SmallCaliberCentral

I'm gearing up for the second opening of duck season here in Texas. I'm going hunting with my son, Duckslayr161, and his friend Justin in the Laguna Madre again. I'll be heading to Corpus on December 7th and in the blind before sunrise on the 8th. I think we're going to set up decoys the night before to save a little effort in the morning. If you remember my report from last year, they have over 300 decoys. They have since bought more decoys. Man, that's a lot of decoys.

I don't know what it is about duck hunting that keeps drawing me back, but it sure is fun. After living on a boat for ten years, I just love being back on the open waters. I'm hoping to get a Buffle Head worth mounting this year. Are you listening, Duckslayr161???

I got a new camera for my birthday. It's a Nikon Coolpix P5000. It takes movies, also. I hope to bring back plenty of pictures and some mpg's to share. If you guys ever get a chance to go duck hunting, you should do it. It's such a blast to shoot boxes and boxes of shells and grill some birds at the end of the day. Two thumbs up.

Okay Skip....how'd it go?

It's this weekend. Believe me, I'm planning on taking lots of pictures. Stay tuned.

I’ve got to get this posted before I fall asleep. It’s been a long weekend.

These are some of the pictures I took from our hunt. The weather was so warm it didn’t feel like a duck hunt. The first morning it was so foggy we didn’t even sit in a stand. We just sat on the bank and popped the ducks as they flew in. That evening we sat in a stand and had some nice action. Sunday morning we sat behind some brush and limited out in two species within an hour.





This is the only Buffle Head of the trip. Justin's friend Darrel bagged this beautiful duck. I'm so jealous. Oh well, Ill be back right after Christmas.





Here are some action shots from Saturday night. In the second flick, no one shoots because we're limited out on Pin Tails.





These are some picks from this morning. Enjoy.

I didn't know that we were allowed to shoot ducks if it wasn't raining sideways or frozen to point of having to knock holes in the ice for a landing.

just doesn't seem right.

LOL looks like a great time.

SR

I'm headed back for another try at the elusive Buffle Heads. My son reported last night that the ducks are not flying in the numbers they were on the last trip. That's not good news. I hope a cold front comes in while I'm there. I'll see if I can take some more pictures for you guys to look at. Wish me luck.

Extra cool writeup skipper!! Thanks for sharing & Good Luck on your next trip!!

Buffle Head Down

The elusive Buffle Head isn't so elusive any more. With the help of my son, Duckslyr161, and his best friend Justin, the Buffle Head is on the way to the taxidermist. The obstacles we had to overcome to get this duck are almost humorous in some morbid sense. They sure made for an interesting adventure though. Sorry, I don't have pictures like I did last time we went out but, I was so focused on getting this duck everything else faded from importance. I will post photos of the duck when he gets back from the shop. Right now he is not very photogenic stuffed in a hose and frozen solid in my freezer.

Here is a photo of some of the gear I use to duck hunt. This is my second Winchester automatic and I have no desire to switch to one of the more "popular" makes. I selected this shotgun like I did the previous one. I tried several without looking at make or model just to see which one fit me and pointed well with my build. This is the second time I have done this and I am pleased that I chose the same make shotgun twice. It is a Winchester Super X II. I was shooting Federal Premium Black Cloud, 3 1/2" 1 1/2 oz. #2. The extra reach and larger shot really came in handy since the ducks were very leary of and kept their distance of anything that didn't look just right to them. The calls are the Primos Yo' Sista Special Edition single reed (transparent blue) the HS Bill Collector double reed (dark green) and the CutDownGameCall Straight Green single reed (brown). The little blue call is the Primos Whistle & Grunt call. I think I used all the calls equally this trip. The Cut Down Call is by far the loudest call but take a healthy lung full of air to blow. The Primos Yo' Sista has a higher pitched tone but is very easy to use. The Bill Collector came in handy for feeding chatter sounds. The little whistle, well, let's just say I let my son and Justin call the Pintails. The Blind Bag is the el cheapo Game Winner I got for Christmas. It worked well but it is what it is.




The first morning we were sitting in a box blind that Justin and his dad built. We almost didn't see any ducks. We got so bored that Justin got in the boat and went to get breakfast while my son and I stayed in the blind. I think the ducks were just way too leery of anything that even looked like a blind. We did have three Buffle Heads land about 100 yards from our spread and started swimming in towards us. My son and I just looked at each other in disbelief. Was it really going to be that easy? As we waited for the ducks to swim within range, an egret flew right over the top of them and they took off. I don't know who was more upset, my son or I. Another twenty yards and those ducks would have been well within range. That egret is lucky to still be alive.

By 1100 we were bored silly and started throwing water bottles into the air for some target practice. Justin and I got ready to shoot and my son threw the first bottle. Justin and I started firing. After the first shot my gun wouldn't shoot any more. The trigger seemed like the linkage was broken. It just swung back and forth in the trigger guard. It's a good thing the ducks weren't flying that morning. I would have cried if those Buffle Heads came within distance and then had a malfunction. We took the malfunction as a sign, gathered decoys and headed in to see what was wrong since the ducks weren't flying anyhow.

