Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Wildfowl

OLD MEN, DOUBLE GUNS, KIDS, and a can-do attitude can go a long way towards preserving your waterfowling sanity these days. In September, the migration alerts started pouring in with Doppler-esque graphs lighting up with bright splotches of color revealing blue-winged teal infiltrating the U.S. like waves of speedy bandits. The little birds that are the harbinger of the season got anyone with a pair of waders and a shotgun all revved up. At the same time, social media started to crackle with reports of early goose success and blingy band captures. Then the first wave of cool weather hit and suddenly we realized the world is still full of possibilities. We should all try to hold that feeling. It’s easy to feel negative with prices on everything spiraling, ever-increasing…

❶ BAND #: 2117-84176HUNTER: Andy Rzicznek, Medina, OHSPECIES: Mallard (D)BANDED: 8/17/2016 | Linesville, PARECOVERED: 12/18/2021 | Cortland, OH ❷ BAND #: 1265-74848HUNTER: Greg Medlin, Ruston, LASPECIES: Wood Duck (D)BANDED: 9/16/2020 | Webster, SDRECOVERED: 11/27/2022 | Summerfield, LA ❸ BAND #: 1188-13813HUNTER: Jason Vico, Tabernacle, NJSPECIES: Canada Goose (F)BANDED: 8/6/2017 | Kangirsuk, QURECOVERED: 1/2/2023 | Princeton, NJ ❹ BAND #: 1278-63266HUNTER: Robert Borah, Lancaster, OHSPECIES: Canada Goose (F)BANDED: 7/9/2022 | Moosonee, ONRECOVERED: 1/8/2023 | Somerset, OH ❺ BAND #: 2127-41779HUNTER: Javad Mostoufi, Burney, CASPECIES: Lesser Snow Goose (F)BANDED: 7/7/2017| Zvozdnyy, RussiaRECOVERED: 2/6/2023 | Glenburn, CA 2,897 mile long-distance -champ- ❻ BAND #: 2197-52107HUNTER: Mitch Smith, Calgary, ABSPECIES: Greater White-Fronted Goose (F)BANDED: 7/12/2017 | Cambridge Bay, NURECOVERED: 9/25/2022 | Saskatoon, SK ❼ BAND #: 2177-23733HUNTER: Kirt Billings, Newalla, OKSPECIES: Ross’ Goose (M)BANDED:…

From a distance I could see a white duck tucked into the corner of a slough. At first it looked like a plastic bottle or piece of styro-foam. But the closer I got, the more clearly I could see the bird. I was in 6th grade, checking my trapline after school, and as always had my 20 gauge. When I saw the duck was a drake bufflehead, I slipped off my trapping basket, crawled behind an embankment of fallen trees and when I got within range, stood and shot the butterball as it took flight. I didn’t have a dog so tossed round river rocks at the duck until it washed ashore where I could grab it. Holding that duck, I still remember it’s striking iridescent colors. Mom cooked it…

It somehow seems fitting that wigeon have more nicknames than about any other species of waterfowl, because they are such a charismatic, colorful and wide spread species. Robber ducks, frosties, cotton tops, bald pate…even stormies and euros for their variants, these charismatic early migrators are well-known and called many a moniker, yet remain a mysterious duck that breeds far north of most dabblers in scattered nests across the boreal forest. They range coast to coast in North America and thrill hunters all the way with their level of decoy commitment, beautiful calling and are as good eating as they are good-looking. Among the first to migrate each year, they will exploit both huge saltwater bays and estuaries but also just about every lake, pond river or pocket water across the…

ANDY FERFECKI GREW UP IN KENTUCKY, took up waterfowling at an early age and like most hunters, had never killed a banded bird. The odds of that happening seemed even longer when he moved to New Jersey 6 years ago, particularly as he didn’t have much time to hunt. Then things changed. “I got back into waterfowling 3 years ago,” he began, “and found it exceptionally good compared to Kentucky.” Ferfecki spent most of his hunting hours on the main river systems near the Delaware Water Gap. “There aren’t big quantities of birds,” he said. “And the limits are small, only 2 mallards a day. Still, it’s good hunting.” Looking to take advantage of that, he set out one December morning with just a couple hours to hunt before work,…

THE OLD ADAGE, “don’t fix it if it’s not broken” surely applies to Stoeger’s field-proven M3500 shotgun. However, more than a decade after its launch, Stoeger engineers meticulously worked through the M3500, scouring for ways to fine-tune the reliable workhorse. “We wanted to adopt some of the new things that shooters want and bring those features into our lineup,” said Keith Heinlein, Stoeger Product Manager. The end result was a revamped M3500 that features a refined look and feel in the ergonomics of the beloved shotgun. After handling the new M3500 and cycling a few boxes of shells through it, I don’t think any water-fowler will complain about the ergonomic facelift that the M3500 received. More than a decade ago, the M3500 broke the mold, proving that reliability and performance…

