SpinnerMan 2023-2024 Log

[PorkChop]

Love your hunt/fish combo approach
Bet it seemed odd to have Woodies landing in the field!!!

Believe it or not a good number of wood ducks are killed in North Dakota in fields. Mostly on the east side of the state. And when I say a good number I’m not talking about good numbers like you guys have down in the south. I could only wish!!! I have had at least to come in that I can remember and I failed to seal the deal.

[SpinnerMan]

Love your hunt/fish combo approach
Bet it seemed odd to have Woodies landing in the field!!!

Believe it or not a good number of wood ducks are killed in North Dakota in fields. Mostly on the east side of the state. And when I say a good number I’m not talking about good numbers like you guys have down in the south. I could only wish!!! I have had at least to come in that I can remember and I failed to seal the deal.

I have seen woodies while hunting in fields, but these didn't land in the field. If you look at the picture I posted of the blind I have been hunting, I have some duck decoys in the water to the south hoping for teal. The woodies landed in the water.

This one swam up to the duck decoys and seemed to be confused by them. Then started talking to them I guess. It was peeping for a while. Is peeping the right word for the sound wood ducks make on the water? It's not the squealing they make when flying. I didn't know they made this sound for a long time. Wish I would have. Since then, I have actually managed to call wood ducks in once in a while. I often hold fairly long conversations with one sitting one channel over.

PXL_20230913_111545310.jpg

[Rick]

I got the wood duck calling break of all wood duck calling breaks back in the '70s, when I was very new to decoying ducks. Set up for September teal where a creek woodies commonly flew entered a river and had a lost one plop in with my decoys. Thank goodness it was teal-only, and I let that lost soul land and swim from decoy to decoy giving each a long, drawn out "sweeeeeet". Not the rapid "sweet, sweet, sweet..." series of woodies in flight and most would-be-wood duck callers, just elongated, single note "sweeeeeet"s with much longer pauses between them. And that simple call has led scads of woodies to their demise over the decades since, even while hunting Canadas in dry, harvested corn stubble. Initially imitated it with a Wingsetter whistle before trying Duck Commander's wood duck call did it better and, eventually, switching to squeezing those "sweeeeets" out of speck calls that can get louder and sharper.

[SpinnerMan]

Date: September 15 (Beautiful Day to be Outdoors)

Hunters: Myself

Time: Morning

Location: B&G Blind 22

Weather Conditions: Cool, clear, and calm. There was supposed to be a decent SE wind, but I never saw it.

Waterfowl Activity: Most of the geese seemed to have roosted far to the southeast and didn't seem like many got up. Saw enough to keep it interesting. Lots of wood ducks cruising around right after shooting time. Saw a flock of 20-30 small ducks, probably teal, about 300 yards away.

Only notable from the hunting is I had a single goose flyover about 80 yards up. He seemed to be flying so slow he should have fallen out of the sky.

Despite not even thinking about shooting, it was a beautiful morning with a lot of interesting birds around.

Birds By Species: DNS

Fishing: I got set up quick and had lots of time to fish. Didn't have a single strike until about 10 minutes before shooting time. Finally had a couple strikes and lost one. Heard a few geese, so I headed to the blind at shooting time. Then it just got quiet for a while and I didn't really want to get skunked fishing. From the blind door you can cast to a good area. So I decided to make a few casts and try to get the skunk off of me. First cast I had a smaller one smack it pretty good, but didn't get the hook in him. Couple more casts and I hooked a good one. Actually pulled some line out of my drag. Very rare for a bass. Landed probably my 3rd biggest largemouth ever. Definitely top 5. Solid 20" and change. The picture doesn't do him justice.

PXL_20230915_112026070.jpg

Photo Ops:
I had this nighthawk buzzing me over and over again while fishing. It was pretty cool. Not the greatest video, but I've only ever seen a few of them and never where I could have nearly grabbed him a couple times.



I did have one thoroughly cupped and committed.

PXL_20230915_114525925.jpg

He seems to really like my spread.

PXL_20230915_114552059.jpg

[Deltaman]

Nice bass Spinner!!!

[DComeaux]

I love watching those night hawks when theyre hunting.

