duck hunting | Hunter by Design

The Haul

January 14, 2013 by nremole Leave a Comment

The Haul

Hello fellow hunters! I apologize for my long period of silence, and quite frankly, I can’t promise that it won’t happen again. I am a father, husband, provider, and hunter just like you and sometimes hunter gets pushed down the priority pole. That being said, I will try to do better and must say that I truly enjoy sharing my feats and defeats with you!

As you can see, I’ve been doing some waterfowling this past month and I must say that I’ve had some pretty amazing action. These pics are from a hunt that I was on in North MO. We were hunting in a cut cornfield and thankfully for us, there was a good snow on. This was helpful in concealing our layout blinds. The corn stubble was pretty short so with the snow covers over our layout blinds, we blended in quite well. There were 6 of us hunting so in Missouri this means 18 geese to kill.

On this hunt we set out approx 5 dozen full body decoys along with a few shell decoys mixed in. At the time there were literally thousands of canadian geese in the area. It was a cold day and the stiff north wind wasn’t making it any better. The first groups came in and it quickly became obvious that these geese had been shot at over decoys before. A few sailed right in landing not 15 yrds from our blinds, but the bigger groups kept swinging in and peeling off. It wasn’t long before we had as many as it seemed we were going to get from those groups into range, we made the call and steel began to fly!

This became the story of the day, with groups working us low, but not quite completely committed. We would consistently get smaller groups fully committed, but the bigger groups kept wanting to land to our left or right. I’m not complaining, it was an awesome hunt it simply took a bit longer than a could’ve had we had geese that would fully commit. We all were able to get our 3 goose limit and even collected a band in the process! It’s hard to beat the sight of approx 200 canadians locked up tornadoing down into your decoy spread! I have some video from this hunt along with a few others that I’ll be sharing soon – stay tuned!!

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

Resident Goose Hunt – Mixed Bag!

October 14, 2012 by nremole Leave a Comment

Talk about a mixed bag, this is something that you don’t see every day! In MO we have a one week long early season that’s designed to cut down on the resident Canadian Goose population. We tried to do our part this last Tuesday!

The weather was beautiful and we decided to set up on a pond that consistently holds some resident geese. We only had to wait til about 7:30 and here they came. They worked perfectly! The came in from behind and banked hard to get the wind right, from there there feet dropped down and they sailed right in to our decoys. I gave the call to take’em as the geese sailed in to approx. 20 yards. As they say, the rest is history!! We didn’t shoot the greatest, but then again, it was the first time out (that’s our excuse anyway!).

About 30 min later my lil hunting buddy whispered excitedly, “Dadddy, there’s a coyote!” I turned to see a coyote not 40 yrds behind us slipping up to the back of our decoys. I give him a few “kisses” and it locked up just in time for me to put the hammer down with some 3 1/2″ steel 2 shot. The coyote never knew what hit it as it dropped in its tracks.

This is the most diverse mixed bag that I’ve ever had a chance to take part it. It was a very fun and memorable hunt. Good luck to you guys out there, be safe!!

Filed Under: Predator Huntin, Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: duck hunting, Geese, Goose Decoys, Goose Hunting, Hunting Pics

Custom Vinyl Decals for Waterfowl Trailers

January 6, 2012 by nremole 2 Comments

I try not to plug myself very often, but here in the past month I’ve had significant interest in my waterfowl trailer layouts/decals. I wanted to show a few of the projects/layouts that I’ve designed and give you a brief rundown of the process. As you can see from the pics, I have both geese and duck decals. All of my decals I personally traced off of pics of actual birds, so if you’re looking for the cartoon style of decals these are not them. A significant amount of time was spent trying to capture the reality of the bird along with the functionality of vinyl decals.

I can do these layouts custom, meaning that if you’re wanting more birds, less birds – whatever – it can be accomplished. The colors of the actual decals can also be switched up depending on your trailer color and what sort of look you are wanting. I can also design logos that can be incorporated into the layout. The logos I make are saved in all the formats that you could possibly need to do anything from letterhead, to website headers, to signs, to t-shirts, to hats, etc etc.

All the vinyls that I use are high performance which is the highest grade vinyl that can be used and in reality, the only vinyl recommended for vehicle graphics. You can definitely get graphics cheaper with economy grade vinyls, but in the long run, they become more expensive as they’ll last about half as long on most applications. Sometimes I’ll cut the vinyl myself and send it to you, or I also like to work with a local sign co in your area. I send them the files needed and they cut and prepare the vinyl for installation and/or install depending on what you’d prefer.

Plese feel free to contact me with any questions regarding your trailer/vehicle. Best way to reach me is by email at www.HunterByDesign@gmail.com. In the mean time, good luck hunting!!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: decoying geese, Deer Video, duck hunting, duck hunting pics, Geese, Goose Decoys, Waterfowl graphics

Great Start to the New Year!

January 2, 2012 by nremole Leave a Comment

9 Geese (limit) & 2 Ducks

Had a great hunt this morning with my best little hunting buddy and two great friends. We were hunting a big pond that both geese and ducks frequent so we set out our spred with ducks on one side of us and geese on the other. I’ve been very successful with this layout as both geese and ducks will usually come right into the hole between the two groups.

