Thread: Tick......Tock.......Tick.........Tock......

four more restless nights


was quietly stalking pond with camera an hour ago...and SOMEBODY (who shall remain nameless)chose that moment to send me a text spooking the four mallards and two parries happily slashing around...maybe I should refind a duck quack txt tone...probably not idea to reinstate the Donald Duck orgasm ring tone though...

Well, I am modifying my plan to take into account that I will only have water for the first 90mins of shooting......When it goes dry where I normally shoot there is soft mud and a steep bank down to the creek, which at half tide is only 3m wide. Once the boat stops floating you have to retrieve by walking out to get the birds in thigh deep soft mud. Crossing the creek ( its only 7m away) is a definite no no. Being 70, I dont relish the thought of walking in thigh+ deep mud as the chances of getting stuck are very high ....Dont ask how I know this!..........Add to it that any birds dropped on the mud will disappear into the mangroves when the tide comes in as they start floating well before the boat and once in the mangroves, they are lost.

Here are a couple of pics to show where I was planning to shoot....you can get an idea of the depth of mud from the first one..


And looking down the creek to where I will end up with plan B below....About 500m away from where this pic was taken...


Plan B is to shoot until the tide drops a bit...then put the boat into the creek, drift down until I get to a small side gut which will be wide enough to take the boat......park the boat in the side gut and as the tide drops the boat will be below the surrounding mud. Where the gut is, the mud is hard and getting out to retrieve ducks will involve walking on mud which is only ankle deep. With enough cut mangroves poked into the banks either side of the gut the boat will be in, I will look just like a clump of mangroves.......When the tide comes back in the evening I will head back to my original spot.
Have now finished making a collapsible bunk for my 13'tinny and will sleep in the boat fri and sat night...instead of in my fixed stand/hut which is 400m away from where I normally shoot.

Back in the early 90's I did the same thing...Was parked in the gut camoed up with decoys set just before first light which was at 6.40am. First birds came in and I shot 3 drakes....only had time to reload before the next mob came in and shot another 3 drakes.......thought I would only shoot green heads for the last 4 of my limit.....3rd mob came in and again 3 drakes dropped......reloaded and as I stood up to look around a pair of mallards flared so I dropped the drake.....looked at my watch and it was 6.48am.......walked out and picked up all the birds....back in the boat by 7am.....then had to wait until the tide floated the boat at midday...went back to the same spot the second day on a dropping tide at 4am and again had my limit before 7.....then had to sit and wait until 1pm before I could head back to the ramp.

Something I have learned about sleeping in the boat.........I always have one hand out of my sleeping bag and hanging down in the bilge.....If it gets wet, it wakes me up and I turn the bilge pump on. Was out sleeping in the boat in torrential rain one year and didnt realise that the boat was filling up with water from both the rain and a small crack in the aluminium hull. The only thing that alerted me was that the waves got up and as the water sloshed from side to side it almost put the side under.........Didnt get much sleep that night as I spent most of my time bailing the boat out...so now I have a 12v car battery and 2 bilge pumps all wired up ready to go...

For all you hunters heading out.....stay safe and hope you have hot barrels...

Good keen man

Extremely dedicated I think you mean @Woody.

Originally Posted by Woody

Good keen man

1st got introduced to duck hunting when my father took me to this spot when I was 7 yrs old........... Havent missed an opening day in this spot since.....over the last 63 yrs I have had quite a few good mates/duckhunters to hunt with but unfortunately they have all passed away apart from one. Sitting on the mud waiting for the tide to come back in gives me time to remember them all and reflect on how fortunate we are to have had some great ( and not so great) times together.
Learned a lot about the area, wildlife behaviour and how to hunt it. Have introduced quite a few people to hunting the area... many found it daunting and never came back. 40 to 50yrs ago I used to take a boat rod and bait with me, cast it into the creek and catch snapper ( biggest was 22lb).....also used to take a flounder light and spear and hang over the side of the boat and spear flounder as they swam past the boat on an incoming tide.....Picked oysters off the rocks around the corner for breakfast when the tide was out....learned to navigate in pitch black conditions using the movement of the current and the glow of the lights of Auckland over the horizon and the movement of car headlights on SH16.......

Dont know how long I will continue.......but one thing is for certain, while the body is capable, you will find me out there on opening morning.

put it in WRITING PLEASE.... even if just to send it to one of the magazines so your memories and knowledge are passed on for others....there is short chapter in Keith Drapers book on firth of thames duck shooting but very little else on the skillset needed to make it work.
three more sleeps

First of May and its raining!!!!
panic panic must be climate change..panic panic.....
hopefully all the birds dont bugger off into paddocks after worms, but a little more water in creeks n rivers will be awesome

Mate it's 1 May- international naked gardeners day. It should switch the pressure a bit

they would have more wrinkles than inches here in Garaldine today!!!!

@Micky Duck and just for another coincidence, duck shooting starts on star wars day
May the forth be with you

Still no ducks flying here in the manawatu.
My brother in law is very disheartened !

Originally Posted by csmiffy

@Micky Duck and just for another coincidence, duck shooting starts on star wars day
May the forth be with you

that possibly was organised by an older ex nurse so he can wear his white plastic armour suit and have excuse for all the holes in the sky

No point dressing up as a stormtroopers.
Never hit anything

Originally Posted by csmiffy

No point dressing up as a stormtroopers.
Never hit anything

eggzachary my point old bean....... eggzachary my point.....