Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Wildfowl

THE BLIND WAS tucked neatly into the treeline, yet we brushed it in heavily anyway, something you don’t normally have to do in Saskatchewan, which is why you go there. Scouts reported a remnant mob of gun-shy sandhill cranes staging in the area, and as light slithered in across the wetlands a few hundred yards away and started to turn the water’s surface dark and coppery, black blobs appeared, stump-like in the shallows of a marsh, most likely grass clumps. Then the croaking started, gwa-a-a-wk, gwa-a-a-awk, rising through the air and driving our blood pressure right up with it. The grass clumps started unfolding their wings and cruising our way. Smart, spooky, old prehistoric birds, cranes look down their long, shrewd discriminating noses at you like the snobby professors of…

Benelli’s Super Black Eagle series, now led by the SBE3, is one of the most popular waterfowl shotguns in the world. Probably second only to John Moses Browning’s Automatic 5 that was introduced in 1903. That same year a Danish gunsmith, Christer Sjörgren, put his Normal shotgun on the market. Both guns operated using the recoil of the fired shell, but in different ways. Jump ahead 116 years and Sjörgren’s masterpiece is still alive and kickin’ in the SBE3, while Browning discontinued the long-recoil Auto 5 in 1998. So why is the SBE3 so popular? Simplicity! When a shotgun is fired it kicks, Ouch! But if some of that energy is redirected it can cycle the action in the blink of an eye. The SBE3 is fast, but if you…

ANTHONY FUSSELL OWNED a 16-foot johnboat that did not give him access to the places he was itching to hunt. As he watched ducks heading for shallow areas that the armada of hunters with similar boats could not reach, he made the decision to sell it and buy a shallow draft boat. However, when that deal went awry, he built his own boat. “I had to have a shallow draft boat, so I started searching for something online,” Fussell said. “A guy was selling a MOmarsh fiberglass boat for $800. We made the deal over the phone. But, when I got ready to pick it up, he was avoiding my calls. I figured he sold it to someone else.” That left a bad taste in his mouth, so he decided…

FACT: The best-of-the-best waterfowlers in the world kill big Canada geese in fields. In the last decade, no bird species has become tougher to dial in if you’re a Mississippi or Atlantic flyway hunter. They are anti-social, flare off the best brushed blinds at 100 yards, and are content to sleep on frozen water all day. How the hell do you hunt a bird that would rather eat grass in the park than cut corn in a field? That’s a complex answer most mornings, but basically it boils down to this: There are certain days a honker will let you kill it, and there are days it won’t. It’s true, big geese migrate differently than they used to, and have become a more urban bird, but that hasn’t diminished our…

IF YOU BELIEVE everything you read, you might think these are dark days for waterfowl hunters. Mallards don’t migrate south like they used to. Hunters at the bottom of the flyways spend more time cussing empty skies than working birds. Atlantic Flyway hunters were just hit with a one-two punch of shortened seasons and reduced bag limits on Canada geese and a cut to the daily limit on mallards. Pintail populations continue to struggle and wigeon numbers have been relatively flat for decades. Bad? Sure, but if you can look beyond the gloom and doom, you’ll see a world filled with ducks and geese. Things are actually pretty darn good out there. Snow geese continue to provide unprecedented hunting opportunities throughout the central U.S. Specklebelly geese are also increasing in…

AS DUCK HUNTERS we know, and are constantly concerned about, weather, habitat, spring hatches, pond counts—basically anything that could derail the health of the birds we love to pursue. Unlike whitetails or big game, our quarry migrate up and down four flyways, traversing thousands of miles and inhabiting innumerable wetlands along their journey. This makes them vulnerable, with plenty of ways for doom and gloom to creep in. Nesting and wintering grounds are in jeopardy each season. Wetlands are drained for farming, siltatation damages rivers, CRP acreage shrinks. From 2004-09, 45,000 acres of wetlands were lost per year, according to Ducks Unlimited, much of it in the Prairie Pothole Region—vital to duck mortality. But thanks to mostly wet springs, the last decade has produced record numbers of waterfowl. “I had…

