Almost didn?t make it out this morning

Mark W

Mark W

Well-known member
Got up at 6:40 with legal at 7:14. Threw on the hunting clothes and headed out the door. Walked down to the lake and kayaked over to the hunting spot. Was set up before 7:00. I am fortunate having a cabin on a lake with some good shooting spots.

Very foggy morning. Thick heavy fog. Made the hunt real fun as I could hear the ducks but couldn?t see a thing until they were right in my face. Missed many opportunities but still scratched out a limit of teal and some mallards. Can?t believe there are still teal in the area as it was below freezing here a week ago. Here is a pic taken at 9:00 right before packing up my 5 decoys.



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I don't believe I've ever had a good hunt in thick fog. But I have had to pull up to the bank and wait for it to clear for safety's sake.

Congrats on the success.

Eric
 
Here?s looking back at the office for the morning. Fog had cleared a little as I was leaving.



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Glad you had a successful and safe hunt!

I've had some interesting mornings when the fog suddenly rolled in about shooting time. So thick, you cant see the decoys 20 yards from the boat.
Just like you said, you can hear ducks flying but cant see them until they are in the decoys.
 
We had a thick fog hunt Saturday morning. Out in the dark in thick fog. Only way to navigate was by compass and GPS. Finally crawled our way down to our spot, and had ducks on us trying to land as we were setting decoys, still before legal and very close to full dark.

We could hear both quacking and wings all around us all morning. The teal--all greenwings--mostly came straight in and became visible about 15' before they were feet down in the decoys. The big ducks--we never got a good look, but it's a spot that usually has a mix of blacks and mallards, and my buddy swore he saw a few ducks with "different tails" that he took for pintails--mostly stayed up high. A few showed themselves, but out in the fog just a little too far to tell what they were. And a very few actually got close enough for a shot, but overhead and moving pretty fast. Not seeing them come it we'd see them very briefly and then they were gone again in the fog. Not a single once dropped into the decoys, and only one group came close to committing, then lifted up 40 yards up and were climbing hard as they passed over us.

Very stranged to have so many teal committing and not a single duck doing so.

We ended up with 7 teal for the pair of us.

Best part of the day, though, was that the fog lifted as we were pulling the boat after hunting, and as soon as it did there were ducks EVERYWHERE, all in big groups, and all flying high and fast. Like they'd all been sitting down waiting to move and got up and went as soon as the visibility cleared.
 
My best fog hunt experience was a couple of years ago. I was out in the salt marsh, very foggy, maybe 15-20 yards visibility. A few ducks came by, no chance, they'd be gone by the time you got your gun up. So I'm sitting in the boat, hoping the fog will lift and we get a little breeze, when I get this funny feeling there is something around. I look up and an eagle is hovering right above one of my black duck decoys. He cuts his wings, does the stoop, comes down and smacks the hollow cedar bird, almost pushes it under. I can still hear the sound of those nails(talons) hitting the wood. Reminded me of smacking my nails so hard on a gym floor when I took a tumble playing hoop there were little blood spots underneath them. I figured that eagle was wondering what just happened. So you never know in the fog.
 
Best part of the fog was how birds would suddenly appear. I likened it to how the Star Wars spacecraft look when coming out of hyperspace. BOOM, there they are.

Many years ago I was going to hunt a favorite spot and it was really really thick fog. Maybe a mile or a little more of a boat ride to the hunting spot. I got going and made the first bend into the large lake and then got totally lost and turned around. Was put putting real slow and hit shore. I had no idea where I was. Started in the direction I thought was where I wanted to go. and couldn't se squat. Heard another boat coming up behind me (mud motor) and prayed they could see my nav lights or spot light shining back towards them.

Found shore again and just sat there until the fog lifter. I was nowhere near where I thought I was. Motored over to the hunting spot and spoke with the guys with the mud motor. Asked them if they ever saw me and they didn't. They didn't miss me by all that much.

