Memorial Weekend is a 3-day family event. It always involves fishing. In some years, and this was one of them, we are fortunate in that the weekend coincides with a full moon - the first big bluegill spawn of summer. A few cricket buckets nearly busting at the seams with chirping, 6-legged live baits, light line affixed with long shank hooks, a seat in the shade, family and the faintly-watermelon smell of spawning bluegills coming off the water on a warm, humidity-laden breeze: nothing else so perfectly inaugurates Summer.
6/09/2008
5/12/2008
The Late Spring Cure
Towards the end of April the thermometer reads warm going on hot; little league parks enliven with play, lawns awaken in green, azaleas erupt in colorful bloom; crappie swim slowly in hot grease, crawfish turn crimson in a cayenne pepper bath. Spring is great. Even when viewed from about 3,500 miles north of Mississippi - during a spring snow goose hunt in Canada.
Ever had that itch to duck hunt in April? See, it's not really duck season somewhere. April is the tough one. Duck season is closed in North and South America. Snow geese remain open through the end of May if you don't mind travel. As they hit the home stretch to Hudson Bay area, snow goose hunting is unlike anything you'll experience elsewhere.
The endless 12-month waterfowl season - the essence of GetDucks.com - now includes the consistently best decoying snow goose hunt you might ever experience. Deploying a spread of silly socks goes quickly, even with two guys. We put out about 120. A number far, far smaller than normally used to describe the typical snow goose hunt spread; roughly one-third the number of decoys surrounding an Arkansas pit blind were placed on the X. About a dozen kites and a custom-built e-caller completed the set up.
With temps near 30 and a slight northwest wind, breaking sweat was a non-issue. I was glad to have packed a warm jacket after all. The spectacle that is Manitoba was plainly heard. The loud symphony of waterfowl from myriad lakes and sloughs surrounding us was near deafening. In a good way.
The agricultural landscape teemed with breeding pairs of greater Canadas and ducks, with hungry flocks of lesser Canadas and snow geese. We set the white and gray spread in a small depression central to a barley field. From within the straw-covered field blind I felt Delta quivering with anticipation. She had heard the geese too. The snow geese were roosted up wind. Loose flocks flew into the field, over the decoys and then, from down wind, predictably turned acutely and sailed right into the spread. Several throughout the morning landed, or hovered just above the stubble.
Shooting distances were measurable in mere feet. Forgotten immediately were the orchestrated skybusts endemic to coastal snow goose wintering grounds. The morning snow goose hunt became a brisk rhythm of motion: reload, pick mature snows from incoming flocks, shoot, handle Delta. Repeat. Doubles and triples seemed easily accomplished. Kind of hard to miss at that distance. Except when someone says something like "easy triple" just before you pull the trigger.
We passed on a few flocks to photograph decoying Canadas or to watch each other shoot; to handle Delta on a few long cripples and to count dead birds. It still ended way too quickly; took about 45 minutes to achieve our 2 man limit. Manitoba is one of those funny places up north that enforces a 3 shell policy and protects Ross's geese during the spring period.
The limit is 20 snow geese, but that is fine. Twenty of anything that decoys so well is ample. The countless thousands of snow geese cleaned on the wintering ground seemed emaciated compared to the spring snows of Manitoba. With little hunting pressure, they had gorged themselves on waste grain for weeks. They were so fattened that many literally popped open on impact during hunts; on the cleaning table, their plumage shucked from perfectly full, brick-shaped breasts as easily as removing an old, wool sock.
Blues were far more abundant than were their white-phased counterparts. About 80% of birds harvested were blues. Ross's geese tended to mix more readily with cacklers than with snow geese. This helped distinguish Ross's from snow geese. But our best intentions were not 100% fool proof: about mid-way through the morning we dropped 5 blues from a low, incoming flock. One from a close double, we soon learned, was an honest mistake - a juvenile blue-phased Ross's goose! Thankfully, Canadian Wildlife Services does not recognize Ross' as having blue phases so we were perfectly legal.
The second morning was not so easy. The wind ceased during the night. In anticipation of the heavy frost that accompanies windless mornings, we deployed full bodies. About 75 decoys in all formed a loosely strewn x pattern. The snow geese did not finish as closely as they had the preceding morning, yet they were close enough that steel 4's were effective for much of the time. It took almost an hour and a half to complete our limit.
Temperatures were in the mid-50s when we finished cleaning birds. I'd finally found the perfect spring cure; the waterfowl hunt that completes the endless, 12-month waterfowl season. Of nearly 3 dozen Canadian waterfowl hunts spanning 4 provinces, this snow goose hunt ranks very high among them. Yes. It was that good.
