Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2022 i Wildfowl

BOB TALLY IS no novice when it comes to waterfowling around legendary Lake Mattamuskeet. As a youngster in the 1950s, he and his brother, John would accompany their father, at a time when Canada geese outnumbered ducks there. And he’s passed the tradition on to his nephews, Lockett and Jesse and their boys, Locke and Cowles, now roughly the same age Bob and John were on their first trips. Bob, his nephews and their boys were all were present on a December day last fall and ducks and geese were the main fare. But Bob also held a coveted swan permit, though he wasn’t in any rush to use it. “More than a thousand of the big birds passed over our farm that day but I waited until 4 p.m.…

NOVEMBER WEATHER IS TRICKY. Usually, waterfowlers get an excellent mixture of sunshine, wind, rain, fog, and snow. We figured we'd handle our November gear similarly — give our trusted readers a little bit of everything. Enjoy! ❚ TRAIN' EM UP The way to many waterfowl dogs' hearts is through their stomachs, and I've never seen a pup turn up its nose at Eukanuba's ActiveTrainers Salmon 1st Ingredient Treats. These treats are designed to help with training sessions — fuel and reward — suitable for puppies and adult dogs two months or older. $10 5-ounce bag | eukanubasportingdog.com ❚ HOW SWEET IT IS Cloaked in dead sexy Vintage Tan, the new-for-2022 Wicked Wing A5 is now available in the 16 gauge! The gun that carries like a 20 but hits like…

I'll never forget the warm south breeze brushing against my face as I pulled another sled full of decoys out for a spring snow goose hunt. With my buddy, Justin, we set out 1,000 full body decoys all night, preparing for the sights and sounds of thousands of white birds as they roar into the spread. Morning came, and so did the snow geese. After shooting into several volleys of geese, we both jumped back in the blinds after picking up birds as a pair of snows glided into the decoys as the tones of my favorite track, what we called the “panty dropper,” played from the electronic caller. With the birds about ready to touch down 25 yards in front of us, Justin says, “you take them.” Now I…

RICE & MCDONNELL looks like a typical 1920’s hardware store with FARM in capitals on the front door. That Winchester Model 1897 and his buddy’s double must have spent a hot morning in the blind. One could speculate that either Mr. Rice or McDonnell had a camera, or maybe a photography business sharing their store. Most towns had a photographer and many hunting events were memorialized with a picture like this— not unlike the photo of the dead members of the Dalton Gang all laid out on a board when the citizens rose against the crooks after they tried to rob the Coffeyville, Kansas National Bank. Taking a closer look at this photo, the two men on the right look like Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, a famous comedy team…

I HAVE A CONFESSION to make. Up until this last season, I was one of, dare I say, the majority of waterfowlers who had never truly patterned their shotgun. No one would ever mistake me for a deadeye, but I can usually hold my own in the duck blind. Honestly, I never gave patterning my waterfowl loads more than a passing thought. While pattern testing turkey loads last spring with sub-par results, I threw some steel loads in out of curiosity. As with the turkey loads, the results were marginal at best with sporadic patterns and holes big enough for birds to easily slip through, even at 30 yards. My eyes were opened wide to the necessity of patterning my shotguns and that sent me on a deep dive to…

You’ve often thought about hunting divers, and shot one here and there. And now, you’re here, reading this intro to diver hunting and thinking of ditching the crowded cornfields and other mallard haunts to pursue a new challenge. Intrigued by something different? Great. Those emerald headed-mallards are as lustrous as ever but you know there are so many more birds gracing the same sky. Maybe it’s curiosity to try some birds that fetched a higher price than those orange-footed, curly-tailed fowl back in the market hunting days? Whatever the reason, welcome. Take a seat—I’ll rekindle the flames and fix you an Old-Fashioned on the rocks and discuss those other wonderful waterfowl: the low-flying and beautiful family of divers. When you’re done, you’ll be equipped with knowledge steeped in generations of…

Have you ever wished you could relive the halcyon days of your youth? Last fall I was able to do just that, and felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. To start, I was born lucky. I grew up and still live only a couple of miles from the shores of Marsh Lake in western Minnesota. This reservoir was where I shot my first Canada goose back when doing so got your picture in the local newspaper. The Marsh was legendary for waterfowling on our prairies. It is a part of the Minnesota River, a migration corridor for ducks and geese. The days when firefighters and policemen from the Twin Cities had dozens of duck shacks located on the north end of the lake were still there when I began…

