# Muskegon wastewater hunt 2020



## clarkr1122

Far Beyond Driven said:


> From the lack of shooting and bird movement last night I think we did ok. Didn't waste any opportunities.
> 
> View attachment 595261


curious on the spread/amount of calling you do. im new and not super experienced and workin with roughly 1 dozen ducks and 1 dozen silhouettes, what kind of set ups are working best for you.


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## BFG

I see so many guys and gals ask the question about calling, and after having practiced for thousands of hours in my truck on the way to and from work, I have come to the summation that if you are set up where the birds want to be, are hidden well, and know how to use a flag and can manage a few low honks/clucks/moans...you are gonna do alright. Sure, there is competition around you at the MWW...bigger spreads, better calling, etc. etc. but if you can SCOUT multiple options and HIDE yourself and don't do anything to SCREW it up (i.e. get lazy stubbling blinds, unnatural decoy placement (Ever seen geese oriented in a perfect V in a field?), dudes wearing shiny watches, etc. etc) things will be ok. Sure, there will be days when you don't pull the trigger, but attention to little details is what consistently kills birds day in and day out. FBD's post above may only have three birds in it, but I know that it was a tough day for most, because it is likely that those three are the only birds that gave him an opportunity, and he rarely ever misses out when things go right. Bet there were plenty of other groups that didn't get a chance to pick up their guns. 

I shot my first goose at the MWW with FBD a LONG time ago in the middle of the afternoon on a sunny, windless day while laying under a burlap blanket with my head on a goose shell. I had a Big River flute in my hand and I made some sort of goose-like sound that turned the bird into the field, and after that I just laid there and did nothing until it got to 15 yards and I folded it. FBD got to watch the whole thing from the hood of the Blue Escort....as he had made a run for a water or something. 

It's a 3.5 hour drive for me to the MWW. Been many years since I have been, but always enjoyed my trips up there, birds or not. Those of you who live within an hour of there are really missing out on a fantastic opportunity to field hunt for geese and ducks. If I lived closer, it would be my day to day....because you earn your birds at that place.


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## Far Beyond Driven

We ran 11 dozen geese and five dozen ducks, two spinners.

However, one of my best hunts there solo was one trip out with 30 silhouettes and a spinny. This was in a field I went in stand by after the draw, that held very few birds; I just chipped away at singles.

Ducks wanted nothing to do with calling yesterday.

The goose was suicidal so we slow played him until he picked up to about 30 yards so we got more aggressive until he set his wings, then backed off until he tried to short land where we had to yell at him again.

As BFG said, unless you are good at reading birds and calling, that less is way better than more. I can't call ducks for crap but still kill some.


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## nichola8

You have to see what the birds want as far as calling goes. Start soft and slow, if they like it they will show you. Same as the other comments.... I have had days where I never grab my call and I have had days where I'm screaming at them as they form a tornado coming down, as soon as I ease off they start showing less interest.

My rule of thumb, if they are not coming directly towards me, I will do a little calling to get there attention, when they start coming in I will ease off big time. If I start losing them, I hit them with the call again and get as aggressive as I need to.


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## nichola8

Far Beyond Driven said:


> We ran 11 dozen geese and five dozen ducks, two spinners.
> 
> However, one of my best hunts there solo was one trip out with 30 silhouettes and a spinny. This was in a field I went in stand by after the draw that held very few birds; I just chipped away at singles.
> 
> Ducks wanted nothing to do with calling yesterday.
> 
> The goose was suicidal so we slow played him until he picked up to about 30 yards so we got more aggressive until he set his wings, then backed off until he tried to short land where we had to yell at him again.
> 
> As BFG said unless your are good at reading birds and calling that less is way better than more. I can't call ducks for crap but still kill some.


11 dozen geese and 5 dozen ducks....you would have been scrambling if that was an AM hunt. My first hunt out there (AM) we ran 4 dozen full body geese, 2 dozen full body mallards, 2 spinners and 2 layouts. Got a bad draw and snagged a green field. We were still grassing up when birds were flying. We got 2 geese, Nic said it was the first time birds ever got shot in that field.


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## Far Beyond Driven

We hung around after the draw for a while in no hurry and were locked and loaded by 12:11 pm. 

Layouts are already stubbled based on the best guess of what zone we will be in. Three to four guys that have hunted together a lot, and running all silhouettes, and having a hunt master and chain of command where every one knows their roles and we can throw down thirty to forty dozen and be sipping coffee before hours even after the time change.

We had two guys yesterday and hunted about as far from the pivot as legal, and parked well away from our zone, and we were rolling home in under an hour from hours granted tear down is faster than set up.

Lots of hints buried above.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Here's some other ideas:

All blinds have tan raffia on them as a base. I have three blinds and one will have greens in it, one weeds, and one corn. All can be changed out before hand if we've scouted and know where we want to hunt. I have rubber maid bins of corn stubble in the barn and can cut grass and weeds from the shoulder of my road as needed.

Full bodies take up a ton of room and take longer to set up. You are not pulling out 16 dozen in one trip in a jet sled 1. 

Jet sleds and sherpas. Everyone shuttles out the first load. Blinds are thrown down, gear bags set on them, decoys unloaded. Jet sleds are then nestled together and the sled sherpa(s) runs them back to the center pivot while the hunt master sets the outline and the decoy sherpas stock him then fill in the body of the spread. Then sled sherpa goes and parks all the trucks. Then he takes a sled back with any extra gear stashed at the pivot, and hikes out all the decoy bags to the pivot. Sucks, but someone's gotta do it. Usually the youngest guy. Don't let your crew know you jog a lot.

Sometimes the quickest route to set up isn't down the center pivot.

That's how you set 40 dozen in an hour. That's a ridiculous amount of decoys, yes, but I've seen a crew draw 18/18 and pick last, set up a black hole spread, and kill 31 birds while the guys with draw 1 watched as they had nothing else to do.

Often, half our duck kill is birds either landed before hours and jumped at hours, or shot in the first minutes, especially on tough days. We aren't rushing to grass up. We're hunting.


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## Far Beyond Driven

I'll be scouting tonight. Won't be able to miss us.

Not expecting much and planning on raking the yard tomorrow but you never know.

Pack sunblock if you go.


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## tkpolasek

Just leaving to see if it's worth a hunt tomorrow also.


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## Far Beyond Driven




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## Fishfighter

Far Beyond Driven said:


> View attachment 598495


Nice overgrown Canadian ducks.


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## Far Beyond Driven

All shot at 1/3 the range of the poke you watched me connect with last year.


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## GRUNDY

They were all up in our grill.


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## Fishfighter

Far Beyond Driven said:


> All shot at 1/3 the range of the poke you watched me connect with last year.


Like close to being able to catch a falling goose close?


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## BumpRacerX

Fishfighter said:


> Like close to being able to catch a falling goose close?


You're gonna break a wrist. 

But I'll video it just to laugh at you after.


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## Far Beyond Driven

So scouted with my daughter in the convertible Wednesday night. Found two fields with geese.

Thursday morning both fields held birds. Didn't like this as that may mean they don't feed at night.

Picked third got my first pick. Was really hoping I didn't get the wrong one. Birds flew at 4:30 the night before, same weather same wind.

Five o clock birds start coming out, finally. To the other zone. Then a single piled in. Perfectly. 20 yards if that. First goose I've shot at in ten months and it didn't go well. That hurt.

Sucked a four pack over from the other field and same bit, hanging at 20 yards. I pulled up and whacked two looking for a third and realize there's nothing in the air. Four shots four down. Redemption.

Then piles of birds came our way. Working a big flock that was circling and look down the field and more groups are coming. Brian calls the shot and drops one while I'm looking somewhere else as there are birds everywhere, I pull up and drop another. Done.

Well.

