Craig F
Well-known member
Saturday was our opening day in the south zone for NJ and while I had already been out a few times for our north zone I always look forward to each zone's opening day. As a bonus I had my dad along for the first time this season, always a great time to have him along.
The spot I had selected ended up being relatively uncrowded, which was a welcome change, unfortunately it was also uncrowded from birds. We scratched out a few black ducks, some nice healthy drakes, but the second bird of the day made the opener for me. A nice drake locked up coming down the ditch and decoyed perfectly to the spread and I folded it at 15 yards with one shot. I thought I had seen something gleam in the sunlight, but I kept that observation to myself. When I motored out to pick it up my suspicions were confirmed as it was sporting some jewelry.
A five year old bird locally banded in the winter of 2017, so not sure if it was a true local or just a local on the wintering grounds of south jersey. Another interesting note was this was the second banded black duck I harvested in the same area and the two birds were banded one year apart, with almost sequential band numbers. Only about 200 off of each other.
A nice way to kick it all off.
Also on another note I have started putting out a video series on how I go through my duck season. I get a lot of requests for more hunting videos, and while they aren't always possible with internet scouters and the like, I am going to try to put some work out as the season goes on. As always you can check them out on my youtube channel and please be sure to subscribe if you'd like.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2nq25_4aog6SvRV7IJSemA?sub_confirmation=1
The spot I had selected ended up being relatively uncrowded, which was a welcome change, unfortunately it was also uncrowded from birds. We scratched out a few black ducks, some nice healthy drakes, but the second bird of the day made the opener for me. A nice drake locked up coming down the ditch and decoyed perfectly to the spread and I folded it at 15 yards with one shot. I thought I had seen something gleam in the sunlight, but I kept that observation to myself. When I motored out to pick it up my suspicions were confirmed as it was sporting some jewelry.
A five year old bird locally banded in the winter of 2017, so not sure if it was a true local or just a local on the wintering grounds of south jersey. Another interesting note was this was the second banded black duck I harvested in the same area and the two birds were banded one year apart, with almost sequential band numbers. Only about 200 off of each other.
A nice way to kick it all off.
Also on another note I have started putting out a video series on how I go through my duck season. I get a lot of requests for more hunting videos, and while they aren't always possible with internet scouters and the like, I am going to try to put some work out as the season goes on. As always you can check them out on my youtube channel and please be sure to subscribe if you'd like.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2nq25_4aog6SvRV7IJSemA?sub_confirmation=1
