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I was fortunate enough to be able to spend some time in the duck blind with Aaron Hanke, Kevin James, and Vince DeCoito before the 2011 waterfowl season ended.  We all were able to meet up and get out for a quick afternoon hunt in January.  This task was not easy, as all of these guys are busy with things like work, law school, girlfriends, and all of the other events that take up the time of a successful 25 year old.

On the quad ride out to the blind we knew the birds would be flying.  We knew the north wind was here to stay for the afternoon, we just did not realize how wild the hunt would be.  For us, the day was about quality.  We have a fairly new hunter in the group and wanted to set him up for some close shots in the north wind.  What we got to see was an awesome array of waterfowl flying into the north wind.

We had birds landing in our decoys but refrained from shooting in order to attempt to coax in the specklebelly’s.  Although very weary, we were able to shoot plenty of ducks and a few geese on this fine afternoon.  When you hear from a buddy that the hunt was the best he has been on, it further concretes the memories into your mind.  We worked birds in close. The geese decoyed nicely.  Most of us shot decent enough.  The photo below only shows our afternoon birds.  We went into town for a warm meal and some rest before making the afternoon excursion.  This is a hunt I will not soon forget.

Waterfowl season has come to an end.  The past 6 weeks of this season were awesome.  There were so many different things that made these last few weeks so awesome.  First, the weather was great.  In Northern California, we had awesome weather for duck and goose hunting.  We had clear days with a strong north wind.  This is by far my favorite weather to hunting.  We also had thick fog that stayed and kept the birds confused for a week or two.  Check out the photos, they should speak for themselves.  I hope you enjoy them just as much as we did taking them!

I am constantly scorned for my feelings towards shooting banded birds.  Most people celebrate and rejoice over shooting waterfowl that are banded.  For those that do not know what I mean when I say banded, please check out the attached link by clicking here.

I feel for the waterfowl that are hunted even harder because of the “jewelry” on their neck or feet.  What gives?  Killing a mallard that has a leg band.  Killing a Canadian with a neck collar.  Neither of these makes you a better hunter, yet many hunters wear their bands on their lanyards as if to brag.  Personally I think you all look foolish with all of your waterfowl bands on your lanyards.

Do you realize that these birds you have shot are tame?  Every single one of the birds you have killed with jewelry on their feet or neck has already been caught before by the person that banded them.  How cool are you “Mr. My Call Lanyard Has More Bands Than You Hunter?”  In essence, you are bragging about killing a bird that someone else has already caught.  I doubt I will ever understand this dynamic to the fullest.  However, I will continue to laugh at all of the so called hunters that brag about their bands.  To each his own.  I just don’t understand it.  I feel sorry for the birds sometimes.

Next time you call them in close enough to tell which birds are banded, let one go.  They really are no better than a park duck.  They’ve already been caught once.  Plus, its pure chance when most of you kill a banded bird.  It’s not like you call them in close enough to see their feet.  I’ve heard you hillbilly hunters at all of the local refuges.  Just a hootin’ and a hollerin’ after you shot a banded Pintail at 50 yards.

2011 has arrived.  This year will be a year of new content, turning over new rocks, and improving that encompasses life.  In every day life we experience change.  Those who are successful adapt and master whatever it takes to thrive with the change.  In the waterfowl world, this is no different.  The Pacific Flyway contains a wide array of species.  Ducks and geese are my main focus.  Until recently I mainly focused on ducks.  Now, I am sold on becoming a goose hunting enthusiast.  Spending some time in and out of the rice blind with Sacramento Valley’s top specklebelly callers has helped turn over a new rock in my hunting career.

Many local waterfowler’s purchase a goose call and rarely practice.  To lure these educated animals into the decoys on their own turf is difficult.  The hunter usually has more success when weather like fog and wind come into play, but the real pro’s succeed day in and day out no matter what weather each day brings.  They have a good hide, can sound like a flock of geese on the call, and shoot accurately.  There is plenty more that goes into a successful goose shoot, but these are examples of what it takes to be good at the sport.

This new rock I have turned over is just what I needed to revive my love for the sport.  I needed something new to push myself.  For a long time I have been happy shooting my ducks and getting an occasional goose.  I can call ducks above average, but my snow and speck calling leaves much to be desired.  Being in the blind with some of Northern California’s best goose callers has shown me just how difficult this type of hunting is.

Be truthful to yourselves.  How many of you have taken your goose call apart and shaved a reed or adjusted something when the geese don’t close how you want them?  How many of you have engaged in constant blind, decoy, and overall setup analyzation while hunting?  These are just a few of the things that make a hunter succeed.  These guys have taught me what I need to do to become successful, and now I am ready to take on the challenge.  Come next fall, the geese better watch out.

Keeping this short, the game sucked.  We were shutout, and no part of our team looked professional.  The best part of the day was the anticipation of a victory.  Hopefully we can redeem ourselves, right this sinking ship, and win the division.

