Outdoorsman Thread

[Old Hunter]

Some pictures from duck hunting; sunset on the Pamlico River (Friday night 11/27) and dinner at Georgie's Oyster bar in Belhaven - local oysters from Pamlico Sound. OH

[Old Hunter]

Ready for sunrise - looking up the creek, my hunting buddy Jim, calling to no avail, getting up the decoys. OH

[Old Hunter]

We traveled up a few of the creeks around the north bank of the Pamlico - Bath Creek, Back Creek, and North Creek - ducks not in the creeks today. Finally looking towards Indian Island in the Pamlico - it is a wide river. Hopefully some real cold and blustery weather in December will drive more ducks south and move them into the creeks. OH

[big monk]

AWESOME photos ,OH !!!!!!!!!! Looks like a great time (ducks or no ducks**)Thanks for sharin' !!!!!!

[garddogg56]

Man OH your living the life

[TripleF]

Awesome Bruce.... Thanks for sharing!!!

[Unk]

Great pics, OH

[Dinadan]

OH - great set of photos! Looks like a beautiful area to hunt. I have been seeing a few duck hunters when I go fishing this past couple of weeks. Some say they "got a few" more say they "never fired a shot." On Friday I was heading for one of my favorite fishing holes on an island in the Mississippi Sound when I noticed some ducks on the water just off a point that I usually hug as I head out. Then I noted the not very well concealed boat and realized I was seeing decoys. I try not to interfere with another man's sport so I veered off, but I still got closer than I would have if I had realized what I was seeing at first.

There are some ducks around the saltwater area I fish, but not a lot so far, and I have not identified the ones I saw. Plenty of loons, bald eagles, and northern harriers have made it down here.

[Old Hunter]

Thanks guys, appreciate all the comments; I fully realize I live in a terrific place if you like to hunt - we have ducks, geese, swan, black bear, deer, turkey, rabbit, squirrel, and a few other animals to pursue. I just had some reports that Currituck Sound has a lot of ducks (Redheads, Pintails, Gadwall, and the usual Ruddy's, Buffleheads, Bluebills, etc. ) that's a couple of hours northeast of me and just on the VA line (I'm one hour west of the Pamlico Sound). Currituck is all club or lodge hunting - you just about can't hunt on your own up there due to the blind laws (500 ft., floating or fixed). As my Arkansas trip has fallen through, I may just go pay a guide and hunt Currituck for a few days before Christmas (if it's not too late to book) - I want to get into some ducks! OH

[garddogg56]

I can get pics of deer but I can't get a shot we gut a rabbit and ate venison.Good day.

[jerryd6818]

Thanksgiving day as I pulled out of the garage to go to Linnea's house, I spotted something across the creek that didn't appear to be a flock of the ubiquitous Canadian Geese that hang around here all winter and summer. I drove around the block to get a better look and this is what I saw. First time ever in the middle of town.

[Colonel26]

OH, those are beautiful pictures! Wow!

Do you ever use one of your old Browning Sweet 16's duck hunting?

[FRJ]

Oh, Canadian turkeys!!
Franklin must be spinning in his grave.

[jerryd6818]

Hey, Joe. This is not California. We don't go for that kind of malarkey here in The Great Midwest.

[TripleF]

We see wild turkeys quite frequently here......of course, never when one is hunting for them

[Old Hunter]

Hang in there Dogg, you'll get one. Jerry, wild turkeys are certainly urban adaptable, similar to whitetail in that regard - I'm amazed where you see them. Wade, I have killed lot's of species of upland game (to included a gobbler) with my 16 gauge Browning using lead shot, but nothing that requires steel shot - Belgian barrels are too thin for steel (some folks shoot it, I won't - I have a couple of Japanese Auto-5 Twelve's for steel). OH

[jerryd6818]

The thing that blew me away was, I've lived in this area for almost three quarters of my life and had never seen a turkey in town. Coons yes, a fox yes, geese of course, groundhogs are almost becoming epidemic but never a turkey. It's just in the past twenty years I started seeing turkeys out by the state park. The crazy thing was seeing them in town for the first time on Thanksgiving Day.

