py_archer Posted April 19, 2006 Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 I'll start; One of my favorite memories was several years ago on the first day of duck season. We were set up on a small river near two lakes. We knocked a few down early and the action slowed. About 8 o'clock, the biggest flock of mallards I have ever seen came over the horizon from the direction of the lakes, probably spooked from all the hunters into one big flock. I swear it was like a cloud that blocked out the sun. As the older birds circled up high the juveniles were dropping into the dekes like rain. We held our fire to see if we could get the whole flock to land. Another group of hunters setup 150yds down river in a lesser spot pulled up and shot a single and the big flock flew off. I'll never forget that sight as long as I live. Another was when I was by myself wading a creek looking to bust some woodies. I flushed two from behind a logjam and missed. Just as I was about to hang my head one of them came flying back towards me being chased by a red tailed hawk. The hawks talons drew tailfeathers and the woody flew into the treeline where the hawk would not follow. I pulled up and dropped the woody on the bank. The hawk landed on a limb was looking for a way to get at what he thought was his kill. It was'nt until I started moving towards the duck that he flew off. Strange how the shot did not seem to bother him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTF Posted April 19, 2006 Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories Any day with feathers flying and birds dropping, is a memory for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian_Goose Posted April 19, 2006 Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories My dogs first retrieve where he brought backa decoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories [ QUOTE ] Strange how the shot did not seem to bother him. [/ QUOTE ] He was hungry. I had a sharpshinned do that to a dove I shot this past fall. That hawk saw the dead dove sitting on my fencepost and swooped down to get it. He didn't veer off until he got about 6' from me. But this is about waterfowling memories. OK, I'm not a big waterfowler, only because it falls during deer season, but this one year a friend of a friend got us on a private duck marsh that bordered Winnes (sp?) point up on Sandusky Bay. Before we went to bed that night, we watched literally thousands of birds drop into that marsh. We thought we would be in it for sure. Next morning in the dark, our punter pushed us out to the blind, and we sat, and sat, and sat, and didn't see squat. Then about 9 or 10 o'clock as we finished a great egg sammmmich in the blind, our punter out of the blue hisses real loud "GET DOWN, GET DOWN, GET DOWN.....................TAKE 'EM!" We popped up out of the blind and saw two green wing teal cupped and committed, my buddy swung on the lead bird, I swung on the drake and with one shot dropped it. Beautiful bird. Had it not been for the #4 pellet that went right through that little beak, I would have mounted him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WhiskeyandMe Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories One of my most favorite memories: I was a Freshman in College...and I went to my buddies house for Thanksgiving in Hereford, TX. That is up in the Texas panhandle. We worked cattle for the first couple of days, while we drove to and from field to field I would ask who owned what land. Finally we had a couple of days to hunt. We found ourselves on a flooded pond that flooded into a wheat field. We set up on the dam of the pond and had decoys on both sides. We knew a cold front was going to push in, but had no idea at what it was about to bring us! We had picked our Mallard drakes and I was waiting on the perfect Sprig to shoot. I remember looking up as there was an endless stream of Birds migrating from the north heading south...Thousands, upon thousands of Geese and Ducks...Thousands! Then all of the sudden, they started a tornado upon us! Mallards, widgeon, and thousands of pintails! they started to filter on to this less than 5 acre pond we were hunting...completely covering it up! It is the most amazing thing I have ever seen! Finally the water was covered, the geese were honking, the mallards were quacking, and the then out of now where, a whistle, a LOUD solid whistle was made by the pintails! And everything went quiet! Weirdest noise I have ever heard! To the day I have never heard it again! Shortly after I saw a pair of Pintails fly over the decoys...I told Steven, that I was going to take the drake...I pulled up and shot my first banded bird! What an amazing day! That was November, 1991... Temp started in the mid 40's and dropped to the single digits (5 degrees) by noon with a 40 mph North wind and snow falling.... In Texas that is cold! Thought that I would share one of my stories... J.J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbduck Posted April 30, 2006 Report Share Posted April 30, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories I have been waterfowling for almost 45 yrs and have had many memorable hunts, both good and bad. Anyways, I married later in life and just two years ago I took my 14 year old son on his first goose hunt. As one of the first flocks of geese flew over he connects on his first shot. So......first goose hunt...first goose...FIRST BAND(took me 35 years to get my first one)! I believe the smile says it all. THIS was my most memorable hunt. