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20 Articles

For the Love of Ducks

THE SHADOW FLITTED at lightning speed across the shoreline, registering immediately in my brain that it was a raptor in a murderous kill-dive. I’d seen a brown mallard standing awkwardly on a ledge above the lake, looking out of place in the high desert sage in late summer. “What the heck is that duck doing,” I'd said to my girlfriend 20 minutes earlier, as we relaxed in my bass boat. She was accustomed to my nature-nerd sermons. “It’s a duck. By a lake. So what,” she said. "That thing is going to get murdered by a hawk. The migration is on,” I responded. It was a lake on Utah's Wasatch Front, where elevation spikes from desert floor to 10,000 feet. Raptors use that north-south flow of the Rockies as a migration corridor, where they…

For the Love of Ducks

Killin’ and Grillin’

Skip, I’m just reading your “stay hungry” article in Wildfowl magazine. A quick story about the best tasting duck I’ve ever had… It was a cold November hunt in New England, no snow or ice, just clear blue skies, a beautiful day for anyone not waterfowling. My buddy JP and I had a pretty slow morning, but just being able to hunt together made it all worth it. The kids, the wives and our everyday lives make you cherish your time in the field even more. Mid-morning arrives and a pair of buffleheads bomb the decoys. Two shots, and two birds are down. We were both very thankful for the buffies to save our hunt. Another hour goes by and we decide to start a small fire to warm our hands. Then we decide to cook…

Killin’ and Grillin’

Double Trouble-

It is expected from north to south and east to west that ducks will blow past dry areas. DUCK NUMBERS EBB and flow, and duck hunters are accustomed to years when production is low. The big problem: Production, in general, has been down for several years, and due to a pair of severe droughts that plagued the U.S. and Canada in 2021, a poor crop of juveniles is likely. According to DU Director of Conservation Planning, Dr. Mark Petrie, a pair of droughts hammered duck production during the summer of 2021, and hunters should know that both droughts will directly impact duck numbers as well as how ducks use different flyways. "The main drought," Petrie said, "was the drought that hit the Canadian and U.S. prairies. This is thought to have been the…

Double Trouble-

DELTA PRODUCES CUTTING-EDGE PRODUCTION MAP Duck production maps are nothing new, but according to Delta’s Mike Buxton, this new mapping technique will be a significant step forward. Most production maps are elementary, but using a new habitat modeling technique, it’s believed the Duck Hunters Organization has hit the nail on the head. The new maps will show breeding waterfowl habitat conditions like never before. IDAHO WMA GETS A BOOST One of Idaho’s most famous wildlife management areas, Fort Boise, sees roughly 65,000 migrating white geese per year. A hot spot for migrating and breeding waterfowl, Ducks Unlimited in partnership with Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game added a repeatable sediment removal system. Forty-four new water-control structures and 2,000 feet of pipeline were installed in addition to the enhancement of 30,000 feet of levees…

UPDATE: SCI SUPPORTS 50 YEARS OF HUNTING & CONSERVATION

Waterfowl hunters are by nature passionate conservationists and stewards of our coveted resources. If we aren’t out there protecting wetlands and wildlife, how are we to ensure abundant populations of ducks and geese to hunt each fall? And while joining our local Ducks Unlimited or Delta Waterfowl chapter is a viable way to stay connected to the issues that directly affect our own flyway, there is another way to get involved in matters that are affecting the sport and our rights on a larger scale. Safari Club International (SCI) is America’s leading hunter advocacy group and has been in the business of protecting our freedom to hunt while promoting wildlife conservation worldwide for 50 years. Members of SCI are deeply and directly involved in representing the best interests of the hunting,…

Pain Management

IF YOU’RE LUCKY, your duck dog will live long enough to experience everyday aches and pains associated with old age. If you’re really lucky, your dog will avoid this daily discomfort until it has taken a dozen laps around the sun and is truly old. But not everyone gets lucky, and it’s pretty common for dogs that have just recently left middle age behind to start moving slowly and exhibiting some discomfort. This is hard to watch, but often, inevitable. However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t options for addressing low-level pain in our retrievers, because there are. But first, according to Lead Veterinarian for Merrick Pet Care RuthAnn Lobos, you should get your retriever to a professional to assess what kind of pain your dog is actually in. “It’s always best…

