2011 January | Hunter by Design

Bag Limit

January 29, 2011 By nremole Leave a Comment

3 big honkers

I had an excellent hunt today (1/25). I didn’t get out into the field until about 3:30pm and was all set by 4pm. I don’t think I was set up more that 15 minutes when I heard a lonesome honk out in front of me. When you’re hunting by yourself, that’s a great sound. Singles are great ways to fill a limit without educating an entire group. The goose circled a couple times before it fell right on in feet dangling down – I came out of the blind when the goose was about 10 ft off the ground and I don’t think it made it to 15ft – the goose worked into my decoy spread perfectly!

Second group came in about 15 min later and did a few passes, one goose actually landed about 10yrds from me, but I wanted to wait for the group to commit to hopefully double. They committed big time, right into my “c”. I raised up, put the bead on a goose and click! I quickly worked the safety back on then off again, found another goose & click! Panic! They were getting away now so I quickly pumped the gun once and ended up making good on that shot.

With one goose left to kill, I looked ahead to see about 15 geese with wings locked just about 200yrds out. They never thought twice, they sailed straight into my face with landing gear down. I picked a goose, squeezed the trigger, and that concluded what was an excellent late season hunt here in southwest MO.

Best of luck to you as well – just a few more days of season left here in MO so I’m trying to make the best of it!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: decoying geese, duck hunting, duck hunting pics, Geese, Goose Decoys, Goose Hunting, Hunting, waterfowl hunting

Waterfowl Trailer – Graphic Design

January 23, 2011 By nremole Leave a Comment

Here are a few pics of my cousin’s waterfowl trailer. I designed the layout and cut the vinyl graphics and they did the installation of the graphics themselves. The trailer turned out really great and it definitely turns some heads as it makes the waterfowl statement loud and clear!

They also added some shelving, added brackets to the sides to hold up their layout blinds, and installed lights inside this trailer to make it even more waterfowl friendly. I’ll have to get you a few pics of the inside as well here real soon. I’ve hunted out of this trailer a few times now and I can tell you that it will spoil you rotten! If you’re a serious waterfowler and have some extra cash, this is money well spent.

You all that follow me know that I rarely push myself or my design work on you all, but if you do have some design work you’d like to have done or know of someone else,, please feel free to shoot me an email @ hunterbydesign@gmail.com . I have my own plotter where I can produce vinyl graphics to install – if you’re close enough to me I can install them for you, otherwise I can send you the graphics and you can do it yourself with just a bit of instruction.

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: duck decals, Geese, goose decals, hunting decals, hunting design, outdoor design, vinyl decals, vinyl duck decals, vinyl goose decals, waterfowl hunting, waterfowl trailer, waterfowl trailer design

Great Day in the Field!

January 22, 2011 By nremole Leave a Comment

Success! 28 Mallards - 9 Geese

He/She Duck - Interesting!

Did some field hunting today with some great results! I ended up scouting a field with another group of hunters last night – a field that we both had permission to hunt, so we decided to hunt it together today. They were a great group of guys and hopefully we’ll join forces again in the future.

I’ve been pretty much out of waterfowling for the past few years, but I must say, that this has to be one of the best hunts I’ve ever been on. I’ve never shot nor seen so many ducks field hunting in my life. I couldn’t put a number on them, but there were multiple times whtn it looked like a tornado above us as the ducks circled down into our decoys!

All seven of us shot our limit of mallards (4 each) and we ended up with 9 geese. It’s hard to beat a day where you kill your limit of greenheads plus mix in some fat canadas as well! I could go on and on but suffice it to say that there’s something special about seeing that many ducks with wings cupped – chattering all the way down into range – what a magnificent sight!!

Great day guys, I enjoyed the company and the hunt!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: decoying geese, duck hunting, duck hunting pics, Geese, Goose Decoys, Goose Hunting, green heads, mallard drake, waterfowl hunting

Great work!

January 20, 2011 By nremole Leave a Comment

Proud of Dad's Duck

Pretty Wood Duck

A friend of mine from several states over sent me a few pics of a wood duck that he & his friend shot a few days ago. His friend took his 8yr old son that looks to be very proud of his dad! His pic above says it all. Hunting is such a great way to connect with your kids – congrats on the duck and more importantly – on making a memory that will last a lifetime!