Look up and 100 out is a cupped up flock, well not any more, with two snows. Oof.

Very few ducks where we were but they are around; rumor is they are cagey and pulling holding pattern shenanigans already.


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## waterfowlhunter83

GRUNDY said:


> They were all up in our grill.


Nice work gents! Told FBD last night it was good to hear you both put some WW geese down for a dirt nap!


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## AaronJohn

Fishfighter said:


> Geese eat different things on different days. Good example is earlier this year I'm sitting in a chopped corn field with literal tons of waste grain and the geese want a hay field instead.


that's due to weather


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## Fishfighter

AaronJohn said:


> that's due to weather


Is it mainly temp dependent or will rain also change what they want to eat that day?


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## Far Beyond Driven

Or hunting pressure.

Or people parking on rig roads.

Or people parking on the dike under the flight path.

Or people driving down rig roads to see the x and bumping the birds off the zone.

Or people lingering too long while scouting.


The field I hunted only one other party scouted. He knows the drill. We didn't get within three zones of that zone while scouting and used a tree line to shield us when we did stop to glass it.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Yes, and the diesel would yank the Four Winns no worries.

If you don't get a factory hitch it's about $4000 to have one installed after the fact. $1100 for the hitch, need a new rear facia, wiring, trans cooler. The Jeep was $179 for a hitch from Cabelas and an hour in my driveway. New Jeep has every imaginable option most of which I can't figure out.


29 yes 29 parties this morning. Heard it has been slow. I missed a goose while stacking wood in my barn driveway. Called him in off the neighbor's pond. Can't believe I choked but dropping it on the Jeep would have been poorly received.


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## StiffNeckRob

In case you're not on Facebook the below was posted by the tech working the draw this morning. Thank you for heeding the message. 

"Shout out to everyone at the hunt this morning. You all did a great job following the rules. Thanks guys! Good luck."


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## BumpRacerX

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Yes, and the diesel would yank the Four Winns no worries.
> 
> If you don't get a factory hitch it's about $4000 to have one installed after the fact. $1100 for the hitch, need a new rear facia, wiring, trans cooler. The Jeep was $179 for a hitch from Cabelas and an hour in my driveway. New Jeep has every imaginable option most of which I can't figure out.
> 
> 
> 29 yes 29 parties this morning. Heard it has been slow. I missed a goose while stacking wood in my barn driveway. Called him in off the neighbor's pond. Can't believe I choked but dropping it on the Jeep would have been poorly received.


Sounds like I picked the right day to score points with the wife and stay home. Which just earned me the green light to hunt Saturday after Thanksgiving...


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## GRUNDY

It was rough out there today. I drew dead last. Heard the geese didn’t play, and the hot duck zone only killed 3

Stayed all day so I could miss a goose @4:45. In the AM we saw a good flock of snows, and had an incoming flock of geese try to do it right, but they boogered when they swung over the neighbors. Had a nice duck show about 15 minutes after hours of course.

Still amazed how an 8 year old boy can enjoy a day like today enough to want to stay all day for nearly nothing. But what the heck? He already wants to do it again.


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## Rgrinny

GRUNDY said:


> It was rough out there today. I drew dead last. Heard the geese didn’t play, and the hot duck zone only killed 3
> 
> Stayed all day so I could miss a goose @4:45. In the AM we saw a good flock of snows, and had an incoming flock of geese try to do it right, but they boogered when they swung over the neighbors. Had a nice duck show about 15 minutes after hours of course.
> 
> Still amazed how an 8 year old boy can enjoy a day like today enough to want to stay all day for nearly nothing. But what the heck? He already wants to do it again.


I hear you! We had a tough draw at Shiawassee today 35th out of 44 parties... blue bird beautiful day out for 8 hours with my 12 year old son and 14 year old daughter...didn’t have a single bird work our decoys, but had fun watching other zones where the birds wanted to be get crushed... and they both said to me that it was such a fun day and they wanted to do it every weekend! We must be doing something right....


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## StiffNeckRob

GRUNDY said:


> It was rough out there today. I drew dead last. Heard the geese didn’t play, and the hot duck zone only killed 3
> 
> Stayed all day so I could miss a goose @4:45. In the AM we saw a good flock of snows, and had an incoming flock of geese try to do it right, but they boogered when they swung over the neighbors. Had a nice duck show about 15 minutes after hours of course.
> 
> Still amazed how an 8 year old boy can enjoy a day like today enough to want to stay all day for nearly nothing. But what the heck? He already wants to do it again.


That flock of snows in the mile high v flying from the north/northwest?


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## Rockydawg

So, who's headed out today?


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## BumpRacerX

Rockydawg said:


> So, who's headed out today?


Nope. Though a 2am road trip is possible Saturday. Keep us posted on how it goes today.

Right now I'm looking at the weather for next week. Tuesday's are a hard day to take a vacation day...but that weather looks right. Thursday's are easy to take off on and it doesn't look awful.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Someone was kind enough to add me to their card Thursday. Drove up in heavy snow after lunch after putting the youngest on the bus and walking through Physics with the middle daughter. Got all my gear soaked to watch the same 50 ducks come out of the snow, half check over the end of the zone, and disappear into the snow. Tons of shooting. None from our zone.

Looks like someone had a boo boo on Swanson and ate the ditch by 33. Snow tires are wonderful things.

Scouting Friday but will need a slam dunk before I give up an entire day to try again.


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## GRUNDY

StiffNeckRob said:


> That flock of snows in the mile high v flying from the north/northwest?


That’s The flock.

Tuesday was tough. Draw one, cut into a flock of decoying geese at 11:30. Got three between 2 of us. Got to watch flocks of up to 50 ducks work us the rest of the day. By work, I mean circle a random hump in the field far away from us, and not low either. No response to calls, spinner on, spinner off (FBD got to witness this). Lots of geese trading around in the AM, but not landing anywhere. Not interested in decoys, or calling, or flagging, or silence, or other geese landed in an adjacent zone... Only other time I’ve seen geese to stale was when I got on a group of Todd Farm refugees during late season.

Me thinks they be STALE, like soft graham crackers. LOL


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## DUCK LAB JAKE

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Someone was kind enough to add me to their card Thursday. Drove up in heavy snow after lunch after putting the youngest on the bus and walking through Physics with the middle daughter. Got all my gear soaked to watch the same 50 ducks come out of the snow, half check over the end of the zone, and disappear into the snow. Tons of shooting. None from our zone.
> 
> Looks like someone had a boo boo on Swanson and ate the ditch by 33. Snow tires are wonderful things.
> 
> Scouting Friday but will need a slam dunk before I give up an entire day to try again.


Saw that little Ford Ranger on the way out
Looked like the rear tire was off


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## tkpolasek

Anyone hunt the Thanksgiving hunt today? I kept myself out of the dog house and went to the in-laws for dinner. I tried to tell her the governor told us we needed to stay home but that wasn't working. Oh well maybe Saturday will work out, but don't like the bluebird weather forecast.


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## StiffNeckRob

GRUNDY said:


> That’s The flock.
> 
> Tuesday was tough. Draw one, cut into a flock of decoying geese at 11:30. Got three between 2 of us. Got to watch flocks of up to 50 ducks work us the rest of the day. By work, I mean circle a random hump in the field far away from us, and not low either. No response to calls, spinner on, spinner off (FBD got to witness this). Lots of geese trading around in the AM, but not landing anywhere. Not interested in decoys, or calling, or flagging, or silence, or other geese landed in an adjacent zone... Only other time I’ve seen geese to stale was when I got on a group of Todd Farm refugees during late season.
> 
> Me thinks they be STALE, like soft graham crackers. LOL


LOL. That flock was tundra swans dude. We watched them enter the unit and fly south of the lagoons. Wayyy different then snows.


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## GRUNDY

We saw the swans too. Definitely different than the snows.

