Sunset at Butler Island Plantation
 

Former rice plantation now part of the Altamaha Wildlife Management Area in Darien, Georgia. Now a duck hunting paradise. The chimney is from the old rice mill.

Duck hunting at Butler Island
 

From this morning. Plenty of ducks around, but no good shots. Did see a swan. Took the EH 10

nice lookin place your hunting there...charlie

Thanks Charlie.

They also offer snipe hunting here which is on the schedule for after duck season.

Good lookin dog. That spot looks ducky.

Thanks Calvin. Gator loves hunting more than anything

Good looking spot and a fine dog!

It was spectacular, the photos don't really do justice. The sun came up almost straight down the river.

We had a hawk stationed in a cypress tree behind us, which I think helped with our poor luck on shooting. I heard predators scare ducks away as much as hunters.

Thanks for sharing the photos. We are blessed in this country to have so many beautiful places in this country and the ability to spend time in them with our dogs and Parkers.

We sure are fortunate. Basically, $65 gets me full hunting and fishing privileges in Georgia (WMA permit is $15 of that cost) and I get access to the premier duck hunting property in Coastal Georgia for no extra charge, not to mention other state hunting lands across the state. I am sure there are other similar opportunities in other states.

Here is the EH. Hoping for one more hunt before the season is out.

Decided to add some recent photos to this old post. Enjoy!

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Mills, is the hunting by daily lottery or is the place always open?

Bill, A little of both. They have a lottery for about 25 stands and then have about 5 standby stands. Then they have two other islands that are first come, first served. One of the islands is accessible only by boat, so that theoretically cuts down on the number of hunters. When we were down there, though, there were people headed out in their boats the night before to get a good spot. The boat landing was packed at about 8:00 pm

Mills, Predators are drawn to shooting places because of easy food, When in Jonesboro Ark a couple years ago we had a spread of decoys for snow geese, we winged one and he flew a couple hundred yards, to lite in the field two minutes later a couple coyotes came out of the woods and got him guide said it happened all the time, also Pheasent hunting on a preserve the hawks are pretty abundant, Gary

I have noticed that too and have also heard that hawks and other predators can scare ducks away from an area, just like hunters. Makes sense

as i drove by a field going to church a large hawk flew down into a pair tree had several doves sitting it thus the doves came flying out i dont know if the hawk got to eat his meal or not....charlie

This morning, my son-in-law and grandsons watched a hawk (they didn't know the species, but I would bet Red-Tailed) take a sea gull which was sitting on the ground.
Personally, I'd rather eat dove than gull.

More than once have been Puppy Drum (Call them Redfish further South) fishing on shallow flats, fish scattered for no apparent reason. Looked up and saw Ospreys. Local lore is the reason a Drum has a spot on his tail is to fool diving Ospreys. Think it's his eye and miss.

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Behind Fort George Island Florida.


Bill

Went back there this weekend with my youngest son.

Mills,What is that historical marker of?

Dave, I edited and put some more photos up along with a closer view of the marker. Basically, members of the family that owned the plantation were authors.

Thanks Mills.

It does not mention the most famous author, however, who was Frances Anne Kemble who was married, then divorced, from the plantation owner and then wrote a scathing take on her observations of slavery there. The place has a lot of history and is also a beautiful and fun place to hunt ducks

Here is the sunrise out in the rice field

i don t no who is the luckest your son for getting to go on a duck hunt with his dad or if youre the lucky one for his son taging along...good hunting boy s...charlie

I can't think of anything I would rather do than spend time in the outdoors with my boys. We are planning a grand finale to the duck season this Sunday with both boys.

how did it go...charlie

The oldest chose sleeping in over chasing ducks, but we had a good time. Now, hoping to try snipe season. Altamaha WMA takes the water off their rice fields as soon as duck season is over for snipe season. Last year the water would not get off and we were not able to hunt, but hoping for better luck this year.