The 2018 to 2019 hunting season was one of my favorite years so far. It started off with a great early teal season, and then we had 7 inches of rain that really helped hold strong duck numbers through the middle of the season. Things started to get slow on public land as the season progressed, but later in the year we had some really neat hunts on a flooded soybean field and an awesome out of state trip to hunt with family.
I shot more ducks than I have in any other season and averaged more ducks per hunt as well. But most importantly, I was able to go on about 40 hunts, and checkout several new locations and styles of hunting that I had never tried before.
This is a log of every hunt that I went on throughout the entire 2018-2019 season. If you want to watch a condensed version, you can see some season highlights on YouTube here: 2018 Teal Season. 2018 Duck Season.
I started filming some of my hunts last year so stopped filling out a journal halfway though the season. Lots of gaps though, because I didn’t always film each hunt, and even some hunts that I did film the video quality just didn’t turn out that good so I never edited it. This season I hope to keep a short log all season long.
We started out on public land in the morning. Hunted a few hundred yards off the dirt road in the middle of a CRP field, just found a spot it was a little thin. Doves were thick at the sunflowers, and so were the people. They looked to be lined up every 50 yards. I had scouted the week before and my plan was to setup and try to catch the birds on the way to the sunflowers.
This worked out well, and we shot over 20 birds between the 4 of us. We didn’t even half to come within a quarter mile of the insanity that was happening on the sunflower field! In the evening, we went out to Uncle Kevin’s pond. Dan, Dakota and I finished off our limits. Dad let us do most of the shooting and shot 6 himself toward the end of the hunt. I’ve come close before, but this was my first time actually finishing a limit of doves.
Went to Uncle Kevin’s again for the evening. Shot 14 total between Dan, Myself, Dakota, and Randy. It was cloudy and rainy the whole time. Had a few groups of 6 plus come in towards the end of shooting hours.
Calling this it for doves this year. I have a cold and have decided to sleep in tomorrow morning. I think the total for the 2 days for everyone was 65 doves. Teal season starts this next week and we just had a lot of rain so fingers crossed the birds will be here.
It is opening day of teal season! Went out the night before around 7pm. Setup the decoys and kayaks, and put a tarp over my yak because it was going to rain. Lots of ducks this year. As we were setting up, ducks were dumping back into the pool as we had flushed them up on the walk in. Spent the night ‘sleeping’ in the kayak, but didn’t really get much sleep. Shooting hours finally came and we shot a 4 man limit in 30 minutes. The ducks were constantly flying and the shots were just about perfect. Great way to kick off the season!
Just Dakota and I out on the second day of teal season. The second day is usually a lot slower than the opener so I didn’t have high expectations. Dakota missed his alarm and was late! I went ahead and walked out to the spot anyways. Still plenty of hunters but no one near us. We shot limits again and Dakota shot 4 ducks out of one big group with only 2 shots!
Left work early to get an afternoon hunt in. Didn’t take a lot of gear so I could get out and setup quickly. Only took a pocket of shells because I wasn’t expecting much shooting. Went 3 for 3 on the first ducks, and then spent 2 shells on the next duck. I then had 2 ducks blow by me and I wasted a shot as they were flying away. I couldn’t believe it, gave em’ the old teal call and they circled right back around to give me an amazing shot, and I missed twice more!
I had one more pair come in and shot 3 times to knock one down. It was still swimming so used my last shell to hit it again on the water. It still just barely beat me into the weeds and I spent the next 15 min looking for it. Never could find it so I finally packed it in for the day as I was out of shells with maybe 20 min of shooting light left. I am a little disappointed with my shooting towards the end of the hunt, but thrilled to go home with 3 ducks on an afternoon hunt.
Another evening hunt, Dan came along this time. Had a single come over that I shot. Not a lot of other movement. We had one big group come from behind us and fly over really low but super-fast. I missed but Dan shot 1. I checked out the video I was filming because I thought it would be a really cool shot, and then realized another duck had fallen that neither of us had shot at! Went out and found it dead on the water, credited it to Dan. Dan also shot a dove, bonus duck! Ended up with 3 teal and a dove for the hunt.
