Fox Collectors

Be very quiet. Only 18 hours until shooting time.

Beautiful morning, but very, very slow. Oh well…,

beautiful is that XE

Yes Fred, I took the XE out, but it was not a lucky charm. Usually on our opening days we have a lot of wood duck buzzing around during the first hour. Not today. We saw a few woodies, a couple of flocks of mallards, two teal and a flock of 12 ring necks. Of the 7 members of my family,
1 duck (that’s one) was taken. I can’t go back this evening because my daughter from Wisconsin is stopping by, but hopefully I be back in the blind tomorrow.

Well gang…. It’s been a tough opener. As previously mentioned, Saturday was a bust. Sunday evening I was hoping that the pouring rain would drive in a few ducks. Again, nary an opportunity. This morning was a little better. Quite a few ducks flying around, and I managed to knock down two widgeons with my Super Fox.

Good for you Jeff,

Are widgeon's pretty common up there?? I have never had a chance to hunt for that species of duck.

Stan

Stan Hoover wrote: ↑Mon Oct 14, 2024 4:37 pm Good for you Jeff,

Are widgeon's pretty common up there?? I have never had a chance to hunt for that species of duck.

Stan

You killed one in SD that Fox retrieved for you with your "duck" gun. Remember??

Well done, Jeff! Widgeon are without a doubt one of my favorite ducks. Back in the early 1980s when MD had the point system in effect for calculating the daily bag, Widgeon were a 10-point duck and helped fill out many our daily bags; we would pass up the high-point birds (Pintail, Blackduck and female mallards) if we knew Widgeon were using in the area. Dames Quarter marsh on Deal Island on MD's lower Eastern Shore was a Widgeon stronhold in those days and we killed many a limit there. I would always put 3 home-made Whistler Swan decoys out in the Widgeon rig; they love to swim with the swan and steal the vegetation right out of the swan's mouths when they surface after pulling the bay grasses. The locals always referred to them as "peepin' ducks", a term they used for any duck that made a sound other than quacking such as teal, wood ducks, and Widgeon. Kevin

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Stan Hoover wrote: ↑Mon Oct 14, 2024 4:37 pm Good for you Jeff,

Are widgeon's pretty common up there?? I have never had a chance to hunt for that species of duck.

Stan

Stan, pretty rare on our lake. We see them when we hunt in the UP, but on our lake it’s primarily puddle ducks (mallards, woodies and black ducks). Interestingly, today there were a couple flocks of them. When in flight, the white on their wings is quite noticeable. Also, I was impressed with the layer of fat on these little guys.

Hey Kevin. The last 2 days there have been 3 swans hanging around the lake. Is that why the Widgeons are there?

Yeah, Jeff - the Widgeon are great poachers of swan - especially in shallow (5 ft. or less) water in a short grass marsh. When I leaned this from one of my most revered duck hunting gurus, I made my own swan decoys by cutting the necks of a standard Carry Lite Canada goose decoy about half way up the neck, then splicing a foot-long section of the right diameter wooden closet pole to extend the neck to the appropriate length. Sealed everything up with bathtub caulk, then painted the entire decoy with flat white interior latex house paint, carefully drawing the foot elbows and the facial "mask" black triangles.

I was always a big believer in a big decoy spread especially in a big shortgrass marsh, where the approaching birds can see for literally miles. On our best classic Widgeon shoot, I had 105 duck decoys of various species out with about 2 dozen Widgeon and 3 of my homemade swan. The effect was unbelievable; passing up other high-point ducks, my gunning buddy Charlie and I killed 20 Widgeon in c. half an hour. They came in bursts and when they saw the swan, the piled in. There was nothing like Deal Island in the old days. Kevin

Sporrns wrote: ↑Tue Oct 15, 2024 8:00 pm Yeah, Jeff - the Widgeon are great poachers of swan - especially in shallow (5 ft. or less) water in a short grass marsh.

Yes Kevin, this is a very shallow lake. When we row, the oars stir up the muck.