It's a good thing God helps idiots like me. Otherwise I would be dead by now. The problem wasn't the shotgun, it was the owner. Take a look at the picture below. The spring lying on the paper below the trigger assembly is the one that is supposed to be in the gun. The spring in the top of the trigger assembly is one we made out of a ball point pen spring. Some idiot forgot to put the spring back in after he cleaned the gun last time. HOW EMBARASSING. Oh well, a little Yankee ingenuity fixed her right up and we were back in business for the evening hunt. Tip: Take a ball point pen with you next time. You never know.



Thursday evening's hunt wasn't much more successful than the morning's. We only managed 1 Pintail and the only Buffle Heads we saw were 200 yards away in the middle of the lagoon. Buffle Heads don't like to associate with other ducks very much and they sure stay away from land. We went home after legal shooting hours and discussed our strategy for the morning's shoot. Justin needed to leave by noon the next day to go on a deer management hunt. He told us that he had noticed a spot very close to the causeway where there were lots of ducks last weekend so we decided to give the spot a try.

When we arrived at the tiny island Friday morning, I was very apprehensive. The causeway bridge loomed three hundred yards behind us and the island was completely without any cover or any sort. The skies were overcast but there wasn't any fog to cover us. With the ducks as leery as they were I just knew we were going to get busted. We got set up and waited for legal shooting time. While we were waiting a group of three ducks came in to check out the spread. They flared off at the last second and we watched them fly off. I didn't know if that was a bad sign or a good sign. It turned out it was a very good sign. I guess no one hunts so close to the bridge so they felt comfortable. We shot Pintails and Red Heads and had a blast. We were buzzed by some Buffle Heads but by the time I saw them they were almost out of range. (At least that's the story I'm sticking too) Finally a lone Buffle head flew right out to the edge of our spread and landed. It caught us all by surprise. Justin started to say "It's a Buff...." but I had already unloaded two rounds into the poor duck. The first shot knocked him over but, he sprang right back up like one of those punching bags so I let him have another taste of the Black Clouds. Pepper darted out to fetch him up but the duck dove. We all waded out into the water with shotguns at the ready in case the duck had enough life left to get up. After a couple of tries, Pepper had the duck and headed for shore.

Justin and I high fived right there in the water and my son just sighed with relief that the pressure was off now. We even had a couple more hours to hunt before Justin had to leave. I was amazed at how many ducks we shot right there on that tiny island with the whole world watching us while driving across the ICW bridge on the JFK causeway. I have to hand it to Justin, he really made a good call.

Let me close by saying what good sports my son and Justin were to make sure I had every opportunity to get my Buffle Head. They really bent over backwards to show me a good time. Thanks, boys.

Comraderie,humour,near misses,equipment(operator) malfunction , plenty of birds on the 2nd day, your 1st buffle head, AND an audience!!

Could it really have gotten any better??

Thanks for sharing!!

My son and Justin really let me have it for throwing down the gauntlet about getting a Buffle Head on the internet. They said they felt so much pressure that it almost wasn't fun hunting anymore. The pressure to deliver a specific species, that is so hard to hunt in the Laguna Madre, was a real challenge. They said they hoped I wouldn't do that again.

I think they, and I know I, learned a lot from this experience. I have wanted to mount a Buffle Head since hunting on Lake Murval in East Texas back in the early eighties. The challenge just makes us all better hunters in my eyes. My son and Justin are in their mid twenties and they are both accomplished duck hunters. That is saying a lot, I know, but it is true. They fish as well as they hunt and I'm very proud of them. They are both learning to reload and will pass down the arts to their children as well. It gives me a very satisfied feeling to know they have taken such an interest in a sport I love so much.

I'll let you in on something. After telling me that they didn't want me to start a challenge like that again, Justin said he wanted three Cinnamon Teal worth mounting. Looks like it's on again. I love a challenge.

DANGNABBIT!! Now you gotta go huntin with em again!!

two days after i said i want 3 Cinnamon teal i got lucky and got my first one ever. In about a week it will be going to back to dickinson to the taxidermy's office where i already have a buffle head and a Pheasant from my trip to kansas. I will but up a better pic of the teal when i get it back

Congratulations, Justin. That's a good looking Cinnamon Teal you got there. How many did ya'll see? Are you still going to have three mounted? The taxidermist I sent took my duck to had some blue winged teal mounted in formation like you said. There were five in all flying over a log. It looked pretty cool. You should have seen the hooded Merganser he had, peeeeeerrrtttyyy.

By the way, welcome to the 204um. It's good to have you here. When are we going duck hunting again?

Cool duck you got there Justin!! Congrats on a fine shot & Welcome to the Forum!!

Im going to have this one mounted now and when i kill more i will have this one added to the rest i was thinking 3 but 5 would be even better. Im almost ashamed to say we saw a lot but i thought they where blue wing teal watching them fly i guess im not the duck master after all.

You need to hurry up and get back the season goes out January 27.