The snows never went South of the lagoons. They came from the N over 15/16 and skirted over 37/32 to the SE. They stayed up super high.

For about a minute the flock got all balled up, like maybe, just maybe they were gonna come and land somewhere. But they resumed the normal course.


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## BumpRacerX

They are who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!

Another MWW trip in the books. Up at 1:30, on the road at 2:00am. Pulled in the driveway at home...9:03pm. 

Full report tomorrow. I need a shower and sleep.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Scouted last night and traded info for a chance to put me and my daughter on a card if we wanted to come up later. Crew drew 14th but got my third pick, chance of a few geese with traffic ducks at night per the scout.

Daughter and I rolled up and joined in at about two.

By four we were covered with geese. Probably 2,000 worked us. Not at all what we saw last night. Five or six times we had a flock split off, on the deck, locked up, within 100 yards and inevitably someone else shot. Every time. And there wasn't a lot of shooting tonight.

Finally with minutes left to go we fired up the spinnies. Should have done that earlier. Had a big wad of ducks spin in, 300 yards became 80 but one hen broke off and piled in and landed like a meteor. With about 30 seconds to go. Probably could have worked them in with more time but someone probably would have shot, so she was jumped up and dropped by my host's daughter; her first duck.

If you're gonna only get one chance, that's how it needs to work.

Happy for her, happy to spend time with my daughter too.


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## BumpRacerX

We had them where we wanted. And we let them get away.

Longest drive. First to arrive to the draw. I'm not a fan of card 1, but thought it would be cool to have it to memorialize the day. Fortunately for me when I to get it no one was around. We toyed with getting card 3. Do it for Dale? Not a NASCAR fan, but driving 3 hours in my wife's Tahoe loaded with hunting gear seemed appropriate. Maybe we'll wait for FBD's lucky #7. Nah. Just take card 2. Get it done.

Should have waited for card #7. it was the first ball picked. 

Pick 8 of 16 for us. Had two of the hit list still intact. 

The scout was spot on.

Our morning went like this. Rush and get setup comfortably with about 30 minutes to spare. Land a mallard behind us. Listen to it feed chuckle walking around while waiting for shooing hours. Have it leave right before. Realize that in our haste on the way down we forgot to buy more batteries for the spinny. Sigh. Wait until we're convinced no mid-day/late morning shenanigans are going to happen before running into town. 

Grab food from Mr. Quick. It was definitely okay. Not great. But hit the spot and most importantly didn't cause any bombing of the random trees around the unit. Batteries for spinny.

Drive back. Is that someone hunting over a dozen snow geese socks? Interesting. Last week we had a 4' panel blind with 8ish full bodies behind us. Definitely some different options to playing the game here.

Tweak spread. Talk about moving everything 45 yards. Nah. This will probably be alright. We can make it work. At Nayanquing we've seen the South Field enough to know reasonably what the birds do on each wind. It's kinda like playing tic tac toe compared to MWW, where the Geese are like going up against a Grand Chess Master.

Show starts. We have Geese everywhere. Remember when i screwed up last year and said that Geese don't see too well? Yeah. When they are everywhere there is way too many eyes on things picking it apart. Also remember that bit about moving 45 yards? Yep. There's land features at MWW you have to account for. Some of which the birds do not want to fly low over. So instead of flying at our feet they are now flying directly over or slightly behind us. 

I manage to coax an 8 pack feet down in the pocket 20 yards out 15 yards up with hundreds of birds in the air. Rather than letting them land, risking them sliding off the safety outlet, etc I call the shot. This is a 2-4 dead geese layup baby! 



Urriah said:


> The biggest difference between successful and unsuccessful managed area hunters in my opinion is the ability to take advantage of the chances you're given.


We miss.

The above is true and stings. Set metrics for performance. Long term average for Geese is .32 per hunter trip at MWW. With the FBD/Grundy goose and the past solo Goose I'm at .66 for the year...but could have been styling. 

In the action I launch my lanyard with my calls and the spinny remote somewhere. As birds are circling watching me move trying to find it I come to the realization that this is why people wear the lanyard around the neck vs just laying it on them in the blind. Oops.

My call now sounds like a child's kazoo. 

This is how they get you BRX. Your free trial on the $60 call has expired. Please deposit $200 to upgrade to the full premium unlocked version. Fish always manages to keep things light at the right time when I'm ready to go nuclear. 

Chuckled at a zone earlier when their caller was doing good...doing good...doing good...WRONG NOTE ABORT and flared an entire flock. That's me now. Flag only time. 

No other shots. During the chaos we passed on a few hitable passes directly over us at 40 yards up looking for better. Never got another look like that either. Worked a few more but nothing shootable.

After hours, searched our zone. Adjacent empty zone. I wanted there to be a dead goose. But they flew out like we never touched them. And somehow...I think we didn't. 

Cleaned call up after getting home. Was full of moisture and dirt. Blew my little cadence/routine a few times. All is well.

Next trip will be Mr. Scribs pizza.

Post hunt reflections-
Setup not only for the wind...but also for the other features impacting the desired flight path of the birds.

With "x" time left and ducks in the air...spinny goes on and work ducks. Hunting dumb geese in freshly cut fields on the X is one thing. Hunting these Geese with a PhD in not getting shot is a completely different challenge. I will take a limit of Geese out of the WW yet. But gotta be smart about it.

Hippy Van will have all the quirks worked out before next year. Drive down day before. Contribute to the scout. Solid nights sleep.


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## Far Beyond Driven

I've had a lot of hunts where I've been front row seat to 3000 geese.

I've killed 12 goose piles in an hour.

Rarely are those the same hunts.


We got humbled last night too and I've been playing the game up there for close to 30 years. We too shoulda just told the geese to piss off when the first ducks showed up and fired the spinners earlier.


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## Far Beyond Driven

The spread set up 150' from the rig road, in a ball, in the easiest field to access, with layout blinds stubbled with whole corn stalks sticking 4' up like antennae was a worthy sight too. I want to trip over my blind looking for it. Not be able to pick it out at 1/4 mile at 55 mph. 

Driving around up there during the day will let you see a lot of spreads.


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## BumpRacerX

Far Beyond Driven said:


> The spread set up 150' from the rig road, in a ball, in the easiest field to access, with layout blinds stubbled with whole corn stalks sticking 4' up like antennae was a worthy sight too. I want to trip over my blind looking for it. Not be able to pick it out at 1/4 mile at 55 mph.
> 
> Driving around up there during the day will let you see a lot of spreads.


Oh man. I was in a crap cell area when we talked last night and was cutting and out. I missed seeing the spread part when we drove by that field. But picked out the layouts no problem. Which might be a problem...if a guy driving by can see the blinds but not the decoys...


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## GRUNDY

10 hours of hunting. There was no AM flight to speak of. But I could not see much of the lagoons. So a lot of birds may have gone S-SE. huge flocks came in from the E around 10:30.

1 hour of action at the end of the day. Daughter got her first duck ever in the last 30 seconds of shooting time. Makes the day!

If only we had 2-3 minutes left. I think the rest of the flock would have piled in...

I will say. STALE. That’s the MWW right now. I’m on the fence about going back before it closes, but I am a glutton for punishment.


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## tkpolasek

We just hunted the afternoon. Watched a lot of birds flying around. They pretty much have seen it all. Without any weather it makes for very tough conditions.


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## BumpRacerX

Daughter's first duck is awesome GRUNDY!

May have one last run left in me with zero expectations. They continue to do the draw until the 22nd because Goose stays open later there right? 41 and partly cloudy this coming week. Or wait for a snowy day goose shoot. Or multiple runs. I want those geese. 

May just clean everything and put it all away. 

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Post duck closing Goose run only solves the puzzle of what to do with the duck silos and spinny. Leave them home. I'm still not sure where to really put these things.


