SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:22 pm

September 2 (Rain Delayed Opening Day)

Got up yesterday ready to go, but when I looked at the radar. Didn't feel like hunting in a thunderstorm.

Got up today and checked the radar again. Lots of thunderstorms, but they all looked like they were going to stay to the north and they did.

Waterfowl Activity: Saw a flock of about 15 teal and another flock of over 50 teal. As fast as they went over, they looked like they were heading to Southern Louisiana. Saw a good number of wood ducks and one mallard. Geese on the other hand. There were plenty of them in the area. They just weren't flying. Did a lot of calling early trying to coax them over without any luck. Saw one flock of maybe 10 about a mile away and that was it.I could hear them in all direction, but they just stayed put.

However, that didn't surprise me, so I had a plan B. I took my .410 along. I got two doves. Should have been a few more.

It was a great morning out. Rarely a moment where I wasn't enjoying wildlife or calling to geese I could hear or being buzzed by doves. At one point I thought I heard some doves behind me. Then I saw 3 land behind me, but I couldn't see them. So I eased out of the blind to where I could see them. :shock: About 20 doves go every which way. In all the chaos, I never even fired a shot :lol: :lol: :lol: I didn't single one out as they went every which way. I was more surprised than the doves. But I had a good laugh.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby Rick » Sun Sep 02, 2018 1:53 pm

SpinnerMan wrote:Saw a flock of about 15 teal and another flock of over 50 teal. As fast as they went over, they looked like they were heading to Southern Louisiana...


Haven't seen 'em, so maybe they'll give you a shot tomorrow.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Sun Sep 02, 2018 2:09 pm

Teal season doesn't start until the 8th here.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby Rick » Sun Sep 02, 2018 5:30 pm

Better get 'em tomorrow, anyway. And if anybody asks, tell them I said it was okay.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby DComeaux » Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:04 pm

The way the tropics are firing up, I'd not be surprised if we have weather issues for our teal season.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:33 am

September 3 (Labor Day)

Much like yesterday, but everything was slower.

Heard very few geese and saw none.

Saw a lot less doves and missed two.

Saw less teal, but did see some in the area and not just flying over.

Saw a lot less wood ducks.

The only thing there was more of was mosquitoes :shock:
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby DukMan » Tue Sep 04, 2018 3:52 pm

Teal should be on their way... In the last 5 years we've had a season I don't think we've ever had it so good... I'm seeing good number of BW daily should be down by you shortly... this weather has them moving.
2018 Totals
4 Canadian Geese
7 Blue Wing Teal
2 Green Wing Teal
1 Gadwall
1 Black Duck
1 Canvasback
6 Bufflehead
12 Mallards ( 10 drakes + 2 hens)
10 Wood Ducks

Mergansers
1 Hooded ( 1 Drake)
1 Common ( 1 Hen)
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Tue Sep 04, 2018 4:20 pm

I have already seen more teal while hunting than the last 15 years total. We just don't get many where I hunt. I usually see a few each teal season, but have yet to fire a shot at a BWT. I have picked up a few GWT during regular season over the years. I usually get one tease of some form each season. That's probably all this is, but next Saturday I will throw out some hen mallard decoys and my spinners while hunting geese and see if this will finally be the year.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Sat Sep 08, 2018 9:27 pm

September 8 (First taste of success)

With the change from the blistering heat, I was very optimistic going out and I was not disappointed. We had several days of rain and it was cool and cloudy with a little wind.

Waterfowl Activity: A flurry of goose activity early that lasted for less than an hour and then trailed off fairly quickly. I saw what I was pretty sure was a small flock (6-8) of teal pass by at about 50 yards and they looked to have landed 100-150 yards away. Other than that I saw one duck the rest of the morning :shock:

About 6:30, the first flock of the morning got up and looked like they should have come to play, but showed zero interest. Made me a little concerned.

About 15 minutes later, things got real interesting real fast. I had a nice flock work me. They went around a couple times and came in on my left. I dropped two, but should have been three.

Before I had time to go grab those geese. I heard more. Before long I had another group working. They ended up overshooting my decoys and landing in the water staying about 15 yards out of range. They then started calling to another flock. I thought they were going to call them in for me, but no luck.

One of the geese on the water was seeming to try and talk the "geese" on the land into the water with them. :lol:

There is a low spot in the field between me and the geese so I decided to crawl for it. Didn't get quite as far as I hoped before they busted me, but I was close enough that I was able to drop trailing charlie.

A little more action, but nothing that really worked. And then it pretty much went flat. I could hear plenty of geese in the area, just not flying any more.

