Tabla de contenidos para August 2020 - Equipment Annual Rel #1 en Wildfowl

FRED JUMPED ON a redeye, dragging poor Michelle with him deep through the night to arrive at his East Ranch in Colorado before daybreak, where hundreds of honkers could be heard clucking and murmuring from the lodge as they crowded into a small reservoir in the darkness. I’d gotten the call the eve before, dropped everything and burned the asphalt south. Fred is a big game icon who has chased about everything on earth with a bow and is famous for being charged by grizzlies. His idea of bowfishing is arrowing blue marlin. He can hunt birds here anytime. Why did the closeted wing-shooter fly all night rushing from a trade show to chase feathers in his own yard? “Had to do it. No way was I going to miss…

SMALL WATERS, BIG PROJECT Paying to protect wetlands is a new project between the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services in a joint effort with Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, Delta Wildlife and the California Waterfowl Association. Dubbed the USDA Prairie Pothole Water Quality and Wildlife Program, farmers and producin North Dakota South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Montana are eligible to receive money for wetlands less than two acres in size on privately-owned working cropland. These shallow ponds provide essential invertebrates to nesting hens and ducklings but are at a high-risk of drainage. It’s believed this project has the potential to support the breeding efforts of 1.8-million ducks. STAMP IT FORWARD 2020 In an effort to raise money for wetland conservation, Sam Soholt, owner of Public Land Tees, asked individuals and companies…

DUSTIN KUEHN WAS trying to enjoy a morning brant hunt in Obregon, Mexico with his dad, Dave, but things just weren’t going their way. “Our first spot didn’t produce any brant,” Dustin related. “Nor did we even see any. Meanwhile, we kept hearing barrages from the other two groups in our hunting party, off in the distance.” Things looked like they might change for the better when their guide arrived in an air boat, frantically motioning for them to get their stuff and get in. Another group had limited out and they were being moved to their blind. By the time they got there however, the brant had quit flying. Dustin still wasn’t discouraged. “It was slack high tide, and being an experienced black brant hunter, I knew the brant…

SIX MALLARDS BROKE FROM THE cypress-cluttered shoreline, searching for a quiet resting place after a glo rious feed on flooded rice. They turned across the old slough in formation and suddenly heard the beckoning of a hen down below. A quick scan by the lead drake revealed a dozen or so ducks lazily floating on the surface near an ancient cypress stump. He decided to join the flock and locked his wings, the others following behind, all of them losing altitude in a hurry. The hunter waited, hunkered in his cypress blind, gripping his favorite shotgun a little tighter, heart thumping, done got ’em again! Duck and goose calling is just plain fun. Nothing is more satisfying than fooling hard-hunted wary birds with effective calling. And the tools used to…

SHOW THE MOTORS that duck hunters use to people across the nation’s “normal” boating community of wakeboarders, pleasure boaters and fisherman, and their eyes will get wide with amazement. Much of the time, they won’t even understand what they are looking at. Nowhere in the boating world does anything exist quite like these post-apocalypitc, super-cool backcoun try engines, with their long shafts, drag racer exhausts, exposed engines and wild drive systems. Duck hunters are the Wild Bunch of the outdoors, and their ultra-spe cialized motors reflect that even more than their boats. There is something uniquely gratifying about owning one, and going where others can’t...or won’t. If you don’t own an aquatic duck chasing machine, or simply want to upgrade, here is a selection that will steer you in the…

THE BAN ON THE USE OF LEAD SHOT for water fowl hunting was phased in during the 1987-88 hunting season, forcing hunters to choose steel options. The last two decades have seen drastic improvements with steel and other non-toxic shot. The newest generation of waterfowlers will never know the angst of having to switch to non-toxic options that didn’t perform quite like we are used to today. Ammunition and choke development have surpassed what most hunters ever thought possible. Cut and pol ished steel, bismuth, tungsten, and special alloys are faster and more lethal than anything available before. High-tech ammunition and specialty chokes can help make anyone a better hunter, and here is what hunters need to know to stay ahead of the technology curve for the coming season. KENT…

