The 2019 hunting season has arrived. I keep a log of every hunt I go on, and it will be shared here!
It seems like I have been looking forward to this day since the close of duck season last year. Dove season signals the start of the hunting season for us, and I am always excited to get back to the field. This summer has been very mild compared to past years, and the temperatures leading up to the opener have been low. On today’s hunt, the high was under 90 degrees. That sure was a nice change from some years past.
We hunted a pond at my Uncles in the evening. With all the rain we have had there were plenty of mudholes for doves to get water at so nothing to really bring them in. We ended up with 6 doves between myself, Dan, and Dakota. It always seems to be hit or miss for us on opening day. Sometimes there is fast-paced shooting and other days its fairly slow. Regardless just getting back into the field with family and friends after the summer is always great.
Got out to the field Friday after work with Dan. Setup in the shade by some trees and shot a few dove. As evening came around the birds were landing out by a dirt patch by the pond so we ventured out from our shade to get a little closer. Had a pretty decent hunt with more opportunities for birds than opening day. Might give it another go tomorrow.
Dakota came along with Dan and I to the same spot as yesterday, except we started the hunt closer to the pond in a little draw. Not as much flying today but we were in a better position so we were still able to bag a few birds. I ended up giving Dan all the birds from the dove hunts this season since we didn’t shoot a bunch so I never cleaned anything. This probably wraps up the dove hunts as teal season opens next Saturday. This was one of the slower years for doves for us partly because of the abundance of water sources. Hopefully that will mean a better than average duck season!
We spent the night in the kayaks for the opening day of teal season. I had been scouting this location the entire week and saw very few ducks, but it’s kind of tradition at this point. In the morning, we didn’t even get a shot at any teal. A co-worker met us out there the night before and we caught some bull frogs and cooked them up so it wasn’t a total loss. After the morning hunt, Dan and I packed up gear and headed off to a different public land spot that had much better duck numbers – didn’t want a zero bird opener. I ended up with 2 and Dan shot 1, but we set up camp to try again in the morning.
Spent the night at the campsite and headed back out for another hunt in the morning. Fair number of birds around. Dan had shot 4 and I had 3 when he had to pack it in to get to Church on time. He probably wasn’t even halfway back to the truck when I had 2 good groups come in right after the other. 3 shots total, I bagged 2 out of the first group and finished my limit on the next group. It was the best decoying shots we had seen the whole weekend. Excited to kick off the 2019 duck season!
Dan and I took Friday off for a weekend trip out to last week’s public land spot. It is a fairly new area for us so we wanted to have some time to scout around. Good numbers of ducks compared to our typical hunting spot, I finished my limit fairly quick but Dan had a few more to go. After a while, I went out to scout around and Dan had just finished his limit as I was coming back.
Scouted yesterday afternoon and found a spot that was holding some good numbers of ducks. We gave it a try this morning but the ducks outsmarted us. Hardly saw any ducks flying even. I dropped 2 out of a group and Dan also had 2 for the morning. We packed it in and grabbed some lunch in town before heading out for an evening hunt. A cold front coming through tomorrow must have pushed in some birds ahead of the front. For an afternoon hunt there were lots of ducks. Dan had just dropped a bird to finish his limit and there were about 3 min left of shooting hours. A single came in and I missed all three times. I figured that was my last chance and started packing up as Dan went after his duck. He was about 10 steps into the decoys when another single dropped in and landed off to the side, giving me the time needed to toss a shell in the gun and shoot it off the water. That finished up my limit with just under 2 minutes left of legal light.
Packed up the campsite before heading out for the Sunday hunt. It was warm and humid but no sooner than we had set decoys and set down in the boats than the wind did a 180 degree swap and we had a cold north wind in our face with light rain/drizzle. It was actually a little cold, a welcome change over the 90 degree plus weather we have had this weekend. The front also brought in a ton of birds. Group after group of teal buzzed around the marsh, it was very cool to sit back and watch. Dan struggled with some shots this weekend and so he went into the hunt with only 2 shells and I was already down to less than a box after loaning out some shells to him. Luckily, I snagged two with one shot and went 6 for 8 total so I had some spares to loan him. He finished his limit with 1 shell left, no pressure there! Overall, and amazing weekend with lots of good hunting.
Went back out to the normal hunting spot close to home for a Friday morning duck hunt by myself. Heard plenty of other hunters, but had a whole pool to myself. Last weekend’s cold front brought some ducks in huntable numbers hear and a few large groups gave me a limit within 30 minutes. I had one large group swing right in front of me and they were so thick I couldn’t even pick out a single bird to shot at, and just watched them fly away. Hopefully these birds stick around.
