Please send divers....

Carl

Carl

Well-known member
Staff member
Another frustrating day of hunting gadwalls on the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta.
Hunted a bay on the lower Delta just north of the US Hwy 98 Causeway. Same shit, different day & location: saw hundreds of gadwalls and none would come close to the decoys.
Had a couple of shots early then watched the singles, pairs & flocks of gadwalls come in from all directions, weave between the blinds and land in open water with the coots and other gadwalls. Did get one nice drake buffy and shot 5 coots to make gumbo. Saw a flock of redheads that also landed with the coot.
This same spot I was in used to be the place we would go to shoot bluebills when gadwalls got tough. I cant remember ever sitting there and not killing at least 2 or 3 scaup and seeing may more. Today I did not see a single bluebill in the whole bay.

I'm going to start bringing a box of cheap #6 steel dove loads and start shooting coots. Could have easily shot a 15 bird limit today but didn't want to waste my good shells.
I really hope this bad-ass cold front brings down some fresh birds and big divers. Hunting educated gadwalls is wearing me down.
 
I often save older steel shot shells that have rust on the casing or dull casing for that exact use. Safer than shooting the weathered shells at ducks as sometimes they can be semi duds and lodge a wad in the barrel.
 
I hear you on the smart gaddies, one of our local marshes has a flock of about 70 or 80 birds that always sits on the same spot in the open water, climbs vertically out of the marsh, and takes off to the local settlement ponds. They then come back and do the same thing to roost for the night-you can set your watch to them. Hope you guys get some birds off this storm!
 
Carl, I hunted lake guntersville this past week and to my surprise while hunting over seven goldeneye decoys the gadwalls that we never get to decoy worked those goldeneye either swinging in for a look or locking up fully commited. The decoys were tanglefree goldeneyes that were fully flocked and painted by Don Mintz. Maybe it was something the gadwalls had not seen before, did see some bluebills and canvasbacks there but not like in years past. We will probably try again around thr 20th. Good luck and hope the cold weather will push some divers your way.
 
Cody, that sounds just like what the light geese do at Bosque del Apache NWR. They spiral up and out of the refuge, go out to eat which might be at a state refuge 40 miles north. When they get there, they spiral down to eat. They seem to be getting smarter.

Carl, can you use jerk lines on coots where you hunt?
Al
 
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Al, normally no need for a jerk line if we have wind. Haven't had a completely calm day yet this year.
 
Is anyone on the MS Flyway seeing normal amounts of bluebills this year? Where did they all go???
 
Saw lots of bills up here this year and many are still here!!
Season is over and they're sitting outside the Ice.
John
 
We've got divers.....lots and lots of bluebills...also know where there's a big concentration of scoters down here...huntable and reliable...

Yesterday we got our red head and bluebill limits....I got my first really pretty redhead too....so i've now shot 3 redheads
 
Cool. Thats really nice limit for a diver hunter!
Guess they bypassed us and headed straight to sunny Florida. I wonder if the guys LA are seeing any??
 
Not seeing the bbs around here. Also haven't seen many gwt? No good wads in Arkansas or north MS. Maybe they flew over earlier in the season?

Brian
 
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