So for me heavy fog and a ways to go in a boat don't go well together. Yesterday paddle wasn't far at all and it would have been hard to screw it up.

Mark
 
greg setter said:
My best fog hunt experience was a couple of years ago. I was out in the salt marsh, very foggy, maybe 15-20 yards visibility. A few ducks came by, no chance, they'd be gone by the time you got your gun up. So I'm sitting in the boat, hoping the fog will lift and we get a little breeze, when I get this funny feeling there is something around. I look up and an eagle is hovering right above one of my black duck decoys. He cuts his wings, does the stoop, comes down and smacks the hollow cedar bird, almost pushes it under. I can still hear the sound of those nails(talons) hitting the wood. Reminded me of smacking my nails so hard on a gym floor when I took a tumble playing hoop there were little blood spots underneath them. I figured that eagle was wondering what just happened. So you never know in the fog.
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I had a similar experience on the south zone opener this year Greg, had a juvenile bald eagle pull up at the last minute over one of my shaker decoys.
 
Mark W said:
Here?s looking back at the office for the morning. Fog had cleared a little as I was leaving.
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I like the photo of your spot from the rig. Great little hide for your kayak and you can wade the decoys. Best part is that you can walk to the lake from home. I don't recall many banner days in the fog, but it is nice to be out there. What sticks in my mind about hunting in fog, when it's so quiet and calm, is the echos when you shoot. And how you can hear others talking from hundreds of yards away. I kind of cringe thinking about what homeowners down the lake must hear.
 
I had a similar experience on the south zone opener this year Greg, had a juvenile bald eagle pull up at the last minute over one of my shaker decoys.



What ramp were you using to launch Craig? I did not go but had planned to, got canceled the day before. I usually put in at Hansey Creek Rd, AKA Owl's Nest. Lots of eagles around there.
 
It is most certainly loud. The neighbors that are near me and I know I do provide a heads up when I hunt this one spot as it is close enough that even with windows closed, it could be quite a surprise. Luckily they understand, they are hunters themselves (deer) and I don?t over use this location as there are several more spots but this one is by far the easiest to get to.

Mark
 
Craig it was very foggy that morning. I had my big boat and it was nerve racking I just think in my head I'm gonna hit a small boat or a kid in a kayak. We didn't shoot a limit but my dog had his first actual duck hunt and it went very good. No whining no breaking made two retrieves.
 
Greg we were up in Tuckahoe, I'm up north of Barnegat so I don't get much farther west than the Maurice usually.

Josh for sure the fog made it fun, had to run my navionics app on the phone the ride down the river just to creep along. We had a surprisingly good shoot for not doing any scouting, second hunt for my dad's pup and we got him a lot of retrieves. Mostly teal but one mallard and pintail.

The Estuary II has been working really well for my dad, since that hunt he added some raffia to the edges and it really blends great.

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Mark, that sure had to be fun. Thanks for that story which I enjoyed so much.

When you talked about teal still being there that reminded me of yesterday when I looked out at one of the two hummingbird feeders that we still have up and saw a male broadtail hummer on Nov.1st. That is a first and we have been living here for 25 years. The latest I have ever seen a hummer prior to this year was about a half dozen years ago when I spotted one on Oct. 12th.
Al
 
In the early season, the Pacific NW usually has a high pressure system right on top of it, which means bluebird days and froggy mornings.

I got out in the Duckboat on the Lower Columbiia a few times and the fog was so thick and disorienting that it was downright laughable.

Several times, we resorted to a compass and it was really sketchy crossing the Shipping channel in (well before daylight.)

I remember I had to go back to get something out of the boat, and it was in about 10 inches of water where the tide was leaving . I had a headlamp on and was looking down at my feet and between the current of the river, the direction of the tide, the sway of the wind, and the pull of the fog, I was all turned around.

I'm not sure if I ever found my way out.
 
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