USA: North Carolina Waterfowl

[RBurg44]

This years trip was to the OBX in NC. Our main goal was to draw tundra swan tags and then add some duck hunts in to fill a few days worth of hunting. Hoping for redheads, pintails and green wing teal to knock off some of our 45 North American slam. I lined up 7 different outfitters for 6 guys over 4 days hunting 3 guys each for two morning hunts each day. Also rented an ocean front beach house for the week; cheaper then hotel rooms shockingly. We also wanted to hunt birds the “local” way, scissor rigs. This is essentially a boat covered in pines while you have a floating hide around the boat made of pines that the boat parks inside of. Also a way that is actually outlawed throughout the rest of the country besides 3 counties in NC, sinkbox/curtain blind. Pretty much the same as a pit on land without a lid but its in the water.

 

[BRICKBURN]

You got my attention with a blind that is outlawed. Why is it outlawed?

 

[Firebird]

US fish and wildlife determined it was unfair advantage-more effective than layout boats.
always wanted to go body booting out there in NC. Excited for your report!

 

[WAB]

This is gonna be good!

 

[RBurg44]

Well to continue, you can apply for the swan tags together up to groups of 5. So if one of the 5 guys get drawn all 5 of you do. Being we had 6 one guy applied by himself. Well luck would have it the single guy drew and the 5 of us did not. Thankfully they give you preference point to go back next year and you get like a 98% chance of drawing next season. It has been very warm last few weeks no freeze up up north so no reason to push the birds down and no drive for them to feed and put on fat. Alot of birds rafted up in huge flocks on open water but dont move all day.

 

[RBurg44]

Day 1 Wednesday:

Gary, Molnar, Myself
We booked a “swamp” hunt for this day; to go after puddle ducks. Green winged teal, woodies, mallards mainly. Well guide texts me night before asking if we wanted to reschedule or hunt divers that hes saving swamp for Thursday. Since we drove 6 hours to hunt pretty much reschedule isnt an option as our license is only good for a week at that too. So we agree to hunt. Positive side is its out if a scissor rig which us 3 never have done. Birds are stale nothing new over last few weeks, theyve seen these rigs and avoid at all costs. We get passing shots at bluebills and buffleheads as the buzz by at 40-50 yrds throughout the morning. Did get a group of canada geese do it right though. Our guide was brandon whos employed with fourth generation outfitters and he was great no doubt bout that. Would i hunt with this outfit again no i would not. Theres better ones in area for sure.

Day 1:

Jon, Kevin, Todd
I sent these guys up for a bufflehead beatdown. As i knew this guy would get them alot of shooting in but wouldnt be much else going on. Choose a relativity newer guide for this hunt been at it think this was his 3rd season. They set up in a boat blind. Same thing as our hunt birds seen this setup. One guy in this group was his first out of town hunt. That was the reason wanted to get some shooting in for him. Pour shooting by all seems to be the consensus here. They had a good time though and dropped couple bluebills too. If you want a bufflehead beatdown then this is your guide. Spencer Murray of M&M outfitters.

 

[RBurg44]

Day 2

Gary and myself
We went south down to Hatteras for our sink box hunt. Cameron was our guide. Or i should say he drops you off in your box. Two guys fit in the box. You are surrounded by goose and duck decoys on a sand bar. Goal today was for pintails and redheads. These hunts are not barn burner hunts. You get your one pintail and two redheads thats your successful day. Set up early Cameron told us to face the sun till its fully in sky then turn around face the other way as he believes thats the way the birds will come. Downfall was you need wind for this hunt and we had absolutely none; water was glass. Not 3 mins after we turn around a single pintail drake buzzes our head at about 15 feet came right from behind us. No chance to even pick up our guns. We wait around awhile and a pair of buffleheads come in and pop them two. Settle back in for a long morning. 2 or so hours later a group of 8 pintails do the damn same thing and we missed our chances at shooting them. Had a pair of widgeon work us for a few circles but they took off. No redheads seen. It was a really cool hunt wish i could of gotten the other guys in on it but he was booked solid. Already rebooked for everyone next season. As a waterfowler I believe everyone needs to experience this type of hunting.

