A Road Trip to and Duck Hunt on the Outer Banks

Larry Eckart

Well-known member
Guys (and Dani),
This past week two friends of mine gathered with me on the Outer Banks for two days of duck hunting. I drove up from Hilton Head. They came from Collinsville, Illinois and Richmond, Virginia respectively. You know how much planning goes into one of these types of hunts where no one is local.

Looking back I suppose planning only two days to hunt was risky given the many weather variables that can happen in winter. Sometimes you just do what you can do.

My two friends, Ron and Mark, grew up with me at a Lutheran school in Collinsville. We also went to high school together. From that common early experience, life took us in very different directions. Mark is steel worker, in Granite City, Illinois where he has experienced the decline of the steel industry in America. Ron became a chemical engineer. I became a Lutheran pastor. In those divergent paths, it is interesting how the common foundation of growing up together forms a strong bond, easy communication and a basic trust in hunting partners.

Here is a pic of the three of us: I'm on the left, Ron is in the middle and Mark is on the right:

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I picked up Mark at the Raleigh airport. We took a leisurely road trip east towards the Outer Banks.

We stopped at Bath, the first town in North Carolina, settled in 1705. Mark was so taken by its quiet, water centered atmosphere that he picked up a billet on a house for sale. We then paid our respects to another type of waterman.

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It seems to me that every farm house in eastern North Carolina planted a few pecan trees. You see their spidery branches reaching for the sky at every farm. Even as waterfowl have their own silhouette in the sky, so do trees. So does the pecan.
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Then crossing the various estuaries along the upper Pamlico Sound, locally named “rivers,” we stopped and thoroughly enjoyed the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge. If you had been at Mattamuskeet in the 1960’s or earlier, you would have seen one of the historic wintering grounds for Canada Geese. Much has changed now. Those rascals up in Maryland planted all that corn and started offering better lodging. And Mattamuskeet Lake, the largest fresh water lake in NC, has itself changed drastically. It is shallow, shallow and was once filled with vegetation that waterfowl loved. Now, due to various factors biologists say the lake has little food value.
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That is not true about the marshes surrounding Lake Mattamuskeet. The marshes were brimming with birds when we were there. Puddlers everywhere. More pintails than I have ever seen. The “peep-peep” of pintails was all around us. Canadas were there, but not in huge numbers. It seemed there were more snow geese. And swans. The drive provided around the refuge is a great experience to see waterfowl congregations doing what they do best.
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Then we proceeded through the wild, wild area of Dare county along route 264. This area holds one of the largest concentrations of black bear east of the Mississippi. It is a wild region, not a good place to break down.

Just before you get to the OBX, Roanoke Island is a tourist trap regarding the “lost colony” from our nation’s early history. But if you go through there on your way to the OBX, stop in at O’Neals Seafood in Wanchese. They sell fresh seafood and offer lunch between 11:00 and 3:00. Great food at cheap prices.

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The first day’s hunt had all the promise of a great duck day, as long as we stayed safe. Calm in the morning, gale force winds were forecast by 1:00. This caused our guide to pause a bit in his choice of location: plan for the morning and pick up early or plan for the coming wind? We chose the latter.

Here is a pic of sunrise over the calm water.

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Here is another pic of the decoys and the sunrise.
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(Since there seems to be a ten photo limit on each post I will continue this story in a reply to my post)
 
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Anxious hunters scanning the sky.
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These pintails are such nice dekes they almost look real. Note how calm the water was, unfortunately.
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We got a few birds early. This photo shows two bluebills but also shows you the type of “blind” used by our guide. This particular blind is not a true scissor rig, but 4x4’s are shaped and bolted to the boat, in this case a 23’ Jones Brothers. Pine branches are then cut and placed into the holes in the 4x4’s. It becomes a very effective blind. But much work for the guide continually replacing pine branches that dry out.
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The wind kicked up as forecast, first 15 mph, then 20 mph, then more. You could feel the storm kicking in gear. What surprised us the most was that the birds did not seem to move more as the wind picked up. We could see huge rafts at different times out on the sound. But the number of birds coming to our stool seemed to decrease as the wind got stronger. Go figure! Neither Pamlico Sound nor it’s estuaries are any place to be in heavy wind. We picked up and went home.

Day 2 was supposed to be another wild day. But neither the guides nor the weathermen knew just how wild. The wind was forecast to continue in the 20-35 mph range. Flurries to 1” of snow was forecast over night.

At 4:00 am we woke up, looked outside and couldn’t believe our eyes: a full-blown whiteout was happening. 1” of snow had turned into 6-8” of snow and still coming. The wind was 25 mph or more driving the snow sideways. Worse, I had come down with some type of bug and felt like ****. I couldn’t go out in that. Mark and Ron talked it over and decided they weren’t interested either. We called the guide and cancelled. My only regret is that I didn't get a photo of the whiteout. It would have drawn the respect of any snow guy.


Here is a pic of the snow in the parking lot of our hotel. Does that look like 1” of snow?

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And here is a pic of the beach.
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Since we cancelled on our own, we did not expect our guide service to refund our money. But they called up to check on how I was feeling and told me a check would be in the mail refunding the day we didn’t hunt. We were pleasantly shocked.

Later in the day when I felt up to going out for a short while, we took a drive down to Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which is a much more natural area than Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk. The wind was still roaring over 25 mph. There are two wildlife refuges on the Pamlico Sound side of that drive. Those refuges were filled with birds, especially pintails. What a joy it was to see so many pintails.

We were disappointed that we didn’t get into more birds, but what can you do about the weather? The trip was an opportunity for old friends to reconnect and share a beloved sport. We were privileged to share the experience. Talk has already started about a next trip.

Larry

 
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Nice trip and write up Larry. Mattamuskeet is a special place. I did my Master's degree research there in the early 1980s. I really enjoy it there.
 
This area is a great place but can be aggravating with the weather. Have summer one day a monsoon the next and a blizzard afterwards.
This has been a great year for duck hunting with great pintail numbers coming down and black ducks as well as the normal birds of mallards, gadwall, teal, and diving ducks.
And yes are rivers are not really much on river flow but they do move some water after storms. Around here there is unfortunately a huge source of pine trees for rebrushing blinds, biodiversity is not a thing anymore in forests. I am hoping maybe to go down to the marshes For the last day of season but it’s a 1.5 hour trip so we will see how much motivation I have later.

Glad you enjoyed yourself in the ole state on N.C. and at least weren’t skunked totally. Great story to read
 
Larry that looks like a neat trip. I really like that snow on the beach picture. Sorry you that you got sick on your trip. I'm actually dealing with the same thing. It sucks but at least your adventure was really neat.
 
Good morning, Larry~

A great tale - and well-presented!

My sister now lives in Southport. We just need to find the time for a road trip down that way. I'm glad you and your partners enjoyed a fine visit.

All the best,

SJS

 
Steve,
You surely know that Southport is where Robert Ruark grew up. It is home base for the Old Man and the Boy stories.

All the best to you also Steve,
Larry
 
Larry

Nice photo essay of your trip. Looks like you've got some good hunting partners and the fact you've known them all your life makes the trip even more special. Thanks for sharing.

Eric
 
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