[SpinnerMan]

We had our monthly board meeting at the club. I usually do a little fishing before the meeting starts. Went to my favorite early goose hunting spot and had a very productive half hour of fishing.

I started throwing the topwater plug I had on from last time out. There were so many leaves floating on the water I was snagging leaves on almost every cast. Since it was daylight and I could see what I was casting to, time of year, and I know there are good sized fish in the areas I decided to go with a big spinnerbait. Definitely the right call.

Second or third cast, practically at my feet I picked the spinnerbait out of the water and a nice bowfin took a big whack at it but missed. I quickly flipped it out ahead of the way he was going and this time he came back and grabbed it about 10' from me. Really cool to get 2 close up strikes from the same good sized fish.

PXL_20231004_230544977.jpg

Then I picked up a couple nice bass before I hooked a pike that was around 24". Looking how I could put the pike on the bank without beating him up too bad, I let that one get away right at the shore. 4 quality fish hooked in 30 minutes. I wish fishing were always like that.

A lot of geese in the area and saw a fair number of ducks. I think some of them were mallards which I saw very few in early goose.

PXL_20231004_231127989.jpg

PXL_20231004_231302809.jpg

[Rick]

Y'all need to feed those poor fish. The choupique and second bass look starved.

[SpinnerMan]

Y'all need to feed those poor fish. The choupique and second bass look starved.

I thought that about the dogfish myself. I hadn't really noticed that about the second bass, but he's definitely skinny.

It's a small lake system with a pile of fish in it. It had a bad winter fish kill maybe 7-8 years ago. I think all the nice bass got wiped out. For a few years after it was loaded with bait. We put in aerators to avoid winter kills and some pike and bass from other lakes were stocked. They might have eaten themselves a bit out of house and home now. We might want to do a little relocation or stock some baitfish to get things back into balance.

[PorkChop]

I am not a jealous person but I am jealous!

[SpinnerMan]

Date: October 21(Opening Day)

Hunters: Myself and Jesse

Time: Morning

Location: B&G Blind 3

Weather Conditions: Nice, sunny, dead calm at sunrise to moderate W a couple hours later.

Waterfowl Activity: Slow. Saw maybe a dozen woodies and maybe that many mallards. Fair number of geese around, but they just want the picked fields.

We had a few woodies get through that wouldn't if we were looking the right way. 2 nearby blinds must have been feeding them as they shot more than the other 20 blinds in earshot combined.

We had a flock of Canadas flyover. We knocked down 3. One was still pretty lively and quickly swimming away, so we hopped in the boat. No luck finding it. If we would have stayed in the blind, we probably would have gotten our limit of geese as a couple more flocks flew over.

Birds By Species: 2 Canadas

Lagniappe: We leave an old boat by this blind. It's not unusual to have a mouse as your mate. But we had six stowaways. We had a whole mouse family with us. It's always funny as they are very nervous and sometimes jump overboard. I think we only had 3 left by the end of our failed search.

PXL_20231021_125549060.jpg

[Rick]

We'll give you points for effort for sticking with the search while the flight was on.

[SpinnerMan]

We'll give you points for effort for sticking with the search while the flight was on.

I hate losing them and that one looked like trouble even if we got right after him. Even with a dog there was a good chance of us losing that one.

[Rick]

We'll give you points for effort for sticking with the search while the flight was on.

I hate losing them and that one looked like trouble even if we got right after him. Even with a dog there was a good chance of us losing that one.

Hate for them to suffer a lingering death but find consolation in the knowledge that something out there needs our lost birds a whole lot more than we do.

[SpinnerMan]

Date: October 22

Hunters: Myself

Time: Morning

Location: B&G Blind 3

Weather Conditions: Cool, sunny, dead calm at sunrise to breezy later in the morning.

Waterfowl Activity: Ducks were very slow. Lots of high and far geese.

Had a woodie land in the dark. Never saw it but heard it whistling at me. Only woodie all morning.

A few minutes after shooting time. Saw a mallard to the north. A couple single quacks and it turned and came in just pretty as you hope.

About 7:15, a flock of about 10 Canadas were low coming my way clearly looking at me. I was about to call and one broke off and cupped up and came in fast. I was watching his buddies and they didn't look like they were going to follow. So when he passed over the decoys I shot. The bird in hand thing. He acted like he didn't even hear the shot. Still coming down fast. Second shot. No reaction. Then he crashed into the water full speed.

