The Big Moon is taking It's toll

The damn full moon is kicking our ass the last couple days! Between the moon and the lack of weather the birds are feeding all night and sitting all day making for some tough hunts but we are still getting some birds and making the best of it.

Plenty of Action!

Right now all of our blinds are cranking out birds and we are having a blast! I'm not sure how long this will last but all I can say is keep them coming!

Another day at the office

Had a decent hunt today with these guys! Ended the morning with 14 quality birds on the strap. There didn't seem to be as many birds moving today and I had a hell of a time getting them in close with the calm overcast skies. The bulk of the birds would lock up and come down to 60 yards and then hang up. The ones that did sale out came in nice and tight and the guys made short work of them! 

A little wind but no ducks

Back at it again today with the same old song and dance. Plenty of ducks in the refuge that don't come out during daylight hours but the specks are still cooperating! If I am only going to kill 4 birds I am happy with specks! 

Equipment For Sale!!

I have finally decided to take the hit and am going to sell both of my Argo's and buy one new one! I currently have 3 Polaris Rangers that are fitted with tracks and am going to reduce the fleet and just have one Argo as it seems to be the best in the wetland. With that being said if you are interested in either of the Argo's let me know.

The Camo Argo is a 2005,  8X8 Avenger. It has 500+/- hours on it and I can get the exact hors off of the gauge if needed. It has a 25 HP Kohler engine that runs like a top. It has been gone thru front to back and all bearings, belts, and chains are tight and ready for duck season. It is sitting on a 5.5' x 10' trailer and will be sold as a package. I am asking  $6,500 for the Argo and trailer.

The Green Argo is a 1999, 8X8 Conquest. It has 250+/- hours on it and I can get exact hours off of the gauge if needed. It has a 20 HP Kawasaki engine that runs like a top. It has been gone thru as well and is ready for action! It is sitting on a 5.5' x 10' trailer and will be sold as a package. I am asking $6,500 for the Argo and trailer.

If you have any questions or would like to take a look at either of them let me know. Thanks, Casey

Fishing is getting better!

I headed out of Teesdale this morning in search of some stripers and sturgeon. I started at daylight just below the ramp and wormed my way down to the warehouses, without a single bite! By the time I got to the warehouses my arm was sore and it was time to switch over to bait and see what that would bring. At the first couple stops we had some good striper bites that we missed and then caught a few shakers before moving on. I kept working my way down stream hitting all of the good spots but there wasn't a lot of action. At my last stop I anchored up on a break line and threw out a sturgeon rod with eel on it and a striper rod with sardine. Within a half hour of sitting there I saw 4 sturgeon roll and had high hopes that one would grad the bait! Eventually I looked over and the sturgeon rod buried down and started to pull drag, fish on!! I grabbed the rod and fought the fish towards the boat while he jumped and rolled doing everything he could do to shake the hook, but today we won!! I got him next to the boat and he slipped right into the net! As soon a he hit the floor of the boat I had my doubts that he was a keeper but a quick check with the tape put him at 40.5 inches making him legal! Not the biggest in the river but will certainly be a good eater!! After catching the sturgeon we fished a couple more hours without any more luck and decided to call it a day. The river is super low right now so I think I will stick with sturgeon fishing for another week or so and hope that the rain they are calling for next week will be enough to make the river rise! If we don't get a rise in the water soon all of the striper fishing will be down south this year and will likely be a short season as the water is already 60+ degrees!

Duck Season is over!!!

Duck season is finally over! All of the blinds are cleaned up, decoys put away, and we are in the process of cleaning up all of the atv's and putting them away for another season! For many of us this will go down as the worst duck season in history, but may go down as the best season in history for a lot of hunters on geese.

This season was full of sunshine and if my memory serves me right it was the first time in my life that I have not hunted in a single rain storm during the season! In my opinion this year was not a shortage of birds as some may claim it was just the non-existent weather. We had a ton of birds in the valley but they just needed to be mixed up by a good 3 day storm with south wind and rain, but it never happened! All of our best hunts came in the bright sunshine and North winds, luckily we have a couple blinds that produce in those conditions or it would have been a long season!

As soon as the post season storms hit there were birds in every field that still had water and the morning flights were incredible! All we could do is sit and watch the show with hopes of what next year may bring.

