First time in about 20 years that went duck hunting this season. Hunted 2 mornings and killed 7 teal the first morning and 8 the second. It was fun and had a great time at the camp. However it didn’t light a fire back in me.
This was the first time I haven’t been in exactly 20 years myself 18-38. I’ve only been a handful of times since I’ve moved back to FL. When I first started duck hunting the St. John’s River felt like an untapped resource. All I had was a kayak and a shotgun and could paddle 200 yards from the launch and kill a limit. You can still have good hunts now but they are few and far between on open public land. I’ve had one good hunt out there since I moved back 4 years ago, but it took a week of scouting, and sleeping in the boat in the hole the night before opening morning. There are still some good quota hunts where you can kill birds but they are usually only open 1 day a week for scouting and work doesn’t allow for me to make those days so it’s a crap shoot going in blind the day of the hunt if your going to be on the X or not.
With that being said I surprisingly didn’t miss it and only thought about going once.
Worst year ever. I bought my federal stamp Wednesday before the season went out. Only because I finally had some ducks. Ducks were in the river and creek during the snow and hard freeze. Lots of full straps. Up until that point it was terrible
First time I did not go to Arkansas. They had their worst year in the lease and the original farm form mid 90s. The club killed half of what the original used to kill. Pitiful