On Friday, 4 of us went on an all day hunt with Capt Billy Goddard, of Potomac River Outfitters out of Tall Timbers, MD. We had a morning diver hunt, followed by a puddle duck/goose hunt in the afternoon.
We met at Tall Timbers Marina in St.Mary's county and hunted on the VA side of the Potomac. The spread was 150 individual decoys, no long lines! The dippers went behind the boat, scaup and cans in front on either side, and whistlers were out front by themselves. At the outer edge there was one line of decoys that marked what was in shotgun range. I wish I had taken a few pictures of the spread - it was pretty.
The birds easily found the spread. First shots were taken at oldsquaws - those *******s can be frustrating. It took a few shots for each of us to get tuned up, but we were able to knocking them down good after a couple of "practice" shots.When the Blue Bills began streaking across the sky in fairly large flocks, it was tempting to keep shooting oldsquaws, but with the promise of better fare, we held our fire.
We hunted until about 10am - our final tally was 9 Old Squaws, 4 Blue Bills and one Bufflehead. I believe each of us shot about 15 times ---- there were some cripple swats in there, so really only fair shooting by some rookies (me included in that classification). I'm happy to say that I shot my limit of blue bills though - a first for me. During the hunt we were treated to hot breakfast and got to watch the Capt and Bird Boy did ALL the work. I honestly can't imagine doing that day after day.
By 1230 we made our way to the "Big Blind". This blind was HUGE!!! It would easily fit 10 guys in this blind with all the comforts of home. The Capt brought a 4 gal pot of stew. While we sat and told stories the stew warmed up. Man, it was awesome. As you can guess - if there was time for stories, there wasn't much shooting!! The geese just weren't flying. This is really strange because there are A LOT of geese in the area. We did decoy a pair of black ducks, and took the drake... man what a pretty bird.
With about 30 mins until sunset we saw one flock of geese. They seemed about 2 miles away, but amazingly, they responded to the Capt's call. That never happens to me! There were about 15 geese in the flock. We knocked 3 down, but think one was just scared because it got up and flew away!!
So that was it for the day... no more birds were seen until after legal shooting time. Capt Billy promised a "Mallard Show" after legal shooting time, and he was right. There were a probably about 15 that found their home in the creek in the twilight -even landing in the decoys.
It was a fantastic day - final tally 9 oldsquaw, 1 bufflehead, 4 blackheads, 1 black duck, 2 geese. The trip got me my first Bluebills - so that was definetly the highlight for me. Sadly, I didn't take pictures of the gesse or the black duck, or many pictures at all... here's what I have.
Here's the Good Looking Guys with the Morning Haul.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/CrowBait_photos/DSC00834.jpg
Here's the Geezers (our dads) with the Morning Haul.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/CrowBait_photos/DSC00836.jpg
Capt Billy and his Bird Boy, Richie, really busted their hump all day... they worked hard to put us on birds and we were sure to thank them for their efforts, and we promised to book him again. Capt Billy doesn't have a website, yet - but I can send you his info - I see the potomac only getting hotter with more bluebills, and the potential for for cans just about any day.
We met at Tall Timbers Marina in St.Mary's county and hunted on the VA side of the Potomac. The spread was 150 individual decoys, no long lines! The dippers went behind the boat, scaup and cans in front on either side, and whistlers were out front by themselves. At the outer edge there was one line of decoys that marked what was in shotgun range. I wish I had taken a few pictures of the spread - it was pretty.
The birds easily found the spread. First shots were taken at oldsquaws - those *******s can be frustrating. It took a few shots for each of us to get tuned up, but we were able to knocking them down good after a couple of "practice" shots.When the Blue Bills began streaking across the sky in fairly large flocks, it was tempting to keep shooting oldsquaws, but with the promise of better fare, we held our fire.
We hunted until about 10am - our final tally was 9 Old Squaws, 4 Blue Bills and one Bufflehead. I believe each of us shot about 15 times ---- there were some cripple swats in there, so really only fair shooting by some rookies (me included in that classification). I'm happy to say that I shot my limit of blue bills though - a first for me. During the hunt we were treated to hot breakfast and got to watch the Capt and Bird Boy did ALL the work. I honestly can't imagine doing that day after day.
By 1230 we made our way to the "Big Blind". This blind was HUGE!!! It would easily fit 10 guys in this blind with all the comforts of home. The Capt brought a 4 gal pot of stew. While we sat and told stories the stew warmed up. Man, it was awesome. As you can guess - if there was time for stories, there wasn't much shooting!! The geese just weren't flying. This is really strange because there are A LOT of geese in the area. We did decoy a pair of black ducks, and took the drake... man what a pretty bird.
With about 30 mins until sunset we saw one flock of geese. They seemed about 2 miles away, but amazingly, they responded to the Capt's call. That never happens to me! There were about 15 geese in the flock. We knocked 3 down, but think one was just scared because it got up and flew away!!
So that was it for the day... no more birds were seen until after legal shooting time. Capt Billy promised a "Mallard Show" after legal shooting time, and he was right. There were a probably about 15 that found their home in the creek in the twilight -even landing in the decoys.
It was a fantastic day - final tally 9 oldsquaw, 1 bufflehead, 4 blackheads, 1 black duck, 2 geese. The trip got me my first Bluebills - so that was definetly the highlight for me. Sadly, I didn't take pictures of the gesse or the black duck, or many pictures at all... here's what I have.
Here's the Good Looking Guys with the Morning Haul.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/CrowBait_photos/DSC00834.jpg
Here's the Geezers (our dads) with the Morning Haul.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/CrowBait_photos/DSC00836.jpg
Capt Billy and his Bird Boy, Richie, really busted their hump all day... they worked hard to put us on birds and we were sure to thank them for their efforts, and we promised to book him again. Capt Billy doesn't have a website, yet - but I can send you his info - I see the potomac only getting hotter with more bluebills, and the potential for for cans just about any day.