Thanks for sharing!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: decoying geese, duck hunting, duck hunting pics, Geese, Goose Decoys, Hunting, mallard drake, waterfowl hunting

Geese Down

January 18, 2011 By nremole Leave a Comment

Results from the Morning Hunt

We had to change things up a bit today as we were hunting a cow pasture that was ate down pretty short. We ended up seeking cover under a couple trees out in the middle of the pasture. Most of the time you want to get away from trees as much as possible while goose hunting, but we had just seen them there the day before and since we were needing some cover we thought we’d give it a try.

As you can tell, we did have some success today, but they still didn’t work extremely well. You never know with waterfowl, but it seemed as if the trees might have been throwing them off just a bit. The trees didn’t do too much for the shooting either as we probably should’ve had 6 down (there was 3 of us hunting) had we had better openings above us.

Still a fun day out in creation and hopefully I’ll be able to get back out there in the near future. Until then, good luck and stay safe!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: decoying geese, decoys, duck hunting, duck hunting pics, Goose Decoys, Goose Hunting, Hunting, hunting blog, waterfowl hunting

Fun Day on the River

January 14, 2011 By nremole 1 Comment

Success

Golden Eye

The Results

Had a great day on the edge of the river this morning! I started the day off with a big bang that cleared the skies – let me explain. We had everything set up and it was just past shooting time when three mallards started working our decoys. They ended up hovering 15 feet over our spread and my cousin said, “Just tell me when.” I replied with take ‘em which I followed up with a shot. My cousin had his gun up but never got to shoot, because my first shot had taken out all 3 ducks! 2 mallard drakes and a hen. I do believe that’s the first time I’ve tripled, I know it is the first time that only 3 came in and I shot all 3 with one shot!! I was focused in on one of the greenheads, but evidently they lined up just right for me as I squeezed off the shot – talk about lucky I think that just might bring my shooting percentage over the 100% mark! I’ll do my best to humble myself tomorrow I’m sure.

We ended up finishing the day with 8 ducks – 3 mallards, 4 gadwall, and a golden eye. Not too bad for two guys. A beautiful morning (a little too pretty) but the ducks still filtered in giving us a very memorable hunt on the river.

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: decoying geese, duck hunting, duck hunting pics, Geese, Goose Hunting, green heads, mallard drake, triple, waterfowl hunting

Mixed Bag!

January 8, 2011 By nremole Leave a Comment

Hero Pose

7 mallards - 2 gadwall - 1 pintail

Pintail Drake

One of the great pleasures of duck hunting is the fact that you never know what may try to sit in your decoys. Our day started this morning with this pintail drake sitting right in the middle of our decoys – what a way to start the day!

Pintails are rare in the places I hunt and to be perfectly honest, this is the first pintail that I’ve ever shot – and only been on one other hunt when someone else shot one. What a beautiful bird – love the long graceful neck!

The pics pretty much tell the story. We had a great day today, especially considering that the day started as clear as a bell. Still not all that many ducks down here in southwest MO (at least where we were at), but I’m expecting some good things from this nasty weather coming this next week.

Unfortunately we had to set up facing the southeast today, so I wasn’t able to catch any of the action on camera. Hopefully I’ll be getting some footage here before too long.

Best of luck to you all – happy hunting!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: decoying ducks, duck decoys, duck hunting, duck hunting pics, green heads, mallard drake, pintail drake, waterfowl hunting

Duck Hunting South Zone (Missouri)

January 7, 2011 By nremole Leave a Comment

Hunting the River

Mallard Drake

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a great 2010, but regardless of how your 2010 was I hope you’re expecting some great things in 2011. My hope is to live intentionally this year with my relationship with God, my family, with my career opportunities and just live the adventure that comes with living a life directed by a power bigger than myself.

Now on to hunting. Had a fun two days of hunting down here in southwest MO, not a lot to show for it, but a good time none-the-less. On Wednesday a friend of mine and I saw a conservative estimate of 1000 ducks, 0 of which we killed .

Yesterday we saw maybe 50 ducks total and ended up taking three mallards, the only three that came within 500yrds from us! It’s crazy how fickle waterfowl can be, especially in the late season – you just never know.

I’m hoping to get a bit more hunting in this Saturday, we’re down to just a few more weeks of season so I’m trying to get out there every chance I can get.

I’m not making too big of a dent in the waterfowl population so if any of you other waterfowlers out there have some pics along with a story of a successful hunt – please share!

Good luck!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: duck hunting, duck hunting pics, duck pics, mallard drake, Missouri waterfowl, waterfowl hunting

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