Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Me vs. North Dakota, Part 1 in a series

When one does something they think they should not, ought not, or could not do, there are a variety of feelings that course through the mind. Feelings such as stupidity, fortuity, calamity, and sleepy all crossed my mind in the 48 hours leading up to the departure of my trip out west.

 I'm going to attempt to tackle the highlights from this trip in roughly 8 or 9 installments. I suppose that if there were chapters, they'd be:

1) Going - doing what it takes to go and getting there
2) Day One - The first day of scouting and realizations
3) Day Two - The first hunt and the long drive
4) Day Three - Hunting again and again and making corrections
5) Day Four - Staying wet
6) Day Five - Getting cold and loving it
7) A Break
8) They call him Wild Jim
9) Return to Normalcy

Still, anytime one takes on an event such as this, one must say their prayers and eat their vegetables. I'll be forever thankful to the Good Lord Above for delivering me from Dixie and into the vast and spectacular prairies.

Before I ever decided I would go out to North Dakota, I put pen to paper and made a list of qualifying reasons. For those who want to go just to kill ducks, please, consider elsewhere. Hire a guide in North Carolina. They can put you on a limit of ducks, usually. North Dakota doesn't guarantee a limit of ducks, either. A trip to the Prairies is set aside for someone who has been fortunate or wise with money, too. It's not a cheap trip to make. In fact, it might be cheaper to higher a guide if you're looking for full volume hunts of mallards and geese. I, for some reason, have no interest in shooting ducks out of a pasture, though. To me, duck hunting is about casting the decoys into water, and hoping for the magic of migration to take place before you...hopefully within good gunning range. Either Way, this is what my list looked like...
1) To see the prairies. It sounds simple. And I love a landscape with a good camera as much as I love the heft of a pair of redheads on my duck strap. The prairies are big. They're the biggest thing I've ever seen, save for the Atlantic Ocean. Whether it's the micro-hills of the central and western Dakotas, or the barn floor flat eastern portions of the Dakotas, there is something to behold for all.

2) I'm a history buff. There's no sense in going to one of the most historic parts of our continent, and not make small attempts at soaking some up. I went to the Knife River Indian Villages, to Native American Art Galleries, to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and to Fort Berthold. South Dakota offers more in the way of good history, but North Dakota is still teeming with it. I also "toured" some old claim shacks, barns, and other lost and founds left for prairie winters. It boggled my mind to wonder who the last person was to cross the threshold of certain buildings. Often, most were revitalized into storage shelters for obsolete farm implements, but it was still incredible to see these sights.

3) I wanted to know what Ducks Unlimited had done with my banquet dollars. It's been a bit since I've cut my one way relationship with Ducks Unlimited. I had always wanted to know what these banquets did for my favorite animals. One goal was to hunt the lands purchased by Ducks Unlimited dollars.

4) I also wanted to hunt lands that were purchased with my Duck Stamp Dollars. Boys and Girls, these lands far outnumber Ducks Unlimited Lands. In fact, I'd like a perpetual membership to the Federal Waterfowl Stamp.

5) I wanted to see ducks. I love those things. Holy Jesus how they amaze me when they fly. The feel and irridescence of their feathers when they first come to bag is almost overwhelming, especially if you're either examining the subtle beauty of a gadwall or the simple and sophisticated lines of a canvasback.

6) I also wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I was sick and tired of hearing about how great it was out there, as it pertained to duck hunting. I'm almost a follower. Still, I knew I could make my trip better than ever if I did what I wanted to and not what others might.

So with that said, I'll just say that I came back with plenty of meat for the freezer, a broken shotgun, a fine example of Northern Plains Indian Pottery, a piece of lost government property, and almost everything else I took with me. I'll expound on the Chapter 1 part very soon.

North Carolina's duck season is about 10 days away. Signs point to a barely favorable opener. The hurricane certainly disrupted the northern flight. Still, much of that water is salty and ill-suited to support an awful lot of waterfowl.

The Easton Waterfowl Festival is also next week. I'm going - kinda. I'll be going to the Guyette and Schmidt auction. I'm hoping to win a good bird and also find a good bird or two in the "tailgating" that takes place outdoors. I hate to say what I'm looking to win, just in case there's someone else out there who insists on watching me spend. Either way, the Easton Waterfowl Festival is THE EVENT for waterfowlers. I'm knocking out my bucket list items at breakneck speed here lately. Others on my list are brant and black ducks from New Jersey  - which is coming in December, as well as hunting Currituck.

