Early Season Duck Hunt

     This morning I went duck hunting with my brother and two of our friends. We hunted the (classified) river near our house. Yesterday, my brother and I hunted before school and killed 3 wood ducks in the half hour we had before we had to head home and catch the bus. We then got 2 from the same spot that evening. Today we set up in the exact same way, since all of the ducks were coming to the pool we hunted because of some sort of plant growing on the banks that had a seed on it that they liked (I still can't figure out what it is). Legal shooting hours started at 6:50 this morning, so we set up about 10 minutes before that. Birds didn't start flying until about 7:00 because of cloud cover, and we saw piles of woodies in those crucial 15 minutes of flight time. We managed to bring down 5, and one got swept away in the current before our lab could get it. We did a lot more missing than we should have, but that happens with wood ducks, they are super fast, change direction constantly, and pop out of nowhere from behind the trees giving a very small window of opportunity.
      My friend and I floated a stretch of river above where we hunted to try and flush some birds and push them to my brother and his friend. We probably saw 50 or 60 wood ducks and 5 or 6 teal in 2 hours, and only got a shot at a few groups. The river rarely bends/turns so the ducks spot you from 100 yards away and usually spook before they are in range. We brought down 4 ducks and lost two of them because of heavy current and lots of log jams for the birds to get stuck in. We ended up pushing a few birds past my brother and his friend, and they got one hen woodie. After we met up with them, we went back to the house to regroup. We had 7 woodies total and could still take 5 more. So my brother and my friend went back down to the river and floated a stretch below where we hunted and ended up killing our remaining 5 wood ducks! Hopefully we will be able to hunt the last day of the 4 day early season this Monday, as of now the plan is to set up where the teal were today (mixed in with 20-30 woodies) and try to get a couple of those! Thanks for reading!

 My friend Kevin and I heading down the river 

 This one was in the best shape for a picture 

 It rained all day so the birds are pretty wet and not that good looking, but they are ducks nonetheless!

Dairy Farm Pigeon Hunt

       This Saturday, my uncle took my brothers and I to a farm in Greene County to dove hunt in the morning. We hunted from daylight until around 11:00 and only shot 11 doves and 15 pigeons between the four of us. After we finished hunting, we headed over to the dairy to see if we could try and save the day with a quick pigeon shoot. There were a lot of birds and I bet I shot 20 times within the first 5 minutes, bringing down a bird on most shots. After the flocks headed on to the other dairy farm nearby, we picked off singles and pairs, and shot when the flocks returned from the other dairy. We ended up with 58 pigeons in total, our best day yet at the dairy. We cleaned some for one of the workers who asked for 10, and brought the rest home to clean. I just finished having some for dinner, they were great! We marinated the breasts in Worcestershire and roasted garlic teriyaki sauce for a few hours, then put them on skewers with some green peppers and onions, wrapped them in bacon, and grilled them. Thanks for reading!

Opening Day of Dove Season

   This Monday, my brothers, my dad, my uncle, and two other hunters headed out to a cut cornfield to do some dove hunting. We arrived at 11:15 to ensure a spot on the power lines, but were shocked to see hunters already occupying the spots. We set up on the edges of some standing corn, and hoped for the best. The hunters on the power lines were steadily getting shots at doves, but not one of them could hit one. It was a real shame to see them sit there all day in the best spot on the field and shoot at high birds, missing close birds, and even not noticing when a bird decoyed on the power lines right above their heads! But I guess it was a learning experience for them. We picked off the lone birds here and there, they would pass over my brother and I, looking at the MOJO, giving us enough time to take a shot. I had brought down 5 birds by the time they really started flying. At around 4:00, the doves really started rolling through. This meant that even though the people on the power lines were having more shots than us, we had enough birds passing over to keep us happy. This day happened to be one of my "on" days, and I bagged a limit of birds in about an hour once the action had picked up, then sat back to watch everyone else shoot, as well as taking down any pigeons that came within range. My brother also got his limit. We ended the day with 42 birds between the 4 of us (my two brothers, my dad and I), mostly doves, but about 6 of them were pigeons. I am not sure about how everyone with us did in terms of actual totals, but we all got lots of shots and brought down plenty of birds. Thanks for reading!

 

We have already eaten half of them!

Rose Hauling Groundhog Hunt

   My dad works for Rose Hauling (mulch, topsoil, rock, etc.) and we hunt on the property very often. We deer hunt, spring turkey hunt, goose hunt (one of the best goose hunting spots in VA), and rabbit hunt. Recently, the groundhogs have been getting into some of the gardens they have out there. I took it upon myself to try and take out a couple with my .22, even though there had been plenty removed by the workers via .22 magnum and .22 hornet. On the first day I hunted, I was only able to see one groundhog, but that was ok because he had burrowed only 30 yards away from one of the gardens and had been a serious problem. I sat down about 10 yards from the hole (only way to do it with tall grass), put down my bipod, and dialed in my scope. It was over as soon as he popped his head up. He was in pretty rough shape, to the point where I'm not going to post a picture of him. He had pretty much lost all of his hair and looked absolutely awful. The next day, I went out again and found one on the edge of a field feeding in some short grass. I stalked towards him until I was around 70 yards away and put my bipod down. Once again, it was lights out and I disposed of this one after getting some hide and the tail for fly tying, since this one was in much better shape. Dove season is just around the corner, so stay tuned, thanks for reading!