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## tkpolasek

I'm hoping for one more snowy day. Don't look like it's going to happen before duck season closes.


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## BumpRacerX

Sitting here watching Sean Mann shoot Canadians...blowing away on my call trying to imitate what I hear. I am just ripping on the thing letting it scream. 

Daughter just stormed in my home office. DAD I'M ON MY ZOOM CALL FOR BIOLOGY CLASS.

Forgot the high school kids were still virtual.


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## GRUNDY

So once upon a time I had some aspirations towards competition goose calling. This requires MUCH practice, like A-Lot, like brushing your blind. Can’t do it enough.

Needless to say, my wife about explodes if she hears so much as a murmur from a goose call LOL


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## Far Beyond Driven

Absolutely brutal scout tonight. What few birds are on unit are taking full advantage of clear skies and the full moon to fly well after hours. I did not see a bird in a field during hours.

Need to pack sunblock, a thick book, and a hat full of bunnies if I try tomorrow.


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## Fishfighter

Sunblock not needed, thick book packed, should I release my half hound to chase down some bunnies tonight?


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## BumpRacerX

There's exactly ONE snow goose in the lagoons per the DNR. We're going to fool it and make it happen.


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## Fishfighter

BumpRacerX said:


> There's exactly ONE snow goose in the lagoons per the DNR. We're going to fool it and make it happen.


But what happened to the other 3?


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## BumpRacerX

Secret weapon Specks getting it done at 1:15 in the afternoon!


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## Far Beyond Driven

Worst scout ever, draw 10 out of nine, zone we wanted closed. Running traffic in hay.

Shooting singles feet down.

I don't get this place.


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## Highball28

That is too funny! 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## AaronJohn

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Worst scout ever, draw 10 out of nine, zone we wanted closed. Running traffic in hay.
> 
> Shooting singles feet down.
> 
> I don't get this place.


when it looks like early season, hunt like early season!


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## BumpRacerX

Well hey then. This last pick thing is alright


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## Far Beyond Driven

Had two hens parachute in from behind us and try to land. Bump and Fish took care of that. Then a v of geese was a liitle too close so I dumped their leader.


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## BumpRacerX

Only thing that explains killing late season birds with the last pick running traffic.

Secret weapon Specks.


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## Jerry Lamb

BumpRacerX said:


> Only thing that explains killing late season birds with the last pick running traffic.
> 
> Secret weapon Specks.
> 
> View attachment 611565


A fine hunt. Specks were a good add on. A different looking rig always attracts attention..


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## LumberJ

BumpRacerX said:


> Only thing that explains killing late season birds with the last pick running traffic.
> 
> Secret weapon Specks.
> 
> View attachment 611565


Mystery box FTW! Nice work especially given the circumstances


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## Far Beyond Driven

I'd like to claim skill or experience but this hunt was a gift. Glad Bump and Fish kept the faith and headed up even after I cried my scouting woes to them, else I'd probably cut wood or worked from home.

Pity we missed a pair of mallards right at hours. They came in on a string.


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## Far Beyond Driven

BumpRacerX said:


> Only thing that explains killing late season birds with the last pick running traffic.
> 
> Secret weapon Specks.
> 
> View attachment 611565



And I almost packed my boat gas can so we could torch them if we got skunked.


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## tkpolasek

Saturday everyone will be running specks and snows. Way to make that 10th pick work out.


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## GRUNDY

Heard someone was running snows last Saturday.


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## Fishfighter

Far Beyond Driven said:


> View attachment 611621
> 
> I'd like to claim skill or experience but this hunt was a gift. Glad Bump and Fish kept the faith and headed up even after I cried my scouting woes to them, else I'd probably cut wood or worked from home.
> 
> Pity we missed a pair of mallards right at hours. They came in on a string.


 I was really trying for yet another hen limit this year.


----------



## BumpRacerX

Full trip report tomorrow sometime.

Only birds that we shot at and didn't collect were the mallards at hours. 

There is a huge pile of hen mallard feathers in that zone now.

A top shelf magician always has a few bunnies in the hat.


----------



## BumpRacerX

GRUNDY said:


> Heard someone was running snows last Saturday.


In one of the prime zones at that. I would be very curious to know if anyone has a picture of the results board as to how they did.


----------



## BumpRacerX

MWW 12/3 2020 Trip #4. 
Rolling in a hay field.

Wednesday after the scout sounded not good. Alright. It sounded really not good. But I had the day off and Fish is enjoying his winter shutdown so who cares. If nothing else...check out a new zone and learn. Plus...when in doubt at MWW...Pick corn right?

We're about an hour out when I get a notification that someone posted the closed fields for the day. One was a "who cares". The other two though. Good fields. Panic. Call FBD. No answer. Text FBD. We're committed to it but want to give him the option to audible out if he wants to. He's still in. 

Meet at the draw. Wrote the wrong party number down. Thought we were pick #3. Third party goes up and picks a zone and I'm like...Why FBD no pick there!?!?! The six zones I liked go...at which point I point to a couple zones on the map and tell Fish...bet we end up in one of these zones. Sure enough. We did. 

Strip corn stubble from blinds. Start stubble process with trimmers. I forget the name of them. Couldn't find the technical name when I googled "trimming scissors for weed". Completely different answer. Insert Amish jokes here as my beard hasn't been touched since the last in-person meeting I attended in February. 

Set spread with the secret weapons. Hustle to your zone and get setup fast...as on a bad scouting day...we had birds in the air early. 

A little after 1pm a lone goose tries to sneak through. Hey FBD Goose on your left. He somehow reacts perfectly to a bird that is doing it, but at a weird angle. Was that a hit?









The bird starts to wobble and begin it's final descent somehow gliding way further than it should. 

As FBD is getting his steps in for the day to retrieve the bird, Fish and I are stretching with the layouts open. There's some weird noise caaaaw or haaaaw from somewhere. All the sudden there's another goose on our right. Throw one super soft murmur/honk at it (one of only a few that actually sounded like a goose from me on this day). It flies perfectly in front of us from right to left. I crush the Goose. It barrel roles and an instant later Fish hammers the bird again. 










Yes. It was upside down. 

FBD makes it back "didn't you guys hear me going caaaaw caaaaaw" trying to warn you. Oh. That's what that noise was.

Get to hear about how I beat Fish to the draw on it. Hey man it came in on your side and I let it work until it was at my feet.

Of course we gotta get the pic of FBD and Fish with the Speck decoys. 

Someone posted something in a thread that I missed until today about high shots. Something about sky busters and high shots may be better off using Boss. We hear about it from FBD. I don't remember the verbiage. But I would not want to be the next Goose that comes over tall but hitable. There's a 3.5" Federal waiting to find a home. Not bismuth. Not even a Black Cloud. The cheap stuff.

Lots of birds toying with us, but nothing wants to do it. All the sudden a hen crashes in from behind us right over Fish's layout giving us the booty tail feathers look at 20 yards right in front of our feet. No one wants to lose the draw on this one. It gets evaporated by two shells simultaneously. 

Sausage Pile. Bonus. The sausage stuffer and kits came in yesterday while I was hunting. Anyone have any good recipes?

As we're sitting upright in the blinds laughing about hammering this hen, another one comes in looking to die on Fish's side. He cracks it, the bird hangs and backpedals slightly before I back him up on it. That was cool. Thump. I collect hen #1 and tell Fish he can have hen #2 because I don't want to be done that early for Mallards. First blood rules and that's clearly his bird (he could make a stake for hen #1 if he wanted to, it was close) but man is it fun messing with your brother when the bird doesn't just insta-drop. Probably should switch to BOSS so you can take their souls bro.