Ended up with three geese and the first goose was banded :thumbsup: Banded in Plainfield, IL and shot in Plainfield, IL. That's about as local as they come. Banded 3 years ago as an adult.

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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby Rick » Sun Sep 09, 2018 3:51 am

Glad it finally came together for you.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby DukMan » Sun Sep 09, 2018 2:45 pm

Good stuff....The only band I ever harvested was banded in Fond du Lac, WI and I shot it 1 mile east of there... the DNR here has said our harvest of local geese has gone up exponentially and they even eliminated our Horicon zone which was a refuge zone put in place for Ontario migrants, but since they the now attribute to less than 5% of our annual harvest we now have a statewide season with just northern and southern zones.
2018 Totals
4 Canadian Geese
7 Blue Wing Teal
2 Green Wing Teal
1 Gadwall
1 Black Duck
1 Canvasback
6 Bufflehead
12 Mallards ( 10 drakes + 2 hens)
10 Wood Ducks

Mergansers
1 Hooded ( 1 Drake)
1 Common ( 1 Hen)
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby DComeaux » Sun Sep 09, 2018 5:21 pm

Good stuff spinner...
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Sun Sep 09, 2018 7:20 pm

September 9 (5 goose limit and a band, couldn't hardly get better)

After my success yesterday, I was excited about the prospects for today and definitely was not disappointed.

Waterfowl Activity: Very similar to yesterday with significantly more geese on the move during the flurry of activity. Saw a few wood ducks and one duck that buzzed me that I think might have been a teal, but still not what I expect.

Around 6:30, the birds started moving. They were quite cooperative as well. Another group of guys was hunting a few hundred yards from me. We both banged hard on the geese for about an hour.

I was first to get a flock in. Dropped two that hit the water near me. One looked a little lively and the other seemed dead. I kept an eye on that one as I tried to call the flock back. Often time with Canada geese, if you drop a bird, you can call his mate back and he'll bring the rest with him. They ended up going over the other blind and getting shot up again. Then I looked back and I was missing a goose :o The one that seemed dead was just gone. I guess it dove and got tangled in the millfoil because I should have been able to find it. When I went to look for it and retrieve the other one, I broke and oar :evil: However, the one that I didn't lose was banded :thumbsup:

Something is just not right. I think the grass is too tall, but I can't actually get the geese to land. They drop down like they are going to land but they pull up short. It happened yesterday and again today with every flock. They don't flare and some get quite low, but I don't think one goose was actually going to land. At least until I shot them ;)

After some missed opportunities yesterday and today, I didn't screw around with the birds.

I hear some geese off to my right. Three geese coming in. Looking real good and then they start to hesitate. Previously, I would have let them work, but they were close enough and didn't want to loose them. I dropped two of them. The third one circled right back on his own and landed in the water near where the ones did yesterday. So I decided to crawl for it again. This time I got across without getting busted or so I thought. I stood up and the goose didn't fly. I walked towards it and it still didn't fly. It was calling to it's mate that wasn't completely dead that started calling back. After a few seconds, I decided, I gave you the opportunity and water swatted it. Then it got up and flew. How I didn't kill it, I have no idea. So then I dropped it with the second shot.

The guys in the other blind had shot quite a bit over this same time.

I had a single come in and peal off a little earlier than I anticipated and ended up missing it. When I get a chance, I have the video. Bang, bang, bang, $hit! :lol: I have another video clip from yesterday of me saying $hit after that flock landed long. So maybe we'll see how many times I can curse on video :lol:

Shortly there after, almost a repeat. This single I hit pretty hard, but it didn't go down. Then for whatever reason it circled back by me at about 35 yards or so and I dropped it that time. My shooting left a little to be desired, but I got my 5 geese. My first 5 bird limit during early goose and the first time I've got two bands in a year. However, we get a lot of local goose bands where we hunt. I think they band them in the park at the end of our club.

This was a young of the year banded near Plainfield, IL. Probably a park on the other side of town. So a little further away than the last.

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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Sun Sep 09, 2018 7:30 pm

DukMan wrote:Good stuff....The only band I ever harvested was banded in Fond du Lac, WI and I shot it 1 mile east of there... the DNR here has said our harvest of local geese has gone up exponentially and they even eliminated our Horicon zone which was a refuge zone put in place for Ontario migrants, but since they the now attribute to less than 5% of our annual harvest we now have a statewide season with just northern and southern zones.