I for one am not to optimistic about next seasons outlook! At our current stored water capacities in the reservoirs it looks as if the farming water will be cut by at least 50%, resulting in half of the rice production in the valley this year. If we do not receive any more rain fall between now and the start of next season, no one in the valley will get district winter water to flood for straw decomp or duck hunting!! The only ones in the valley with winter water will be the guys that can afford to run their wells and pump the ground water. That is the worse case scenario, we can only hope that the rains come and the reservoirs fill!!!
      

1-26-14

Sunday afternoon Cade and I snuck out and jump shot a pond to end our season! The pond had about 20 mallards on it and we managed to knock down 5, so we were pretty happy! This was Cade's first duck season and I wasn't able to get him out as much as i'd liked but when we got to go we made the best of it! We spend alot of time outdoors as a family and try to get out as much as possible and make the best of it. Right now just Regina, Cade, and I are hunting and Quinn comes along to handle the dogs and do the calling but by next season she will be licensed to kill!!! I cant wait 

1-25-14

The Jamie's were in town for their annual duck hunt but the ducks wouldn't cooperate so we switched gears and attacked the pheasants! We had a few opportunities in the duck blind but missed so they made up for it on the pheasants! We flushed 20 birds and they killed almost all of them. Happy birthday Jason!!

1-24-14

Back after the geese again today. With the winds forcasted to blow we set out to put the hammer down on the geese. We got everything set and ready but the damn wind never showed until we were done hunting! We had alot of birds around us today but they didn't want to finish, so we made the best of it and ended up with a mix of ross and snows, 45 total. We had one blue come in today but some how he escaped! We were stuck in the goose closure and the specks piled in on us all morning! Had we been able to shoot them we would have limited out easily. It was alot of fun just watching the specks try to land in the decoys.  

1-23-14

Back to the wetland with Mark and Gary today. The day started clear and calm with a minimal flight but as the wind picked up a few more birds started working but we had a hell of a time knocking them down. They just didn't want to finish but we still managed a limit of birds and should have had another 10 or so. The season is winding down and you can tell the birds have seen it all!

1-15-14

Back at the wetland today with Mark and Terry! The flight was pretty good but our shooting sucked!! We ended the morning with 14 ducks and should have had 21, but that's how it goes some days. The guys had alot of fun and burnt plenty of gun powder, so the hunt was a success in my book!  

1-13-14

Back up North today to see what was going on. I had Steve Ward and a couple of his buddies. We got into the blind and there were a few birds working, and they were shooting well. Most of the birds that came in today didn't leave and we ended up with a nice strap of big birds!

1-12-14

Today I guided Joel and Adam for ducks. We headed up to Richvale hoping to get into the specks but ended up with a decent duck shoot instead. There weren't alot of birds flying but the ones that were decoyed well! We ended the shoot with 10 birds and should have had a few more. Not bad for another sunny day hunt

1-11-14

Did a combo hunt today with the Onesians! We hit the duck blind in the morning for a killer mallard shoot and then did a 30 birds pheasant plant. Lots of gun powder burned today and the guys all had fun!!

1-9-14

Today I went up North with Ray Joyner and guest. The weather was clear and calm but for what ever reason the birds liked it and worked well. We ended up with a mixed bag strap of widgeon, mallard, and sprig! It was a great hunt for the weather or lack there of! 

1-8-14

I checked the wetland yesterday and it was loaded with birds, so we headed there this morning and i was not disappointed! It was fast and furious action, with 21 birds down in less than 40 minutes!!!! It was awesome and just what I needed after the last few slow days!

Justin  

1-7-14

I headed North this morning to see what was going on up there. I met Ed and Dave and we were suited up and on our way to the blind. As shooting time approached there were lots of birds moving but it quieted down as shooting hours came. We sat tight and had a bird here and a bird there work the spread and the guys did their best to make sure none got away. We ended the morning with a nice strap of widgeon.

1-6-14

The wind died and so did the duck hunting! This morning I had the pleasure of hunting with the Winfree's. We started out at the duck blind, but with no flight we scrapped the duck hunting and switched to the pheasant field. It didn't take long to get into the birds and they made short work of them only letting a few get away. 

1-5-14

Today I guided the Parla's. I awoke to a decent north wind and decided to give the Delevan blind a try. As usual there were a ton of sprig flying and after getting our limits of them we moved on to looking for other birds that were flying with them. Slowly but surely we pulled a widgeon out of the sprig and ended up with a good trap of ducks despite the sunny day!