[Colonel26]

Hang in there Dogg, you'll get one. Jerry, wild turkeys are certainly urban adaptable, similar to whitetail in that regard - I'm amazed where you see them. Wade, I have killed lot's of species of upland game (to included a gobbler) with my 16 gauge Browning using lead shot, but nothing that requires steel shot - Belgian barrels are too thin for steel (some folks shoot it, I won't - I have a couple of Japanese Auto-5 Twelve's for steel). OH

Yes sir, I agree those barrels are too thin for steel. Some guys shoot steel out the old Ithaca barrels, but I never would!

I thought, perhaps, you might have tried some of the newer nontoxic lead substitutes in the old 16's for nostalgia's sake.

[Old Hunter]

Wade The non-toxic is quite hard to find in 16 gauge, and I'm not sure how it would pattern until I shot a fair amount of it, etc. Too much trouble really. Jerry, I know what you were thinking - it's Thanksgiving and there are some real turkeys (hen's but wild turkeys none the less). If only you had a bow - you could have eaten like an Indian & Pilgrim!! OH

[jerryd6818]

If only you had a bow - you could have eaten like an Indian & Pilgrim!! OH

With my fingers?

[Old Hunter]

If only you had a bow - you could have eaten like an Indian & Pilgrim!! OH

With my fingers?

Oh yes, like a Marine!!

[Dinadan]

I think that the turkeys in town are very indicative of how America is today. I have lived in Alabama all my life. I grew up in the woods in the nineteen fifties and sixties, and turkeys were never seen. Deer very rarely. Raccoons were not often seen dead on the road. Now, I see turkeys along busy roads. Deer are everywhere. Raccoons: I can hardly drive a mile without seeing a dead raccoon. I think the reason is that in 1960, whenever a man saw a turkey or deer, he grabbed for his gun (probably close at hand in his pickup) and tried to get some free food. Same with raccoons, though they were hunted with dogs or trapped.

Nowadays, most folks, including me, do not want to bother with cleaning and preparing the wild food. I guess most folks under forty years old would have no idea how to skin and dress a deer, or pluck and singe a turkey. As a society we have moved beyond hunting and gathering. Now the critters that used to be avidly sought for food have become annoying pests that infest our backyards. Funny how a country can change so completely in just one man's lifetime.

[TripleF]

It's sad to see Mel.....very sad.

I am earnestly working to share the outdoor spirit with my grandsons but we aren't hunting. We just started fishing.....

My dad shared every experience of hunting and gathering but I can not because I do not own a home, I rent a condo and do not have the funds to process a deer properly.

If you have the means, share the spirit of huntering and gathering with young ones....they will love it as you do!

EDIT: And another major problem has developed where we used to be able to have permission to hunt our neighbor's land has now turned into a money-making time share deal for hunters.....thus there's less and less "free land" to hunt.
My brother has gone from hunting a number of areas every year for whitetail to now just one - his neighbor's.

[treefarmer]

Scott, just read your post concerning the lands available for hunting and would ask you to check out the Florida Wildlife Commission web site, under WMA (wildlife management areas). It states there are 5 million acres available to the public for outdoor activities in the Sunshine State. Some of those areas are very close to your home and at times they would be great areas for your "missions" with the grandsons.
50 years ago we hunted WMA's when we lived in central Florida, all it took was a valid hunting license and a WMA stamp. Lots of the areas have year round camping and fishing that you might enjoy. Check it out, you might be surprised .
Treefarmer

[Mumbleypeg]

groundhogs are almost becoming epidemic

Groundhogs are thick in Texas too, but the ones we got down here been shot at so many times, they've taken to wearing armor!

Ken