Nellie gets it done on a cold day

[fox-admin]

Saturday was our second season opener, tons of ducks on our marsh---like the old days. Nellie had here neoprene vest on as the the temperature was below freezing. Shot my Sterlingworth marsh gun.

[vaturkey]

Well goodness that appears to be an outstanding day indeed. Two ear scratches for Nellie.

[Jeff S]

That’s a great display of ducks. Nice shooting Craig.

[44whiskey]

glad to hear. great pics thanks for posting

[loggy]

Craig, It looks like you pegged the fun meter! Thanks for sharing.
John

[Jim Cloninger]

Nice shoot, Craig!

[jolly bill]

Good to hear lots of ducks are on your marsh.

That should keep you guys happy til it freezes over. Short term, you should be good.

[vaturkey]

Craig is one of those ducks a black duck?

[fox-admin]

Two blacks, 4 mallards and a widgeon.

[vaturkey]

Two blacks, 4 mallards and a widgeon.

Back when we were able to hunt a local lake outside of Round Hill Va (before development) we had more blacks then any other duck hands down. Limit was one black duck per day per person. Killed more blacks then any other ducks with the exception of Bluebills late in the season. Black ducks were lovely to eat. Miss that place, as it was 10 minutes from my house. In its prime we had a duck boat complete with blind and even not knowing what we were doing we sure killed some ducks. Abby (my first Golden) was bought to be a duck dog. Was one fantastic retriever and a sweet thing. Her ashes are about 10 feet from me now. Miss my Goldens, but I've moved on to pointy dog breeds as my duck hunting days are over. Development is both a blessing and a curse as they say, but we certainly had about 10 good years. Pic of Abby attached with me in Kansas long ago. Once she left the duck hunting part of her life she turned into a exceptional pheasant dog. Pic was taken in 2004 when she was 4 years old.

[Sporrns]

Great post Craig! Send some of those beasties down here - our weather is getting about like yours and that means its gunning time! Kevin

[fox-admin]

Kevin: This time of year our marsh is mostly frozen so we hunt large corn fields bordering Montezuma Refuge. Normally we hunt afternoon till dark. The birds come off the refuge and Cayuga Lake which never freezes because of it's depth. Yesterday I watched 5000 or more mallards and blacks leave the roost and dump into a field 1/4 mile away to feed late afternoon until well after sunset. This time of year the birds become much more nocturnal, most likely because of hunting pressure. Yesterday with a clear sky made it difficult and we only killed 2 ducks, the day before in the snow 4 guys limited on mallards and blacks in less than a 1/2 hour. It is a unbelieve scene to have 200 mallards dumping into our field set. The only situation that causes these birds to move in numbers south is a week or more of 6 inches of snow. So until the end of our season on 1/7/2022 we prey for little snow cover.

[Jim Cloninger]

Keep the duck hunting pictures coming guys. Jim

[Rbishop]

Wonderful pics! Makes a guy want to take up duck hunting!

[Sporrns]

Craig - one bitter cold Christmas week drive up to Binghamton NY (my wife's hometown) we were stopped in traffic on I-15 just below Harrisburg PA almost within sight of the Susquehanna River. It was past dusk, nearly dark, but the sunset backlit just enough for us to watch what I would estimate at between 500 and 1,000 ducks pile into a frozen cornfield. What a sight!

Jim and Reggie - picture attached shows the aftermath of a morning's shoot in Quebec in 2017. That day shooting the Big Gun - 12 ga. 3" chambered 32" HE choked .049 / .050. We alternated using Kent TM 3" # 3s and # 5s - never saw bigger Blackducks!