And that was it for the action. Could have called it after 30 minutes and not really missed anything.

Birds By Species: 1 Mallard & 1 Canada

PXL_20231022_120923540.jpg

PXL_20231022_151413832.jpg

[SpinnerMan]

Just a short addendum on my start to the regular season.

I ended last season with 2 regular mojos and one floating mojo.

Somewhere along the line I bent the wing shaft on the one. That's in the scrap heap. Couldn't fix it.

Pulled out the floating mojo and it worked for teal season. Saturday morning, the remote would not work at all, but it ran just fine all morning

Friday I put a battery on the charger. Friday night, nothing like preparing in advance I couldn't get the other regular mojo to run at all. Tried different batteries, nothing. Put a different one on the charge, still nothing in the morning. So I went from 3 good mojos to one that has no remote

I swapped out the batteries on the floating mojo. Remote worked fine Sunday Fingers crossed that's back in business.

I got out my volt meter. I actually think my charger is bad. Fingers crossed that's all it is.

Two weeks ago, I went and inspected the blinds with the guy that runs our duck hunting. When we were done, I rung a lot of water out of my sock One of my hip boots is leaking badly. No problem, I've had them for awhile. I can't find a decent pair anywhere. Ordered a pair online that had good reviews. Not at all what I wanted, so they went back.

Terrible time to try and find waterfowl supplies. Bass pro is picked over. I'm going to go back there at lunch and get a new charger. I think I remember seeing one when I was there yesterday looking for mojos and hip boots. Wish I would have thought about the charger being bad before I went.

You always need something, but I seem to need everything at the moment.

I got stuff to try and patch my leaking hip boots, but honestly. I've never had much success. I'll give it a go tonight, but I want a new pair.

[Deltaman]

Pretty set up, and glad a few showed up for you. Thanks for the reports Ed!

[SpinnerMan]

I got out my volt meter. I actually think my charger is bad. Fingers crossed that's all it is.

That was not all.

A failed battery charger and a dead battery in my remote. That took a little problem solving skills to figure out, but I got my mojo back.

[Rick]

...but I got my mojo back.

Ouch.

[SpinnerMan]

Date: October 24

Hunters: Myself & Gina

Time: Evening

Location: B&G Blind 3

Weather Conditions: Hot (80 F), partly cloudy, ~15 mph wind with gusts probably in the 20's.

Waterfowl Activity: A lot from the time we parked until we got set up and very little after

If we would have gotten there 15 minutes earlier, I think the results would have been very different. From the time we parked and hustling out the trail, loading the guns as quick as we can and trying to get hidden, there were geese moving low and close, even a couple ducks my wife pointed out. The last 3 geese, I really thought we were in business, but I'm guessing they may have seen us ducking for cover.

And that was pretty much that. It was a beautiful evening sitting on the edge of the lake looking at the fall colors watching doves and other birds, but the only waterfowl after that was a few far geese.

Birds By Species: DNS

Lagniappe: At one point my wife kind of jumps and reacts. We had a spider go by and she pointed it out and watched it. She's not a jumpy person around bugs, but when this guy dropped on the arm of her chair it took her by surprise.

PXL_20231024_222907368~3.jpg

PXL_20231024_222907368~2.jpg

[Deltaman]

I bet she did jump Dang Praying Mantis is an odd bug for sure!!!!!

[SpinnerMan]

Date: November 3

Hunters: Myself

Time: Morning

Location: B&G Blind 3

Weather Conditions: Chilly at about 40 F at sunrises, partly sunny, ~10 mph SW wind.

Waterfowl Activity: Saw 1 duck by 8AM, then a few small groups in about 5 minutes heading south and that was it. Didn't see a goose.

It was a very slow morning, but the first duck came to play. Called him back around a few times. Almost close enough to shoot on a couple passes. With nobody nearby I let him work. Then he looked like he was going to head off, so I hit him with my version in duck of "get your ass back here" and he spun right around put his head down and dropped down low and made his last pass Got my money's worth out of that one.