Pain Management

Waterfowl BAND REPORTS

1 HUNTER: Joseph Richmond BAND #: 1587-81114 SPECIES: Small Canada Goose (F) BANDED: 07/23/2002 LOCATION: 34 SE Coral Harbour, NU RECOVERED: 01/01/2021 LOCATION: Garden Plain, KS 2 HUNTER: Aaron Rogillio / Farmerville, LA BAND #: 2177-12974 SPECIES: Greater White-Fronted Goose BANDED: 07/15/2018 LOCATION: Cambridge Bay, NU RECOVERED: 11/29/2020 LOCATION: Jones, LA 3 HUNTER: Scott Radke, Bayport, MN BAND #: 1144-01596 SPECIES: Blue Wing Teal (H) BANDED: 08/28/2020 LOCATION: Near Maza, ND RECOVERED: 10/03/2020 LOCATION: 0.1 mi N of Long Beach, MN COMMENTS: First banded duck after 50+ years of waterfowling 4 HUNTER: James Lopez, Zillah, WA BAND #: 2227-07356 SPECIES: Mallard (D) BANDED: 08/28/2018 LOCATION: Near Tulita, NT RECOVERED: 02/22/2020 LOCATION: Byron, WA 5 HUNTER: Eric Storey, Omemee, ON BAND #: 0958-23609 SPECIES: Canada Goose (F) BANDED: 06/29/2001 LOCATION: Guelph, ON RECOVERED: 03/02/2021 LOCATION: 5 mi SE of Eden Mills, ON 6 HUNTER: Jake Dahl, Alberta BAND #: 2177-00063 SPECIES: Ross’ Goose BANDED: 02/15/2020 LOCATION: Near Willows, CA RECOVERED: 05/11/ 2021 LOCATION: Forestburg, AB 7 HUNTER: Wade Van Gorden, Worchester VT BAND #: 1917-98030 SPECIES: Mallard BANDED: 08/29/2012 LOCATION: Notre -Dame-Pierreville, QC RECOVERED: 10/14/2020 LOCATION: Barre,…

Waterfowl BAND REPORTS

Beginner’s Luck

MOST VETERAN WATERFOWLERS dream of bagging a banded bird. Some go for years, others careers of hunting without doing so; and some enjoy beginner’s luck. The notion had never even occurred to Blake Jackson as he headed to Arkansas with a group of work colleagues for just his second ever waterfowl hunt. The initial target for the two-day expedition was ducks, but the group decided to switch things up on the final evening and enjoy a guided goose hunt. It would be Jackson’s first, and possibly most memorable. It was a warm evening with clear, sunny skies when Jackson and his colleagues settled into their coffin blinds and prepared for action. Despite less than favorable fowling weather, the birds worked well and by 3:45 p.m., Jackson soon had his first goose on…

Beginner’s Luck

California Specks

IT’S 1950'S CALIFORNIA with lots of white-fronted geese, alias specklebelly or just specks because of their beautifully white and black-barred breasts. They are probably somewhere in the Sacramento val ley, where rich agricultural lands offered food and water to wintering ducks and geese. Hunters and epicures agree that the speck is the best-eating goose of the lot The best piece of meat I have ever eaten was specklebelly breast in Louisiana cooked by a Cajun lady. The guns are Remington Sportsman 48s or 11-48s, and the fence of PSP [perforated steel plate] will be recognized by veterans of WWII, Korea or Vietnam. It was used as a quickly laid runway, road, or a roof over a bunker. Its uses were only restricted to the ingenuity of the users. The 1970s duck…

