Wood Ducks on Barkley Lake - 9-24-11

Wood Duck season in KY ran from 9/21 to 9/25. Due to work and the amount of travel time to may favorite spot, I had to wait until the weekend to get out there, so it was Saturday (9/24) before I was able to hunt.

I launched my duck boat at a ramp one bay over from where I like to hunt on Barkley Lake, one that I have hunted many times during the early season over the past 10 years with much success. I motored to the area, and then beached it on the bank near the back of the bay. I sat up in the usual spot, in some buckbrush that was kind of on a point where the feeder creek of the bay swings right by it. The water level was a bit higher than what it usually is this time of year, which made it perfect. I pitched out three decoys, two wood duck males and one hen, about 10 yards out from me in the feeder creek channel. I had the whole bay to myself, dead quiet, and a picture perfect morning on the horizon. On a side note, the ThermaCell insect repellent has to be the greatest invention ever for warm weather hunters....I didn't get one mosquito bite, versus past years where they have tried to carry me off!

I was all set up and ready about 10 minutes before shooting hours. In the past, the birds usually started swarming me and the decoys about 5 minutes too early, so I was on high alert and listening closely for the sound of whistling wings. Shooting hours came, and I had yet to see anything at all. After a few minutes, I was starting to wonder if I would ever see anything, because normally by then I had at least seen several. Then, all of sudden, out of nowhere a loud whoosh of wind was heard as a wood duck dive-bombed the decoys and sat down about 10 ft from where I was sitting. It was a hen, and she was so excited to see some other ducks, even though they were fake. She kept talking to them, trying to get a reaction, but the plastic ones said nothing. After a minute or two of talking, she decided to jump up and go elsewhere for some socializing...she got up, and as she was heading away, I dropped her with one shot at about 30 yards. Now, normally I'm a pretty fair shot during the regular duck season, but wood duck season tends to find me a bit rusty with my shooting skills. When that first duck fell on the first shot, I was feeling pretty dang good about myself! I started to walk out of my hiding spot to retrieve the first bird of the day. As I made a few steps, out of the corner of my eye I saw another wood duck making a bee line to the decoys. I quickly shouldered my gun and made a fast shot at about 30 yards, and missed. The duck then quickly made a change of course and was now crossing me at 40 yards, to which I put a good lead on it and dropped it. Now as I said before, I'm usually an awful shot during the early duck season, so I had never dreamed I could pull off such an amazing crossing shot with no practice whatsoever! I now had two birds on the water, which was my limit. I had finished wood duck hunting for the day, in a matter of minutes. I was a bit disappointed that the hunt was over, but then again I was pretty happy with my results.

I retrieved the first downed bird, and then made my way to the second. The second bird was across the feeder creek, so I had to cross it. The feeder creek was under water and not visible, but I knew about where it was at. Well, to my surprise, the feeder creek no longer had the gradual sloping banks that I recalled from years past. Instead, I quickly learned that it had changed to vertical sides! It was like stepping off a ledge, and there was no stopping the forward progression once that bad step was made. I did my dangedest to shift my weight backward, but there was nothing I could do at that point. I went down and up to my neck in water, gun, and all, and partially filling my waders with water. I was not too happy about that. It was as if all the goodness I had enjoyed that morning was suddenly overshadowed by wet britches, two wet cell phones, 8 now useless shotgun shells, and a waterlogged shotgun. Luckily one cell phone was an AT&T Rugby and it never missed a beat. The other phone, the work phone, was a Blackberry, and it apparently does not like water. It died immediately, to which I then got that sick feeling thinking about how to explain that one to the boss. After shaking the water off, and saying a few choice words, I then started to make my way around the feeder creek/ravine to get to my second duck. I finally got to the bird and was still grumbling about being all wet and thinking about how I was planning to fish the remainder of the day in those same clothes. Then, low and behold, all frustrations quickly disappeared as I picked that bird up to see the greatest glimmer of joy that all duck hunters hope to find. It had a band on it! It had been about five years since I had acquired one. I was extremely happy from then on. I packed up my gear, got in the boat, and then spent the remainder of the day fishing with a smile on my face and couldn't think of a more perfect way to start the fall hunting season, well other than the fact that I was still soaking wet and stayed that way until around noon...

I had planned on going back on Sunday for some more action, but the weatherman talked me out of it. I had spent enough hours soaking wet as it was.

Here are some pictures:

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The banded bird was hatched this year, and banded about 7 or 8 miles away by the KDFWR on 8/15/2011

Art, great story and congrats on the band and good shooting. And fall fishing and hunting is just beginning!

My guess is the spring floods changed your feeder creek thiis year.

[QUOTE=roadrunner;467298]My guess is the spring floods changed your feeder creek thiis year.[/QUOTE]

That was my guess as well! Had to be some good flow to cut it like that!

I can imagine what a surprise that was. Well everything turned out good, however this could have been serious. I have never waded with waders but I would think it is not a good thing to have them fill with water.