Anyone that enjoys decoying waterfowl will love this April through May snow goose hunt. Whether you are tiring of stratospherically high snow geese, needing a weekend reprieve from the off season, looking for the perfect taxidermy specimen or wanting to try something completely new - like hammering in-your-face, decoying snow geese - this is a terrific snow goose hunt at a package price that everyone will appreciate.
Got the late spring fever for waterfowling? Contact Ramsey Russell toll free for more information 1-866-438-3897
Ramsey Russell's GetDucks.com
Ever had that itch to duck hunt in April? See, it's not really duck season somewhere. April is the tough one. Duck season is closed in North and South America. Snow geese remain open through the end of May if you don't mind travel. As they hit the home stretch to Hudson Bay area, snow goose hunting is unlike anything you'll experience elsewhere.
The endless 12-month waterfowl season - the essence of GetDucks.com - now includes the consistently best decoying snow goose hunt you might ever experience. Deploying a spread of silly socks goes quickly, even with two guys. We put out about 120. A number far, far smaller than normally used to describe the typical snow goose hunt spread; roughly one-third the number of decoys surrounding an Arkansas pit blind were placed on the X. About a dozen kites and a custom-built e-caller completed the set up.
With temps near 30 and a slight northwest wind, breaking sweat was a non-issue. I was glad to have packed a warm jacket after all. The spectacle that is Manitoba was plainly heard. The loud symphony of waterfowl from myriad lakes and sloughs surrounding us was near deafening. In a good way.
The agricultural landscape teemed with breeding pairs of greater Canadas and ducks, with hungry flocks of lesser Canadas and snow geese. We set the white and gray spread in a small depression central to a barley field. From within the straw-covered field blind I felt Delta quivering with anticipation. She had heard the geese too. The snow geese were roosted up wind. Loose flocks flew into the field, over the decoys and then, from down wind, predictably turned acutely and sailed right into the spread. Several throughout the morning landed, or hovered just above the stubble.
Shooting distances were measurable in mere feet. Forgotten immediately were the orchestrated skybusts endemic to coastal snow goose wintering grounds. The morning snow goose hunt became a brisk rhythm of motion: reload, pick mature snows from incoming flocks, shoot, handle Delta. Repeat. Doubles and triples seemed easily accomplished. Kind of hard to miss at that distance. Except when someone says something like "easy triple" just before you pull the trigger.
We passed on a few flocks to photograph decoying Canadas or to watch each other shoot; to handle Delta on a few long cripples and to count dead birds. It still ended way too quickly; took about 45 minutes to achieve our 2 man limit. Manitoba is one of those funny places up north that enforces a 3 shell policy and protects Ross's geese during the spring period.
The limit is 20 snow geese, but that is fine. Twenty of anything that decoys so well is ample. The countless thousands of snow geese cleaned on the wintering ground seemed emaciated compared to the spring snows of Manitoba. With little hunting pressure, they had gorged themselves on waste grain for weeks. They were so fattened that many literally popped open on impact during hunts; on the cleaning table, their plumage shucked from perfectly full, brick-shaped breasts as easily as removing an old, wool sock.
Blues were far more abundant than were their white-phased counterparts. About 80% of birds harvested were blues. Ross's geese tended to mix more readily with cacklers than with snow geese. This helped distinguish Ross's from snow geese. But our best intentions were not 100% fool proof: about mid-way through the morning we dropped 5 blues from a low, incoming flock. One from a close double, we soon learned, was an honest mistake - a juvenile blue-phased Ross's goose! Thankfully, Canadian Wildlife Services does not recognize Ross' as having blue phases so we were perfectly legal.
Temperatures were in the mid-50s when we finished cleaning birds. I'd finally found the perfect spring cure; the waterfowl hunt that completes the endless, 12-month waterfowl season. Of nearly 3 dozen Canadian waterfowl hunts spanning 4 provinces, this snow goose hunt ranks very high among them. Yes. It was that good.
Anyone that enjoys decoying waterfowl will love this April through May snow goose hunt. Whether you are tiring of stratospherically high snow geese, needing a weekend reprieve from the off season, looking for the perfect taxidermy specimen or wanting to try something completely new - like hammering in-your-face, decoying snow geese - this is a terrific snow goose hunt at a package price that everyone will appreciate.
Got the late spring fever for waterfowling? Contact Ramsey Russell toll free for more information 1-866-438-3897
Ramsey Russell's GetDucks.com
4/30/2008
A Lesson in Proper Lead
Watching my children become duck hunters has renewed my enjoyment of waterfowling. Seeing the world through the wondrous eyes of youngsters is like experiencing it all again for the first time. Only better. Wintering songbirds that flit in the adjacent brush, frogs that occasionally share the pit, stray feathers or raccoon prints along the muddy shoreline, Dad slipping in the gumbo mud and especially incoming waterfowl: nothing escapes their keen observations.
