I'm done too...

[Dave Fuller]

Duck season ended for me today. Went out with my dog, nobody else showed up, including the weather, dead calm. Watched a bunch well educated ducks fly in circles overhead. Gave it a couple hours and came home with nothing but another season of great memories. VHE goes back in the safe for while. Blind is a disaster, decoys are a wreck... I guess I've gotta get to work getting ready for next fall.

[Dean Romig]

Nice VHE!

I don't see a darned thing wrong with that blind. Looks like it has been a pretty nice second home to a few guys for a while - very comfy looking.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

My Oregon friend is out today for the end of it as well. We'll see what he's got to report this evening. What kind of calls are those?

DLH

[Dave Fuller]

In September that blind was cleaned up, covered with grass and you could sit on those benches. Rows of corn stood tall behind it. Now its naked and bare there are hulls, sandwich bags, duck feet, dog wizz, blood, feathers and crap everywhere... the corn is gone and mud is calf deep. The bloom is off the rose shall we say. But hey, I guess we got our money's worth out of her again, it's a good blind.

The wooden call is a no-name I bought from Dunn's about 20 years ago, the green one is a Duck Commander (cheap sporting goods store call but I like the way it sounds and I can chuck-a-luck and feed cluck with it) and the whistle is just an all-purpose tweeter but it makes lots of good noises too.

[David Dwyer]

The season ended here in SC also. I was fortunate some ringnecks come-a- calling and Charley Price's old D 10 spoke to a few.
David

[Dean Romig]

David, what frame size is that D 10 made on?

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I had a strong report from Tennessee but a weak one from Oregon. David was out with a buddy and they only killed one pintail a piece there on the mouth of the Columbia. Gurton's crew in Tennessee was a different story however. A five man limit on the river, mostly mallards but with three pintails and a widgeon oddly enough. Everybody shot pintails this year but me apparently. I think I was in the boat when a hen was killed and that's it. I never was very lucky on sprigs, I can only recall a couple of really nice drakes in the cream of 20+ seasons.

Ringnecks are one of my favorite ducks. We don't shoot many in Canada where I hunt now but used to really get into them in Southern Illinois. We shot so many that we had dedicated decoys for them. Nice to see a lifter gun out doing what it was made to do. You see a few guys shooting them on clays but I've not seen but just a couple in the field.


Destry

[calvin humburg]

nice lifter David.

[David Dwyer]

That D 10 ga lifter was the first Parker Charlie Price ever purchased. He paid $100 for it at a Ten. gun show in 1965. It is a 2 frame , nice chokes and the drop is a little less than 3". I shoot it pretty well and just love dropping Ringnecks with it. My neighbor had a 30+ acre pond that has a lot of aquatics Ringnecks love and we get 300-400 birds come in most mornings. He does not shoot ducks and I do not shoot turkeys so we trade.http://parkerguns.org/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif
David

[Destry L. Hoffard]

David,

What do you boys call them down there? The most common local name I've heard for them in the south is "Jacks" short for "Blackjacks" and that's what we called them at home too. One of my favorite ducks!


Destry

[David Dwyer]

Destry
One of my favorite ducks to shoot too. I love to take someone that has never shot ringnecks and watch them try and hit one on the first pass!! We call them ringbills or ringnecks, have not heard them called jacks.
David

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I've always wanted to hear someone actually call them swamp bluebills. I've read that local name in some of the old literature, out of Wisconsin if memory serves. But it's a name that must have died out because I've sure never heard anybody use it in real life.

The name jacks must be more of an southern Mississippi Flyway thing then. I've always wondered if they called them that in the eastern portions of the south.

One of these days I'll dig out the old ringneck decoys we always used and post a pic. Dad and I had a good shoot over them about four opening days ago on Mermet Lake, made me feel like a kid again.


Destry

[Brian Stucker]

We're starting to see Ringnecks in the rice fields and the wardens call them Blackjacks. My neighbor is over run with them but we see only a few. They hop the fence at night and eat the rice...only to get shot by my neighbor upon their morning return. He brags how great they taste on my rice.

My only dig on him is the geese. We don't shoot geese AND avoid disturbing them by having circuitous roads to the duck blinds; thousands resting daily. Drives him nuts. Man I like having neighbors.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Why don't you shoot the geese? Snows I can see but my guess is you boys have quite a few specks as well.

DLH

[Brian Stucker]

Hey Destry, Our club is too small. We leave about 250 acres as a refuge and hold lots of white fronts. This pulls the ducks and we get good shooting as a result. You're right. The area is lousy with specks and we may develop a 'muck' field with a tank blind for 'em.

I have a video from a cell phone I'd like to share. Don't know the steps; any ideas? Brian

[Trigg Davis]

Dave,

Your blind looks like a reslly fine one to me. I hope you had an enjoyable season.

My dog Shine and I are off in a few moments to search for some of the few and elusive Ruffed Grouse that inhabit our area. There is about five inches if fresh snow out there this morning so it will be scenic if nothing else. On top of what we have it will also be deep but we will see what we can do.

Trigg