2022 Waterfowl thread

Was out couple days ago, very hot! Got 20 ducks and 3 Canadians. The 3 of us would have limited out but my shooting was less than stellar. :( Glad it’s cooling down now, never feels like duck hunting when your hot in a t shirt.
 
It was nice to be out this morning even if the hunt was cut short. So far I have yet to miss a bird this season….

Haven’t bagged one yet either….

Bird numbers was very promising. If the season for ducks was open, today was a day that a group of hunters could have had a 5 man limit in the first 30 mins. Lots of mallards, woodies and teals. Also had a couple wigeon land in my spread and what could have possibly been a pintail zip by at first light. Haven’t seen an pintail in about 20 years

Also had an 8 point buck walk in behind me to about 20 yards which was neat
 
I've been out a couple of times... opening day (Sept 1) it was just me & my buddy on the marsh... with about 500 ducks! Got a nice mixed bag of geese, mallards, pintail, wigeon, gadwall, shoveler, b-w and g-w teal. Went out for an afternoon hunt at a different spot on the weekend and got a few more. Using 12 gauge this fall; can't find any decent non-tox 28 gauge shells.
 
Got out this morning after some geese with a trap shooting buddy. We managed a dozen BIG Honkers.
Man did the ducks pour in. Wasn't a one on the field yesterday. Great migration going on this morning, honkers, lessers, specks, cranes, ducks. Could have shot our limit of ducks three times over with the number of birds landing in our meager spread of 2 dozen full body Canadas. Never fired a single round at the ducks. Just sat and watched the show and played on the call with them. Had our birds cleaned and on our way home before 10am. Now I'm prepping trout for the smoker to make some tasty treats for in the blind when a buddy from Ontario comes out to hunt for two weeks in October.
 
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I was walking a ditch line this morning and got within 15' of a good sized flock. Of course, no bang stick with me. Crawled within 20' of a half dozen sandhill cranes, maybe we'll be able to take a crack at them here in Ontario in a couple years.
 
jlovie said:
I was walking a ditch line this morning and got within 15' of a good sized flock. Of course, no bang stick with me. Crawled within 20' of a half dozen sandhill cranes, maybe we'll be able to take a crack at them here in Ontario in a couple years.
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I was out scouting NW of Barrie not long ago and I came across a field holding well over 100 sandhills. I have never seen so many at one time. Usually 1-6 come in to check out my goose spread and frig off.
 
squidxm said:
I was out scouting NW of Barrie not long ago and I came across a field holding well over 100 sandhills. I have never seen so many at one time. Usually 1-6 come in to check out my goose spread and frig off.
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I saw about a dozen sandhill cranes on a field on the east side of hwy 400 just south of hwy 9.
 
It was my wife's turn today. I opted out of being a shooter and instead played guide as she and a trap shooting buddy of ours hammered a bunch of birds. They wanted to shoot ducks as well and we had flock after flock working the spread throughout the morning. My wife was on fire today with her A400 Xplore 20ga starting off folding a nice lone Speck I called in and followe that with another double, a Speck and Canada from a mixed flock. When the ducks started working the spread she folded another double in two shots from the first flock then folded a pair with one shot from the next flock. Thankfully she has a good sense of humour as I tease her with the silver hair hanging straight down from under the sides of her toque she looks like the old lady character Carrol Burnett used to play on her tv show! :p
 

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So far we've only got 1 Goose down. We have had both a morning and a night sit where we saw only a few singles and pairs, tons of ducks though. We are across the road from the Detroit River and still not having them fly in. Gonna try again this evening. It's finally a bit windy and overcast, hopefully that will help us
 
Yesterday was a really nice day to be out, albeit a little too warm to be in waders. Ended up going home with 4 Canada’s which is enough to make a small batch of sausages which I’m looking forward to. Really should have had a limit, but it is what it is. Birds always seem to show up when you’re not paying attention…..usually taking a piss or eating. Or in my case…both instances.

Cant wait for ducks season to open. Lots of ducks around this year
 
1963beretta said:
Yesterday was a really nice day to be out, albeit a little too warm to be in waders. Ended up going home with 4 Canada’s which is enough to make a small batch of sausages which I’m looking forward to. Really should have had a limit, but it is what it is. Birds always seem to show up when you’re not paying attention…..usually taking a piss or eating. Or in my case…both instances.

