Quack Quack!

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MrFreeze

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Duck hunters sound off!

Ok, so it's technically not opening day tomorrow down here in FL for the ole' duckies, but I don't consider the early season as "official," so I'm calling tomorrow Opening Day!

I'm headed out from Tampa tonight at 1 am to make it over to Merritt Island for The Rush at 4 am :neener: Anyone else going out tomorrow morning?

Good luck, and be safe!

Travis
 
Our season in Texas has been open for two weeks, although I haven't gone yet (I know, shame on me). It has gotten really crowded here in the last few years so I tend to wait until the weather gets a little colder and the barnies stop going out. The ducks don't come until it gets colder anyway. I'll be out bright and early...well dark and early. Good luck.
 
A guy I work with has agreed to go with me Sunday, so I will be indoctrinating a newbie. So that may be fun.

MrFreeze,

Do you get mostly mallards down that flyway or do you get eiders and oldsquaws and the like? Are you hunting out in a bay?
 
I have been hunting for a couple weeks in southern WI. It has been really REALLY slow so far. Hopefully it will pick up this weekend.
 
HSMITH - I've been getting out in the northern areas for weeks now, and it has been extremely slow (unless you count mergansers... :barf: ).

I've seen more greenheads moving in the past couple days than I have all season so far. I'll be deer hunting over the weekend, but hope to catch the last day or so of the northern area season next week.

Hopefully you southern region guys will have some good shooting for the next week or so.
 
Duckslayer,

Merritt Island is a federal wildlife reserve on Florida's east coast that is a buffer zone for the Kennedy Space Center...it was recently mentioned in Field & Stream as a good area to hunt, although the hunting pressure is tremendous. Here's a pretty decent map of the area:

http://nbbd.com/godo/minwr/closedareas.html

While out hunting, you get a real awesome view of the launch pads and the main vehicle building. Much of the area has a system of dikes and levies that create a pretty neat area to hunt, although there is some open water that's inside the main barrier (and it also boarders the Atlantic).

I would say we get a fair number of mallards down this way, but they are definitely not the majority. We tend to see a lot of blue/greenwing teal, pintail, some Florida ducks, etc.

I went over to Merritt Island last weekend to scout everything out...didn't see many ducks at all. We ended up talking to some of the biologists that work the reserve and they said duck numbers are down all over, not just at the reserve...he mentioned that this week's cold front might bring some of them down to the area, and it seems to have worked (at least a little...I gotta be optimistic :p

Good luck to you all!

Travis
 
Im a duck hunter without water. :neener:

Well, not really. I grew up duck hunting in Ohio but since I've been in Arizona duck hunting is a figment of my imagination.
 
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