# Colorado Duck hunting



## HunterHawk (Dec 8, 2005)

Well as some of you know i moved out to Colorado in April and it takes 6 months to become a resident...I bought an out of state archery antelope license and they kicked my @SS... the very last day of my hunt i took hair on a real nice buck!!!


Wellllllllll..... i kind of took out that anger on some ducks :lol:

I have gone out 4 times now and done pretty well!

1st time out i drove 4 hours almost hit a cow elk on the way to our spot... 
we ended up shooting 2 ringnecks and a young hen widgeon (no pics)

after that i talked to another guy who said he had a spot to go... he said it was his 1st year hunting ducks and his 1st time out he did real well.... 
he got one hen mallard:lol:
I was like oh boy.... but i was desperate to hunt! so i said lets do this... 

ended up with a steller morning! we limited out by 11 or so and should have been limited out earlier...
here is one pic of them..

me and my new hunting buddy Kyle with out limit of ducks









we had this whole area to ourselves on private land and since it was a weekend i kept asking... are you sure we can hunt this... i dont want to be getting in trouble and blah blah blah (we were right next to a spot where you had to call for reservations)

sure enough i predicted it.... people from the reserved spots surrounded us the next day.... we still got our limit... and actually even faster... but it wasnt as fun... we had to take a bit longer shots because people around us were skybusting so we couldnt be as picky... 

we also didnt take a group pic... so here was my limit









the next day i went out for about an hour... and took my wife.... not the best idea i have ever had... i ended up shooting a blue wing teal... i went between like 330 and 430pm she said is it always this fun haha... not the best time of the day... 
and then we went to look at the pup we are getting... here is the teal and the pup pictures will come in the near future.. get her after November 1st!










The next weekend which was this last weekend was another good weekend.. we actually went to a different spot than we did the other times and i was thinking this isnt going to be as good... started out the season well and spoiled at that... but we were still going to give it a go for sure!!!

We saw almost as many rooster pheasants as we did ducks...

there was 3 of us and we fell 2 short of our 3 man limit... but we hunted like 10 hours compared to 2!
the ducks were locals and decoy shy! it was rough but we did pretty well considering the odds

here is Kyle and a new guy i ment Dan.... the new guy was our bird dog and ended up finding 2 birds we never thought we would fine! a drake and a teal...











I have the first 3 days of pheasant season off.. i heard this spot is packed with people hunting... but hoping they dont hunt all 3 days and miss a little 

hope you enjoyed the pics! its closed right now east of I-25 where i have been hunting!... still open to the west but have no clue where to go... but you can bet i will be looking!


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

nice pic's, you get 1 demerit for posting a picture of yourself and a hollywood.


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## KLR (Sep 2, 2006)

Nice work! So whats the deal with the hunting season closing already? Is it a split that will open again later?


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## HunterHawk (Dec 8, 2005)

a hollywood? haha i know im slow... but whats that?



and yes... season opens back up in 2 weeks... im ok with that... i can go west for now if i can find some land... and then ill have some fresh ducks to shoot at.... these ones were already getting a bit shy! we thought it may have been the spread so we mixed it up a bit... that didnt work... then we took out the mojo... and that didnt work... and i would say my calling because im not too amazing.. but had no problem the few times before that... so im pretty sure they were just edjumacated

opens back up November 7th... and closes January 24th


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## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

HunterHawk said:


> a hollywood? haha i know im slow... but whats that?


clown duck, smiling mallard.... Shoveler.


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## HunterHawk (Dec 8, 2005)

Branta said:


> clown duck, smiling mallard.... Shoveler.


ahhh... yeah those were my 1st shovlers i ever shot... now i can ID them a lot better.. it was 1st light and they came piling in thought they were mallards... fired 2 shots and dropped 3 of them :lol: still thought they were mallards until i walked over there.. i was like W. T. F.... why the face:lol:


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## koz bow (Nov 18, 2006)

Very cool Craig. Sounds like you are now making contacts and finding your way around the hunting world out there. There is NOTHING you can hunt in Michigan that you cannot hunt there, and a whole lot better hunting and additional species we don't have here.

You have found your paradise!


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## firenut8190 (Jul 15, 2006)

Nice pic's!


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## bombcast (Sep 16, 2003)

A couple buddies of mine hunt higher altitude in CO. They shoot the living sh1t out of the wigeons and mallards, somewhere west of Co. Spgs. 

Nice bull gaddies. Underrated birds.


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## gomer (Dec 30, 2000)

Nice shootin! I almost moved out there myself for grad school, but ended up going down to Virginia instead. When I was out there checking out the school, I stayed a few extra days and fished the South Platte near Spiney Reservoir (better known as the "dream stream"). I Saw A LOT of birds and many of them were banded. Not sure what area of CO you are in but its about 45min to 1hr from Co Springs and it would be worth checking out. 








I am fairly certain most of that area is public hunting, but don't quote me on that. The migratory cutbow (rainbow/cutthroat cross) brown trout fishing in that stretch of water is quite amazing as well.


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## Mike L (Sep 8, 2003)

All right !......Sweet pics for sure. Only one demerit ? You must have caught the kid on a good day...... Looks like your well on your way to duckland, pretty soon you won't want to come back to Michigan. Can't wait to see the pics of your little one.............


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

Nicely done....glad your getting into some birds in your new marsh!:coolgleam


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## donbtanner (Sep 26, 2007)

Looks like your on the eastern slope, thats good.... what town are you in? Out of college I headed west to Albuq. NM, then took a job in Durango CO. w/ a firm moving there from San Diego CA. Duck hunting was good along the Rio Grande around Albuq. but nearly zero in Durango.... Got into Elk hunting and trout fishing big time.... If you ever get a chance, hike to the emerald lakes above Vallecito Res. just NE of Durango..... amazing views(above treeline) and world class trout fishing... enjoy CO, great place to live if you've got a good job, just dont pay any attention to all the tree huggers there.


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## HunterHawk (Dec 8, 2005)

donbtanner said:


> Looks like your on the eastern slope, thats good.... what town are you in? Out of college I headed west to Albuq. NM, then took a job in Durango CO. w/ a firm moving there from San Diego CA. Duck hunting was good along the Rio Grande around Albuq. but nearly zero in Durango.... Got into Elk hunting and trout fishing big time.... If you ever get a chance, hike to the emerald lakes above Vallecito Res. just NE of Durango..... amazing views(above treeline) and world class trout fishing... enjoy CO, great place to live if you've got a good job, just dont pay any attention to all the tree huggers there.


amen to the tree huggers! I do have a good job and am having a blast out here!

thanks for all the comments and suggestions!

and yes Mike I cant wait till the little tyke gets to come home!


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## casscityalum (Aug 27, 2007)

sweet photos man!! haha cant wait to get out there!


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## StackemHigh (Oct 9, 2008)

Nice pics and good story to boot, keep them coming.


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