Wish I could remember what I said when I shot the first hen. I'm starting to develop the duck hunting version of Tourette's syndrome when I shoot birds. A couple weeks ago I exclaimed "**** YOU" when I dusted a drake mallard. FBD rearranges the spread in front of us and checks out the carnage where hen #1 was hit. Picks up debris and looks at us. Tailfeathers...picks up more...wing feathers...more tailfeathers...not even sure where these feathers came from...

A few minutes pass...the moment we've all been waiting for. A flock v'ed up doesn't carry quite enough altitude on their flyby. And the leader pays the price. FBD's second goose of the day pinwheels from the sky and hits the ground with the most satisfying thump ever. I don't even shoot though I'm sitting a few feet from him and could have easily taken a shot. Sometimes it's cool just to watch the magician work. 

FBD takes a walk to stretch his legs leaving us unattended again. There's another bird that comes in from the backside catching us both out of the layouts. We hit the deck and Fish asks why I didn't shoot that bird. Dude. I dove face down when I realized there was a bird. It wasn't my best decision. 










Right at hours a pair crashes in from left to right. It's now or never. I can't hit shots from left to right but still send all three down range. FBD gets one off and jambs. Fish gets off his three. And two mallards fly away unscathed as the alarm for hours goes off before anything else can happen.

Somehow draw 10 of 9 on a bad scout turns into five birds with a chance at a few more. We have a steady stream of birds to play with. Turns out with the right hunt leader you don't even need to be on the X to get good looks at MWW. You don't even to pick corn all the time. 

Tried a bit of everything to get more to lock in and drop...call, no call, flags, no flags...spinny no spinny. My Sean Mann Express Eastern Shoreman sounds like someone choking on a squeeky toy again. It started the day fine and just magically decided not to work. Blew on it a bit today and proclaimed nope...Debating sending it back + $20 to have them tune it...but then I think it was only $50 to begin with. 

Didn't have to burn the Specks so that was a plus. Guy that loaned me some Outlaw silos a few weeks ago sent me a text last night asking me why I was running Specks. He went on a Goose hunt this morning and they only got 1. The next text I got was him asking where I got the Specks and if he could borrow them before season closed.

Magic.

Definitely will try to sneak to MWW one more time for Geese this year. Maybe two.


----------



## Far Beyond Driven

The first goose comes in left while we're looking right. Spinnies on. Wind had shifted and our blocker arm worked great at blocking the goose... behind us. Bump yells at me, I sit up, contort my spine of an 80 year old trapped in a 46 year old's body into a position that all but guarantees a new BMW for some doctor, mount the gun poorly, throw it somewhere out front and touch it off. Bird gets sick and glides 300 yards only to fall dead. Thing was all shot up. Weird.

While picking it up "getting my steps" a single that was flying around after being lit up by another zone, ignoring all flagging and calling we'd been throwing at it previously, decides to decoy to two open blinds and a dolt stumbling across the field. I'd dropped off my lanyard as it had the spinny remote on it before partaking on this vision quest, so the best I could do was scream "honk", yes clearly and loudly "honk" a couple times. Was not sure if the message got through until confirmation came in the form of the goose balling up hard and skidding to a stop in the pocket. Fingers and escape paths. Remember that for later.

In my defense I didn't shoot at the first hen when it piled in. I thought it was a hawk. It came in 135 degrees to the wind on a strafing run only to pull up just shy of the spinny, only to end up literally getting shot down one side and up the other. At 20 yards.

While sitting there still trying to get this squared away in my brain fog, blinds open, I saw another hen come in with the wind at her back, this one a more leisurely 15 yards up over Fish's shoulder. I pointed and said something like "gr mafuivfs ur" but the message was conveyed and it too went puff puff thump. It's nice to hunt with people that understand a raised hand and guttural noises as "bird, there, shoot".

The other goose was just spite and the ability to make the high overhead. While not as ridiculous as the first overhead these guys saw me take, it was still a statement shot. What statement, I don't know. And that one comes down in a ball head shot. Pity it wasn't upwind as Fish says he's going to catch a falling bird and that would be spectacular. Gotta pack a baseball mitt for him.

And then we can't hit the two birds that actually give us notice, spiral in as expected, and do it by the book...


----------



## SteelShot

Bump and FBD, great write up. I really enjoy reading your hunt recaps. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## BumpRacerX

I still don't know how you hit the first one. It was hard to even describe. Thus I deleted everything I tried and went with weird angle. The distance it covered was baffling after looking at it. It caught the pattern. Fish thinks it was just gliding dead. 

Second goose I've just kinda come to expect. It wouldn't be a MWW trip without it. The range from yesterday is a shot that I need to start working into the bag of tricks. I am still slightly disappointed that the snows didn't drop a couple weeks ago though. 

Hay field. No way we're doing anything. Time to fill the layout up with snacks. I really wanted to eat those fig newtons.


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## Fowl Play

Bumpracer and FBD, enjoyed the write ups. Grew up in west Michigan. Never hunted the MWW, when I lived there I recall the fields were flooded so we hunted The Farm. We called those gliders found dead as a “ghost rider”. We saw quite a few of those at the farm, ghost riding into the refuge.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Another tid bit to throw out was our departure from singing "Amish Paradise" and deciding while usually you cannot have enough stubble, that with birds doing weird bird stuff we needed to get out there and maybe add more stubble later but be loaded up now. Could have used another weed trimming scissors hint hint.

Sometimes those voices in my head are useful.

Straight overhead like that, one goose length per ten yards goose height. Get behind goose then on the goose then x goose lengths out front then hit trigger. This is weird as at that point you may no longer see the goose. Problem is those geese come in 3-13# sizes.

Muskegon is the place for that shot, when alone, with no one working birds around you, not Fennville with a refuge up front. Then, all three tall overheads I've taken this year were dead before I shucked out the empty. The two gliders I had to find were 10 yards up and under 25 out.


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## BumpRacerX

That was a brief moment of horror. Rut row. We're going to have to re-stubble. I've been given a list of basic gear to carry. And never bought those. Garden shears have been ordered. 

Clarification for anyone reading. First goose definitely wasn't long or tall. Just a pretzel twist rotation to get on the bird. Hope your physical therapist is cute after the back surgery. Fish was kind enough to try to knock it down for you. I was just trying to figure out how you actually got a shot off, let alone hit the bird.


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## tkpolasek

Last duck hunt of the year on the MWW

Hunted the last duck hunt of the year Saturday. We didn't draw very well 12/19 so I was trying to figure out where to go. Went to the board when it was my turn and much to my surprise my #1 pick is still available. We got all setup in time after a long trek through a freshly tilled corn field. That was by far the ****tiest walk of the season. Had a few extra minutes so worked on our hide a little more. Checked my phone and I said to the guy I'm hunting with it's time we better get into the blind. No more than jump into the blind and we look up and ducks are entering the field. We are both fumbling around to get our guns loaded when the ducks crash in over our heads and land right behind us. I look up only to see a second flock losing air fast as I'm shoving a shell into my gun. We both managed to get a shell jammed in and each drop a duck. Had a few more flocks work us that we should have shot at but we waited only to watch them exit. Ducks stopped flying and then the geese started but all left the unit to the east and south. Did have a couple small flocks working in but flared at the last minute. Them geese wanted nothing to do with them spinners sitting out there on the poles even though we had them turned off. Rest of the day was slow until about the last 30 minutes when the ducks started to fly again. We were up to 6 ducks in the closing minute when aa flock came crashing. The guy I was hunting with dropped a bird but I didn't do my part to complete the limit. The show afterwards by the ducks was incredible as we were packing up blinds. We still had our spinners running and it was amazing how many ducks came crashing into the spread. Hopefully we can get a couple ****** days that will even the playing field so we can get after a few more geese before the season closes.


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## BumpRacerX

I'm trying to figure out one last Goose run. Maybe two. Need to check the work calendar. 

