You can see they had the right concept it was just the sleds for some were a little narrow though. I super sized my last sled to help float the decoys better plus it made for a spot to put my shells next to me.
Here is the newspaper article in case you don’t take the Corpus Christi paper. I am still missing some pictures of the hunt from Dave where I killed 3 species of ducks. This past season was a good one for variety. Harvested were pintails, redheads, teal, buffleheads, gadwalls, merganser and scaups. Just like fishing down here I try not to target (pardon the pun) one species The next project is to paint the sled and to possibly use it on a dove hunt…
WHOOAHH YALL….
http://www.caller.com/ccct/recreation_columnists/article/0,1641,CCCT_868_5295376,00.html
David Sikes/Caller-TimesLocal wingshooter Buddy Toepfer creates a blind from a length of wire mesh he drapes with natural material for an effective hideaway on the backside of Mustang Island.
David Sikes/Caller-TimesSome hunters use store-bought strands of palmetto leaves for portable blind material for late-season stealth along shorelines and spoil islands
David Sikes/Caller-TimesJoey Farah creates an effective, simple makeshift blind with a couple of stakes and a length of store-bought leafy camo netting.
David Sikes/Caller-TimesTens of thousands of ducks remain as the close of waterfowl season approaches. The regular ducks season here ends at sunset Jan. 28.
RELATED STORIESOutdoors Calendar: 01.21.07
PRINT THIS STORY E-MAIL THIS STORY Taking cover
Tweak your strategy and your blinds to bag wary waterfowl before season ends
January 21, 2007
You've got a week to try this. Duck season closes Jan. 28.
By the twilight of each season, even though thousands of waterfowl remain here, hunter complaints generally involve the distance these birds keep.
By now we've conditioned our ducks. After weeks of being shot at, they've learned to avoid brushy cubicles that contrast so obviously against our marshy bay-scapes. This avoidance goes double near the boxes with waggling shotgun barrels extended above them and shiny plastic counterparts floating nearby.
And yet many wingshooters continue their early-season ways.
A couple weeks ago, Joey Farah demonstrated several alternatives for a better shot at late-season success. He's been duck hunting and fishing Coastal Bend waters since he could walk a shoreline.
When he became old enough to float a boat, he explored the nearby reaches of Flour Bluff, many of which continue to produce fish and fowl for him.
Of course, laws governing duck hunting have tightened somewhat since then, eliminating some of Farah's more convenient childhood spots. But he insists there still exist many ducks convenient and legal in Upper Laguna Madre, where wingshooters rarely go.
We launched from Marker 37 Marina with barely enough light to see and headed south.
Farah and I already had discussed some of the ways he counters the wariness of late-season birds.
The most obvious strategy change for late season involves duck blinds. To a flying duck it cannot look like a traditional blind. And because nobody has come up with a way for hunters to look like water, we must disguise ourselves to look like a marshy island or shoreline.
Some of the best designs incorporate natural elements of the location. But in the Coastal Bend, sparse vegetation sometimes limits the natural materials on hand. Count on bringing along blind material to supplement natural vegetation. A short stretch of chicken wire and a little imagination could go a long way.
Friend Buddy Toepfer drapes a semicircle of wire mesh with dried seagrass to shield himself from incoming ducks. He's fashioned a low wooden seat on skids with a reclining backrest, which easily can be dragged by an attached rope to any site.
If you're not a do-it-yourselfer, Avery Outdoors makes several fine coffin-shaped blinds that allow hunters to recline in hidden comfort on any spoil island.
Farah and I went the minimalist route. Two four-foot stakes and a length of leafy camo material are all that was necessary to conceal two hunters against the King Ranch shoreline - below the tide line, of course.
Several characteristics made this a good location. Erosion has created a kind of bluff along this bite in the shoreline, which makes a nice backrest. And we chose a high bank with plenty of vegetation near the shore and an oak mott within 50 yards or so. This meant that our silhouettes would not extend above the horizon.
We blended well with the habitat.
But none of our efforts would have been effective if our location lacked a particular element. The trick is to find cover between where ducks are and where they want to be. In this case, we wanted a likely pintail spot. Farah suspected that a fair number of pintails had spent the night either in ponds on the King Ranch or along Oso Creek.
He knows that pintails, which are puddle ducks or dabblers, like to feed on shallow submerged seagrasses or tiny marine organisms along this shore. Puddle ducks prefer softer bay bottoms rather than hard sand. And they're more likely to be in back lakes, isolated shorelines, sloughs and freshwater ponds.
Some of these spots might only be accessible on foot, by kayak or by airboat during late season.
As luck would have it, we enjoyed a northwest breeze, which put the wind at our backs. Ducks prefer landing into the wind, which meant we would be facing any birds that wanted to settle in our decoy spread.
Let's talk about decoys. Be sure your fake ducks resemble the kind of ducks you're trying to attract. With puddle ducks, spread your decoys loosely and provide a wide opening for newcomers to land. Farah likes to place two hen decoys near a single drake decoy. And then he positions a couple hen decoys without a drake nearest his blind to invite a bull sprig within shooting range.
Now if we had wanted redheads, we would have applied a different strategy. Redheads are diving ducks, which prefer to feed in deeper water. Often this means they settle in the open bay.
Redheads and scaups that might feed near the Sulfur Road area of Laguna Madre must fly periodically throughout each day to freshwater to purge themselves of accumulated salt. They mostly find freshwater in King Ranch ponds.
Huge rafts of redheads and scaups or bluebills are floating and feeding on our bays right now. Farah suggests the best way to bag a few is to set up a discrete hideaway on a brushy mid-bay spoil island.
Then arrange two circular groups of a dozen or so decoys each in a tight pattern. Again, be sure to arrange decoys by species and use decoys that resemble the kind of ducks you're after. On those decoys, attach longer cords and heavier weights to compensate for greater depths.
Back at the blind, Farah and I faced a glowing horizon beyond about three or four dozen barely bobbing decoys. And sure enough, a flock of pintails descended upon us just after sunup.
After a while a few more puddle ducks dipped in our direction or circled for a closer look. Farah's plan had worked.
But what's this? A flock of bluebills coming to our pintail spot? They were welcomed, of course. But why, tell me, why would a bunch of diving ducks want to feed with puddle ducks? Birds of a feather indeed. The decoys were all wrong for this to happen. The decoy pattern was too loose to attract divers, I thought. C'mon, this is an obvious puddle duck spot. The duck-hunters manual says so.
We shot them anyway.
There is at least one characteristic of late-season ducks I haven't mentioned yet. They're unpredictable.
And in this case, this worked in our favor.
Outdoors writer David Sikes' column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 886-3616 or sikesd@ caller.com
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