Teej's 2019 Fall Extravaganza

[PA deer hunter]

Congrats and best wishes for your future together!

 

[Irrelevant]

Freakin awesome all around

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Congratulations. Good luck on your wedding day and in your marriage.

 

[bowhuntmontana]

That's awesome. Definitely part of the Fall Extravaganza! Hope it is a fantastic day and a wonderful beginning to your marriage.

 

[teej89]

Thanks guys! It was awesome! I’ll get a picture up when our photographer gets back to us.

Holy crap it went fast tho! Pretty sure the adrenaline rush for the first look was just as much right before I killed my bull this fall.

 

[mtmuley]

Good stuff TJ. I'll say it again, it was a highlight of my year meeting you and your crew in the Breaks last year. Best to you and the future Mrs TJ. mtmuley

 

[teej89]

Good stuff TJ. I'll say it again, it was a highlight of my year meeting you and your crew in the Breaks last year. Best to you and the future Mrs TJ. mtmuley

Thanks! It wasn’t the same with ya not at camp this year!

We talked about the time Steve came in our tent and saw my dads lantern and was shocked cuz it’s the one from the infomercial on TV he may have had a couple Miller lights that night

 

[mtmuley]

Yep. Makes me laugh right now. We will meet up on a hunt again someday. Good stuff. And Steve will bring the beans. mtmuley

 

[teej89]

Couldn’t sleep last night, too excited for my first time chasing quail! Never even seen one of these things before but we’re going to take a crack at it today. Did a bunch of online research and we have another 2.5hrs ahead of us and we’re going to be trudging central Washington.

The wife willingly is up and at em at 3:30 with me, granted she’ll sleep the entire way there. Oh and the lab turns into a major softy when she’s riding along, he has a barrier in the back and he climbed it. To get up front.

 

[teej89]

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Quail don't get up as early as Deer do,they are smart and sleep in.
So could you.Ha!,Ha! I just lean out the back door with the pellet gun
and lunch is ready...My bird dog is a Prarie Pheasant!

 

[teej89]

Well 0 for 2 on the quail hunts, been a little tougher to find them than I was expecting, we hunted further from the river(couple miles) but I'm thinking I'm hunting areas that are too dense with cover/tall thick grass. I found the russian olives and hunted hours in em to no avail. Sure is pretty out here tho.

However what we did find on this hunt is more ducks than my eyes could comprehend, we flushed a cloud of them off an irrigation drainage and of course had lead shot and no duck stamps. I've never hunted or shot a duck but I think that's about to change.






Russian Olive Trees:





Russian Olive Trees:

 

[Irrelevant]

Well 0 for 2 on the quail hunts, been a little tougher to find them than I was expecting, we hunted further from the river(couple miles) but I'm thinking I'm hunting areas that are too dense with cover/tall thick grass. I found the russian olives and hunted hours in em to no avail. Sure is pretty out here tho.

However what we did find on this hunt is more ducks than my eyes could comprehend, we flushed a cloud of them off an irrigation drainage and of course had lead shot and no duck stamps. I've never hunted or shot a duck but I think that's about to change.

View attachment 118871


View attachment 118872

Russian Olive Trees:
View attachment 118873View attachment 118874


View attachment 118876

Russian Olive Trees:
View attachment 118877

Hey just a heads up there is a game reserve in that area. I would be highly suspect of any area that feels "too good to be true" in WA. Check pages 44-47. There used to be maps on the WDFW website but I just talked to someone in Olympia who said they're not on the website anymore but will be at some point (they have a new website they're still trying to populate).

 

[teej89]

Hey just a heads up there is a game reserve in that area. I would be highly suspect of any area that feels "too good to be true" in WA. Check pages 44-47. There used to be maps on the WDFW website but I just talked to someone in Olympia who said they're not on the website anymore but will be at some point (they have a new website they're still trying to populate).

Are you talking about the Toppenish national wildlife refuge? They have marked them pretty good with these signs and they're on OnX and I'm not on those.

Thanks for the heads up tho!

 

[Irrelevant]

Nope. Game reserves, they're actually legislated in the Washington Administrative code. https://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=220-411

 

[Irrelevant]

If I had to guess based on your photos it would be near 220-411-100 or 220-411-250

 

[teej89]

I just double checked with the local warden, had me a bit nervous there thanks for the info tho.

 

[teej89]

Went to the local sporting goods store, extremely hard to find in Seattle, got my required permits and stamps. Woke up at 3am, 3hr drive to the spot and the only ones there. As soon as I get outta the truck and it's still dark there's wings whistling overhead and I can hear ducks quacking in the distance. Great start to my first ever duck hunt!

We trek into where I intended to hunt and it's getting light and as a couple pairs fly up and down the ditch I can hear groups of ducks greeting them. Now I know this part may be sensitive to some onset waterfowlers but I'm on limited experience and funds so my tactic is to jump shoot.

On either side of the ditch are high banks, and my tactic is to listen for them as I can't see into the ditch. We found a talkative group, I steadied the dog about 3/4 the way up the high bank so he could see them when they flushed and I snuck my up. I get to the top and am looking through the grass for them and to my surprise I couldn't see them but damn they saw me ha! The whole group flushed, probably 2 dozen birds. I picked a drake on the outside, shot and dropped him, picked another drake next to him, missed, shot again and dropped him. My first two ducks! It was awesome!

Now they both fell across the ditch, up the bank and over it, two blind retrieves. I wasn't sure how boomer would do as this is his first duck hunting scenario and having 24 ducks flush compared to a single pheasant is a different scenario. However with a little encouragement he trekked the stream, found duck number 1 and went bank and found duck number 2. So exciting!

We spent the rest of the morning trying to dial in on ducks and trying to hide in the tall grass against the fly overs that were cruising the ditch looking for a landing spot. I shot at one other group, 2 shots and missed as they flushed a little far, however when I shot a cloud of ducks erupted further down the ditch, hundreds of them. Then I realized to start being picky and only shooting when they were close and hittable and not try and reach out to avoid spooking the rest.

We have a lot to learn, now I'm stoked to start investing in waders and decoys to hunt these guys a little more traditionally.

His first retrieve, sorry for the blurry pic, I was a hair excited.







One of the "foot bridges" I crossed

 

[Irrelevant]

Dude definitely a great start to your waterfowling career!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Great job! Stick with it. Waterfowl hunting is a lot of fun.