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian_Goose Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories nice picture... where were u guys hunting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntn4bucks Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories My most memorable waterfowling memory would have to be the very first retrieve my lab made on a hunt. She was just over 10 months old and man was I a proud pappa. It wasn't even a very productive day as far as numbers goes but that one retrieve made a lasting impression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbduck Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories CG, we do a lot of hunting by Lorette and the surrounding area. This hunt was just off #1E by Lorette. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntinguide Posted May 2, 2006 Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories we where goose huntin i Cent. Kans. one time and we had a wave of ducks coming into feed with our hardcores, there must have been 4-5 thousand ducks and they all landed on us. Duck season was closed at that time but i got some great pics, ill put the up in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teamgoose4 Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories i read the title and i just about didnt take a minute to click and read to see what everybody put. im glad i did though. whiskeyandme i like your story. 1991 was a while back i guess i was in about 1st grade then. anyway i know how it is to have a textbook beautiful day like the one you described. i took up an invitation from my cousin to hunt some public land in arkansas this past season. arkansas public land huntin is a joke nowadays. 400 hunters per acre. my whole family hunts alot but we dont get to go together all that much. anyway we drove literally through a tornado warning 50 mph winds and rain and crap for a few hours through the night to get there. we fought a little crowd but ended up in a good spot. didnt see much early, but it was still fun standin in the flooded timber with the dog settin on a log waitin. then about 9 the mallards started comin. i could tell the temp was droppin. it was prolly 45 at 5 when we walked in but by noon when we got back it was 25. cold wind outta the north brought thousands upon thousands of mallards to us and we killed a good bit. one thing i wont forget is on the way out gotta be out by noon, the sight of thousands of mallards landing around us as we walked the trail with other groups of hunters. unbelievable. went back the next mornin- same place, didnt fire a shot. enjoy it while you got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teamgoose4 Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories i gotta nother story to share. me and my buddy were huntin a pit just north of weiner ark just west of bayou deview i think about five years ago. neither of us had killed a pintail yet and a pair came in and he folded the male. it was iced up real bad prolly 3-4 inches thick and i started makin my way out the 50 or so yards to get him. once he hit the ice he slid way out. i got out about 15 yards from it and he starts flappin a little, and a dang ol' fully mature bald eagle swoops down and tried to snag him. i was yellin but he made one good try and missed so he rolled out. man it was cool. bald eagles are beautiful especially so close like that. anyway the hawk story kind of conjured that one up. hey my story my jog another memoy from someone else you never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GreenHead Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories my story is of the first day i ever went duck huntin, we went out in the morning and sat in a big pond for a while with no success. so around 9 am we decided to go jump shoot the ditches. well the first ditch we walked up to a hen mallard flew out. my frend shot and missed then i shot and dropped it. come to find out on my first duck hunt the first bird i shot was my first banded bird! it was double banded. so it was a 100$ duck!! later that day we both limited out. then the next day we were jump shootin again and about 5 mallards jump and we both open up. i fold one and my buddy gets one also. come to find out his was double banded too!!! it was one of the greatest hunts ever! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hookedonhunting Posted May 5, 2006 Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories Killin two woodies in one shot. Thats the best ive got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_MD_ Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 Re: Best Waterfowling Memories One of my favorite memories was when I was hunting with my dad. He would only shot ducks that he thought would land on me. He shot one and it landed on my feet. from then on I had to listen to him say that only a real duck hunter could make it where there wasn't a retrieval. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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