Mid zone split up here this weekend and I think I'm hitting a couple ultra small holes to test a theory. Rules out the 12th.


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## Rockydawg

Who went today? I heard there were a lot of new birds around finally. 7 parties at the draw I heard.


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## BumpRacerX

Not me. Might actually work an entire week this week. Madness.


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## Rockydawg

BumpRacerX said:


> Not me. Might actually work an entire week this week. Madness.


Hopefully you come Saturday!


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## tkpolasek

I hunted yesterday. Yes there was 7 parties at the draw. I drew 6th and hunted by myself. A lot of the fields are going through second till. The hide is really getting tough out there.


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## BumpRacerX

Rockydawg said:


> Hopefully you come Saturday!


I wish. But likely no. All good. Mid zone split. The 10 year old wants another crack at getting his first drake mallard. I have a spot that it might happen, but we need cold...and the weather is trending warm. Might have to resort to a float hunt jump shoot. 

Next week is up in the air as well. Maybe the 17th. I want one last run at the WW Geese.


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## choc24/7

i dont blame her. very frustrating having birds cupped and have someone from across the road shoot first and they gone....


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## Far Beyond Driven

We hunted 62 on the opener the year before and shot 12 birds and had a miserable time.

Hunted 9 last year and shot 7 and enjoyed it thoroughly.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Anybody got some artificial Christmas trees I can borrow for Thursday? The fewer questions asked the better.


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## AaronJohn

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Anybody got some artificial Christmas trees I can borrow for Thursday? The fewer questions asked the better.


Salvation Army has a bunch always cheap lol


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## Far Beyond Driven

Too much snow for camo, too little for snow covers. Gotta think outside the box...

Now where are the 73 cans of Santa snow I've bought on clearance the last three years and promptly lost?


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## BumpRacerX

Thought I was done for the year. High school daughter is so bored and ready to get out of the house she asked if I'd take her on the Goose hunt this week.

We just finished stocking up.


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## Highball28

BumpRacerX said:


> Thought I was done for the year. High school daughter is so bored and ready to get out of the house she asked if I'd take her on the Goose hunt this week.
> 
> We just finished stocking up.
> 
> View attachment 617769


One last thing! Make sure you apply it on AFTER you are done stubbling! Some poor poor soul (me) last year got the X in a hay field and made the mistake of using a can apiece on our two blinds before we put the hay on. It all rubbed off. We looked like brown/ green blobs with little stains of excramate in an otherwise white field.


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Outdoor Gal

I had permission on the X a couple seasons ago. 600 geese had been feeding in the field all week. Patchy snow and a chopped corn field. We hit the blinds with snow spray, they looked great and then wet flakes of snow started to fall from the sky. Not a lot of snow but just enough to melt all the snow spray off the blinds. Found out that the stuff is water soluble the worst way possible. We stuck out like a sore thumb. It was heartbreaking watching all 600 geese want in and circle and circle and not get closer than 60 yards all morning. Gotta love lessons learned the hard way. Lol. 

I see Beavertail makes a "snow blanket". If I ever start field hunting more I think it will be a worthwhile investment. I thought about making strips of tyvek (or something similar) and raffia that I could clip to the blinds stubble straps as well for those patchy snow days.


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## Far Beyond Driven

I'm gonna sit like this in the spread in a winter forest parka. The geese will not see me and the calming vibes from my passive aura will lull them into a false sense of security.

And by the time they show up I'll be so stiff that I won't be able to move, so they won't have to worry.

Pro tip, white electric tape your barrels.


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## BumpRacerX

fuuuuudge

Just misted the power hunter with some flat tan. Was going to hit it with the 3 pounds of raffia I ordered because the stubble straps are insanely big. Couldn't find the package for the raffia anywhere. 

Checked email...couldn't find an email anywhere on it. Confirmed with bank account...

Yep. Never actually ordered it. Had it on the list. Thought i did it. 

But did not.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Text me a list of things you want to borrow. I'm going ninja tomorrow so I'll have spares of about everything but a hole punch although you can steal that when I'm done setting my no wind ninja spread.

Note "#1 and 2 picks on scouted zones" should not be on the list.


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## Far Beyond Driven

#1 pick only, birds went to one half of one field and there were four trucks watching it until something blew it up and they all bailed out.


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## BumpRacerX

I have no idea how you get everything into that Focus. Need to get more efficient at packing.

I think I'm in decent shape. We will have to completely stubble one blind. Other two are already stubbled corn. 9 dozen silos. Secret Weapon Specks. New Fiskars in the event of hay. Calls. Flag. 

@Fishfighter is in charge of a drill with appropriate bit. Which means I'll be borrowing your hole punch when he forgets it. 

He's also got my rake.


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## Fishfighter

BumpRacerX said:


> I have no idea how you get everything into that Focus. Need to get more efficient at packing.
> 
> I think I'm in decent shape. We will have to completely stubble one blind. Other two are already stubbled corn. 9 dozen silos. Secret Weapon Specks. New Fiskars in the event of hay. Calls. Flag.
> 
> @Fishfighter is in charge of a drill with appropriate bit. Which means I'll be borrowing your hole punch when he forgets it.
> 
> He's also got my rake.


I'll just bring the gas auger that aught to punch a hole.


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## TNL

Piece of rebar works great. We have a crosspiece step welded on ours. Step and go. Learned that trick in Nodak where the soil can turn into cement.

Spinner poles we use a 1" ship shank auger bit on a cordless drill. It's about 16" long. No worries about spinner taking a dive when birds are working.


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## Zeboy

Not sure if Mojo still offers this. I have a Mojo spinner extension pole where the bottom doubles as a silhouette stake punch. Plus, when you put that bottom piece on the ground the direction the wind is blowing, the spinner is never blowing over. It works well in the water also.









Sent from my SM-G973U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Far Beyond Driven

Get up there tonight. Birds start using a field, too close to a road, knew what was coming. First guy I see locks up on the field a good half mile away and tucks in somewhere inconspicuous. Next guy does the same. I parked a good three zones away. 

Birds continue to work nicely.

I move on taking a wide lap around that field trying to find another field as this one was too obvious. From a couple miles away I see the whole herd get up and bail out.

Not sure what Johnny come late dumbass pulled up right next to those geese and blew them out, but thanks. I went into work three hours early and skipped lunch and drove sixty miles to now have no clue what the birds will do tomorrow, as the pattern that set up before you got there is no longer valid as the birds all landed somewhere different than where they were on the lagoons. And having not fed as long as they needed to, who knows when they will start. They may very well be in the fields before we can hunt tomorrow.

Do us a favor and stay home tomorrow. Unless you want to hear the same announcement about being discreet and using your binoculars that you apparently didn't hear before.


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## tkpolasek

I didn't get a chance to scout but I got the report from another guy that seen the same thing. Apparently someone just thought they needed to drive out the rig road. I haven't touched my deer rifle all season but this kind if **** has me thinking twice about this afternoon and go deer hunting.


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## Rockydawg

tkpolasek said:


> I didn't get a chance to scout but I got the report from another guy that seen the same thing. Apparently someone just thought they needed to drive out the rig road. I haven't touched my deer rifle all season but this kind if **** has me thinking twice about this afternoon.


To be clear here Tim(knowing you are the nicest guy in the world)I'm sure you meant pick up your deer rifle and deer hunt instead of waterfowl hunt. 

The regulars have all worked hard to increase participation at the WW, and there are a lot of new faces around this year. With that comes some problems caused by inexperience. If one of us who hunts there regularly sees a guy making a blunder like busting the birds while scouting, it would be best if that experienced hunter had a kind conversation with the new hunter. Not a confrontational talk, but a little coaching up. Nobody wants to ruin their own hunt the next day, it's just that guys don't know any better.


