bad hunting

[Adventures]

Anyone else having the worst duck hunting season imaginable?
Went down to the hay flats opening day. 1 duck shot at 1 duck taken. Usually get in a lot of shooting in the first 3 hours.
Went up the knik where I saw a few hundred birds in one flock get up a few weeks ago. Not a single one. Saw a small flock of teal on the river itself and 4 mallards (while moving) no shooting.
Went back out to the hay flats today, saw a few but nothing in range.
It has been absolutley terribe so far. Where did all the ducks go?
a bad day of hunting is still better than a good day of work, but this is rediculous.

 

[Milo]

No Teal

No Teal

Hunted Friday on the hayflats and overall it was the slowest opener that I've ever seen. Very few birds flying and relatively little shooting. With that said I ended up with my best kill ever. Took an 8 bird limit with 7 mallards and a pintail in about 2.5 hours. Only talked to one other group on the walk out and they had 1 mallard between the 2 of them.

What surpised me was that I did not see a single teal out there. Normally they account for about half my limit. I don't think the mallard numbers were a whole lot less, but there were no teal at all and they usually account for alot of the opening day activity.

 

[JDM]

Opening day and yesterday...

Opening day and yesterday...

on the Coastal Refugue with my 9 year old son and 10 month old Chocolate Lab...got 6 birds opening day...should have gotten a limit, but apparently some of the birds are sporting flak jackets or are protected by invisable shot repelling force fields.....2 mallards, 2 greenwing teal, 1 widgeon, 1 shoveler....
passed on 2 sandhill cranes that were a bit out of range...saw more widgeon and teal than anything....

Sept. 2 went back and got 1 teal, ... the kid caught a frog and the dog chased sandpipers....very little shooting on the flats as the ducks are either dead or educated....along with the flak jacket and forcefield ducks...numbers were not high at all.

Hope the northern birds get the migration itch soon and liven things up here in Southcentral.

 

[Alaska Gray]

Jim lake was a bust. The birds were not flying at all. I got one bird and that was when I decided to walk back to the car.

 

[AK DUCKMAN]

I was on the hay flats till sunday afternoon. Everyone I talked to said the same thing. I shot a sandy right off the batt then it went down hill fast. Total for two and a half days 11 ducks and the sandy my partner took 7 ducks.
We got checked by the feds on sunday and I guess the one officer flew over su-flats ,goose bay and the hay flats and there seemed to be birds everywhere but the flats. I did hear a lot of coyotes so maybe we have a predator problem. I will be out there this winter and take care of the problem by bullet or trap. The problem needs to go away.
I'll be back out thursday or friday for the weekend and give a report next monday. Come on northens.

 

[AK Ray]

Mud/Gull lakes

Mud/Gull lakes

There were quite a few birds at 0530, but by shooting hours there were only a couple pairs and none of them were anywhere near where I was. And then my motor spun a bearing while idling to another spot. It was a long paddle back to the ramp but at least it was not raining or blowing while I sat on the bow and enjoyed the trip.

I am thinking that those rain storms in August have spread the birds out since there is water all over and maybe even pushed the teal south. I only saw two teal while out there.

 

[79FSJ]

Opening day wasnt bad for us, 7 ducks for the 3 of us. We missed way more then we should have. Sat evening was BAD!!!! Sat for 6 hours in the blind and had one Mallard fly into us, not even within shooting range.
To top it off both days my outboard decided it didnt want to go on the way back, so we too paddled back. lol

 

[AKCheese]

Ditto

Ditto

I can't complain........ I took 5 ducks in the first hour and missed a few others

Actually I was just trying to train my dog that just because a gun goes off that doesn't mean he'll get to retieve something (that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

I did think that the number of birds was a LOT less than last year.......like maybe 60% off.........

 

[philobeddoe]

Hay Flats

Hay Flats

Party of 4 we took 7 birds hunters everywhere to our left and right would call and turn the birds for other people, the guys next to us for sure rookies shot at 0603 yelled at them next thing you know the State Warden cited them. We usally go to the flats on the opener hell the flats are usually a duck factory but numbers are low not as many Mallards as last year a mixed bag this year as of today Delta Junction had 60 degree plus days we need a change to see more birds be patient next thing you will know our season will end soon when freeze up comes good luck

 

[WingShooter]

North Pole Area....

North Pole Area....

60 degrees and sunshine.....? We were way overdressed for the opener and really just wondering the same as everyone else, where were the birds! Ah, but we weren't at work and we were sitting in the blind drinking coffee, eating little smokies and conversating over old times. Didn't mind that a bit and we did end up taking 3 ducks (2 Mallards & a Wigeon) and 1 Goose.

Saw one flight of Teal early on (before shooting hours) but they never returned.

Only time will tell how this season is going to shake out.

 

[Alaska Gray]

I might try to head out next week again. I think also the crowds will be less.

 

[MCAT]

Hearing the same thing from up here. I don't hunt duck till the geese are gone but through scouting this summer I saw very few.
The goose hunting is starting out well, we have more geese then we normally do this time of year but they are in large flock of about 100 and are not very decoyable.
I was out yesterday and ended up with two canadas and a speck and felt very fortunate to get those with how the day started out.
Off Sunday till the 6th of Oct so hopefully the hunting gets better.
Good luck to everyone.

 

[hntdux]

Slowwwwwwwwwwww!!

Slowwwwwwwwwwww!!

Manged to pull a few birds but nothing like last years opener. What we need is some COLD weather!! I just got back from Deadhorse and there were geese all over and the temp was warm during the day and just above freezing in the pm. When she gets fridged then we'll see the birds!

 

[AK DUCKMAN]

A little better. On the 8th from 1:30 to 4:00 0r so 7 wigeon 1 gadwall.
On the 9th 1 ringneck ,1 redhead, 2 wigeon, 1 pintail ,1 gadwall.
On the 10 missed 6 shots and called it a weekend. Plus I wanted to leave with the tide. So I only hunted about 2 hours.
The tide was 33+ this weekend. what a sight to see. Had water everywhere even in the fire pit good thing I have a elevated fire grate. Not to mention my tent platform

 

[Cut 'em]

Injured Dog

Injured Dog

I'm new to the forum, but I can beat any bad day hunting stories. The night before the opener this year my lab Josey cut a tendon on her rear leg. I haven't even been able to hunt at all yet. (I was too depressed to go out without my baby). The doc gave her the ok for some light water work so I may be able try to shoot a few this weekend. Has anyone else had a dog get an injury like this?

 

[MCAT]

Don't know what the duck hunting is like but the goose hunting aint bad.
Been very busy slaying the geese
If I didn't have dial up I would post some pics to cheer you guys up