Day 2

Jon, Kevin, Todd
There are now with Fourth Generation same guide as I had yesterday. After the hunt yesterday was told by owner of outfit they’d hunt swamp. Well told me meeting location which was same time and place we meet but didnt think too much of it. Come to find out later they took them to the same spot we had hunted the day before. Shot some birds, atleast a few worked the spread and decoyed in. Made the best of it and didnt complain. Shot some bluebills, buffleheads and a merganser. Atleast Brandon was a great guy and my guys were atleast happy. They didnt bring up the swamp hunt nor did I but what i do know is they hunted it Saturday before and did quite well. Come time to pay they guide asked for $50 more as he only had us down for 1 days deposit instead of two days. My guys unknowingly paid it. Was upset about that to say the least! Again these guys are a very well known outfit and book full every year but they do not get my recommendation and wouldnt return.

Day 2

Molnar
Dont have a ton of details here. He went with Jason Haddock of H&H Guide Service. This is who i had picked if the whole group would of drawn. They allow like 6000 swam permits each year. Around 11k apply each season. He called night before telling him to meet one place but then called again later said he had better birds elsewheres so they changed plans. Being it was just him he joined another single hunter and a group of 4 for 6 total hunters. He drew the short straw and was first shooter. He wanted a mature white bird for mounting. First bird comes in is a juvenile which is still grayish white in places. Guy down the line doesnt care pops up and shoots it. Next bird in is his bird nice white. Comes up misses first shot and drills its with the second 15yrd it drops infront of him. Other 4 guys get their birds with the last guy struggling but third try is the charm. Limited out and they call it a morning! I didnt get to hunt with Jason but my buddy was very pleased and happy. Highly recommended him.

 

[Firebird]

I’m sorry this wasn’t a better experience-lots of time and money to shoot bufflehead hens. Glad your buddy got a swan, they are amazing birds, hope he loves the one he got

 

[RBurg44]

Day 3

Jon, Todd and I
We booked with Parkers Waterfowl for this trip. He hunts different area and usually does well on redheads. We are set up with our guide mike in a stack blind over the water. He showed me pictures of last two days hunts out of that blind and they did very well. We’d of been very happy. But needless to say today was not our day either. We bagged 13 buffleheads did lose a few that dove and never came back up. Shooting wasnt great but it wasnt bad either. Mike was awesome made breakfast sandwiches and his dog molly did all the retrievals which was kool. She can put two buffles in her mouth at one time. Overall felt good about this hunt even without getting redheads, I would book again with Parkers waterfowl.

Day 3

Kevin, Gary, Molnar
Today these guys were to go after seaducks with another outfit i had line up but he sold out after our deposit to another guy that i had looked at before but deemed was just too far of a travel for us. But after talking with him he was great. Called couple days in advance saying it was going to blow to hard to go after sea ducks and we should do a diver hunt instead we all agreed. He even moved about 45mins closer to our rental to help with drive time as it now was “only” 2.5 hrs away. Either way guys had a good shoot. Shot there limits of bluebills and called it a hunt. They all were very happy and would 100% hunt with him again and recommend them to others. This was Ryan with Triple B Guide Service.

 

[Jettech]

Dang that looks like a good time love me some waterfowl hunting.

 

[Hunt anything]

Just curious as what birds North Carolina has that you don’t have in Maryland other than the swans? I really enjoy hunting ,listening to and eating swan. That was also a good looking Chesapeake Bay retriever!

 

[RBurg44]

Just curious as what birds North Carolina has that you don’t have in Maryland other than the swans? I really enjoy hunting ,listening to and eating swan. That was also a good looking Chesapeake Bay retriever!

Swans were the main reason we went. But we wanted to do more then just a 1 day hunt for swans. Only way to do that was book duck hunts before knowing if you had drawn swam permits bc all of the outfitters would be booked by time results are posted. We have the same birds for sure. Probably have a great chance at pintails there then here in my opinion. And the redheads winter a very good population there most years. Also the green wings when they come through MD arent fully plumed out in my experience. Also we wanted to hunt sinkbox which we cant here in MD and wanted to try their local way out of a scissor rig.