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## tkpolasek

Yea


Rockydawg said:


> To be clear here Tim(knowing you are the nicest guy in the world)I'm sure you meant pick up your deer rifle and deer hunt instead of waterfowl hunt.
> 
> The regulars have all worked hard to increase participation at the WW, and there are a lot of new faces around this year. With that comes some problems caused by inexperience. If one of us who hunts there regularly sees a guy making a blunder like busting the birds while scouting, it would be best if that experienced hunter had a kind conversation with the new hunter. Not a confrontational talk, but a little coaching up. Nobody wants to ruin their own hunt the next day, it's just that guys don't know any better.


Yeah I guess I should have clarified to go deer hunting. I would never make threats.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Just watched about 1000 birds hike up and fly off unit. If I was the guy that bumped them last night I could take pride in saying "that's me, I did that".

Killed a bird all 11 times I've been up here this year; really hopes it doesn't end like this.

Then, having been set up pronto would have helped as three looked hard at my spread as I was parking. Was going to just leave the truck on the rig road as apparently that's the new normal.


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## BumpRacerX

Got to watch to watch the departure. From the sounds of things we have the bird bumper in the opposite side of our zone. 

Let a three pack and a seven pack go high. Free passes are done. A 9 story building is a long ways up. And these are birds are not getting remotely close to landing.


----------



## Far Beyond Driven

Neighbors on the x are putting on a clinic. Almost wished I took the other half of their zone but sometimes good karma comes in the form of a six pack that circled them hard then slid over to me and lingered a tad too long. Their leader made a most satisfying thump.
.
Do I continue to push it and come back Tuesday? I mean Fennville will be open. Ha I crack myself up...


----------



## Far Beyond Driven

So calm up here I can hear the ditch ducks laughing.


----------



## BumpRacerX

The 45ish turkeys behind us make incredible duck confidence decoys.


----------



## ice ghost

Nothing more enjoyable than spending your time hunting on your phone. The new age is here.


----------



## Far Beyond Driven

It's called live from the blind. Many people enjoy it. And those that don't are generally decent enough to shut up.

But since you can't, I expect you to go to the Whitetail Forum and post the same comment on every live from the stand thread.


----------



## Jerry Lamb

Far Beyond Driven said:


> It's called live from the blind. Many people enjoy it. And those that don't are generally decent enough to shut up.
> 
> But since you can't, I expect you to go to the Whitetail Forum and post the same comment on every live from the stand thread.


How did you end up? Just the one?
Sounds like a cool place...


----------



## GRUNDY

The M-W was decent this year, but it sounds like I gave it up at the right time this year.

knew it wasn’t looking good when the last 3 trips there netted 2 geese and a hen mallard. Now if you add up the hunter hours involved with those 2 birds (60+ hours...) holy cow! My hats off to the guys still grinding it out there trying to outsmart the rig road goose bumpers.

I’m passing the time fishing on the slim hopes about 6,200 more birds show up at the TOAD to compliment the current 800. Until then, the gear stays put away.


----------



## BumpRacerX

Full trip report on Major League Goose Hunting tomorrow.

Needed more spray snow. I like Outdoor Gal's idea of the Tyvek strips tied to the stubble straps. 

Phone makes it nice passing the down time. You can learn all kinds of stuff from the google. 

Bet you didn't know that Geese don't like Grape Kool-aid. Learned that one today.


----------



## Carpenter Bill

We also do a live from the shanty for the ice season, I love all the lfts thread on the different forums. 


Far Beyond Driven said:


> It's called live from the blind. Many people enjoy it. And those that don't are generally decent enough to shut up.
> 
> But since you can't, I expect you to go to the Whitetail Forum and post the same comment on every live from the stand thread.


----------



## Far Beyond Driven

Carpenter Bill said:


> We also do a live from the shanty for the ice season, I love all the lfts thread on the different forums.


Cool, I'll have to look that up whenever winter decides to get its crap together.


----------



## Far Beyond Driven

So after the disappointing scout, give Bump the full report. He's like "you're not holding out on me?" and I said I wish there was some sleeper zone I could tuck away for myself, but the x is the x, and with the birds bumped it's a crap shoot. Suggest you think up an alternate plan. But if you draw before me it's yours to take.

Least I could do saying I wasn't going to try to hide four blinds and was going to be selfish and hunt solo, which while more effective was certainly more boring. Especially with his crew.

Told him my alternate plan and he was like, well, that's interesting.

Moot point he drew fifth and I drew sixth. And amazingly my alternate plan wasn't taken.

The experts at the draw all agreed the birds would go somewhere after they could not land at the x. They did. Half off unit and half to a zone no one took.

Went with Bill to his zone only to learn he didn't need my ground punch. He also pointed out the birds were roosting on the ice.

Birds didn't complete their feed last night.
Birds don't need to keep the pocket open and wait until it warms up as they were on ice.

Asked the right questions, didn't process the answers. Birds start moving as we are parked there. As much as I was admiring his daughter's day glow blue blanket she was going to hide in the blind, I needed to go.

Set up in the dirt bending a lot of decoy stakes. 10 dozen home made black and whites with three dozen series two Real Geese down wind.

So the hide in a partial snow dirt traffic field. Scrape out a little depression, put my feet straight out in brown waders, use my gear bag as a back rest, and wear a blotchy green leaves on white German WW2 poncho. Dirt field chaise lounge.

Worked well.

Except the poncho had arm holes and not sleeves, so I looked like the bastard offspring of Stevie Nicks and a German trooper from the Ardennes.

Geese every where, the x decoys two gets one. Two pack lines up on me. Here we go. Oh wait, I'm sitting on my sling, my poncho, and with my t rex arms can't pick up the gun. They slide off. Correct that rookie mistake. Never worn this poncho other than standing in corn. Oops.

Later a six pack works the x, comes over me, hangs too close and one gets dumped. Not skunked. Then a single honking like mad as he comes in from a mile out straight overhead at 50. My shot. Miss. Ouch.

With half an hour to go the duck show starts. Bill is wondering if geese are done. Hi v's are coming back in. I assure him, doubting it myself, a few more will move. Sure enough flock heads his way. Then mine, then to the x, then to me, the x, and back to me. Nothing to lose I yell at them, the rear six turn just enough and are hanging 40 up and out. Bang. Last bird balls up hard and leaves a crater in the frost. 

At that point I've pushed my luck as far as I can, so I unload and start to pick up my last WW spread of the year. Always a sad moment. But all things considered, with everything we had thrown at us, was way better than expected.

Now if only my retinas can heal from seeing bright blue dots every where.


----------



## ajkulish

Always appreciate these posts. Glad you had a good last trip Kevin!


----------



## Far Beyond Driven

I was also reading yesterday. I know, old school. "Jarhead" gets a thumbs up. The Jon Benet story from her parent's point of view, mixed.


----------



## BumpRacerX

The theme of this year has been "If the scout sucks, drop everything and get to the WW". After this scout came in, we almost stayed home. Fish had a spot with Trophy Pike waiting to be picked. Bro...It's Major League Goose Hunting. And the scout sucked. Barrel. Burner. 

I knew it was going to be a fun trip when en route to meet Fish, Daughter declared she was taking shotgun and he was getting stuck riding in the backseat. We made it to the WW in time to give her the entire tour. Kid is #1 in her class, robotics team safety captain, etc. And rather than doing something that makes money, kinda wants to be a wildlife technician. Sigh.

Tour was fun. Note the location of the birds on ice in the refuge. Kinda bummed we couldn't find the snow owl that has been hanging out. There is zero birds in the fields. Talk it over with the crew and devise and alternate plan knowing there is one "x". Also give a little pep talk. This is actually great news. Those birds are STARVING and will need to fly at some point. We need to be ready when they do. 

