12 replies to this topic

[timmy]

Well, we've had our season opener. I got my wife out on the boat, and she finally got to see a hunt. In the morning, we got 1 Mallard drake2 Green Winged Teal drakesIn addition, we sailed two spoonies and lost one teal.In the afternoon, we went to the sweat line at Grizzley Island. The sweat was in the work, not the line. We really need to get a decoy cart. We got:2 Sprig drakes2 Spoonie drakesBasically, it was very hot and not a great opener. But hey, we had a great time. Here is my dog's first retrieve of the season  1.jpg   23.71K   23 downloads

[mac]

Timmy, great report and at least you did get something!

[tinhunter]

The weather was definitely not the best for duck hunting. That's good that you get to share your hunt with with your wife; mine has no interest in hunting ducks. My partner and I hunted Yolo Bypass and we both limited out around 10:30 am. I had 3 spoonies and 4 greenwing teal and my partner had all greenwing teal. Hope your next time out is successful.

[Yateswell]

Guys did much better than me, I got zero.

[Gunorea]

What about that coot? Hey guys & gals full report to come later. But here's a sneak peak, Moonclip got his first two ducks this afternoon.

[bzzrd feedr]

Good weather for a pic-nic. Our club shot well on the opener. 14 guns shot limits of sprig (2 ea.) then mostly teal with a sprinkling of mallard, widgeon, redheads, cans, gaddys, and a few ringnecks. One blind also shot 4 Specks. So a total of 102 birds. Sunday was not so kind. We had 9 shooters and managed about half limits. I think a little of our problem was the hangover. We need some cold weather now for it to get better. Notoriously Nov. is the worst month for us. Some of the guys shoot the heck out of the Ringnecks during Nov.

[Jeff]

The weather was definitely not the best for duck hunting. That's good that you get to share your hunt with with your wife; mine has no interest in hunting ducks. My partner and I hunted Yolo Bypass and we both limited out around 10:30 am. I had 3 spoonies and 4 greenwing teal and my partner had all greenwing teal. Hope your next time out is successful.

Hey Tin,I drove past Yolo yesterday and it looked like the only water was at the blinds. Is this the case? Are people only shooting out of the blinds or are people attempting the free-roam if there is only water in the blind area?I have a #9 next Sunday, so trying to do my homework.Thanks!

[clampdaddy]

My uncle and I shot limits (11 greenwings, 2 cinnamon, 1 spoony) on saturday. Only bagged 8 birds sunday (6 greenwings, 1 cinnamon, 1 canvasback). We could see during his last retrieve that my uncles lab was really acting strange and was laboring to breath. We were thinking that he might have had some kind of stroke or something so we put a stop to the hunt early. Later on we found out that my uncles dog got into someone elses' dog food early that morning and scarfed down about three and a half pounds of Ol'Roy. After he got a big gulp of pond water it swelled him up and put him out of commision for the rest of the day.

[Moonclip]

What about that coot? Hey guys & gals full report to come later. But here's a sneak peak, Moonclip got his first two ducks this afternoon.

Out of fairness that 1st pintail may have been your kill. You got to tell eveyone about the super duck that wouldn't die!My 1st waterfowling experience was interesting Will I do it again, yes but people that do this every weekend during the season are crazy! Why weren't you asleep at when you were posting this? I'm sad we missed the slab city Sat night entertainment. The goose story was the most epic of all I think.

[Yateswell]

What about that coot? That's just target practice.

[tinhunter]

Hey Tin,I drove past Yolo yesterday and it looked like the only water was at the blinds. Is this the case? Are people only shooting out of the blinds or are people attempting the free-roam if there is only water in the blind area?I have a #9 next Sunday, so trying to do my homework.Thanks!

There is water around all of the blinds and a little to the north, but the rice fields aren't planted yet and they want you to stay out of the rice area until it begins to grow in; but the marsh areas to the north are flooded. I guess there was a problem with some of the pumps early on so water was late getting into the refuge. There is a tiny bit of water to the south of parking lot H, but not much and the only birds I saw in there from the road was coots. Most people were free roaming on the opener and were headed north of the blinds. We had ressi 19 and shot blind #7; every blind was shooting like crazy opening day. With the small amount of water right now I would try for a blind. If you do plan to head north bring a bike so you can beat everyone up there. Good luck on Sunday; I will most likely be trying my luck with the lotto Friday night for Yolo. Hopefully we will all be going this weekend.

[Gunorea]

Sweat lining it on opening day sucks, but will I do it again, hell yeah. My bro, Yateswell, Moonclip & I stood it out all day Sat. & Sun. Yates took off early on Sunday, he had a long drive ahead of him so I don't blame him. We didn't have a ressie for either day. I was hoping that the wind would kick up and it did. Wind is great for duck hunting. Our two day totals;7 pintails4 teals2 Spoonies1 coot1 water chicken (Snipe)Even though I have to give credit to my dog Zena for getting the first duck of the day. She found a crippled GWT before any of us shot a duck. As with any hunting trip we learned some new things and have some fond memories. Seeing Moonclip get stuck in the Wister mud was priceless. The mosquitoes using me as a pin cushion, not so fun.

[Jeff]

There is water around all of the blinds and a little to the north, but the rice fields aren't planted yet and they want you to stay out of the rice area until it begins to grow in; but the marsh areas to the north are flooded. I guess there was a problem with some of the pumps early on so water was late getting into the refuge. There is a tiny bit of water to the south of parking lot H, but not much and the only birds I saw in there from the road was coots. Most people were free roaming on the opener and were headed north of the blinds. We had ressi 19 and shot blind #7; every blind was shooting like crazy opening day. With the small amount of water right now I would try for a blind. If you do plan to head north bring a bike so you can beat everyone up there. Good luck on Sunday; I will most likely be trying my luck with the lotto Friday night for Yolo. Hopefully we will all be going this weekend.

Cool, thanks.On one of the other forums I was doing some internet scouting and got quite a bit of info also. The rice fields actually aren't harvested yet, and still we must stay out. And the refuge manager said they lost power in that storm a few weeks ago and the pumps weren't working, so water in a few of the blind areas is shallow. I will be attempting a blind with my buds, hopefully we shoot well. It sounds like with #9 on a Sunday, I should have pretty close to whatever blind I want. Good luck in the lottery, hopefully you get on for Saturday. We've got a #33 at Gray Lodge, so I will be up there on Saturday. And then a #3 at Delevan on the 7th!!! That'll be a good day.