Definitely less birds than yesterday. Still had decent movement in the morning before shooting hours and had 2 ducks land in the decoys. After that, movement really slowed down and we didn’t have many opportunities for shooting. Dan got one out of that first group that landed, but that was it for us today.
Adam was an intern this summer at the company we work for. Most Fridays, he brought donuts, which proved he was a pretty decent guy. So we invited him out for his first duck hunt this Saturday. Conditions looked promising with a North wind and a strong cold front (high 80’s dropping to low 60’s) coming through last night. However, we didn’t see a lot of birds. We were still able to get Adam his first ducks and he ended up with 3 bluewings with some good shooting. Dan and I shot one each. I was out chasing a bird that was swimming away and didn’t want to get into some weeds so I stretched out to get it just a little too far, and ended up taking a tumble into the water. It was a little cold the rest of the hunt but I got the duck, and would rather fall in now than in December!
Dakota, Dan and I went out for opening day of duck season. No sleeping in the kayaks this time though, that is just for the teal opener. A good cold front came through the night before dropping the lows below freezing. We didn’t see a lot of teal but haven’t seen many teal out here early season either. The front did bring in some decent numbers of larger ducks, but they didn’t seem too interested in our setup. We did have a group of gadwalls decoy nicely, and Dan also shot a mallard.
We moved to a different pool today where we saw ducks working yesterday. It was a little crowded as others must have seen it too but having kayaks helps us get away from the dikes and the other hunters to some extent. Also, for a nice change, no skybusters. People let the ducks work and everyone seemed to get a little action. We shot a mixed bag today and had some really awesome shots. 10 birds total for Dan, Dakota, and I, including gadwall, shovelers, teal, ring-neck, widgeon, and red heads. We don’t see that many different species out here very often, and definitely not all at once, so that was pretty neat. Dakota also got his first duck of the season.
After last weekend’s successful hunt we decided to try the same area again. Saw very few ducks so it was a fairly uneventful hunt. Dan had a shot at some teal but that was about it.
We were going to take the boats out to a different area today but yesterday afternoon I realized the bearings on my trailer were rusted and probably wouldn’t have made hour drive. Nobody else wanted to hunt local because of the complete lack of birds but I couldn’t just sit at home so ended up going out by myself. I was going to check out a new spot but after working on the trailer all afternoon I was tired and opted for the easy spot. It resulted in zero shots, zero birds. I did buy a different trailer yesterday though, and will hopefully have that up and running for next weekend.
I took a Friday off work for a quick hunt. Mostly because I needed the time to prep gear for Saturdays hunt. Not a lot of birds but limited pressure on a weekday helped, and I managed to get 2 teal and a gadwall.
It was opening day of goose season and the duck report for a public land area showed good numbers. A perfect opportunity to test out the open water goose spread! …It failed miserably. Although, we did manage to get one gadwall for the group. The spread took a ton of effort to setup all of the goose decoys and in the end it just didn’t work. Ducks would barely give us a look as they flew by. Having 3 people with boats didn’t help the situation. By myself in the goose kayak it would maybe work, but no way could I set all those decoys by myself. On the way out, Dan had his boat way overloaded and ended up making 2 trips after the hunt to get back to the ramp. Dakota says ‘never again’ for hunting this location!
Dan and I bought 25 acres with about a 20 acre pond, and another 24 acre section of brome grass at an auction. We haven’t closed on the land yet, but we know the seller from work and he messaged us saying pond had geese on it and that we could hunt it. After yesterday’s rough hunt, we were all game to go try out some private land. As with anything, it will take a few times to get the ideal setup figured out, but Dakota shot his first goose, and Dan and I each shot a duck. We are very excited about the hunting opportunities on this pond.
Dan is traveling for work and Dakota is busy so just me for this Saturdays hunt. Still a few people out hunting this location, even though it just doesn’t seem to be getting any ducks this year. I had a group of canvasbacks fly right over me in the morning and dropped 2 out of the group. These were my first canvasbacks so I was excited about that. Had a few other groups of cans I could have shot at but the limit is 2. Saw maybe a handful of mallards a good distance away and that was about it for todays hunt.