We had 4 big honkers come and sit down about 25yrds in front of us – the only problem was that it was 10 minutes before shooting time They slowly swam away and there was nothing we could do but watch. We didn’t have to wait long. About 25min later we had a group of about 30 geese do a half circle, they locked up about 150 yards out and sailed right into our faces! I gave the “take’em” when they were about 3 feet off the water with their feet dangling. The pic pretty much tells the rest of the story! We were still in the process of reloading and taking care of some stragglers when a group of about 20 gadwall came sailing in. Unfortanately we weren’t completely reloaded so we only managed to bring 2 out of that group.

We stayed put for about 20 more minutes only to watch two more geese sail right in to us, but we were limited out so once again, we had to just watch them swim away! We decided that it would be best to clear out so they could come back in if they wished and give the pond a break. It’s been an extremely mild winter up to this point and we really don’t have many migratory birds in the area. It’s in these times when scouting is of utmost importance as there aren’t necessarily a lot of opportunities. Thankfully, we made the most of our opportunity today and ended the morning with a great bag of geese and even a couple of ducks!

Happy New Year to You All!!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: duck hunting, duck hunting pics, Geese, Goose Decoys, Goose Hunting, Hunting Pics, Hunting Video, Missouri Hunting, waterfowl hunting

Fast Little Ducks

December 27, 2011 by nremole Leave a Comment

Greenwing Teal

Wrapped up the duck season in North MO (north zone) this morning with my twin cousins Bryan & Ryan. We made our last stand today on a farm pond that has been the resting place for a few ducks and some geese. The action came early and fast this morning and I do mean fast. I don’t know if you’ve ever shot teal before, but they are little speed demons! We didn’t shoot great, but I’ve seen much worse.

On to chasing geese over the next few days – I’ll keep you posted!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: decoying geese, duck hunting, duck hunting pics, Goose Hunting, Hunting, Hunting Pics, Turkey Hunting Video, waterfowl hunting

Gun Dog at Last

December 13, 2011 by nremole Leave a Comment

Jessie

Fetchin Up

Successful Greenhead Retrieve

I grew up with laborador retrievers, so when we got a place with a big back yard my first thought was to get a lab. The only problem with that is that we also had two very small children. If you know anything about labs, they aren’t the most calm dogs in the world, especially as pups. We opted for a schnauzer which has turned out to be a great choice, but not much help in the duck blind.

Our kids have since gotten bigger as has my desire to have a real huntin dog. Retrieving ducks and geese out of water with a fishing pole and treble hook works, but not nearly as effectively or as natural as a dog doing what it’s bred to do. Working with my dogs in the past had really made up for half of my enjoyment of waterfowling. I loved watching those dogs jump in the icy water time and again without a moments hesitation. It does something special to the bond between a man and his dog to see them work so hard for you (even though they would rather be doing that than anything else!)

So when I saw an ad online for half lab/half golden retriever pups, I was very excited. I love training dogs and to be doing it again after a several year drought is a lot of fun! I’m no training master, but I’m not half bad. It’s very rewarding to see your dog do the things you’ve worked hours to ingrain in them. I’m hoping that by next year she’ll be ready to work – doing what we both love to do. Now if I can just have someone board her for the 1st couple of months as she tries to chew on everything in sight and howls/cries when she’s left alone, I’d really have it made!

Filed Under: Waterfowl Huntin Tagged With: dog training, duck hunting, duck hunting pics, Geese, Goose Decoys, Goose Hunting, green heads, Hunting, Hunting Pics, mallard drake, Missouri Hunting, waterfowl hunting

Polar Bear Club Honorary Member

December 7, 2011 by nremole Leave a Comment

That's How It Felt

If you had asked me this past weekend if I would like to take an early morning swim complete with rubber boots, wool pants, multiple layers of coats/sweatshirts, all in 29 degree weather, I probably would have told to call me on Monday to set up an appointment for a psych eval. Then ask me to do all this with my 4yr old and I would’ve really thought you were nuts! Well I’m sure you’ve guessed this by now, but that’s exactly what we did this Monday.

We were just finishing up a less than stellar hunt with Chris, a good friend of mine. I had just trolled around in my canoe picking up the decoys and went back to the little island to pick up my boy and Chris. My boy came in first and sat between my legs and we waited as Chris loaded up the canoe with the rest of our stuff. I’m still not sure what happened next, but the next thing I remember is that Chris was getting into the canoe and all of a sudden the canoe is upside down. The water was deep and I wasn’t able to touch so I went in up to my neck while holding my boy up as high as possible. Chris was quick to right the canoe and I was able to get my son back into the canoe even though it was half full of water.

Talk about exhilarating!! I was trying to say something to Chris but I just couldn’t quite catch my breath! I don’t think I’ve ever felt such shocking cold in my life! We rushed to the Jeep and started the thawing process. Fortunately we all survived and though we were very cold it is something we are laughing about now. It did open my eyes to the danger that cold water and boating/canoeing presents, especially loaded down with winter clothing.

Thought I’d share the experience with you all – good luck out there and above all, be safe!!

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

My Ears Are Still Ringing

December 2, 2011 by nremole Leave a Comment

Mixed Bag

Ducks & Geese on the Blind

Getting your limit of geese is a great day as is getting your limit of greenheads. Put the two limits together and you’ve just had an amazing day, especially when you’re completely done by 9:30 in the morning! It’s hard to beat the sight of big ol honkers and fat greenheads locked up sailing into your decoys! We were blessed this morning!

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

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

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