Saturday morning hunt – Dan, Dakota, Marcus. One duck each. We picked up about 3 boxes of shells from other hunters that setup in the same spot during the week so obviously the birds saw some pressure. Will maybe try a different spot soon. Still a good hunt though. Went out for an evening hunt at a different place to get a look around as well. Shot 3 ducks with Dan.
Hunted by myself this morning at the same location as yesterday evening. Shot 3. The mojo wouldn’t turn on in the morning and I think I would have done better with it on because the vegetation was thick. This area has plenty of room but more narrow stretches of water so it feels crowded to me.
Drove up to the spot in the morning but had someone else waiting by the road in their truck. They headed out as soon as we showed up. Had to go with the backup plan but Dan and I still ended up with 5 each. Dakota shot 1. Headed to a different public marsh this evening to test out my new Cartsens Pintail boat.
The evening hunt went fairly well. I finished off my limit and Dakota shot one more as well. I had bought some oars earlier in the afternoon specifically for use with this boat, but they were kind of a pain to use. Ended up using the kayak paddle instead. I think I will have to get a motor or do something different if I plan to hunt out of this very much.
Camped out last night after the hunt and headed out again this morning to use the Pintail. Took me a few days to get this journal entry filled out, but I think we shot 3 each. I don’t have a boat blind setup yet but we were able to tuck back into the weeds and still get some decent shots. Very few people in the area we were at, a nice change of pace.
We had close to 7 inches of rain the past few weeks. 1 week before teal season the pool we normally hunt was dry. Now everything is in flood conditions with water over the road. We crossed a ditch in our kayaks where the water was probably over 20ft deep. Even in the fields that are normally dry, the water was almost too deep to wade through. There was a crazy number of ducks, but we had a tough time decoying anything for good shots. The ducks were almost constantly flying though. We all shot limits of teal, except for one gadwall. Very excited about this season.
A strong cold front came through and brought 25mph north wind and rain. Dan shot 6 this morning including 1 pintail, I shot 2 and Dakota shot 3. There were white caps on the water as the wind blew across the large area of open water that is normally only knee deep. I had to bail my kayak out several times as the waves would come over the back. About 30 min into the hunt I was completely soaked, really need to invest in some better rain gear.
The walk out was rough as we had to wade through deep water with high wind and waves. I was pushing my kayak in front of me with the water just a few inches below my waders. The waves would hit the side of the kayak and just about knock me off my feet before splashing up on us. I have never seen conditions like this out here. It was crazy to see the normally calm and quiet marsh turn into something completely different.
Took today off work. Tried a new spot that doesn’t normally hold water, with a flooded corn field on private ground right across the road. I wasn’t in the perfect spot, as hundreds of ducks would fly right be and land further back, but just with the sheer number of ducks I was able to shoot a quick limit of 2 gadwall, 2 wigeon, and 2 teal. We are up to 105 ducks for the season and I am at 45. Very close to my personal 50 duck target for the year. This spot while temporarily flooded has the potential to support several groups of hunters and has a bunch of ducks, and yet I didn’t see a single other hunter today.
Another half-day off work. Got to take advantage of things while the hunting is good. I shot a quick limit and was back at the truck before 9am. A lot more hunting pressure this morning and less birds flying after shooting hours. Ended up with 5 teal and a wigeon. For my last duck a pair of teal came in. Shot 1 and went to pick it up and it was banded – my first banded bird. Data showed it hatched 2016 in Illinois. Water has gone down a lot already. By next week I bet the flood water is gone but the pools should stay full for the season. Already a record breaking year, excited to see what is in store.
Dan, Dakota, and I hunted the area I have been hunting during the week. Dan had a spot he was hoping to try but the water had already dropped off. I shot 3, Dan shot 1, and Dakota shot 1. When Dakota shot his duck it blew into several pieces. I shot my first mallard drake of the season on this hunt.