Dan got back from his work trip yesterday and I finished up my trailer so we took the boats out today. Shot a good mixed group of ducks with my first scaup, a hen. Ducks decoyed nicely and we had some good shots. Had a group of specks fly over at about 60 yards and I called at them with the Canada goose call. I have never seen birds respond so drastically to a call. As they were doing a 180, their wings were already set and they came floating back into the duck decoys giving us an easy 20-25 yard shot. I dropped 2 and Dan knocked down 1. That was the highlight of the trip for me. Stayed out to almost 2pm to finish our limits but Dan cooked up some bacon and we fried up a mallard in the grease. Probably my favorite way to eat duck – Fresh and out in the blind.
Took a Friday off to hunt by myself. Never have I been able to pass on so many shots. With the limit of pintail at only 1 this year, I didn’t want to shoot a pintail hen early in that first 30 minutes where identifying birds is tough for me. Even for the birds I was able to ID, there were just so many shovelers and divers that I didn’t want to limit out so quickly and ended up just watching most of the birds. First time I have seen fully plumed drake shovelers. At one point I had maybe 30 ducks of various species sitting in the decoys. I was waiting for the perfect shot for the last duck to finish my limit when a group of low flying geese came by. They were still a little ways out there, maybe 40 yards, but I decided to give it a shot. I missed my first 2 quick shots and was thinking to myself that I misjudged the distance and they were a bit out of range. I swung out in front of the goose I was shooting at a little more for the third shot, and could barely believe it when 2 geese crumpled on that final shot.
John, Dan and I went out to the private pond for a duck hunt. Still haven’t closed on it yet but maybe soon. We setup in layouts along the water’s edge by the west point and the ducks had no idea we were there. Roughly 300-500 were on the water from overnight before the first shots. Not a ton of action after that but singles, doubles, and small groups would trickle through. The birds that did fly over worked the decoys well. Dan and John each shot 3 and I shot 5. Mostly gadwall, with some mallards and teal.
Back to public land for the last hunt of the weekend. Dan only had time for a quick hunt before he was headed for church so I let him do most of the shooting early. Decoyed a couple birds and 2 really nice groups of mallards and pintails. Dan finished up his limit quickly with 3 birds out of a group and left while I had 2 ducks in the bag. I shot a few more and passed on some divers and then things started to slow down. They say not to pass on shots at the beginning of the hunt that you would take at the end of the hunt! I was kicking myself for not shooting that shoveler earlier when I finally decided to pack it in with 5 birds for myself. Sometimes when the hunting is really good, I think back to my early hunts when just getting a shot at a shoveler would have been the top story of the month for me.
Took the kayaks to the river today. Not great river weather, but I wanted to get out and float it a bit before the weather gets very nasty. We had 2 groups of ducks fly by the decoys in range but we never saw them coming and they passed us by without a shot. We parked upstream, floated in to the spot, and then floated downstream to a second truck on the way out. About 100yds from our exit point I came within 30yds of a group of 4. The sun was just right so that I couldn’t ID them, and they were grouped so tightly that I couldn’t pick out a single bird to shoot at. As I got closer, the current started to shift me sideways. I tried to correct it with the paddle, but the movement flared the birds. As I fumbled with the paddle and the gun, the birds got out of range quickly and I was unable to get a shot off. Dan was able to shoot a teal using the same float method earlier on the way out.
This was one of those hunts that I went not really expecting to shoot anything. I was by myself for the morning and the birds didn’t give me much of a look. I shifted the decoys around a bit and pushed the kayak further into the weeds. That seemed to pay off as the next large group of mallards worked well and a pair dropped into the decoys. I shot those, ate my can of soup, and took a mid-morning nap. The sound of whistling wings woke me up and there were 3 mallards maybe 30 yards up. Maybe could have let them work better but I was not sure where they were at in the process of landing so I decided to take them. I was able to get 2 out of that group but really should have had the third as well. Called it quits early after those ducks to end the day with 4 mallards. Lots to do to get ready for the trip to Nebraska next weekend and I was going home with a lot more ducks than expected for this trip.
We left for Nebraska Friday after work and stopped halfway to spend the night at our Cousin’s house. Arrived at the campsite Saturday afternoon which didn’t give us a lot of time to look around. We ended up hunting the larger lake right by the campsite this morning because we knew it was mostly ice free. Saw a handful of ducks in the distance but nothing even looked at our decoy spread. Tried a different spot in the afternoon that had maybe 75% ice coverage and decreasing. We saw one duck. So far it looks like our timing was a little late to the Nebraska Sandhills. Lots of ice and very few birds that we can find. Good weather is forecasted for tomorrow so we will see if anything changes.