California Specks

Duck Blind Gumbo

INGREDIENTS (6 SERVINGS) Roux: 2 cups flour1 cup sunflower oil Add following spices once browned: 1 tablespoons gumbo file (powdered sassafras leaves)1 tablespoons paprika1 tablespoons chili powder1 tablespoons dry ground thyme1 tablespoons oregano1 tablespoons kosher salt1 tablespoons black pepper1 tablespoons onion powder2 tablespoons freshly minced garlicFor extra spice (optional) 1 table spoons chili flakes 1 tablespoon cayenne Meats: 2-1/4 pounds wild fowl legs, or a combo of legs and other game Liquids: 8 cups chicken stock (mixed use)1-3/4 cups tomato juice 3/4 cup clam juice Rice: 1 cup jasmine rice1-1/3 cups cold water GUMBO IS A spicy stew that hails from Louisiana and is guaranteed to stick to your ribs and keep you warm during those long, cold sits in the blind. This recipe is a wild game variation of a gumbo made famous in the Pacific Northwest by The Elk Public…

Duck Blind Gumbo

November Necessities

GEAR MAKES THE waterfowl world go round, and a quick gear purchase can quickly turn a sub-par season into a great one. We know it’s hard to stay on top of quality products when you’re spending every free minute in the fields, marshes, and swamps. Don’t fret. Give these items a read and get that Christmas list going right away. RIG ‘EM RIGHT NITRO DELUXE FLOATING GUN CASE Blanketed in Gore Optifade Marsh, this beast is a proven fortress It is fitted with all the bells and whistles that make a waterfowl gun case great, like a tough, durable outer shell with rigid EVA protection at the stock, action, and barrel. The full-length zipper is rainproof, and the sizeable pocket is a solid locale for storing additional gear. Also included on…

November Necessities

Hevi-XII Tungsten

IF YOU’RE THE type of waterfowl-er who feeds your family by hunting 60 days per year, you probably already know by now that Hevi-Shot tungsten may not be the stuff for you because it’s not cheap. You can get 5 orders of Peking duck down at the local Chinese buffet for less. It’s expensive because there are very few tungsten mines in the world, and this ultra-dense metal is a commodity coveted for making everything from competitive darts to turbine blades and rocket nozzles. But the fact is it’s simply superior to steel, and even a fair margin better than lead bird shot. How? Imagine a tennis ball and a baseball both thrown 90mph by Pedro Martinez. Which one would you rather get beaned with? The tennis ball, of course, because…

Hevi-XII Tungsten

Upside-Down Duck Boat Blind

AROUND LUNCHTIME ON a clear, calm afternoon in December 2020, Bill Lowen launched his boat into the Great Miami River near its confluence with the Ohio River. Running a few miles, he flushed a bunch of ducks from their resting place. Along for the hunt was his 9-year-old son, Fisher, 12-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, wife, Jennifer and his yellow Lab, Sadie. "The river was high and I busted about 50 mallards, black ducks and gadwalls from a corner," he said. "The temperature was around 28 degrees, but it was one of those afternoons with bluebird skies and felt warm because it was sunny. It was one of the first hunts where my son and daughter went with me and I was also in the same place where I shot my first duck.…

Upside-Down Duck Boat Blind

Dealing With Low Drive

IN THE HUNTING dog space, we speak of drive in general terms that don’t separate upland dogs from waterfowl retrievers. In the former category, high-drive tends to refer to a dog that will work all day long in search of roosters, grouse, and other upland species. Or, to put it another way, a dog’s drive to hunt. With waterfowl retrievers, that non-stop coursing to come up with the scent that will lead to a flush isn’t required. In our duck dogs, drive is really all about retrieving desire. All of us want a dog that lives to bring dummies and dead ducks back to hand, but that’s not what all of us get. As a professional trainer, this has been clear to me for a long time. Retrieving desire varies as much…