I have been crazy lucky when it comes to bands. I have 4 duck (2 woodies from Minnesota, 1 Gadwall from South Dakota, and one Mallard from a suburban Chicago park) and 5 Canada (4 locals and 1 from near Hudson Bay). That's way more than I should have for the number of birds I have gotten other than the local goose bands which I probably have less than most. The guys in the other blind picked up two bands today. Most guys have had days where they got multiple banded birds.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby Rick » Mon Sep 10, 2018 4:33 am

I'm the opposite, in that I've shot a lot of ducks and geese but seemingly few bands compared to some, if not most, when one excludes resident Canadas. Never a gadwall or even wood duck band that I recall.

But lived in the Mid Ohio Valley at the time resident Canadas were introduced, and it seemed like every third one was banded, and I had enough of those to take the shine off of band collecting for me. Started thinking of banded birds as "used," because other humans had had their hands on them. Gave all my Canada bands to a banker from Memphis who hunted with us shortly after my move down here and sure made him happy. Haven't kept one since. Used to save them for the next kid I saw with a call and now give them to grandsons.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby Deltaman » Mon Sep 10, 2018 7:31 am

Congrats Spinner!!!!! Glad to see your early goose season is paying dividends :thumbsup:
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so"
Mark Twain
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Mon Sep 10, 2018 9:39 am

Rick wrote:I'm the opposite, in that I've shot a lot of ducks and geese but seemingly few bands compared to some, if not most, when one excludes resident Canadas. Never a gadwall or even wood duck band that I recall.

My one regular hunting partner, he's probably shot at least 10x as many ducks as I have and never got a duck band. He's got a boat load of local goose bands and like you, they don't mean much.

Rick wrote:But lived in the Mid Ohio Valley at the time resident Canadas were introduced, and it seemed like every third one was banded, and I had enough of those to take the shine off of band collecting for me.

They band like crazy around here. We have the MVP geese which they don't want to over harvest and the resident geese that we could probably afford to harvest a lot more. When I first started hunting geese here we had to carry a card. As soon as we got a goose, we had to mark the card for that day and then by the end of the day call in and report the goose. When the harvest hit a certain number, they closed the season. So the last few weeks you had to keep checking to make sure it didn't close early. Most years it did. Then they got confident enough in their models and we don't have to do that any more. However, we benefit from a lot of bands, both local and the migratory birds. I'd say legitimately at least 1 out 10 local birds are banded. Migratory ones much much less, but still not nearly as rare as a duck band.

We also have quite a few neck collars around.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Mon Sep 10, 2018 10:02 am

September 10 (Largemouth)

Hunted before work this morning. Since I have to hustle to get to work, I only set out my bigfoots on land and didn't put out any floaters or ducks hoping for the fluke teal to come by. This gave me quite a bit of extra time before sun up. I still had a fishing rod in the back of the truck, so I decided to do a little fishing in the dark. Used a buzzbait, my favorite fishing lure. I caught 3 nice (1-1.5 lb) largemouths. As the light started to get a little brighter and I was hearing the geese start to wake up in the distance, I went to the blind, made sure the gun was loaded and everything in place. Decided to fish a little more from the steps since I was doing pretty good. I hook a nice bass (maybe 2 lbs), but it gets down in the millfoil and pull in about 5 lbs of fish and weeds. Just as I get him up, I hear some geese. Oh crap, they are coming my way pretty quick. As I'm racing to pull the weeds off, unhook him and get back. I duck into the blind. They showed no interest and looked to move away from me. I don't know if they busted me or if they were a flock that I had shot up the last two days. I'll assume the latter ;)

Only real interest all morning was a single that I thought for sure would come in on a suicide run. We talked back and forth, but nothing more than came over looked things over without losing any altitude, chatted a bit and kept on going.

Waterfowl Activity: The weather is getting nicer and the goose activity is fading. Saw a few flocks around, but a lot less than the last two days. Ducks are just shockingly rare. Saw a few wood ducks including a pair that dropped in next to me, but didn't stick around quite long enough for a photo. This time of year I usually see a ton of wood ducks. No other ducks at all.

BassintheDark.jpg


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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Mon Sep 10, 2018 10:10 am

Marsh Bear wrote:Nice fish - an early morning blast and cast.

Minus the blast :lol:
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby Rick » Mon Sep 10, 2018 10:29 am

Still a pretty sweet way to start a work day. Not many are so lucky.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby DComeaux » Mon Sep 10, 2018 10:30 am

Buzz bait fish are fun.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Thu Sep 13, 2018 9:55 am

September 13 (Beautiful Morning)

It was a beautiful morning, but that is about the only good thing.

Waterfowl Activity: Almost zero. I heard one goose and saw 4 or 5 wood ducks.