 

[RBurg44]

Day 4
Last day

Todd, Jon and I
Part 1
Today we go with a wild card i should say. Christian Lacher was our guide. He does t have a website or facebook page. Just goes off word of mouth. Found him via facebook on a nc hunting page. Talked with him couple times and had a good feeling about him. Book it and off we go. Hop in the boat and ride out to the blind. I ask him if we could attempt to target anything but bluebills and buffleheads he told me might be less shooting but we can do it. So thats what we did. Had some puddlers work us a few times. Shot a gadwal and lost it in the water. Pair of buffleheads come smoke both but again lost one in open water. While later a group of 25 gadwals come and work and work and work. Finally they get close for a shot. Jon and I didnt know where they were we both look up into the sun and sucked it up being blinded. Todd on other hand drops two. Slow rest of morning. After Christian finds out we working on the NA slam and finding out what birds we all needed still he offers up to shut this morning hunt down and take us somewhere else that hes pretty confident he can put us on some ruddy ducks that afternoon. We say sure lets do it. Hop on the ferry and take it across the sounds; grab lunch then on our way…

Part 2

…after 90 mins driving we get to the ramp and head back out. Talk about a plan and were off. We set up in some timber and he says the boat traffic will push these birds and youll get some shots as ruddys ducks dont like to decoy much. Im up first, one shot 1 kill fold up a drake. (We only count drakes for our slam). Next up is Jon he misses first flock. Makes up for it in the second and drops two both drakes at that. Todd is last up, he struggled on a few flocks but finally connected and got him his drake just before the end of the hunt. We all get to cross off ruddys for our slam. I cant speak highly enough of Christian and how he tried everything he could to put on a good hunt! Highly recommend him!

 

[RBurg44]

Day 2

Gary, Kevin, Molnar
These guys going going out with Parkers Waterfowl just as we did the day before. Had a mix up with goggle maps and apple maps they were sent in a little different location then they should have been. As they turn around they didnt listen to the road signs that said “shoulder soft” and sunk the truck up to the axles in mud/sand. They called the guide and he figured out where they were and was able to pull them out. They were about an hour late to the blind. But they made the most of it. Getting a limit of bluebills 3 mergansers (not pictured) and a bufflehead. All three were very happy with their guide and again would recommend Parkers Waterfowl.

 

[RBurg44]

All in all it was a great trip given the circumstances. We stay in Nags Head as it was a central location for all the hunts. Drove away where from 2 hours north to 2.5 hours west to an hour south as well as 9 mins from the house. So what im saying is we hunted from the NC/VA line all the way down to Hatteras. In currituck sound, albemarle sound and pamlico sound. We covered the banks! Birds were pretty consistent across the area. Just didnt have the cold ice and winter up north to push birds down or have them get the urge to feed. NC is much more dependent on weather then MD and we are struggling up here as well. I have already booked a day with Cameron with the sinkboxes so the rest of the guys get to try it. And with our swan permits almost guaranteed with the preference point system we will absolutely be hunting the Jason Haddock at H&H Guide service. Ill have to talk to the boys to see if they want any other days added on as we are already booked to go to Louisiana next season! Hope you enjoyed!

 

[Hunt anything]

great report, I’ve hunted some of those same areas and really enjoyed it. It looks like most of the scaup y’all killed were lesser, I think I saw 1 hen greater. What else do you need for your slam? I need king eider, Barrow’s goldeneye and a fulvous whistling duck. The king eider is probably out of reach and the barrows is a trip to the Pacific Northwest but we have an occasional fulvous show up on our coast so it may be doable anytime. Good luck on your quest!

 

[RBurg44]

Yea all lessers i didnt even notice the hens to be honest. I need 15 or so more. We added four to the normal 41 to put it at 45 we added the Mexican mallard, emperors goose, coot, pacific eider. I still need those 4 plus the two tree ducks and mottled a swan, cinnamon teal, king eider, common merg, shovler, goldeneye and cacklin goose

great report, I’ve hunted some of those same areas and really enjoyed it. It looks like most of the scaup y’all killed were lesser, I think I saw 1 hen greater. What else do you need for your slam? I need king eider, Barrow’s goldeneye and a fulvous whistling duck. The king eider is probably out of reach and the barrows is a trip to the Pacific Northwest but we have an occasional fulvous show up on our coast so it may be doable anytime. Good luck on your quest!

 

[Hunt anything]

I didn’t include the Mexican duck although I have a friend in Nevada that has a few on the refuge he manages or could go to some areas in New Mexico, the emperor goose was protected when I started my quest but now they hand permits out with an eye dropper. I don’t think the spectacled eider or stellars eider will ever be hunted again.

 

[jduckhunter]

Congrats! I just got home from Florida this morning a few minutes past 3:00. Still trying to get my head out of the fog that I'm in from the 20-hour drive. I got the 2 ducks that I needed to complete my 41 and as a bonus the last duck that shot was a stud Mottled drake. I'm going to hang up my old Browning now while I still have a little hearing left.

 

[RBurg44]

Yea we applied for the emperor’s find out in bout two week if drawn, but know its a crazy long shot.