2016 Waterfowl Season

1963beretta

1963beretta

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Vaughan, Ontario
With the season about a month away, the thought of geese and ducks committing to decoys, wings wide open, is making the hair on the back of my neck stand. The new duck boat has been purchased, but blinds need to be rebuilt and decoys need some paint touch ups. The ammo cabinet has been fully stocked with a wide selection of steel shot and the spring turkey gun has been converted into the trusted waterfowl wacker. Counting down the number of sleeps left is becoming pointless, so weekend getaways to the local gun club to shoot some skeet helps keep the excitement in check. But nothing is more soothing then spending the 45 minute commute to and from the office working a duck or goose call while stuck in traffic. The sounds and smells are in the air

Anyone else have waterfowl fever yet??
 
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1963beretta said:
With the season about a month away, the thought of geese and ducks committing to decoys, wings wide open, is making the hair on the back of my neck stand. The new duck boat has been purchased, but blinds need to be rebuilt and decoys need some paint touch ups. The ammo cabinet has been fully stocked with a wide selection of steel shot and the spring turkey gun has been converted into the trusted waterfowl wacker. Counting down the number of sleeps left is becoming pointless, so weekend getaways to the local gun club to shoot some skeet helps keep the excitement in check. But nothing is more soothing then spending the 45 minute commute to and from the office working a duck or goose call while stuck in traffic. The sounds and smells are in the air

Anyone else have waterfowl fever yet??
Click to expand...

This morning while riding to work through the farm fields I too felt a twinge of Water Fowl Fever.
The standing corn is about 9 foot tall and getting close to harvest, but the smell of the air was different, it was heavy with fog from the Fraser River and the grain feilds while golden they too where laden with heavy morning dew and then all of a sudden my wind screen fogged up too.
The season is not far off...
Rob
 
Never really leaves me. The small changes others don't notice may as well be fireworks and billboards to me. Evening get quiet, crickets are singing, dew is getting heavy, grain is dropping and the first small groups of honkers are starting to trickle into the fields.....it's on its way alright. Unfortunately it seems like as quick as the season arrives it disappears and we'll be waiting again.
 
Oh yes! Yesterday I took a drive through the marshes, looked out over the lush green marsh grass swaying in the breeze and imagined how much better it would look dead and stubbly with a 100 km/h nor'easter howling across it with mallards wanting nothing more than to pitch into the deep channels where I'll be waiting with the dog.

This morning my buddy and I took both dogs to a little lake and set up a little blind, a few dekes and took turns 'mock hunting' to train our young dogs. He would be in the blind with his dog - he'd blow the call and I'd fire the dummy launcher to launch bumper out over the water infront of his blind. He'd shoot it with the starter pistol, let pup mark the fall, then send his dog. Them my turn with my dog. Then some doubles. Good fun, except for the deer flies, and as close as we could get to the real thing!
 
it cant come soon enough! yesterday i took a tour around the local ponds that i hunt regularly and it looks like its been a great year for ducks! if they stick around i already know where i want to be opening morning! plans are being finalized for a nice permanent blind at our "Go to" pond and hopefully in the next few days we will be getting started on that.
 
The sun is peeking over the horizon a little later each morning. The clouds are starting to take on "that look". The wheat is yellowing, corn cobs are filling out. I see small groups of geese moving or assembled on sloughs early in the morning looking restless. It's coming though I have now taken to skipping the early warmer weather hunts. Last fall for the first time I skipped opener and the month of september and instead took almost the entire month of October off and hunted when it got cooler and birds of all sizes and descriptions were around. Didn't regret it for a minute. Though I will not be taking October off this season I will probably wait until then or until the white geese and the lesser canadas are here in numbers to get out there. Snows and little canadas drive me crazy....I just gotta get under them man!! ;)
 
Trying to find land this year! Last year had ok spot but its public and very busy had one chance on some geese and none went down :( havent got any waterfowl yet! hopefully this year!!!
 
Was out to check my opening day blind a couple weeks ago... it will need repairs pretty soon, and I will also patch up a couple other spots. But there were LOADS of birds around! The air has a bit of fall in it...less than a month away!!!
 
I am getting very antsy as the days come near here in SW Ontario. Typical week day commute for me is from Hamilton to downtown TO so without booking a day off there was no chance of getting any hunts in Mon-Fri.

Starting a new jobsite up in one week toward Niagara way not too far from a few fields I hunt. This season I can hopefully put an hour into the field every morning if I wanted to before dodging out to work last minute.

Guns all ready, been slowly stocking up on some loads and dusted off the decoys. Just a waiting game now.
 
I heard some geese flying by my house the other night.. needless to say it got me very excited for the upcoming season!
 
Im seeing lots of goose movement near my home and also where I hunt. Some fields are filling up quickly with geese. Ducks on the other hand are a different story. The local ducks on the lake are still learning to fly. Was up fishing on the weekend and saw lots of small local flocks of various puddle ducks and they all seemed to be testing out the usefulness of their feathers.
 
Well, it was hot and sunny while I watched my daughter at her swimming lessons this morning, and I spent the time reading Gordon MacQuarrie's great story "Nothing To Do For Three Weeks", so yes, something has definitely triggered the internal waterfowling switch.
 
I know how you all feel with Waterfowl fever. I was with my kids and they were swimming in Lake O (insert pollution joke here) and a flock of around 15 geese came flying right overhead. Would love to have that happen in hunting season. It was that picture perfect. Had to pretend I had my shotgun with a stick, and got a few looks from other people on the beach...

W.
 
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