ON THE DOG’S FIRST HUNT and with the excitement of birds flying, shots fired, birds falling, and other dogs retrieving, pup will very likely amp up to the point that he will ignore the whistle and/or cast, becoming what I call “self-employed.” “Self-employed” in this context means that the dog decides he does not have to obey you, as the handler, because he knows what to do better than you do. But, be careful in your decisions regarding the proximate cause, as it could be that the dog did not hear the whistle over the sound of gunfire and/or the noise he made while running through tall weeds and/or water splashing as he runs through shallows. Only after you have evaluated the situation and satisfied yourself that corrective action is…

A chilly wind blew light rain down the wet red brick the streets of the quaint tiny Kansas town of Jewell, where we were all arriving for an early November hunt right at the time of year when things can go either way for the traveling waterfowler, who is always at the mercy of the weather. As we filed into the quaint old building that was to be our lodge and food hall for the next few days, it seemed like it was getting cooler by the minute. We’d been in t-shirts and cursing the hot weather on our different driving journeys, and we were thrilled to see that things were clearly changing, and fast. By daylight the next morning, a cold front, a full moon, stormy weather and a…

Does the wild wild west of waterfowl hunting still exist? Could the state of Montana be that last frontier? What are the chances you might run across that scrappy Dutton family and their buddy Rip? One thing is for certain, Montana is a beautiful state that has found itself in the limelight the last few years. It’s where fly fishing anglers come from around the world to explore blue ribbon fishing streams. Authors and artists frequent the limitless bounds of Big Sky country to be inspired by its beauty. Ol’ crusty cowboys still saddle a horse and ride the winds across the vast plains as they tend to cattle. But in recent years a well kept secret within the hunting community has extended beyond bugling elk and rutting deer. The…

WHAT’S THE REAL DIFFERENCE between lead and steel in your birds? A nice, robust dentist bill. Last summer my daughter joined a buddy and me at the dinner table for some wild duck ramen. When my buddy bit down and cracked off a chunk of tooth, which he pulled out and held between two fingers, my daughter was traumatized, on the verge of bawling. Still today, every time we eat game, even if it’s venison, she will ask, “Do we have to chew slowly?” And, spoiler alert, that’s the surest way to not bite down on steel. Chew slowly is the most tried and true advice I can share, though below are some methods to consider when hoping to give yourself the best shot at not serving shot. SHOOT A…

EIGHT HUNTERS AND two retrieving dogs waded across a flooded rice field in southern Arkansas. Huge as half a hedgerow, the blind they had rushed to finish in a month loomed in the darkness like a welcoming home. “We set up 350 decoys,” said Lynn Starrett. “Some of them had been left out overnight and the others were added that morning. It was a bright, sunny day and unusually warm for November.” After the hunters settled into the blind, they cooked breakfast. The weather was not the duckiest, so what happened in the next few hours was a surprise. “Ducks started coming in singles and pairs,” he said. “Some worked but did not finish. But the more the sun got up, the better the hunting heated up. A couple of…

GROWING UP, it was pretty cool having a dad who was the head basketball coach and a popular biology teacher at one of the area’s biggest high schools. It was even better that he was a hunter. But the pinnacle was when one of Dad’s athletes or students invited him on a hunt and he couldn’t go—so I went instead. That happened many times when I was in grade school and junior high. One trip changed my life. That was when Jeff Heacock and Byron Buss took me to the coast for my first diving duck hunt. It was the mid 1970s and Jeff and Byron were not only athletes and students of my dad’s, they were best friends in high school, and still are. The wind was blowing and…

People argue about what location or state has the most spectacular colors in the fall. Places like Vermont and the Smoky Mountains garner disproportionate votes in the East. Maine has its proponents. Coloradans are fanatically proud of their autumn foliage, despite lacking the vivid reds and scarlets that other states boast. Still, their idyllic, golden quaking aspens are set against the backdrop of the mountains. But I’d declare the rioting phantasmagoria of color in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan rival those found anywhere in the country at their peak. Rich Shannon and I hadn’t spoken in probably half an hour. We were both mesmerized and awe-struck by the riot of splendor we were witnessing. It was dumbfounding. The setting sun shone like a massive golden spotlight on the foliage on…