Birds By Species: 1 mallard

Lagniappe: The robin migration is on in force. Could have definitely got my limit. Well I guess I technically did. Pretty much a continuous string of robins for the last 1.5 hours.

[Rick]

It was a very slow morning, but the first duck came to play. Called him back around a few times. Almost close enough to shoot on a couple passes. With nobody nearby I let him work. Then he looked like he was going to head off, so I hit him with my version in duck of "get your ass back here" and he spun right around put his head down and dropped down low and made his last pass Got my money's worth out of that one.

Gots to tell 'em.

[Duck Engr]

That’s worth the price of admission!

[SpinnerMan]

Archery Update

Hunters: Myself

Location: B&G and JTA

Deer Activity: Starting to pick up and seeing deer at the right times on the cameras, just not in person.

Last year was my worst deer season ever for a number of reasons. I guess it is going better this year. I haven't shot and lost anything yet. I've yet to see a deer in person, but I haven't been out a lot. I had big plans for this weekend at the Joliet Training Area only to find out that the entire site was shutdown Friday through Monday for military training

Sunday morning there was a very dense fog. It's amazing how different things look and feel driving routes you've driven countless times when there is very low visibility.

I usually keep some small game tips with me. The squirrels would have caught some hell the one day. I had countless opportunities between 10 and 20 yards. Took some arrows with me next trip, but no luck. Forgot them in my truck next time out and had a bunny hanging out at 20 yards. Rabbits are quite tasty, but I couldn't convince myself to risk an expensive broadhead.

At my "house" which is a ground blind I patched together with scrap wood and everything but duct tape. I've shot a few deer and a coyote from it over the years. I often have a small critter making noise near the blind. I've never been able to figure out what it was. Rabbit? Squirrel? Chipmunks? Little birds? Just couldn't figure it out over the years. Finally found the culprit.

PXL_20231105_211821051.TS_exported_6226.jpg

Years of trying to figure it out. Mouse never crossed my mind. Saw the little guy 3 different times Sunday evening. I guess he decided he could reveal his identity finally. It's amazing how much noise one little mouse can make in the dry leaves.

Lagniappe: Had a real bummer driving to work today. Traffic stopped up ahead for a raccoon in the road. I was wondering why they weren't moving. Finally they went around. When I got up it was a big beautiful raccoon, but the poor guy had clearly been clipped by a car and was "lost" in the middle of the road. I watched him for a bit and then decided I had to put him out of his misery First time I ever ran over something on purpose, but he was definitely hurt bad and was either going to stay in the middle of the road until somebody hit him accidentally or worse get off the road to suffer and die.

[Rick]

Not a "just a raccoon" person. Sad deal.

[SpinnerMan]

Date: November 12 (Not the shot I intended, but it will do )

Hunters: Myself

Location: JTA Area 6

Deer Activity: Saw a lot of deer yesterday. Nothing much happening during the first hour today and then some pheasant hunters bumped some deer to me. Looked like they were going to pass in the brush like the ones yesterday.

However I hope this means my luck has turned. They hung out a bit and then a button buck headed my way. Stepped out 25 yards from me. Passed behind a big tree and I was drawn and ready. Then he turns straight at me. 20 yards, 15, 10, 5. Then he stops quartering just right for a clean front shot. When he looks up at me, I figured it was probably now or never.

Holy shit are they fast when they have just been flushed by dog and are staring right at you. As soon as I shoot, he ducks his head and I hit him square in the top of the head.

That could have gone all kinds of bad, but dropped him on the spot.

Deer: 1 button buck.

Didn't have to worry about tracking this one.

PXL_20231112_135411697.jpg

PXL_20231112_143958326.jpg

[5 stand]

That's pretty cool, I've never seen that before...
Congrats, good eating right there...

[Rick]

A fryer. Or, as a buddy likes to call 'em, a "sammich deer".

[SpinnerMan]

That's pretty cool, I've never seen that before...

Not cool at all. That deer could be running around with an arrow in his face. That could have gone so bad.

Same situation, do I take the shot and this was a crazy fluke or is it something to worry about?

I think it was a crazy fluke. I can't believe how quick he moved his head when I let go. It wasn't like I was trying to sneak it past. I had a good clean shot.