4/07/2008
Rio Grand Turkey Hunt
What a great weekend hunt. Lots of Rio Grande gobblers.
The first morning was a comedy of errors. Lunchtime was quiet back at the ranch; no one had fired a shot. Which is not to say the morning's hunt was uneventful: Johnny had a longbeard and its entourage of jakes in his lap for a spell but they had somehow gotten the drop on him and he couldn't shoot; O.B. was within about 35 yards of an about-faced strutter, ducked down to slide off his vest to crawl a few more feet and when he peeked over the bushes *poof* the bird and his harem of hens had quietly vanished; Big Joe had seen 6 longbeards at several of the morning's set ups and in each instance, cattle had wandered in and "because cows are bigger than turkeys" pushed the turkeys out.
The first morning was a comedy of errors. Lunchtime was quiet back at the ranch; no one had fired a shot. Which is not to say the morning's hunt was uneventful: Johnny had a longbeard and its entourage of jakes in his lap for a spell but they had somehow gotten the drop on him and he couldn't shoot; O.B. was within about 35 yards of an about-faced strutter, ducked down to slide off his vest to crawl a few more feet and when he peeked over the bushes *poof* the bird and his harem of hens had quietly vanished; Big Joe had seen 6 longbeards at several of the morning's set ups and in each instance, cattle had wandered in and "because cows are bigger than turkeys" pushed the turkeys out.
11/11/2007
2007 Louisiana Youth Waterfowl
Marsh hunting in Louisiana is an undertaking involving preparation and excitement. Especially when hunting is followed by fishing. Double that when it includes youth hunters. We left camp at 3:30 a.m. Our host, Jeff Anastasio, had awaken earlier than we'd planned, but whether it was because he was truly excited about the pending youth hunt or because he'd become hoarse shouting at the televised LSU versus Alabama game the preceding night, where LSU eventually pulled it out towards the end, we'll never be fully sure. In the 25-feet flats boat: 2 pirogues, check. Decoys, check. GPS, check. Waders, paddles, floatation devices, snacks, retriever, calls, lights, fishing rods, tackle, check and double checked. A pair of 20 gauge shotguns, check. Little did we know what awaited us.
From the ramp it was about a 10 mile run down the Mississippi River. With a clear sky full of stars above, there was just enough moonlight to see well; only 2 big ships were passed and the water was otherwise smooth as silk. Which is to say, it was the Mississippi River and will forever command our utmost respect. Once off the channel and into the marsh our surroundings became enchanted. In the two-year absence of hurricane- and storm-related saltwater intrusion, the estuary was as beautiful as I could ever remember. Lush stands of coontail, water celery, wigeon grass and duck potato were in great abundance. The moment Jeff killed the outboard, we became immersed in a symphony of waterfowl and bird life sounds; gadwall grunts, teal and mottled duck quacks, pintail and wigeon whistles, the sounds of wings in flight, marsh hen cackles. A shooting star burned briefly to the west as we climbed down into pirogues. The water beneath the deftly moving pirogues was inches, not feet deep. Fish left quiet wakes ahead of us. In the 10 minutes it took to reach our destination, the eastern sky had bloomed faint color. Our blind was perfectly simple: we pushed the larger pirogue into the tall, dense marsh grass. It was perfectly stable, allowing us to stand and work Lacy, Jeff's dog. The first 15 minutes or so seemed unusually quiet, still; unexpectedly void of flying and decoying waterfowl. But that soon changed. A green-winged teal winged towards the decoys and a load of 2-3/4" steel 7s stopped from Duncan's 20 gauge left it flat on the water. Squadrons of bluewinged teal, small flocks of gadwall, singles and pairs of wigeon followed. Forrest made an outstanding shot on a wigeon that swung over the decoys and fell 50 yards from the spread. Birds were plentiful. Not once was a shot called on birds further than 15 or 20 yards. It wasn't necessary. Big smiles lit our little secluded area in the marsh. The pile grew. A lone canvasback drake tried the decoys but failed to commit. The only pintail seen, which was a big surprise to us all, was a drake that swung low over the decoys but continued onward to elsewhere in the vast marsh. Within an hour and ten minutes, a combination of gadwall wigeon, blue- and green-winged teal totaled 12. At 7:30 we high-fived and began our way to the boat. It was time to wet a few lines.
Ramsey Russell GetDucks.com
Ramsey Russell GetDucks.com
6/06/2007
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Ramsey Russell's GetDucks.com
2/23/2007
Venice Yellowfins
Ramsey Russell, GetDucks.com
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