Avain-X TV New Duck Hunting Season

you three have absolutely NAILED IT!! I've never seen any "waterfowl" show worth crap. Nothing on setup, technique, the incredible wonder of watching the marsh come alive around you; or the grace and beauty of the Grand Passage in each flyway. Nope...it's all BANG BANG BANG. "look at me, I'm such a stud"! All you're ever watching on shows like the Robertsons' put on all the way to this one, are shooting ducks. And it's sad, because that's all the anti's ever see (and that includes ALL) the "hunting" shows. It's about the success, the kill, never about the beauty.

My MOST successful hunt was a bowhunt for mulies years ago, solo, high in the eastern Sierra. In high wind, I found a big forked horn, got within 10 feet of him before he realized I was there. When he blew up, he still wasn't sure what I was, and stopped at about 20 yards. I was at full draw, anchored, ready to touch that release, and had him cold, broadside & stopped. He knew it, and I knew he knew it. I let down, and he fled. I won, he lost, and nobody had to die. To be able to hear him blowing and snorting behind a big bush, and to smell him there, all alone in the wild... I've killed other animals, but that was the best hunt of my life. And here's the most important part of that: am i grateful for that experience? Every single day. To me, that's what hunting is all about-the total experience. It's not a "win or lose" thing, it's to be part of the wild things that roam the land-one of them, not apart from them. And that's what's missing from all these shows.

Terry, I just saw your question about Canada waterfowling. I hunted Alberta up in the Grimshaw area, west of Peace River. There are huge tracts of land under cultivation, mostly canola but also lots of barley and feed peas. In the 90's it was easy getting access to fields where birds were feeding, it was illegal for the farmers to lease hunting for migratory birds. The outfitters moved in, started paying for hunting rights in shadow ways and it got a lot harder to get access to good fields.

I never hunted white geese up there, just Canada geese and white front (specks). The birds were really naive so blinds were simple piles of brush and silhouette decoys, maybe five dozen. It was very rare not to kill limits of Canada geese that were hovering right over the decoys. I see these hunters calling these geese that have never been shot at, never seen a decoy, probably never seen a human. And these guys are calling and calling. Just shut up, sit still and they'll land on your head, literally.

True story: a guy brought his black Lab up (it's all dry land hunting) and his dog was standing in a pea field with his tail wagging. Two honkers locked up, turned down wind and came down to, maybe 10 ft over that dog's butt, responding to the "flagging" of his tail. Two of us were about 20 yards away picking up decoys, those two geese paid us no mind. Anyone with basic waterfowl skills would have a decent time IF you get access to a field the birds are coming to.

Duck hunting is similar except I never heard ducks calling, ever. They also fly in a different manner, buzzing in and out of the decoys like teal. I'm talking about mallards and pintails which was all we ever saw. Here again we never, ever called and those birds came right down to the decoys.

I think I made a dozen trips up there, It was pretty crazy stuff and all done without any professional level hunters or guides.

Alex MacDonald said:

I've been in a duck blind for 64 years now (Damn! Never thought of it like that-guess I really am getting old!!). And my bitch about the hunting shows isn't that they don't teach necessary skills, but that they don't portray the total experience. I'm not sure they even can. It's that whole ball of wax, the magic of watching a marsh come alive with the rising of the sun, or the feeling of listening to a bull elk bugle, and being a part of it, not just an observer.

It IS nice however, to see how the new flocked decoys shape up, especially for geese. Those of us who might think about goose hunting, which includes me, might take a serious look at these deeks-I kinda like them!

Click to expand...

Flocked decoys have been around for well over 10 years. Textured paint for no shine has been used around the basin for well over 30. Carry lite had a little full-body people would customize and slap on a special paint that worked better then Bigfoots back in the day. The custom craze really got going around 2001 with Dropzones, Dave Smiths and Hardcores. Then came production decoys with custom looks like Green Head Gear etc but people often got crappy batches cause they came from China. This issue still continues to this day.

The Replica Decoy company I think produces the most nice ones now but it's the same guy that produced Hardcores which had so many paint issues and crappy customer service I have a hard time wanting to give them my money....When the custom decoys first came out it was a lot of fun just setting up in some field with good traffic and shooting the piss out of the birds. They worked so well. But now so many guys use good looking decoys you really need to be on your A game. This is for around the basin. Different areas get less pressure.

That being said I think the Stuffer can't be beat. Unless it's raining

Just some decoy history.