Some people were even chanting we want Alex, in reference to Alex Smith.  I however, was yelling Alex Smith Sucks!

The night before Thanksgiving is always a fun one in Sacramento.  We meet up at the local hangout, 2ME, and get wild.  This year was no different, with tons of people packing the walls and making walking to the bar to order a drink extremely difficult.  This however, is one of the fun things we can look forward to each year.

The result is one tough headache during Thanksgiving.  Below is a photo of me heading out into the night.  The photo below that is the result of 15 minutes sitting upright at Thanksgiving lunch.  A much needed nap was extremely necessary.

You gotta love just how close everyone is that went to Jesuit.  Most of the people I hung out with back then are still really good friends today.  We got together a week before Thanksgiving and had our own little party.  Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggies, tons of dessert, gravy from KFC, cigars, hard liquor, and 4LOKO!

The evening was great.  I couldn’t ask more from the friends I have.  The stuffing tasted like it was laced with crack.  We ended up taking slices of stuffing and chasing it with the left over gravy!  Not to mention, we drank a ton of 4LOKO.

Shot blind #8 at Little Dry Creek with my dad and Matt Braddon a few weeks ago.  Outlook was promising.  However, 20 minutes before shoot time, the wind died.  Completely still.  Birds coasting into the closed zone.  The hunt looked dead.  We worked with what we were given.  We called close in shots, didn’t waste shells on questionable shots, and connected on more shots than we missed.

The dogs even had some time in the blind to goof around.

By 11:30 we had 20 birds.  The dogs found every single bird except for a Sprig my dad swore he dropped.  We worked the dogs where he showed us, but nothing was found.  On our way out, the dogs found the Sprig and we had 21.  A great day and an awesome hunt!  What a way to cap off the weekend.

Great Saturday hunt on Saturday.  We had a good reservation, so we got out to the spot we wanted.  A few guys set up in a spot that kind of screwed us on geese.  However, we still had a great hunt and were out of the refuge by noon!  This was the hunt that I learned my dog likes to hunt alone.  He is not a fan of sharing retrieves.  This was the beginning of a long, yet successful weekend.  

The wind blew well, we had plenty of room to work birds, and Matt Braddon called in his first speck…Feet out, 2 feet over the dekes!  All in all, our hunt was awesome and continued my streak of successful hunts.

On a whim, the guys saddled up for yet another spur of the moment road trip to do a little duck hunting.  The crew on this trip was Aaron Hanke, Patrick Ramos, and Eric Arrieta.  We left Sacramento at roughly 8:56PM on Wednesday 11/3.  After a stop for gas and food in Corning, we arrived at the refuge around 2AM.

Road Trip Humor

After a quick 2 hours of sleep, we got to our parking lot and were the only people there.  Whether this was a good omen or a bad one was yet to be determined.  Not only was there no one in our parking lot, the weather was freezing.  Going from Sacramento at 75 degrees to Klamath Falls at 24 degrees was quite a shock.

The lack of trucks aka competition allowed us to stay in the truck with the heater on for longer than we expected.  At about 6am we see truck lights headed toward our parking lot, so we pack up and head out.  No one was near us, and that enabled us to decoy all the birds we shot in close.  An awesome sunrise, some great friends together, awesome retrieves by Trigger, and music by Phil Collins was the perfect combination on this chilly Thursday morning.

Not many big birds were flying around, in fact we killed all that came around.  The teal and bufflehead decoyed great.  We normally let the bufflehead go, but today they were all that flew.  By 9:00AM we were 2 away from our limits and getting restless.  We used my Blackberry to play some music to get us pumped and alert.  The music also helped us get the blood circulating.  We basically had a mini dance off in the marsh.  You can’t be serious every moment in the field, and this was our release.

Duck Hunting to Phil Collins

We ended up with 20 ducks and 1 Honker on this cold morning by 9:30AM.  We were hungry and tired, so we packed it in and headed to Casey’s and the Cimarron Inn in Klamath Falls, OR.

After the afternoon scouting trip, we were heading out of the refuge and found a dog.  I have only been bear hunting once, but I knew this dog was a bear hound.  After calling the numbers off of the collar, we met the owner near Dorris, CA.  The day was filled with random events, but after returning the dog to its owner, we felt that the next days hunt would be a success because we had built up some Karma on our side.

Dinner and a local KFalls bar named Alibi made sure we overslept our alarms for the next mornings hunt.  I left about $100 and an Atlanta Braves hat at this place. Oh well, that is how it goes sometimes.  On the road, we decide to make this trip the ultimate guy week.  We headed for Chico and stopped for a few cold ones at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

This trip further entrenched the bond us friends have built.  Hunting is just one of the many adventures we enjoy together.  Here’s to a new season, great friends, and memories made!