THE PROBLEM WITH dogs is also what we love about dogs. If that seems vague, let me offer up an example from my younger years with a buddy’s golden retriever. Buster was a hunting fool and he never met a duck, or upland bird, or toad or snake or you-name-it that he didn’t think deserved a ride between his teeth. He didn’t discriminate against chipmunks either, and when one sought refuge in an aluminum drain pipe at my buddy’s parent’s house, Buddy chewed through it to get to the prize inside. He also, more than once, chewed through his chain link kennel. Buddy was so driven that he’d ignore serious oral trauma to get at what he wanted, and even when he was dripping blood from his tongue and gums,…

CINCINNATI REDS’ SECOND BASEMAN Sammy Bohne (r) chartered this aircraft on January 14, 1926, to ferry him to Bill Banta’s Duck-A-Minute club just off iconic Suisan Bay near Oakland, California. Suisan Bay is part of a huge lake formed by the Sacramento River that eventually flows into the Pacific Ocean. East of Oakland it forms three bays: Grizzly, Suisan and Honker; all still offer great hunting. Bill Banta (l) holds his Browning Auto-5. He ran a duck club “adjoining Suisan Bay” that gave the duck hunter everything but the ability to shoot straight. His “Duck Hunter's Paradise” offered: “Everything a sportsman seeks! Ducks in line of flight . . . baited ponds . . . blinds that are dry, comfortable . . . splendid roads leading to the property .…

KENU "KEN" TURK’S 14-foot boat was absolutely loaded to the max with decoys and four hunters. After dropping off Gator Hibrant and his son, Noah, Ken and his son, Kenu II, set up nearby. “We were hunting T.M. Goodwin WMA near Melbourne in Florida’s Central Coast area,” Turk said. “Four people can hunt on a permit there and Gator had drawn the permit. We set up and put out our decoys. In 15 minutes, we were limited out. We shot ringers, blue-winged teal and black-bellied whistling ducks. It wasn’t an unusual day for the first week of January. It was fairly clear and wasn’t windy, with temperatures in the mid-30s to low 40s. The ducks wanted to be in that spot and the boat hid us so well, they never…

A BLACK LAB’S head hangs over a brush-covered dog ramp leading from the water to a 600 square-foot floating duck blind. A propane-fueled two-burner heater hums and glows, exhaling its warmth into the cold morning air. A steaming cup of freshly poured coffee sits on a dirty, unfinished, 2x4 shelf. Beside it, a box of freshly opened Bismuth 5’s with three missing from the box. Suddenly the distinct delicate splash of a landing bird. It’s confirmed by the sit up and straight-ahead intense stare from the three-year old female gundog. Subconsciously I think to myself, “now to see what species.” I turn my head simultaneously raising my shotgun and in the corner of my eye I see and hear a four-pack of mallards whistling in, cupped up on their final…

THE DAYS OF COVERING WITH A few corn stalks or erecting some sticks on the edge of a mallard-filled honey hole are pretty much over. Today’s migratory fowl are more wary than ever, and a good hide is as important as a reliable shotgun filled with kill-‘em-dead loads. Your time on the water or in the field is never enough, and flaring ready-to-commit ducks and geese sucks. Do you want meat for the grill and a story that will have your co-workers drooling come Monday morning or another “what could’ve been” weekend tale? Aside from the concealment factor, a good blind boosts warmth. It keeps you dry and comfortable when Mother Nature is at her worst. Of course, there are blinds designed for individual use, a crew of beak smashers…

WHOEVER DIES WITH MOST GEAR still dies, but he dies happy. Waterfowling is a very gear-specific sport, and the more purposeful gear you possess, the more fun, comfortable and successful your hunts will be. I used to have a minimalist attitude when it came to my waterfowling pursuits. Not anymore. The loss of my river lease put me on the search for secluded public-land haunts. A ride in a Yamaha side-by-side saved my legs and made toting decoys and other gear a breeze. You need gear. You want gear. And we have some products worthy of a read and possibly, if you deem so, a credit card swipe. Enjoy. YAMAHA /// WOLVERINE X4 XT-R With room for four of your duck-slaying compadres, this new-for-2020 side-by-side is ready to conquer any…

