East Coast Trip..pic heavy

[Matt Masters]

I have been wanting to do the whole East Coast hunting for several years now and finally committed to it after last hunting season. I started contacting and planning everything in February, and needless to say it was very successful in my book. A huge thanks goes out to everyone involved and helped make one of my bucketlist dreams come true. I traveled 2,840 miles in eight days, hunted three different states, 50+ hours of hunting, harvested six new species, dropped 15 birds off at Shane's yesterday, got very little sleep, have a few dollars left in the bank account, and it was worth every penny and every second I spent on the road or in the seas hunting. I would do it again in a heartbeat without a second thought. I will let the pics do the rest of the talking.

First Seaduck

First Scoter limit

Finally sealed the deal on my UNICORN

First Eiders

First White Wing

First Oldsquaws

First Brant

Little New York action

 

[Yukon Mike]

Holy crap Man! Nice trip!

Mike

 

[Ryan Werden]

Very cool. Nice trip.

 

[Tom Modin]

excellent

 

[Carl]

Thats one hell of a trip!

 

[Doug C]

Nice trip and congrats on all the firsts. Even though I have my bucket list of "rare" birds for my area that many of you all shoot all the time it still amazes me how many people are after mergs. I guess we take the fish factories for granted.

 

[Matt Masters]

Nice trip and congrats on all the firsts. Even though I have my bucket list of "rare" birds for my area that many of you all shoot all the time it still amazes me how many people are after mergs. I guess we take the fish factories for granted.

I drove myself crazy for about 3 or 4 years chasing after those things in my home town on our wintering lake, there's always a handful and that's it. Chasing after a small flock of birds on 69k acres will drive you crazy. I would have loved to get the Common Mergansers on this trip but time ran out, maybe one day I will get on some.

 

[tod osier]

That is a great trip, looks like you still have a couple to quest for too - that is a good thing!

 

[Matt Masters]

That is a great trip, looks like you still have a couple to quest for too - that is a good thing!

I've got 7 species left to officially have all 32, but that does not include all the subspecies. Hopefully by the time I retire I will have most if not all of them that way I can relax in my trophy room and enjoy the memories I made while harvesting all the birds.

 

[Kris Schaumburg]

i want common merg drakes as well. i intend to carve a small rig, and find a river to free lance them on within a days drive from here. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Vince Pagliaroli]

Ya did Good..........the Brant made you Smile then most. They tend to do that. Congratulations!

 

[Matt Masters]

Ya did Good..........the Brant made you Smile then most. They tend to do that. Congratulations!

That was due to the guide being himself! The Brant and RBM's were my favorite birds to hunt the whole trip.

 

[Vince Pagliaroli]

A Good Guide is worth their weight in gold ( at todays gold prices $$$$$$$$$$$$$) especially when they have your life, and safety in their hands.............

 

[John Bourbon]

For those of you looking to bag a common merg drake....come to Lake Champlain. Take all you want and the fisherman will thank you....

John

 

[Doug C]

Nice trip and congrats on all the firsts. Even though I have my bucket list of "rare" birds for my area that many of you all shoot all the time it still amazes me how many people are after mergs. I guess we take the fish factories for granted.

I drove myself crazy for about 3 or 4 years chasing after those things in my home town on our wintering lake, there's always a handful and that's it. Chasing after a small flock of birds on 69k acres will drive you crazy. I would have loved to get the Common Mergansers on this trip but time ran out, maybe one day I will get on some.

I gotcha. Come to VA next time. 90% of our birds are mergs of some variety.

 

[Matt Masters]

I will keep that in mind, the trip for the RBM included a wide variety of birds I have not taken yet so that's why I opted for that location.

 

[Bill Ferrar]

Looks like you had a blast.
Who did you hunt with?

 

[Matt Masters]

Jeff Coats, Reilly McCue, and John Livoti

 

[Al Hansen]

You did your homework, Matt. Looks like you had a fantastic duck hunting trip. Congrats. Tons of memories on this one.
Al

 

[Victor Duskin]

Sweet Trip right there! Congrats!