The last day of early goose is the 15th, but with the nice weather back today may have been my last. The geese are just lounging around. I'm not even sure many are lounging around where I hunt. I was out in the area last night at sunset and didn't see a single goose come back to roost.

The water level had dropped after a couple of days without rain. I should have brought a frog since there was millfoil to the surface everywhere. However, I still managed one nice bass in the dark when I could keep the bait out of the weeds.

BassintheDark3.jpg


Now it's time to get focused on archery season which opens Oct 1.

Given my past success archery hunting, I think I've found my target.

Bambi.jpg


With a little luck, I could get this guy and it would be my largest buck with a bow.

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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Tue Sep 18, 2018 11:13 pm

Here are the videos I said. I got a few other pretty decent videos with the phone. It was fun playing with videoing some of the hunt.

I don't like the sound of my calling. I think it was me being too close to the phone, because it sounded better to my ear.


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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby Rick » Wed Sep 19, 2018 3:31 am

Today's "phones" are pretty amazing. (Says a guy who learned just the other day that he doesn't know how to send a text, only reply to them, on his flip phone.)
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Sat Oct 20, 2018 4:27 pm

October 20 (Opening Day)

Hunters: Myself and my regular partner Jesse.

Beautiful day that started off dead calm and was blowing about 10 mph by the time we left. 2 in the afternoon we had a squall blow through with a lot of snow with gusts of probably 50. It was quite the weather show for about a half hour. Glad I watched it from the couch.

Waterfowl Activity: Very little ducks, but a lot of geese as expected.

Crippled and lost a wood duck. :( That was all the shooting at ducks. We had a pair of woodies land just after shooting time, but it was too dark to see them and they swam off before it was light enough to see them. No other ducks came into range or even showed much interest.

We had 5 geese fly by. We dropped one each on our first shot. Turned out they were mom and pop. I immediately got on the call and pulled the kids back around. With the 2 shells still in the gun I proceeded to twice blow a bunch of feathers out of the ones ass. Both times, I kicked myself for not getting out front and I didn't have a third shell to not more feathers out. Jesse apparently did the same. Scrambling to try and stick shells in the gun while calling the kids back around. I managed to get one shell in the gun before they circled back. One was lower and closer and looked pretty beat up. I also figured Jesse was going to shoot it, but decided best to make sure we got that one and not get greedy. We both shot it.

So we ended the morning with 3 geese, but it was quite the circus for a couple minutes.

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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Sun Oct 21, 2018 2:22 pm

October 21 (Poor Shooting Day)

Hunters: Myself and my regular partner Jesse.

Beautiful and very sunny day that started off dead calm and was blowing slightly later in the morning.

Waterfowl Activity: About the same as yesterday, but the few ducks were more cooperative. Less geese, but heard huge numbers to the north before sunrise.

Early in the morning we had a black duck work just as nice as could be. Took a few more shots than it should have but we put her down.

Called in a Canada just as nice as could be. Looked so nice in the bright sun. Glided in as pretty as could be. When front and center I called the shot. We both shoot. Nothing. We both shoot again. Nothing. It hooks around my end. Still an easy shot. My third shot. Nothing. :shock: :shock: :shock: It was like missing a freaking blimp.

A little later three drake mallards worked beautifully. Spun around every time I hit them with a come back call. After a few trips around, 2 dropped in the decoys. I told Jesse to watch them while I watched the third. He came back around close enough and I called the shot. All three left :shock: :shock: :shock:

Then to cap the morning off we missed a teal. :( :oops: :( :oops:

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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby Rick » Sun Oct 21, 2018 3:33 pm

Blankety-blank magnetic Kevlar birds the guberment sends around to check your shot.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Mon Oct 22, 2018 4:40 am

Rick wrote:Blankety-blank magnetic Kevlar birds the guberment sends around to check your shot.

:lol:

Jesse was joking that maybe he needed to shoot a decoy just to make sure he could hit something.

Let's hope I get a chance to redeem myself this morning.
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Re: SpinnerMan 2018-19 Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Mon Oct 22, 2018 10:12 am

October 22 (Short pre-work hunt)

Hunters: Myself

Calm morning with some scattered clouds.

Waterfowl Activity: Very little.

Only real excitement was a good size flock of geese that was looking to die, but couldn't be talked into dying at my blind. The next blind over dropped 2 that I see and probably got more.

I saw one mallard heading south with full after burners on. Saw a couple wood ducks and heard a couple others. That was it before heading off to work. Although most action the last couple days was after I had to leave today.

Still nice to be out in the morning when the sun comes up and the birds all wake up.

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