We wanted to give yesterday’s afternoon spot a second chance in the morning, even though it seems most of the ducks are out of the area. We didn’t see a single duck and stuck around until late morning. We did hear some pheasants and I watched a hen land in some thick brush up off the shoreline a little ways. I went to go try to flush them, but there was an old half standing fence around that area and I wasn’t positive what the boundary was so I didn’t chase in after them. We did have some geese fly into the pond and they came to check out the goose call but no goose decoys. They would fly by and circle once or twice and then keep going. After the hunt we headed into town for lunch and to find some cell service to check weather. 8 inches of snow forecasted overnight. Roads up here aren’t the greatest and with no ducks around we decided to cut our solo public land portion of this trip short and head to our Grandparents house early.
Stayed around the house yesterday because of the snow conditions. It was down to 10 degrees this morning but we took the airboats back up the river at a lake. Slush ice was coming down the river and starting to back up from the frozen lake so conditions weren’t ideal. Lots of big groups of ducks flying overhead but they were headed on for some unknown destination and didn’t want to give us much of a look. Ended up with 5 ducks between Dan, Grandpa, Uncle Rod, and myself. The ride back to the trucks was pretty neat. The slush ice was piled up in the river channel maybe 2ft high as we got closer to the lake, but the airboat just scooted right on top. It was a weird sight to be looking down at the water outside of the main channel as we drove along the ice.
Grandpa has a pit blind by a pond that is located off the river and we went out to hunt geese on that today. It was chilly and foggy but there is a warm water slough that keeps a channel open in the pond. We didn’t see a single goose fly until 5 min before shooting hours were up, but we did have a few mallards come in and some small groups of teal. I shot 5 and Dan shot 2.
The day started off windy with 20mph winds and just got worse throughout the day going up to 35mph with 60mph gusts. Snow and blowing snow made for poor visibility and tough conditions. If we weren’t hunting from a heated pit blind, I probably wouldn’t have stayed out there more than 30min. Early on, ducks acted similar to yesterday, coming in high and dropping quickly for one pass before heading to the river. We shot a handful before noon but around 1pm something seemed to switch and the ducks wanted in. Our decoys spread looked pretty bad with ice blocks for duck decoys essentially, but that warm water slough had open water and the mallards were dropping in. Dan, Uncle Rod, and I shot a 3 man limit by 2:30. The drive back to the house was bad. At times we couldn’t even see to the front of the truck, and trying to see the road was impossible, complete whiteout conditions. I would open the passenger side door and watch the edge of the ditch, trying to steer Dan driving blindly. We still ended up driving in the ditch once, and on the wrong side of the road once as well. It was nasty weather but a great hunt. That finished up our Thanksgiving Nebraska trip. It is always exciting for me to go and hunt with family, and get to experience some different styles of hunting. I usually come home full of new ideas to try out for our own hunting conditions.
Back in Kansas, the birds were using the private pond fairly heavily the past week so we hunted it on Saturday with a setup focused on geese. Took Adam along as well for his 2nd hunt of the season. Had a few ducks early but after that it was mostly geese. The birds didn’t work super well early, but as the morning went on and we made some adjustments things started to swing in our favor. Several groups came in close enough for good shots and 2 small bunches actually landed. Ended the day with 17 Canada geese, 2 specks, and 4 mallard drakes. It was an exciting hunt with lots of action. I am starting to get high hopes for this spot next year with a little bit of off-season work planned.
Yesterday was a long hunt with lots of birds to clean afterwards, and honestly I was a little tired. So I decided to hunt close to home instead of driving a long ways, even though the outlook wasn’t super great. Didn’t see many ducks at all this morning, maybe 2 or 3 small bunches. They never even came my way or slowed down to take a look. Slightly overcast and no wind which didn’t help anything. I was regretting not bringing in the jerk rig, but don’t think it would have mattered with the lack of ducks in the area.
John had the connections to get permission on a corn field near some large sandpits that hold a lot of geese. Earlier in the week the field was loaded with geese but they seem to bounce around between the fields pretty quickly. With no geese in the field the night before we decided to still give it a shot but more of a traffic scenario. We took almost every single one of our goose decoys but the result was exactly the same as the majority of our goose hunts. Nothing. Had a few quick fly by’s buts nothing close enough to shoot. We did have a pair of ducks give us a good look and we probably should have called the shot but they were on the edge and we were hoping for something better.
After a slow hunt yesterday we went back to the pond for what we hoped would be a good shoot. Only a few birds on the pond in the morning and after shooting light, we didn’t see a single goose. It was cold, with a mix of snow and ice. We stuck around till about 10:30 but with nothing flying yet we decided to call it quits. I would have liked to stay all day because I think if something started to fly we would have done well in those conditions in that area. But Dan had a longer drive back home and with the nasty weather figured it would be best to drive in daylight.
