Attn: Waterfowl fanatics!

[Nick87]

Finally some snow! Just me and the dog so no big pile pic.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Finally some snow! Just me and the dog so no big pile pic.View attachment 206970View attachment 206971

Best way to celebrate a snow day.

 

[Nick87]

Best way to celebrate a snow day.

Most people are looking to move where there's less winter snow as they get older. I'm thinking about retiring where there's more. God I love winter, bring on the snow and the cold.

 

[Nick87]

Also one of the geese Tonight was somewhat unique with a white band around the base of the neck.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Also one of the geese Tonight was somewhat unique with a white band around the base of the neck.
View attachment 206972

Crazy! A Canadian mallard must be the father!!

 

[BrentD]

Most people are looking to move where there's less winter snow as they get older. I'm thinking about retiring where there's more. God I love winter, bring on the snow and the cold.

Unfortunately, thousands of people are trying to move towards cold and snow, and it's absolutely killing the housing market up north. I'm one of them.

 

[Nick87]

Unfortunately, thousands of people are trying to move towards cold and snow, and it's absolutely killing the housing market up north. I'm one of them.

Seems that people are trying to move everywhere at the moment.

 

[JShane]

Finally some snow! Just me and the dog so no big pile pic.View attachment 206970View attachment 206971

There's nothing hidden in this picture is there?

 

[Nick87]

There's nothing hidden in this picture is there?

Nope no bands on that hunt.

 

[beginnerhunter]

Gear:
1) new decoy spread with better variety of species. Anecdotal but birds seem to like my mixed spread, many pintails coming into range.
2) motion ducks ultimate spreader. Should've gotten the shallow water version. Overestimated the depth of water I usually hunt. MD does not like vegetation.
3) franchi affinity 20 ga. Love this gun. Small, lightweight, no recoil, reliable. Can't find 20ga ammo except #2 steel which isn't my favorite.
4) boss shotshell. Seems to work well, wish I had bought more, see above.
5) academy decoy backpack. Awesome for long walks but chest strap keeps coming off.
6) high roller whistle. Barely used. Not as many GWT as I thought, but it has been hot.
7) DC BWT call. No idea, they seemed to like the spinner more than anything.

Tactics:
1) Hunting crosswinds instead of wind at back. Haven't really tested much since water presence and cover has dictated setup.
2) targeting teal and pintails since mallards dont make it to the south anymore. Shot several mallards and plenty of oopportunity at pintails but can only shoot 1! No GWT yet.
3) taking advantage of weekly draw hunts to minimize competition on public land. Won 1 draw hunt so far. It was ok.
4) hiding spinner in brush to minimize fake appearance. Haven't used spinner yet lol.
5) ditching splashers, too much weight. Not missing that heavy battery.
5) thank FIL for buying more land in flyway (and be nicer to MIL). I think I've retained my favorite SIL status.

May get a kayak or beavertail for some slow/small water public areas. Hunted out of a friend's beavertail this year and it was great. Good for fishing as well. Kinda heavy compared to kayak tho. Bought $200 kayak and it is very useful, but kinda want one with more stability like the nucanoe or Jackson.

Interested in an A frame for better portability. Idk. Nah, I got cheap once the inflation set in.

Some updates on the original question. Also Arkansas has become Speckansas. Great tasting waterfowl.

 

[SO7mm]

Also one of the geese Tonight was somewhat unique with a white band around the base of the neck.
View attachment 206972

That looks like an aleutian goose. I know the ones we see/get in CA that have the ring are aleutians.

 

[SO7mm]

The last two weeks of unsettled weather on the Sacramento River delta have been good. We've gotten more birds in our floating blind in that period than we did all of last year. Looks like a few days of clear/foggy weather and more unsettled next week. We've still have a month of hunting...hopefully it keeps up.

 

[seeth07]

That looks like an aleutian goose. I know the ones we see/get in CA that have the ring are aleutians.

@nick87 That was my thought as well. Pretty sure you have a cackler there. Which subspecies of cacklers however, I'm clueless. I'm old school and simply just prefer to call them either Greater or Lesser Canadians

 

[Nick87]

Greater or Lesser Canadians

Yup, that's how I do it too. Seems to be more and more of the lesser variety every year.

 

[Nick87]

That looks like an aleutian goose. I know the ones we see/get in CA that have the ring are aleutians.

Just looked it up came of the endangered species list in 2001, phew.

 

[mtmiller]

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Gorgeous

 

[Doublecluck]

That looks like an aleutian goose. I know the ones we see/get in CA that have the ring are aleutians.

Best way to verify is the beak and size, if it’s a pure Aleutian it would be about the size of a mallard with very short beak. Looks too big to me but could be a cross, I’ve seen big Canada geese with the white ring as well just not super common.

 

[SO7mm]

Best way to verify is the beak and size, if it’s a pure Aleutian it would be about the size of a mallard with very short beak. Looks too big to me but could be a cross, I’ve seen big Canada geese with the white ring as well just not super common.

Thanks. I didn't know that. I don't get a lot of geese where we duck hunt and the experience I've had with the ring on the neck have been smaller Aleutians.

 

[Doublecluck]

Thanks. I didn't know that. I don't get a lot of geese where we duck hunt and the experience I've had with the ring on the neck have been smaller Aleutians.

I grew up hunting the sac valley, shot lots of aleutians and cacklers.