[QUOTE=roadrunner;467400]I can imagine what a surprise that was. Well everything turned out good, however this could have been serious. I have never waded with waders but I would think it is not a good thing to have them fill with water.[/QUOTE]

They are the thick neoprene waders, which actually help float you if you do go into water over your head. Kind of like a wet suit. The thin rubber ones are a different story.

Nice!

i herd getting a banded wood duck is rare. I am 13 and last year i shoot my first goose. And guess what it was banded. It was my first goose and it was banded. And the weird thing was is i was with my grandpaw that day and he shoot his first goose and it happened to be banded too! But not on the same day he shoot his like 20 years ago. Congrats on the wood duck!:)

[QUOTE=BassFishing Boy;470591]i herd getting a banded wood duck is rare. I am 13 and last year i shoot my first goose. And guess what it was banded. It was my first goose and it was banded. And the weird thing was is i was with my grandpaw that day and he shoot his first goose and it happened to be banded too! But not on the same day he shoot his like 20 years ago. Congrats on the wood duck!:)[/QUOTE]

Where were those banded at?

I shot a banded goose in '02 while hunting in Marshall Co. KY, and it was banded near Springfield IL

I shot a banded wood duck in '04 while hunting near Murray, KY and it was banded somewhere in Iowa.

And of course the latest one I shot was banded just a few miles from where I shot it.

I've been duck and goose hunting since I was 13, which was in 1994. 3 bands in 17 years, so yes they are a bit rare and a special prize. :)

I have seen four geese shot, and all four were banded, and all four bands were in sequence...I was in a pit next to those guys and heard quite a commotion when they got out to retrieve the birds, and understood why when I talked to them later.

[QUOTE=artcarney_agr;467440]They are the thick neoprene waders, which actually help float you if you do go into water over your head. Kind of like a wet suit. The thin rubber ones are a different story.[/QUOTE]

Good story Art. Reminded me of the time I went to Hovey's Lake and tripped over a submerged fence at Pero Slough while walking though some flood waters wearing some old hip waders with a hole in them. I borrowed them from my next door neighbor hunting buddies. He gave me the one's with the hole in them. LOL I was looking down to see if the water level was getting up nearer to the hole when I tripped and fell down. I got soaking wet that day and it was freezing cold. I'll never forget that day for the rest of my life.

Later in life I got a pair of neopreme 3mm waders for fishing in the trout streams in the Smokey Mountains. Those mountain streams are cold for the better parts of the year as the water coming down out of the mountains at 6000 ft high. And the rocks in the stream are covered with algae and very slick. It's easy to fall down when walking on those rocks. But I bought a pair of wading shoes that had felts soles and that helps with traction while in the streams. The water's so clear that you can see down pretty deep so it makes it hard to tell just how deep the water is. Luckyily I fished the year that they had a drought and the water levels were very low in all the streams that summer.

I can remember my first duck hunt as we entered this farmers field in the bottom lands down by the Ohio River in Union Township Vanderburght County IN. There was this slew that had filled up with rainwater to a depth of about 2 ft deep. My neighbor took me with him that day for the first time duck hunting. I thought that we had to build a blind to hide but it was so foggy that morning that the ducks didn't see us. But they knew that the water was there and as sunrise or a little before that time they flew in and landing as we were putting our gear down on the ground. We quickly shot a few wood ducks and the day was over. So I know what you are talking about when you say they flew into your setup right away. I was totally surprised that they would land in that small water. It was only about 30 yard wide by about 50 yards long and 2 ft deep at the most. But it was about 500 yards away from the nearest road/house and at the end of a small area with old trees. We hunted that area with trees for rabbits a few times. My neighbor knew the farmers son as they went to school together with me. I knew that kid who lived there from school but never had hunted on his farm before that. We ended up doing alot of hunting on that farm over the years.

[QUOTE=Moveon;473274] I was totally surprised that they would land in that small water. It was only about 30 yard wide by about 50 yards long and 2 ft deep at the most. But it was about 500 yards away from the nearest road/house and at the end of a small area with old trees.[/QUOTE]

I've seen wood ducks in some of the smallest puddles of water, in the most remote locations.

I set up one time in some really thick buck brush that had just a little spot of open water that was maybe 15 ft x 30 ft...it was way back into some thick woods, and a beaver had a built a dam that flooded the entire woods. I'm telling you, I saw 100s of wood ducks pile into that little hole one evening, all about 10 ft from where I was standing in the brush...it was tough to even want to shoot because I wanted to keep watching them pile in there. I shot my limit, and even got a couple bonus geese that day...and that was the toughest walk I've ever made out of a hunting hole, packing all those those birds and trying to navigate my way out of there in the dark, stumbling on beaver runs and stumps the whole way...it was about an hour walk out, and I pretty well collapsed when I finally made it to the truck. I was sore for about a week, but it was well worth what I saw and did.