Dealing With Low Drive

Following a Path

"The dog will quickly learn to leave the path and get his reward." MANY TRAINERS USED mowed paths with piles of dummies at the end to teach a dog lining skills. The problem is once the dog learns to run a path, if it comes upon a path during a trial or hunting situation, it will likely turn and follow the path. Why? Because the dog has learned that a path yields the reward, a dummy or a bird to retrieve. The simple remedy for this is to mow a path perpendicular to the end of the original path and then throw and/or place dummies or birds past the dead end, out into medium or high grass. Then cast the dog past the end of the path and into the uncut grass…

Following a Path

The OTHER Places

THE BAY LAY quiet before clear shooting light. Streaks of sun were just peeking out from the eastern horizon, the day soon to begin. Lightly bobbing decoys moved on long lines laid out in the boat’s front, a ready retriever scanned the sky. A wood duck flight squealed their way across the point, a sure sign that a new day was coming in fast. Minutes passed and the hunters could see the divers trading back and forth out front. Soon a flock noticed the decoys and swung in for a look. They were big ducks, long and fast, cutting the unmistakable canvasback profile. Another Alabama sunrise was about to pay off with bull cans in the bag. Jackson County on the lake's north side is ranked 1st in waterfowl harvest in…

The OTHER Places

QUEST FOR Long-Tails

IT WAS A good omen . The effluent coming out of the stack at the Michigan Sugar Beet plant in Sebewaing overlooking Saginaw Bay was trailing straight up toward the sky. Guide Mike Martin admitted he hadn’t seen very many days like this in the fall of 2020. “It’s been blowing for about three weeks straight,” he bemoaned. “It’s nice to finally see some decent weather.” Hunters Kyle Treadwell, Bruce DeShano and myself seconded the observation as we readied our gear at the boat ramp and loaded it aboard Martin’s 621 Ranger for the 13-mile ride to the middle of the bay. Temperatures the night before had dipped into the low twenties and a skim of ice over the channel crackled and tinkled like broken glass at our intrusion leading from…

QUEST FOR Long-Tails

Scotty Lago is a dynamic, much-loved snowboarder and hunter who is the 2004 quarter-pipe world champ, and now, he’s an ambassador for FORLOH Technical Hunting Apparel. He famously took the Olympic podium with Shawn White in 2010, winning the bronze at the Vancouver Games. Lago hail-calls from New Hampshire and lives in Southampton on the Massachusetts border close to the ocean. A waterfowler to the bone, he wrings the most ducks and geese possible out of his Atlantic Flyway home base and travels often to chase feathers across the flyways before the snow falls. He finds many comparisons between hunting and his elite sports career, although nobody has broken 30 bones en route to an Olympic duck hunting medal. He was at home in New Hampshire prepping for both seasons…

OLD SCHOOL Rules

BY THE TIME y’all read this, I will have turned 57. Neither here nor there, I reckon, but it means I’ve logged some 47 years since shooting my first duck. Almost half a century under the bridge. A lot of miles. People. Changes. The Point System. One ‘can. No ‘cans. Ten pintails daily. That’s right, young people, who are now limited to one-a-day. Ten pintails a day. Forty-seven years. Guess that makes me old school. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-technology. I just think there’s a lot to be said about the old school way of doing things when it comes to duck and goose hunting. That’s my point here. Old school. I do think back to 1974, 1980, 1982 — and realize we killed a lot of ducks, and our…

OLD SCHOOL Rules

THESE ARE THE times that try men’s souls. The peak of the migration has arrived. Northern birds are descending in droves. Gaunt. Desperate. No circling once they’ve eyeballed your spread. Just necks-out, wings-cupped, toes-spread, waterfowl-fantasy PLUMMETING into the kill hole. Yet in the local sporting goods store, there’s not a box of ammo in sight. This is not an exaggeration. I just returned from my neighborhood big-box retailer to check this out, firsthand. The ammo shelf is barren. Eighteen feet of empty space behind dusty labels advertising steel shot of a dozen different varieties. A cobweb hangs in one corner. As I lifted my phone to take a photo, a tumbleweed skittered past. “Panic buyers,” the clerk explained, “After the ‘rona and the riots, people snatched up everything we had. For home defense. Even…

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