SITTING TALL ON his horse, old shotgun in hand, getting ready to start another day of volunteering his free time to helping a great cause. He never knew the amount of work he put in would help pave the way for conservation history. I’m sure this man thought he was doing some good by helping Ducks Unlimited; by the looks of it, he wasn’t there for the glory, he was there for the cause. In 1938, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) launched what it referred to as the annual duck census of the Prairie provinces. The Keemen, sometimes men and women, were required to complete an on-the-ground count of all waterfowl found within their assigned area. In addition to helping with the annual duck census, Keemen were also asked to provide…

THEY FLY LINE-ABREAST toward a select spot, and then turn in perfect formation to make passes while scanning landing spots for danger. Their flight line seems to slightly bounce up and down as they bore in, their bellies occasionally skimming less than a foot over the surface. Once a landing spot is deemed secure, the fast-movers pile in. The lead ducks generally land first and the flock follows. Diving ducks emulate sea ducks in flight and landing, except for the occasional canvasback that may bomb your decoys from on high, just like a mallard. Divers are fascinating. Named for their ability to dive deep for food, they have no problem venturing onto the big water. The Mississippi River is an ideal place to hunt scaup, ringnecks, redheads, goldeneyes and the…

A GENERAL RULE for all dogs is that they require about an ounce of water for every pound they weigh, per day. If you’ve got a couch potato canine that only goes outside to relieve itself, this is a solid rule. If you’re running a hard-charging retriever that is expected to run long-distance drills a couple of times each day, then you can throw that rule out the window. Water aids in just about every biological function your dog has going on at any given time. It is crucial for cellular function, digestion and the absorption of nutrients, lubrication of joints, and a host of other processes that keep your dog healthy and going strong—including simply helping cool down quicker after a few drills. Without a proper amount of hydration,…

IT WAS A cold January morning when Bill Psoras launched his kayak into a bay off Long Island, New York. He set up on a shallow point where he knew brant were feeding and a pair came in late morning. “I took the shot and had my (two-bird) limit of brant within a few minutes,” he said. “To my surprise, I could see the band shining before I picked up the brant.” Closer inspection provided more questions than answers. “The band was so faded I could barely make out the numbers,” he added. Fortunately, he was able to, and when he reported them online was amazed to see how old a bird he’d harvested, and how far it had come. While unusual in age, Psoras’ brant is actually quite typical…

DUCKS DON’T EXIST within a vacuum. They rely on complex wetland ecosystems that provide them with food, shelter, and nesting habitat, and that’s an important consideration for private land managers trying to attract more birds to their land. If you’re serious about increasing the number of birds on your property in the long term you need to have a basic understanding of wetland habitats and the role ducks play in a much larger natural system. ...on the same planting routine as your neighbors you haven't done anything to make your property more attractive than theirs. Dr. Craig Davis is the Bollenbach endowed chair of wildlife management at Oklahoma State University specializing in wetland ecology. His 30 years of experience in wetland habitat research and his background as a waterfowl hunter…

FROM THE COVER of the flowering smart weed, we watch fog rise from the water’s surface, the first migrants of fall zipping across in the darkness. It happens each summer. One minute, I’ve given in to the thought that hunting season will never arrive, finding hollow excitement in an evening golf game or half-hearted fishing trip. And just when I’ve reached the breaking point, someone mentions it. It’s usually not a full- fledged conversation, but most generally just a passing comment. For my duck depressed ears, “won’t be long and teal will start showing up” is all I need to hear. It’s just the validation I need to spend the next few weeks scouting for blue rockets. Now that waterfowl season has officially launched, there’s no going back. ACQUIRING TARGETS…

THE MIST HOVERED thick and woolly over the river’s writhing surface, tumbling and swirling in the cold morning breezes and doing its darnedest to shield my eyes from the sun rising above the ridge two miles downstream. But as it gradually burned away, the glare from the water became more than I cared to deal with, and I angled my old canoe thirty degrees to port and drew its bow up onto a mushy mud-and-gravel beach. It had been a fine morning so far. I had launched at first light three miles upriver in a slow but steady drizzle. But the rain had begun to slacken and the sky to clear as I crossed to the far side of the flow, and within a quarter mile I had booted a…