New York North Zone Duck Opener...

**David Rearick** · #1 10-09-2007, 10:27 AM

DATE: October 6th and 7th, 2007

LOCATION: Northern NY

SUN RISE: 7:07

WEATHER: Overcast and Rain

TEMPERATURE: 50’s

WIND: North 5-15 mph

EQUIPMENT USED: Avery® KW-1 Finisher Blind Bag, Avery® Shadow Grass Pit Bag, Avery® Floating Gun Case, Avery® DIY Lanyards, Avery® Quick Cutters, Avery® Ankle Gaiters, Greenhead Gear® OS Blacks and Mallard Decoys, Greenhead Gear® LS Wood Ducks, Widgeon, Pintail, Bluebill, Ringneck, Redhead, and BW &GW Teal Decoys

HUNTERS: Dan Barney, Frank Clifton, Jody Dennison, and Avery® Pro-Staffers Mike Bard and David Rearick

DOGS: Mike’s Moxie and Frank’s Ice

JOURNAL NOTES:
New York North Zone Duck Opener

With PA’s duck season a week out and being anxious to get on some birds, when fellow Avery® Pro-staffer, Mike Bard, asked me to come up and hunt the NY’s Northeastern Zone opener, I was all in. Frank and I had scouted out a nice cove after our goose hunt on the 22nd with the help of some friends, so we were stoked to get after some of the blacks, mallards, woodies, and misc. divers the area was holding. After a 5 hour drive from PA to NY, at midnight we packed the truck and boat and began the 3 hour drive Northeast to the hunting grounds.

After arriving at the launch we were pleased to see only one other boat trailer in the parking lot. After loading the gear in the boat, unloading the dogs, and getting the boat in the water, we turned on the spotlight and headed out to the spot, we hoped held even more bids, than we had seen previously. As we rounded the bend, we got the undesired flashing light that every hunter dreads, but this time it wasn’t even close to where we were headed and we carefully maneuvered through the rocks and weeds to get the boat up against the bank. After a short discussion about the set-up, Dan, Mike, and I started setting the dekes. With some divers on our left, a good mix of puddle ducks to our front and to the right, things were looking good for first light and we anxiously awaited the official start to the season that we had all been awaiting since the last day of snow season in March.

With the sun slowly cresting the horizon, we all hoped for the much needed wind shift that the news had forecasted just hours before we left. With heavy clouds and the taste of rain in the air, we quickly realized the weatherman was wrong once again, as his bright sun and SE wind couldn’t have been farther than the truth. With no time to change the set-up, we decided to grit our teeth and bear what we were dealt and began working on getting the birds into the blocks, even with the wind now in our face.

It wasn’t long until our first ducks of the morning worked the spread. With the wind, it put Frank and I, on the hot corner of the blind and after a few minutes, four birds were on the water and in hand. With birds constantly working the spread Moxie and Ice made great work of picking up the downed birds, while we worked the ones that were making there approach. As is always the case in the early morning, we had focused our attention to the cloudy sky overhead in search of birds all while forgetting about birds coming on the deck. With five sets of eyes, looking above the water line, two birds made a beeline through the divers and headed out as fast as they came in. Although they gave us enough time for a solid ID, no one had the reflexes to catch up to these screaming low flying canvasbacks and they left without a shot fired.

With the birds hitting the hot corner, we quickly decided to make a change and give some others a better opportunity at the birds. Jody, who had just had knee surgery, hobbled his way down to the end of the boat and got ready for some action. It wasn’t long until more birds were on the water and we were ready to change positions once again. With the cloudy dark skies overhead, lots of birds surprisingly continued to fly even into late morning. With the majority of the wood ducks and a few mallards hitting the very back of the cover, Mike and Dan decided to take a few decoys and go back there to try their luck and to keep birds from landing outside gun range.

We continued to pick off birds, as they came into range and Mike and Dan kept the birds moving from back in the cove and shot the only widgeon of the day. After the wood ducks stopped flying, Mike and Dan made their way back to the blind and I traded places with them in order to stretch my legs and see if I could add a few to the bag while they worked on mallards from the blind. As luck would have it, a few birds worked the cove and I downed a wood duck over the trees and on shore. With a fairly solid mark, I called Mike and Moxie down the shoreline and sent Moxie in to find the bird. As it turned out the bird was still very lively and Moxie did a great job tracking the cripple down and Mike couldn’t have been happier.

When the action began to slow, we all met at the blind and began waiting for breakfast. Mike brought along some hash browns, eggs, and bacon to cook and he fired up the grill. 2 hours later, yes I said two hours, after a good ribbing on Mike’s cooking abilities, the bacon was warm and the eggs were done. We enjoyed the warm breakfast, as lunch and passed the time at Mike’s expense.

With each person’s limit slowly came to an end we were all very satisfied at the way things had turned out, even after the wind shift that never came. Some decoy and personnel adjustments overcame the weather and we ended the day with 26 birds, just four shy of the limit.

The best part of the day was watching Frank’s dog Ice make a spectacular blind on a “jack” that was making its way for open water. Even its diving couldn’t overcome Ice’s drive. It was one of those retrieves that gets everyone fired up and Ice made it even better by completing submerging herself and catching the bird under water leaving only her tail to mark where she was at. There is no doubt that is one retrieve everyone will remember and made the day even more memorable. With a three hour drive ahead of us, we packed up the boat and called it done, as we had another hunt lined up for the AM.

After cleaning the birds, re-packing the boat, and getting a little sleep we were back in the truck and headed out to the water. Being the second day, Mike and Frank decided to try something different, we were intending to put out a big spread of Canada’s on a sandbar and utilize some shovels to dig down and Avery® Neo tubs to keep us dry. Even with goose season out, we wanted to utilize their ability to provide a relaxed loafing atmosphere for the ducks and had high hopes for the morning. That was until we pulled into a convenience store and heard the apparent grinding coming from Frank’s truck. Wheel bearing, transmission, flat tire? No one knew what was wrong. We all quickly bailed from the truck and Mike found the problem straight away. It seems that a bolt had come loose on the trailer. Not just any bolt, but the bolt that keeps the trailer axle in place. It quickly became apparent that we could not drive any farther, as the axle was completely shifted and the tire rubbing on the frame. Not admitting defeat, we tried to get things back on track. After disconnecting the trailer and a ride back to Frank’s, we had what I thought we would need to get things back in order. We tried to save as much time as possible, but in the end, we weren’t going to be able to make it our desired spot. Mike and Frank went to a plan B spot and with only 25 minutes until LST, we headed out from the launch. Once to the spot, we made a mad scramble across a sandbar, which was much wider than normal. In order to save time, we neglected to put on Neo tubs and dig down. We also could not get enough decoys to cover the blinds and in the end the hunt was snake bitten from the start. We ended up working some birds and scratching out the only teal that hit the decoys and then missing one other that snuck in, while we were working birds overhead. Still high on day one, we had made the most out of day two and felt satisfied just being able to get in the field, after the morning’s breakdown.

The Birds from Day One....

Maggie Picking up Day Two's Only Teal....

Moxie and a Crow from Day Two...