DEEP summer is here. The heat and life-sucking humidity are unbearable. The feel of a biting northern front and the sound of whistling wings seem far away. You’ve organized and reorganized your gear more times than you can count. You’re ready. All you can do now is plop down in front of the central air and dream about what type of waterfowl season you’re in for. Here’s some info to ponder. NESTING GROUNDS Regarded as the “duck factory” of North America, the Prairie Pothole Region, according to recent data provided by Ducks Unlimited, is responsible for providing nesting habitat for up to three-quarters of North America’s breeding ducks. The bad news: This once grassland-only system has been impacted for the worse over the past few decades. Much of the area…

EVER HEAR OF the sleeper? When I was a kid watchin’ the Saturday night TV wrestling matches from Marigold Gardens in Chicago, there was a new secret hold called 'the sleeper', wherein the guy who was selected to win locked up his opponent and then seemingly ground his knuckles into the head of some defenseless oaf until he fell to the mat like last night’s spaghetti. Well the Franchi Affinity is a sleeper but far better entertainment than wrasslin’. Right smack-dab between Stoeger’s M3500 and the Benelli Super Black Eagle 3, its price of $959—about $170 bucks more for the 3.5 that will shoot 3 ½-inch skull crackers—in camo puts it smack-dab in the middle. The middle guy often gets lost in the shuffle, but the Affinity should not. It…

WHO ARE WE TO JUDGE duck hunting in any of its legal forms? If you want to pass shoot or jump a pond, go for it. But if you want waterfowl hunting in its most authentic and delicious form, you’ll need a realistic-looking decoy spread laid in front of you and a call at your lips. Today’s decoys are a far cry from offerings of only 10 or 20 years ago, which is a good thing. There’s more competition for fewer hunting spots these days, and the ducks and geese willing to occupy the airspace above those spots aren’t going to commit to something that doesn’t look (and sound) an awful lot like their feathered brethren. Fortunately for today’s duck junkie, there are plenty of killer options for pulling a…

IF YOU DO NOT WANT A BOAT, you best have someone check your pulse. The mobility a boat offers adds so much to the adventure and raw fun of the experience, and of course opens up such a broader world of possibilities. It’s just like fishing. You either have a boat and are hostile and mobile, or you are the sucker stuck on the bank and far more limited, wishing you had one. God bless capitalism: Intrepid boat manufacturers have you covered from the simple budget-minded models clear on up to state-of-the-art, sophisticated, mission-specific waterfowl attack craft. I once gave up on the ducks in late season to go chase coyotes, only to hear a big flooded timber roost of mallards chattering close to where we hunted, near a lake.…

YOU’RE OVER IT. You spent most of last season dealing with jams and constant cleaning. Not good. You work hard to earn feet-down encounters, and when they happen, you expect your shotgun to perform. If it doesn’t, it’s no better than a paperweight. You deserve something better—a field partner that will go bang each time the trigger is squeezed. Good news the crop of 2020 wing busters are shotshellcycling masterpieces. Each is fitted with its own unique features sure to keep you blanketing the air with pellets. Sure, you’re going to drop some greenbacks. Plan on it. It will be money well spent. When you consider technologies like Benelli’s Surface Treatment, Remington’s VersaPort Gas System, Browning’s Kinetic Drive and the list goes on, you’re getting a lot of bang for…

WHEN IT COMES TO WATERFOWLING, most of us accept, and even welcome, a certain level of misery. It’s a rite of pass age and, generally, the worse the weather gets the better the hunting becomes. Tack on a long, cold pre-dawn boat ride or maybe a two-mile hike through the muck, and now you’re really starting to earn your duck killing stripes. All of this is well and good, but there really isn’t any reason to be overly miserable, because after all, we are supposed to enjoy our blind time. To achieve this, and to stave off the worst weather and the discomfort it can deliver, you need top-notch clothing and waders that are covered in camouflage meant to work in your chosen hunting environments. Following are all of those…