Cant wait for ducks season to open. Lots of ducks around this year
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If youd only learn to piss while eating youd have half as many instances where you got caught unprepared :)
 
Going to try my first duck/goose hunt in a couple of weeks. Found what I hope will be a good spot, very remote lake. No idea if there are any birds there, but that won't stop me from trying. Just tying up some loose ends on the quad, needs bearings and brakes don't seem to work after sitting for 2 1/2 years due to the Covid border lock-down. I bought a box of duck decoys, didn't come with weights or anything, I assume you need weight? Can I just toss a brick in the water with some rope, or is there a trick to this? Also hoping some geese are in the area, dying to try one. Any shot that I can use for both duck and goose, or is it pretty much the same? I know I need steel... but that's about as much as I know. I will be solo, no experience... would I be better off trying to blend into the weeds, use my chair blind with open roof, or a deer blind? I suppose an A-frame would be best but I don't have one, there may not even be any birds where I'm headed. At least I'll know what to expect next year... haha.
 
AdamRoby said:
Going to try my first duck/goose hunt in a couple of weeks. Found what I hope will be a good spot, very remote lake. No idea if there are any birds there, but that won't stop me from trying. Just tying up some loose ends on the quad, needs bearings and brakes don't seem to work after sitting for 2 1/2 years due to the Covid border lock-down. I bought a box of duck decoys, didn't come with weights or anything, I assume you need weight? Can I just toss a brick in the water with some rope, or is there a trick to this? Also hoping some geese are in the area, dying to try one. Any shot that I can use for both duck and goose, or is it pretty much the same? I know I need steel... but that's about as much as I know. I will be solo, no experience... would I be better off trying to blend into the weeds, use my chair blind with open roof, or a deer blind? I suppose an A-frame would be best but I don't have one, there may not even be any birds where I'm headed. At least I'll know what to expect next year... haha.
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A lot to unpack here. Here are a few tips…

1) Best shooting is at first light and sunset as that is when birds are moving. Check your regulations but generally you can shoot half hour before sunrise and half hour after sunset.
2) Decoys need anchors. You can buy basic stuff that is cost effective….lead strap weights and camo decoy twine can be had for cheap
3) Learn how to use duck and goose calls. Less is more when you are learning. Don’t try to call birds that are already committed to your decoy spread. Call them when they are leaving or when they are far to get their attention
4) Have a method to retrieve down birds in the water. Invest in waders and be extra caution walking in water you aren’t familiar with. Doesn’t take much to be walking in knee deep water and then stepping into soft ground and getting stuck or worse. Walk with a poke stick. Do yourself a favour and scout the area you want to hunt and familiarize yourself with the surroundings in daylight. You dont want to do this for the first time in the middle of the night
5) Blinds are great, but not needed. Hiding in natural cover along shore lines also works. Key is to use camo and stay still. Birds will catch movements better than you think. Blending into weeds with a chair is a solid strategy.
6) Keep decoys at a distance you are comfortable shooting at. Waterfowl usually land where they have space. So set up your decoys in a manner that leave the open space in your shooting range. I like setting decoys up in a big J o U formation. Birds will land in the middle
7) If you want to only use one type of shell, I would go with #2 shot. I mostly use #4 and #2 for ducks and BB’s or larger for geese. There is a current thread that talks about shotshells. I recommend reading through it.

Good luck and stay safe!
 
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Just got back from hunting up near James Bay. Unfortunately we didn't get to go on the helicopter to go after snows but got to hunt in a few different spots around the Moose River. Highlight of trip was when we got to walk in the flats trying to flush out birds. A flock of about 38 were coming right towards us, and there was no place for us to hide. We got down and stayed very still, called them in, and got 3 of them. We were very lucky, we think they didn't see us because they were flying with the sun in their eyes. Looking on the map trace afterwards it basically looked like we were walking out on the water in James Bay because I guess a couple inches of water means it's not land. Unreal experience.
 
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Just finished making 16lbs of goose sausages. Also made a couple burgers for the BBQ that we had for dinner and they were fantastic. Hunting season couldn’t come soon enough
 
medvedqc said:
when are you not hunting lol?
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Haha. Its been a tough couple years to get out as often as I usually would. Its hard enough to balance work/family life as it is….finding time to get everything else done is near impossible. I haven’t even been out fishing at all this year. Hopefully I can squeeze in a salmon hunt before duck season opens. Otherwise the fishing boat will remain in storage all year.

But for sausage making, I’ll always find time! Grinding the meat is the only noisy part. As long as I get that done before the family heads to bed, I can spend the rest of the evening mixing, stuffing and packing without waking anyone.
 
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