couldn't see their body but could see their heads. Looked funny. Unless we get some cold it looks as though the wild duck shootin this year is gonna be a washout. BTW we have to shoot sometime in the next 4 weeks. After that I will be gone to Wyoming for a month or so. Call me if ya get the chance.

[rubicon]

Hey guys, Same thing here. Hunted in Eastern Bay three days and saw lots of blue bills and old squaws next to what the watermen call bird s**t island but it is not in the sea duck zone. Geese are stacked up here around the house but cant hunt them. Very few ducks here in crab alley bay and my neighbors saw usually they are in our back yards? Hunted Wye Island pit and the geese were really weary. Did do good in NC for two days. Got a tundra swan and limited out on ringnecks and teal.

[DelDuck]

Well guys If you wanna shoot this Sun. is good for me. The wife is off, and as of right now the weather for Sun. does not look to be to bab. partly cloudy highs in the mid 40's. Let me know what you guys think.

[skeet]

Hey Fabs...Rubicon... How about it. Shootin Sunday?? Fabs bring your dad. Rubicon...You know you don't have anything planned for this weekend! BTW did you see any Scoters in Eastern Bay? Just wondering. Hey Jay...there are a bunch of redlegged black ducks in ths streams etc around here. Them yankee ducks ya know!!

[fabsroman]

Shooting on Sunday sounds fine with me. The wife has off, but she wants to study for the Maryland Pharmacy Boards.

Whether or not my dad can make it depends on when the Redskins game is because he will probably want to watch it. However, I would choose to shoot over watching football any day with the exception of the Super Bowl.

What time is good for everybody on Sunday? What did we shoot for last time? Was it 10:00? 10:00 will probably work better for me because I have to go to my parents and pick up my stuff first, and possibly my dad.

[DelDuck]

10 is fine with me. Pintail point again or somewhere different?

[fabsroman]

The place doesn't matter to me either, as long as somebody gives me directions to any other place we decide to shoot. Pintail is the only place I have shot sporting clays on the Eastern Shore, so if you guys have anything else in mind, let me know.

Right now, I have a head cold and I am hoping that I am through with it before the weekend. However, if it gets worse, I will have to bail.

[DelDuck]

Oh you wuss. I always knew you boys on the dark side of the bay could not hang.

Seriously , I hope you get feeling better. And as far as where we shoot I'll leave that up to skeet.

[skeet]

Hey Pintail is ok with me. We all know where it is so it'll be ok. Now we have to get Rubicon. Next thing ya know we'll have 6 or 7 shootin. Think I will PM Rubicon

[skeet]

Hey Jay...don't wuss him too much. We need a pigeon to help pay for the shootin. The guy form the dark side figures he can still hang with us country bumpkins. This weekend we gonna have to bear down on them birds. Maybe we can get enough birds at a buck per to pay fer the shootin. (you know he'll be there now!!) The gauntlet has been thrown down...and he gonna pick it up! He really can't stand a challenge..hehehe

[fabsroman]

For the couple of times that Skeet and I have hung out, he is pretty much dead on about me not being able to resist a challenge, especially in my younger years. However, a lot of people say that my wallet squeeks when I open it because I hate to part with money. Knowing that Skeet is a pretty good shooter himself, I think I'll skip on the dollar a bird challenge.

As far as being there, I will be there unless I am dying (i.e., fever). My problem with getting sick is that I got bronchitis once when I was 18 during a bike race in Central Park, New York in March and I am much more susceptible to lung infections now. The weather was warm in Maryland right before I left, so I didn't bother to pack much winter gear. However, it was snowing in New York when we got there that night and being young and stupid, I had to race the next morning. I did well, but felt like complete crap afterward. The team manager took us to another race in Philly on the way home and I passed on it and stayed in the van. Well, being a hard head like I am, I continued to train and race because we had a pretty hectic schedule and I was doing rather well at first even though I was sick. After about a month of this, I finally went to the doctor to find out that I had a severe case of bronchitis and was just a step away from walking pneumonia. Since then, I have had pneumonia once more which was accompanied by a 104 degree fever, but that was during a December when they were working me to death at the firm and I was hunting as hard as I possibly could. I have learned my lesson since then, work for myself and hunt in moderation.

As far as the city boy, country boy thing, it seems I cannot win. My friends from the city think I live in the country and my friends from the country think I live in the city. Oh well, I guess you can say I have the best of both worlds.

[skeet]

hehehehehe. Knew ya couldn't stand it. Don't want to swell your haid too much...but you ain't a bad gun pointer either..fer a city boy from the dark side of course.