❶ BAND #: 1158-51357 HUNTER: Chris Wilson, Durant, OK SPECIES: Canada Goose (F) BANDED: 8/05/2015 | Churchill, MB RECOVERED: 1/07/2021 | Albany, OK ❷ BAND #: 2197-30659 HUNTER: Darren Meharg, Judsonia, AR SPECIES: Ross’ Goose (M) BANDED: 8/05/2013 | 9 SE Johnson Pt. NU RECOVERED: 2/21/2014 | Higginson, AR 1,758 MILE LONG-DISTANCE -CHAMP- ❸ BAND #: 1206-63888 HUNTER: James Dutched, Cuyahoga Falls, OH SPECIES: Wood Duck (D) BANDED: 9/01/2016 | Near Ware, IL RECOVERED: 10/15/2018 | Magee Marsh, OH ❹ BAND #: 2137-05865 - 320467 ($65 Reward) HUNTER: Adam Kruse, Lonsdale, MN SPECIES: Mallard (D) BANDED: 8/25/2017 | Watertown, SD RECOVERED: 10/8/2021 | Menzie, MB ❺ BAND #: 1176-11880 HUNTER: JD Angle, Benton, KY SPECIES: Lesser Scaup (D) BANDED: 3/25/2019 | Hancock County, IL RECOVERED: 12/26/2021 | Grand Rivers, KY…

EVERY WATERFOWLER HAS their version of the story: A morning where we piled “x” number of ducks and “so and so” carved off enough meat pondside to feed the whole blind. It’s the complete experience—headlamps floating like fireflies while the crew chucks decoys in the dark, bitter-cold hours before dawn. The carnival of calls at first light. The aroma from a line of shotguns cutting an incoming group—a smell sweeter than candles on a cake. Then, finally, flavoring the fresh fruit of one’s labor, meat that an hour before was hanging from a dog’s mouth. Few mornings top this. Making this happen is far simpler than you might expect. Here, I will share several tips to make the cooking session both easy and delicious. It won’t look fancy, but it’ll…

TYSON SPENCER RAISED HIS shotgun and fired, missing the first of a cascade of Canada geese that would be deceived by the decoys over the course of the day. The 13-year-old was hunting with his father, Brent “Spence” Spencer, from a boat blind that was the brainchild of Dave Adamson. “It was our one-day Youth Waterfowl Hunt and the first hunt from my new boat blind,” Adamson said. “It was September 2017 and the day was warm with light, intermittent rain. I had hunted the Bear River in Northern Utah before, but not in that particular spot. After the long drive from home and the boat ride, we arrived two hours before shooting time. Spence was leery of sticking the boat out in the open, but I wanted it to…

It all started with a bllzxard. The day after Christmas, a northeast front from Canada's Fraser River Valley pummeled the Puget Sound lowlands, and 8” of snow stood on the rim of the Space Needle in Seattle. Double that, in the foothills. Children rejoiced. Drivers panicked. Local TV news reporters donned Eskimo hoods to shout into microphones in supermarket parking lots. And across the Pacific Northwest, local duck hunters fell into somber lament. “The birds are gone,” a buddy texted me. “Just drove the whole valley. What aren’t in California are rafted up on the salt. Happy New Year.” I wasn’t surprised. High pressure and stagnant air followed the initial snow dump. Temps bottomed out in the teens every night for a week. The I-5 corridor was a concrete block…

If It's October and neither of my arms are broken, you can find me in the Northwoods of Maine chasing ruffed grouse. Our family rents a river rafting lodge for a few weeks every year as a base camp to run the dogs on a carpet of red, yellow and orange. It took a lot to peel me away from the cabin, but an invite to hunt for the first time in Canada was too much twist in my arm. So, I make the long drive from Maine to Boston, fly from Boston to Denver, and then up to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It's 2021 and the world is slowly re-opening after the Covid shutdown. For weeks this hunt was touch and go if it would actually happen amidst border re-openings and…