Nobody else could come so hunted by myself this morning in the same area as yesterday. Shot 4 teal. Water levels have gone back to normal conditions and the water was low enough in my preferred spot to finally walk out there. I will probably get back to that pool next week.
Took a half-day off work. Tried a different pool this morning than what I have been hunting. It was a rough, muddy walk out. Another group of hunters was already setup where I had hoped to go. The duck numbers have brought out a lot more hunters. Plan B still got me a limit of teal by 9am. I have had some of my most successful hunts in terms of numbers this year. I can tell that the heavy hunting pressure is taking its toll though and ducks are getting harder to hunt.
Saturday morning hunt at the same pool as my last hunt with Dakota, Dan, and I. Dan was quick with the gun and shot a fast limit of teal. Dakota shot 1, and I shot 2 with one being my 2nd drake mallard of the season. He came out of nowhere and was just floating directly overhead. It was a little high up but brought him down on my 3rd shot. My shooting this year has been fairly sub-par. Need to focus on mounting the gun properly. 2 other groups were out there as well today, tomorrow will try for someplace a little less crowed.
Another solo hunt this morning. Since I was by myself I went back to the same place as yesterday hoping to use the kayak to hunt some of the deeper water and get away from everybody. Several others were out though and it still felt crowded. Still, shot another limit of teal by 10am and had some really nice shots and a few big groups that decoyed nicely. Could have taken some wigeon at about 40 yards but was going to wait for them to get a bit closer. As they were circling around 2 teal came in and I just couldn’t pass up on the beautiful shot so went ahead and took those. Really awesome hunting so far this year.
Had to go to Atlanta this past week for work so lost a weekend of hunting. Came back on Thursday so went into work late to get a quick hunt in. First shot of the morning, the wad got stuck in the barrel and I spent a lot of time clearing that out and missed some good opportunities. Shot a shoveler and a teal.
Picked up the decoys to head home and saw some mallards land. Nobody else was out on this pool so I snuck up on them and was able to get one. Little bit of ice this morning but the main portion was open. A cold front came through the past week and brought in a lot of geese, but very few geese.
Uncle Kevin invited us to hunt a flooded soybean field. Lots of ducks were on it in the morning but it was iced over. Had to break ice to setup decoys. We had 2 good groups come in. Dan and I each shot a pintail and Dakota shot a teal. Not much movement after the first bunch. It was very cold, temperatures in the teens, and the wind chill was 5 degrees in the morning.
It warmed up yesterday afternoon and the ice melted off so we went back to try the soybeans again with Kevin. It was a great hunt. Lots of ducks and they decoyed well for the most part. I love watching ducks just drop out of the sky when they come in from high up. We all shot limits – mostly wigeon but a few pintail and mallards. Really fun hunt today. For this time of year it would normally take us a month and a half to shoot this many ducks on public land.
Went to the soybeans again. Myself, Dan, and Uncle Kevin. We shot a 3 man limit in less than an hour. Strong wind and overcast and the ducks were coming in fast, sometimes on the 1st or 2nd pass. After we finished the limit of ducks we had a good passing shot at some geese but didn’t get any. Another awesome hunt today. We will try it again tomorrow but might have to fight ice.
Only a light amount of ice this morning but it was enough to keep the ducks away. Shot 1 mallard and 3 teal total over the beans but the ducks were using the pond on the other side of the road. We moved over there but by the time we were setup the ducks had mostly stopped flying. Dan left for church and shortly after Kevin went to take care of the cows. I stayed a little longer and got a nice shot at a pintail. I ended up with 4 ducks for the day. Dan shot a teal and Kevin got another mallard when he first went over to the other pond.
I took the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off of work. Got a quick hunt in on public land. Had a few opportunities that I didn’t make the right call on and ended up calling it quits fairly early after without firing a shot. Very few birds flying. Packed up the gear and headed to Nebraska after the hunt.