Anyway, take a kid or a new hunter on Opening Day. Make 'em buy a duck stamp, too.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Early Season Updates

I havent had much luck this early season. I didn't get drawn for any hunts at Lake Mattamuskeet, which is the most overrated hunt in North Carolina by the way. I did however get drawn for hunting at Currituck National Wildlife Refuge. I did see some ducks when I hunted yesterday, but I didn't shoot any. I was however fortunate enough to share themarsh with an good hunting buddy and a future hunting buddy. Even though she was a female, the bugs, alligators, absence of a bathroom, or the strange animal noises in the marsh didn't deter her. She didn't even complain. My only grip about the woman...she had her camp hat monogrammed.

Anyway, back to Currituck. First off, let me be clear. This is not a "dream" hunt for all you Raleigh Riff Raffers out there. But then again, the only place in the whole state that is owned by the NCWRC that I wuld recommend is the Futch Impoundment. However, that recommendation is made by everyone, and it's now an impossible draw and it's awarded to the skybusting and duckcall squealing crowd whose looking to employ their new-found "expertise" to work at a place where "there's ducks"... anyway, the place is unhuntable come youth day because of the clowns that hunt the draw dates. Managing a property is one thing, but if you don't manage it's hunters, then it's a waste of the former and an injustice to the latter.

Anyway, back to Currituck. Currituck is as historic as it gets. I'm sure the blind I was drawn for has had a blind or some semblance of one for almost 2 centuries. Some of the spartina grasses out there have seen the days when canvasbacks, redheads, and blackheads screamed over in sun-darkening numbers. I'm sure the yaupon bushes there have seen tons of corn floated by them, too. Currituck is cool for what it was, not what it is. I just want one duck. Even if it's a merganser. Amen.

The coolest part in my mind - and consider the fact that I have an almost insatiable lust for old North Carolina decoys and waterfowl history - is that I'm gonna hunt in waters that have been paddled and motored by folks like Joseph Knapp, Lee Dudley, Bob Morse, Grover Cleveland, and countless and nameless dignitaries of yesteryear. But the "important" people are less impressive than the several hundred locals that plied the waters to scratch out a very respectable living in the only way they could. They shot ducks and fed the wealthy with them. Today, the job of feeding the wealthy has also been outsourced overseas. Us American's can really get it wrong sometimes. Still, the boys got it wrong then, too.

Currituck is kinda looked at shamefully by some for all of the markethunting slaughter that transpired. Still, if it werent for the hunters that came and noticed the decline in the 20's and 30's, we might have not realized that the resource was limited, and so was the source of the resource - the prairie pothole region. I hate to think that people make the mistake of mistaking history. Waterfowl conservation didn't start in Washington DC. It started in Currituck, North Carolina and on the flats of the Susquehanna River.

I keep rambling. My hunt. So yeah, I've turned over the hunting rig to an all wood reunion of old wooden decoys with re-heads and some contemporary wooden decoys. They're cool. and now I get to put them BACK in to  Currituck Sound, where most of them got there first swim a century ago. I'm excited to see those big battery redhead blocks floating out there. In fact, I look forward to lifting the five pound goliaths from the water, especially after they're saturated from the waters of Currituck Sound. I also put foundy weights on all my decoys. Foundry weight were made by the different Iron foundries along the North Carolina and Virginia border. The rust that is found on these very collectible waterfowl artifacts was established from the salinity in the Currituck Sound. I'll get to add a new coat. I'll also get to make the treacherous crossing in the cold of winter. Though, I'll have the luxury of a craft that self propels at 40 miles an hour, it'll still be incredible.

An early season update...Flights of teal are here one day and gone the next along the northern beaches on the soundside. Pintails are using the shoal grasses that are found in the northwest corner of the state. Most downeast North Carolina hunting is all wood ducks for the moment. Nash and Wilson county areas have good numbers of wood ducks, too. Unfortunately, I haven't seen good numbers of localized black ducks, though. The season expires on Saturday at sunset. I'll take off for North Dakota in two weeks. North Dakota got snow today, hopefully delivering new ducks, with more to come. Anyway, go scout.