Got out yesterday morning to stick my blind for opening day.
BTW: Its a tradition down here on Mobile Bay that guys can stick a cane blind and a sign with their initials and no else hunts that spot opening day, but only opening day. Been that way for at least 50 years. Works very well, very few disputes on the opener, still crowded, but its an organized chaos.
Anyway, headed to the spot where I hunted the last two years opener and did very well, saw a few ducks on the way onto the flats, not even close to what I saw the last two years at this time. Got close to "my" spot and saw that other guys beat me to it over the weekend, there were already 3 blinds in the area. Did some more running around that grass flat and really didn't see many ducks in that area anyway.
So I headed to a spot with good grass beds about a mile away that I used to hunt quite a bit. Got close to the grass beds and flushed up about 250 gadwalls and shovelors strung out along about 200 yards. And not a single blind in the whole bay. Stuck my sign & blind right in the middle of where the raft was located.
Did a little more scouting and some windshield scouting after I put the boat on the trailer. From what I saw, we have a good number of coots but not many ducks at all. Every year it seems the ducks show up later and later on the Gulf coast. Past years we would have a ton of ducks by Halloween. Now its more like right before Thanksgiving.
Our opener is the day after Thanksgiving, I sure hope this next front pushes some more birds down!
BTW: Its a tradition down here on Mobile Bay that guys can stick a cane blind and a sign with their initials and no else hunts that spot opening day, but only opening day. Been that way for at least 50 years. Works very well, very few disputes on the opener, still crowded, but its an organized chaos.
Anyway, headed to the spot where I hunted the last two years opener and did very well, saw a few ducks on the way onto the flats, not even close to what I saw the last two years at this time. Got close to "my" spot and saw that other guys beat me to it over the weekend, there were already 3 blinds in the area. Did some more running around that grass flat and really didn't see many ducks in that area anyway.
So I headed to a spot with good grass beds about a mile away that I used to hunt quite a bit. Got close to the grass beds and flushed up about 250 gadwalls and shovelors strung out along about 200 yards. And not a single blind in the whole bay. Stuck my sign & blind right in the middle of where the raft was located.
Did a little more scouting and some windshield scouting after I put the boat on the trailer. From what I saw, we have a good number of coots but not many ducks at all. Every year it seems the ducks show up later and later on the Gulf coast. Past years we would have a ton of ducks by Halloween. Now its more like right before Thanksgiving.
Our opener is the day after Thanksgiving, I sure hope this next front pushes some more birds down!
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