Hunted a pond out of a pit-blind with Grandpa and Dan. Great weather but not a lot of birds flying. Had a few looks from ducks but they didn’t really want to land. Ended up not shooting anything but it was a nice change of pace and hunting from the pit was nice and comfy.
Hunted the shallow end of a lake where the river drains in with Grandpa, Uncle Rod, and Dan. Lots of little channels that spread out like fingers before connecting up to the lake. Access is either by walking in or airboats, and when we went a mile or so back in it felt like we were completely alone. Hunted a shallow, wide stretch of the channel. Birds were giving us a good look but we weren’t shooting a lot. Spent a little time adding some brush to the blind and the next few groups worked well.
11 total birds, mallards and one teal. This was one of my favorite hunts this season. I loved hunting on this little river system, it was completely different from anything I have done before.
We took the layouts on the airboat as we were going to try hunting a little different spot closer to the lake. Somebody else was going to hunt that area though so we decided to go back to the same spot as yesterday. Shot 6 mallards but we had to leave earlier than the other day. A blizzard is coming through tomorrow which means we need to travel home today instead of tomorrow. Overall, we had an amazing hunt in Nebraska and will hopefully get the chance to come back and hunt here again. It is such a neat area, and we were practically by ourselves hunting out of these airboats.
Picked up from hunting really at the last possible moment. After getting home, cleaning birds, and packing up, I was pulling out of the driveway as the snow was starting to fall. Had to drive through a few bad spots on the way out but roads were mostly clear all the way. The system coming through is pretty large with road closures expected. Sad to cut Saturdays hunt short but glad we were able to get out in front of the storm.
It has been busy at work so I haven’t been able to take off as much time as I would like, but was able to get off today since it looks like everything is going to freeze up soon. Back out to public land for a slow hunt. Saw 2 groups of mallards and 1 group of teal. Teal flew by and landed about 120 yards away. I was able to sneak up on them and shoot one. Tried using the silhouettes today, not sure if they made things worse but the ducks certainly didn’t want to just dump right in.
Went back to the soybeans today. Lots of ducks. Tried using goose shells and silos but something was off, the ducks wouldn’t commit to the spread and were landing at the far side of the pond. I took 3 decoys and went and setup near where they were landing. I grabbed a few tumbleweeds and sat down in the mud. I ended up shooting 5 ducks over there pretty quickly to finish my limit. 4 mallards and 2 wigeon. Dan ended up with one and Kevin didn’t shoot any, I was kind of surprised no-one wanted to go to where I was after I finished my limit but it definitely wasn’t a comfortable setup.
Just myself and Kevin at the beans this morning. Took the kayaks so we could setup where I was yesterday without being in the mud. Had a single pair come in that we shot. Way less ducks today than yesterday though. A few larger groups that flew over high later in the day but didn’t even want to take a look. Also had a few singles come down that landed wide of the decoys. Ended up with 3 total for the day.
Everything is iced up around on the small marshes. There has been a lot of geese in the area though and I have had my eye on a small mud hole out in the middle of a tilled field. Decided to try out some new things and setup for geese. With the pond being frozen I tried the ‘fake pond’ approach by trying to dye the ice a dark color to look like open water. That failed miserably.
The walk out was easy with the ground being frozen and frosty, the sled pulled nicely. Walking back was no fun though without the frost on the ground. I setup 5 dozen silos, a dozen magnum/super magnum goose shells and a half dozen fullbody ducks. Saw a few small groups of ducks and plenty of geese, but they had no interest in my spread. After this hunt I picked up and meet up with Dan. We floated a 3.5 mile stretch of the river in our kayaks and kicked up a few ducks but most flushed too far out of range. Almost need someone who can paddle and keep the kayak pointed downstream while the person in the front manages the shooting.
Setup on the soybeans again with Kevin, Dan and Dakota. There were tons of ducks on the water this morning, and every bird that was flying was just dumping straight into the huge group. It was really cool to watch for a bit. We finally had enough and kicked those birds off. New ducks coming in would fly over once and then keep going. I think they were used to seeing the large group and our small 2 dozen decoy spread wasn’t cutting it. Didn’t take long for our decoys to lock up with ice. Had a single teal fly by that Dan shot and we packed it in not long after that.