With 3 hunts and no birds, I really wanted to shoot some ducks today. Made the slightly longer drive out to the public land spot with good opportunities. About an inch of ice in the boat channel but we found open water in an area with less weeds. We saw very few ducks but the ducks we did see responded to the calling and dive-bombed in, often on the first pass. We shot a few mallards and gadwall, 8 total. It was good to do some shooting again.
We had a good duck hunt on our pond. We closed on the land last Friday so this was our first hunt with it being officially ours. Setup in layouts along the east dike and the ducks just dumped in nicely to the decoy spread. Also had a good group of geese fly by that we dropped three out of. They were headed north and when I called they turned around and coasted into the decoys. We had 4 Y boards with silos out. I had my limit of ducks and Dan needed 1 more. Had a drake drop in and turns out it was banded. Hatched in 2009 or earlier, so the bird was at least 10 years old. From Manitoba, Canada. Pretty neat bird to end the hunt!
Took Christmas Eve off to get some more duck hunting in and have some more time to spend with family. After the previous hunt at the pond we decided it was good enough to go back and try again. We have been trying to space the hunts out more but the season split is coming up so it will get a few weeks off. I shot a speckle-belly that landing in the decoys shortly after shooting light and another Canada goose later. Ended up with 6 ducks and 2 geese between Dan and I before we had to pick up to make it to lunch with the family.
With Christmas celebrated yesterday I had the day free to do some hunting. Went back out to public land hoping between the ice last week and the holiday there wouldn’t be much pressure. With the warm weather yesterday and today, the ice was all gone. Had a single mallard drop right in early, and then a good group a little later that I was able to get 2 out of. Those birds dropped in really easily, but after that I couldn’t get any other groups to even take a look. Ended up with just the 3 but that was more than I was expecting.
Last weekend to hunt this specific zone. Rain was in the forecast for most of the day but had to get out to hunt regardless. It was raining pretty heavily when we got to the boat ramp so we sat in the trucks for a bit before finally heading out. Rained on us for about an hour after that and then the rain let up for the rest of the morning which was nice. I had already used my second pair of gloves though so my hands stayed wet and cold the whole time. We shot 1 mallard but never could find it. This hunt closed out my early season, taking a break tomorrow to work on some projects.
Opening day after the late zone split. Had some cold weather and ice that left us wondering if the pond would have any open water. But the weather turned and with some wind the entire pond was ice free. We checked it out Friday and there were good numbers of birds going in at night to roost. We got setup in the morning and had lots of ducks dumping back into the decoys before shooting hours but once it was legal hours the ducks seemed to quit flying. We shot 3 right at first light and had one group mid-morning but that was about it. Had a few geese as well come in throughout the morning. Ended up with 5 mallards and 3 geese between 4 of us.
Hunted the river this morning. Not ideal river conditions with open water on some ponds still. We had a mallard and teal land in the decoys early, and got another one that was floating in from up river. After that we didn’t see much flying. The geese weren’t interested in the river at all. I packed it up a little earlier than normal. Dan floated out to the next exit and was able to jump shoot one more.
Less than 5mph wind but it was from the South so we took the opportunity to try a setup on the south side of the pond on the large mudflat. We got a few in close early, but as the overnight ice was melting the ducks didn’t want to be where we were set up. We split up and I tried the northwest hook for a bit but without the wind the decoys looked pretty fake. Dan had moved back to our normal spot on the east dike and shot a few so I ended up going back there. Dan finished out a limit of 5 mallards and a pintail and I left with 2 mallards for the day.
Last day of duck season so we planned a full day hunt. Did OK in the morning, shot 3 mallards and 2 geese. Birds acted pretty decoy shy. They would land wide of the decoys if they circled more than once or twice. Could have been our hide too, it wasn’t the best. There was ice on the pond in the morning so I was a little worried. Our uncle and cousin were with us so I was glad when we were able to bag a few. Took a break for the afternoon to shoot guns and my new bow for a bit. Then back to the water for the evening rush. Had a few birds land wide again in the last 30 min but we didn’t shoot at any of them. The birds really started dumping in about 15 min after legal light. It was fun just to sit and watch them all. They make a tremendous noise, the whoosh of their wings, the calls of mallards, widgeons, and pintail, the honking of a group of 20 geese as they splash into the water against a brilliant sunset. Duck season is officially over for the year but its memories like this that will keep me excited for next season.
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