Rabbit Control

  My friend was having problems with rabbits in his garden, and invited me to come over and hunt some with him. Our weapons of choice were .22s with subsonic ammo (to keep the noise down for the neighbors). We pretty much walked around the property, fished at "his" creek, and found ways to pass the time while waiting 15 minutes in between checks on the field with the garden. Around 6:00, I spotted one at around 70 yards away, that clearly knew something was up. So I set up my bi-pod and settled in for the shot. My first shot did not connect. I'm not sure if I hit a couple weeds that may have sent the bullet off course, but for whatever reason, the shot didn't connect. Luckily, the rabbit poked his head up higher to see what had happened, and this time I had a very clear shot, and my shot connected well. We put the rabbit on ice and went back into our routine of checking the field every 15-20 minutes for more rabbits. We finally spotted another one, and I hung back while my friend put a stalk on it. Although I couldn't see him when he shot, I clearly heard a loud plop of his 38 grain fiocchi subsonic hitting its mark. He brought that one back and put it in the cooler with the other one, and that was it in terms of action for the rest of the evening. I should be able to write about some REAL hunting sometime in September, when some small game/migratory bird seasons open back up. I figured I would make a post considering this is the only hunting I have done since April when I went turkey hunting 5 or 6 days (no luck). Thanks for reading!

 

My friends gun on top, mine on the bottom

Virginia Spring Turkey Hunt

     This past Saturday,  my brother Wyatt and I headed to the property where I heard all of the gobblers when I hunted on youth day. We set up, and within 10 minutes of sitting down, we had a bird gobbling on the roost no more than 75 yards away. He gobbled his head off, to the point that we thought there were 4 or 5 gobblers roosting, but at 6:50 when he finally decided to come down, we only heard him fly down and crash through branches, very loudly. Had there been more birds roosting with him, we would have heard them fly down as well. He decided to go to the real hen in the opposite direction of our position though, and we could barely hear him gobbling within 10 minutes because he was so far away.
      We listened to hens and distant gobbles for another half hour, with no action other than a hen that walked up and started putting when she saw our decoys (2 hen decoys), and walked away. We sat for what seemed like an eternity, hearing and seeing absolutely nothing, until finally, some time around 9:30, one gobbled off of Wyatt's diaphragm, around 300 yards away. After 4 or 5 more gobbles, we heard him begin to make his way towards the field we were set up in. He finally showed himself at a distance of around 80 yards, where he proceeded to puff up and strut. He did this for at least 20 minutes, gobbling at every little cluck or yelp Wyatt let out, but he wouldn't budge. We decided to just quit the calling and see if he would leave so we could re-position and call him back in. After 10 minutes of watching him strut around, he began to walk our way, not leaving full strut though, he occasionally went into half-strut, but that would only be for 1 or 2 steps. When the bird got inside 35 yards, it was game one. Wyatt was trying to let me shoot since he shot one the previous Saturday, but since he was between the turkey and I, I told him to shoot, giving the turkey less chance of busting us.
      At 20 yards, the point where the pattern begins to get small, and then almost too small at 10 yards, I said "Hey turkey, hey turkey" in  a moderately loud voice, but he was so focused on getting to the hens, he payed little attention, and kept walking. Wyatt even let out a couple loud yelps, but the turkey didn't pay attention.  Finally, he turned to the side, presenting a side shot that wouldn't mess up the meat, fan, and plumage. Wyatt sent a 3.5" #6 12 gauge turkey load his way, and the bird immediately hit the ground. When Wyatt got up to go step on his head, I followed him, but I realized I could barely walk. I had been jammed up against a fence post in an awkward position, not moving, for the past 4 hours, and my body was letting me know that I did. After 30 seconds of loosening up, I walked over to check out the bird. He had a 10" beard, 3/4" spurs, weighed 19 pounds, and had a gorgeous fan, not bad at all for the first gobbler Wyatt has ever called in by himself. He deserved it, he hunted hard nearly every Saturday last year without bagging a tom. Thanks for reading!

 

My younger Ewing also connected on a nice longbeard on another property that morning, giving them each 2 birds already this season! Now it's my turn! 

If you look at the feathers near the base of the fan on Wyatt's bird (top bird), you can tell it was shot in full strut, those feathers are GONE. Not a single pellet in the breast though!

Turkey Season is Here

     Just wanted to make it known that I am still alive...Just not much hunting going on. But Spring Turkey Season is finally here! I hunted last Saturday (Youth Day), and I bet I heard 75 gobbles before birds left the roost, they are still in the process of breaking off from their big winter flocks. Once the birds hit the ground, they shut up and would only shock gobble on a crow that would caw 2-4 times in rapid succession, nothing else. I did a couple soft yelps every 10-20 minutes, for about an hour, and the birds never gobbled back at me, only back at crows. So I moved a couple hundred yards closer to where they were and got aggressive with the calling. I got 4 gobbles out of the flock, and then I "shut up" for a while, and waited. After 20 minutes of nothing, I called some more, and couldn't get any responses.
      Rather than try to set up again, I decided to sneak out instead of messing up a flock of turkeys on youth day, I have a whole season to figure it out, better safe than sorry. I will be headed back to the same property on Saturday to see if I can do a little better this time. Thanks for reading!