Alaska duck hunting - chapter 2

[Richard Flanders]

Another nice weekend at duck camp. I had camp to myself the first night and the sunset was stunning. Life was good. I managed some pics this time. The shooting was slow but, as usual, if I had hit what I SHOULD have, I'd have taken home a lot more birds. The last morning was good - got this nice canvasback and a nice mature goose. The old Parker did it's part if I did mine, which wasn't near as often as it should have been. Really like hunting out of the kayak(Poke Boat). Gets me into places that would foul the prop badly with weeds. Destry will appreciate the big drake canvasback. This one is the biggest duck I've ever gotten out here.

[Tom Carter]

Richard,

That looks a lot like Mento Flats.

Tom

[Richard Flanders]

It is indeed the Minto Flats Tom. Two? miles up the Tolovana River from new Minto Village.

[Tom Carter]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the confirmation. Been there and done that and really enjoyed it. Wish I could do it again. Your pictures sure bring back memories. Thank you for sharing them. Cheers, Tom

[Thomas L. Benson Sr.]

Richard: I hope you cover that white cooler when hunting.How do you like your poke boat and what is the weight on that. Thomas

[Richard Flanders]

Thomas: the ducks up here could care less about stuff like that. They come at you from half a mile away and unless you move fast or jump around just fly right over you. I shot at a lot of birds and just stood next to the boat all the while; only a few veered away when I moved too much or fast. I like the Poke boat a lot. It only weighs 24# I think.

[Trigg Davis]

Rich quite the boat.

[Richard Flanders]

Trigg: It's a basic thin shell made of kevlar so is very light. I found it on the Charlie River, where a guy had used it to float the river too early and cracked the bottom on the rocks and had to abandon it, and strapped it to the belly of my plane and flew it out. It's wide so is pretty stable. I rarely shoot out of it since almost tipping it over once in the middle of a lake. It's perfect for the flats when the water starts dropping. You do a crane hunt yet??

[william faulk]

Richard..you have a tough life but someone has to do it..

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Richard,

Good work! How about a picture of the canvasback!


Destry

[Richard Flanders]

It's the 4th picture down Destry. It isn't the Jurassic Pteradactyl-sized Can I got with you but was headed that way. It just isn't as feathered/colored out as what you see down south. Our greenheads are the same way this time of year. You can barely tell they're a mallard drake in the air because the heads are barely green. That Can took at least 1.5hrs to pluck as I stood in the marsh and I never did quite get all the pin feathers, even using a Leatherman. Everyone else in the group breasted or skinned their birds. I have infinite patience for plucking a good roaster, despite the fact that I always miss a shot or two as I look down to pluck....

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Sorry Richard, I scrolled right past it. That is a good big one for sure, but still not as big as that one you killed on Mitchells Bay several years ago.

Destry

[Richard Flanders]

Defnitely not Destry. That was a Dino-Duck for sure. I'm surprised it didn't fly down, take my gun away and beat me over the head with it...

[charlie cleveland]

neat story and great pictures... keep em coming

[Mark Ouellette]

Richard,

Splendid photos! A fine hunt indeed!

The only thing missing was a faithful retriever... Woof Woof!

Mark

[Richard Flanders]

Just spoke with my duck hunting partners. They're putting their moose away; I spent 5 days looking and no moose and almost had my plane blow away in 60mph winds on a ridgetop strip. They went out for ducks this weekend and could have shot 5 limits a day. The big northern birds are coming through. Hope they're not all done flying through this next weekend when go out.

[charlie cleveland]

we ll be lookin for that dino duck... charlie