Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
Several slow days this past week, but little by little we're starting to see more ducks. We worked a few good groups in the timber this morning and I picked up one last minute Christmas present.
Slowly picking up
- Thread starter Southern Sportsman
- Start date
Yessir, I figured you had been after them. Nice jewelry you go there. Thanks for sharing.
Displaced_Vol
Well-Known Member
Awesome. Dead as dead could be for me this morning. Glad y'all got into em. I'll be headed west next week, hope there's still some around.
Saw a bunch of ducks in middle tn this morning. (A bunch as in compared to normal, saw at least 25-30 holed up in a cove, I bet it more though) I was only was able to take one from my spot, guess I didn't pick the right spot today. Not many people out either so likely not much pressure on them for today at least. I only heard a few other shots in the distance. Good stuff and hoping they stick around!
tophat
Well-Known Member
They are picking ever sense Tuesday they started showing up. Ky. Lake has been pretty decent. Next week should be pretty good to.
tophat
Well-Known Member
Looking good today was a pretty good hunt also in Springville bottoms
Displaced_Vol
Well-Known Member
Good looking duck.
jag1
Well-Known Member
Have you ever seen the Big River series by Ralph McDonald? One is Camden bottoms, Hatchie Bottoms, Obion and Springville. I've got the set. Bad picture quality.
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Don'tDrinkTinks
Well-Known Member
Headed out shortly to get ice eaters going. Should be a good one in the morning.
jag1
Well-Known Member
Should be. Ive had tomorrow circled for days now and today I just learned my in-law gave me the gift of quarantine from a family gathering I never wanted to go to for this very reason.
Displaced_Vol
Well-Known Member
I've heard good reports out of west KY and west TN dating back to the first of this week. Makes me think some showed up a couple days ahead of this front. Here locally, I think it actually pushed more out than it brought in, but I haven't been able to scout a ton over the last couple days. We had enough wind there was still plenty of ponds that didn't freeze.
be interested to see what happens when we thaw.
say all that to say I still don't know much. Bird hunting this morning, probably won't get to duck hunt again until the next west KY trip, next weekend. Shoot em if you got em!
be interested to see what happens when we thaw.
say all that to say I still don't know much. Bird hunting this morning, probably won't get to duck hunt again until the next west KY trip, next weekend. Shoot em if you got em!
Update for middle tn today: I believe ducks have pushed on to warmer pastures. Not much of any activity compared to a couple days ago. Only heard a few others shots in the area, nothing to make you think anyone was doing much better. Hoping the slight uptick in temp brings some back over the next couple of days. I have scouted a few spots that normally are pretty busy, they were idle.
Don'tDrinkTinks
Well-Known Member
Thought we'd have a banger this morning in AR... pretty much a bust. Hopefully tomorrow is better after everything has thawed.
Crosshairy
Well-Known Member
Man that is a pretty slough!!
We didn't see many mallards along the river, but the wood ducks were pretty plentiful.
Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
It our first year hunting it. It was owned by a local timber company all my life and borders the farm I grew up hunting. I've spent a lot of mornings trying to call turkeys across a creek from there to me and assuming the deer I was hunting was laid up across the line. A couple years ago they finally cut some of the timber - select cut that left a respectable number of good trees. The man who's been gracious enough to let me hunt with him since I was a kid was then able to buy it. Last year we paid close attention to where the ducks preferred during a backwater. We weren't sure how the grade would work out, but he was able to add a one small levee plug across a drainage ditch and flood 100+ acres of standing timber this year. We've already had some spectacular hunts and my band on Christmas eve was the second one we've picked up in there this year. Working ducks into true standing timber and shooting them at 10-20 yards is incredible. Something I've only done a handful of times during backwaters before now. For me, killing 10 ducks in there is a whole lot more satisfying than killing 50 in a flooded corn field.
Crosshairy
Well-Known Member
I'm totally with you there. I started duck hunting about 7 years ago now, and have shifted toward that being my preferred pursuit and basically haven't deer hunted the last 3 years. I'm mostly doing timber hunts as well on public ground, and it's just something special that the field / open-water hunting can't replicate. I think (for me) it has to do with the diversity of habitat - when you are hunting timber, you might have a turkey light in a tree over your hole, or an otter come swimming down the slough, or a variety of birds flitting around over your heads. Then when the ducks work through the trees it seems way more dramatic than a long approach in a field, since you often don't see them coming from miles away. An empty sky in the timber might not mean anything! An empty sky on a field/lake means there are no birds for miles, perhaps.
Good luck on your new spot!!