Hunted public land by myself this morning. It was a pain walking out and trying to break the ice, but there were geese keeping some water open once I got to the spot so I had open water for the hunt.
Had a few groups of mallards give me a good look and some were in range but I was waiting for a better shot and never could quite get them to finish. Had one duck out of a large group drop his feet out and back peddle into the decoys from about 40 yards up. That was really neat. I was waiting on the others to follow but someone else shot so I took the single drake as he flushed off the water. This hunt ends the first season split.
First hunt after the season split. Duck report showed good numbers so I was surprised when we didn’t see any other hunters. I shot a limit of mallards and Dan shot 4 mallards and a pintail. Ducks didn’t decoy very well but we were able to sneak up on a few groups that landed wide and had some good pass shots.
Changed up the spot just a little bit from yesterday. Ducks decoyed well and we had some nice shots. Not as many ducks were flying but the ones that did take a look dumped right into the decoys. I shot 2 mallards and a pintail and Dan shot 1.
Back to the same spot and didn’t see much flying. Saw a few singles and had one duck decoy nicely. 2 Mallards total for the day. This might be my last hunt out here for the season. Only 1 weekend left for this zone and it will likely be froze up. I tried using goose shells on stakes, but the PVC poles I used were too flimsy. I think I will revise a few things and try that strategy again though.
Went to hunt the river again. Navigation using my Cartsens Pintail with a longtail mud motor was fairly difficult on the narrow stretches of the river. I ran the boat up onto a sandbar a few times. My motor isn’t strong enough to go up stream against the current so still had to float down. Had a coworker join us so I wish we could have gotten on some birds but it didn’t quite work out. Only saw a handful of ducks and we weren’t able to shoot anything. Still, it was a pretty fun hunt. The river sure is beautiful this time of year with ice holding onto the branches that hang into the water.
Finally made it to a different zone for my first duck hunt out on a reservoir. Took Friday afternoon off to scout and setup camp. Dan came along after work. Didn’t realize until the morning of the hunt that my hunting license had expired so I didn’t take my gun. We didn’t shoot anything but saw quite a few. Really had fun boating with the pintail. I think this little boat will open up a lot of options for us.
It was warm all week but a strong front came through before the weekend and windchills were below zero. Dan, Tyler and I made it out to a new area that I hadn’t hunted before. The strong wind kept the water open but it was blowing straight into our faces. Had one duck land that we shot and a group of geese come in that we were able to get one out of. First goose of the season and we didn’t even have a single goose decoy. 2 birds for a new spot is pretty good! Dan tried cooking eggs and bacon over a little 5 hour heat can but it took half the morning for it to finish cooking.
I went back to the same spot as yesterday by myself. Nobody else wanted to come out in the cold with how few birds there were. The water was locked up with ice as the wind had died off over night. I broke open a hole but it refroze pretty quick.
Had one duck do a quick fly by but it was gone before I could even reach for my gun. The geese were just starting to fly as I was picking up, but leaky waders made it pretty cold so I left early – a little after 10am. As I was driving out I saw a large group of geese on open water maybe a quarter mile away from where I was so I doubt anything would have landed near me.
Last weekend for ducks but most of the areas I could access are iced over. Lots of ice fishing going on as even most of the reservoirs have large amounts of ice coverage. Could have tried the river again but decided to go for some pheasants instead with the dog. Ginger and I kicked up a big group but they flushed early. We did have 2 hens that flushed perfectly. I had walked ahead and Ginger was 10 yards behind me. I saw her get excited all of a sudden as she was rooting around in the grass so I stopped and turned around. A hen kicked up out of the grass just a few feet in front of her.
Ginger is definitely slowing down and slept most of the afternoon once I got back. I was glad to be able to get her on some birds today, even if I didn’t shoot any.
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