Draw happens. X is first pick. Guys absolutely deserved it. For a brief moment I thought about taking the other half of their zone. But I wanted to see if my plan would work or not. 

Go to setup. In the blur known as Wednesday...I missed the fact that my daughter is planning on wearing this bright blue blanket sweater under her camo jacket. Dad fail. You'd think that I'd have learned from my son's neon yellow hoodie episode. But alas. Joke with FBD about this being the trip that Fish is going to catch a falling goose. And then get to work setting our spread, stubbling the new blind and spray snow.

We're not even completely setup when birds start flying. My guess on flight path is somewhat correct and we've got traffic. But the vehicle is still at the center pivot as we're watching birds fly and setting up. This is bad. Daughter and I dash to vehicle and take it across the road. As we're walking back to the zone we watch a 3 pack work Fish beautifully but not do it. Why didn't you shoot? I thought they were going to give me a little better look. 

7 pack comes in from the right, gets to the edge of the spread and flares when I twitch the flag. My bad. Should have emptied out on them regardless. It's early though right? Talk another flock in on the left. They are eating it up...just coaxing them in...And then jam on the brakes and flare HARD at the left edge of the spread. I'm actually kinda offended at how rudely they bail out. Assess situation, rearrange spread. Not much is going to save us but we have to try. Our 6 cans of snow spray didn't cover nearly enough. And the majority of it has already fallen off the blinds. Even with bright blue blanket sweater covered up, we're a great big block of brown in the field. But it's early right? We can make this work.

Birds 40 out 20-30 up are hitable. Next flock that does that we gotta go until we hear "click". 

The 4pm rush will come. Those thousands of birds that left already couldn't be all of them. 

Talk a couple pairs in that fly over from behind. No shot.

A solo screams the entire way through our zone as loud as can be only to slide behind and keep traveling. And that's about it.

45 ish turkeys came out of the woods behind us and really attracted the ducks which was fun to watch. Someone pull up the Turkey regs quick. There might be a tag in the truck. Can you even shoot turkeys here? This is the south zone they just kill everything down here right? 

Before someone flips out we didn't shoot a turkey.

Learned a ton of useless Goose bar trivia. Never laughed so hard on a hunt before in my life. There's actually a chemical in Grape flavoring that works as Goose repellent. You shouldn't grab a goose by the neck as you risk shoulder injury. And most importantly...Geese are so angry because they are loud, clumsy birds. 

Google search answers are hilarious.

Dinner was Mr. Scribbs. We had to have it once this year on the ride home. it's also lunch today with the leftovers. 

MWW is Major League Goose Hunting. Or as Fish calls it, the Xtreme Goose League. If you make a mistake, these birds will punish you hard for it. Hopefully the bird bumpers learned their lesson. We learned a few yesterday. Spray snow is not a sure thing. Tyvek strips or better yet...snow covers. Moving into a rut would have been better than what we had. 

Also..both my kids are getting camo hoodies for Christmas. And I will pre-check wardrobe prior to departure lol.

Sucks to end the year on a skunk. But I'm alright with it. Daughter had a blast. All is good.


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## Rockydawg

BumpRacerX said:


> The theme of this year has been "If the scout sucks, drop everything and get to the WW". After this scout came in, we almost stayed home. Fish had a spot with Trophy Pike waiting to be picked. Bro...It's Major League Goose Hunting. And the scout sucked. Barrel. Burner.
> 
> I knew it was going to be a fun trip when en route to meet Fish, Daughter declared she was taking shotgun and he was getting stuck riding in the backseat. We made it to the WW in time to give her the entire tour. Kid is #1 in her class, robotics team safety captain, etc. And rather than doing something that makes money, kinda wants to be a wildlife technician. Sigh.
> 
> Tour was fun. Note the location of the birds on ice in the refuge. Kinda bummed we couldn't find the snow owl that has been hanging out. There is zero birds in the fields. Talk it over with the crew and devise and alternate plan knowing there is one "x". Also give a little pep talk. This is actually great news. Those birds are STARVING and will need to fly at some point. We need to be ready when they do.
> 
> Draw happens. X is first pick. Guys absolutely deserved it. For a brief moment I thought about taking the other half of their zone. But I wanted to see if my plan would work or not.
> 
> Go to setup. In the blur known as Wednesday...I missed the fact that my daughter is planning on wearing this bright blue blanket sweater under her camo jacket. Dad fail. You'd think that I'd have learned from my son's neon yellow hoodie episode. But alas. Joke with FBD about this being the trip that Fish is going to catch a falling goose. And then get to work setting our spread, stubbling the new blind and spray snow.
> 
> We're not even completely setup when birds start flying. My guess on flight path is somewhat correct and we've got traffic. But the vehicle is still at the center pivot as we're watching birds fly and setting up. This is bad. Daughter and I dash to vehicle and take it across the road. As we're walking back to the zone we watch a 3 pack work Fish beautifully but not do it. Why didn't you shoot? I thought they were going to give me a little better look.
> 
> 7 pack comes in from the right, gets to the edge of the spread and flares when I twitch the flag. My bad. Should have emptied out on them regardless. It's early though right? Talk another flock in on the left. They are eating it up...just coaxing them in...And then jam on the brakes and flare HARD at the left edge of the spread. I'm actually kinda offended at how rudely they bail out. Assess situation, rearrange spread. Not much is going to save us but we have to try. Our 6 cans of snow spray didn't cover nearly enough. And the majority of it has already fallen off the blinds. Even with bright blue blanket sweater covered up, we're a great big block of brown in the field. But it's early right? We can make this work.
> 
> Birds 40 out 20-30 up are hitable. Next flock that does that we gotta go until we hear "click".
> 
> The 4pm rush will come. Those thousands of birds that left already couldn't be all of them.
> 
> Talk a couple pairs in that fly over from behind. No shot.
> 
> A solo screams the entire way through our zone as loud as can be only to slide behind and keep traveling. And that's about it.
> 
> 45 ish turkeys came out of the woods behind us and really attracted the ducks which was fun to watch. Someone pull up the Turkey regs quick. There might be a tag in the truck. Can you even shoot turkeys here? This is the south zone they just kill everything down here right?
> 
> Before someone flips out we didn't shoot a turkey.
> 
> Learned a ton of useless Goose bar trivia. Never laughed so hard on a hunt before in my life. There's actually a chemical in Grape flavoring that works as Goose repellent. You shouldn't grab a goose by the neck as you risk shoulder injury. And most importantly...Geese are so angry because they are loud, clumsy birds.
> 
> Google search answers are hilarious.
> 
> Dinner was Mr. Scribbs. We had to have it once this year on the ride home. it's also lunch today with the leftovers.
> 
> MWW is Major League Goose Hunting. Or as Fish calls it, the Xtreme Goose League. If you make a mistake, these birds will punish you hard for it. Hopefully the bird bumpers learned their lesson. We learned a few yesterday. Spray snow is not a sure thing. Tyvek strips or better yet...snow covers. Moving into a rut would have been better than what we had.
> 
> Also..both my kids are getting camo hoodies for Christmas. And I will pre-check wardrobe prior to departure lol.
> 
> Sucks to end the year on a skunk. But I'm alright with it. Daughter had a blast. All is good.


Great write up! Hope your daughter had fun regardless. The duck show last night was really cool. Did they ever land? We just saw huge squadrons circle and never set down.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Not that I saw. They were loving a hay field for a while though, just to be weird.

One of the best guys up there a long time ago said that the mallards sure know how to hide at Muskegon and don't trust the lagoon counts. Was that ever true last night.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Bump, when you find some private land birds or even some public land geese on water, you'll be amazed how easily they'll work once you've honed your skills at Muskegon.

I carry the 20 while goose hunting at Shiawassee.


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## BumpRacerX

Mr. Scribs is pretty solid cold out of the fridge on day 2.




Rockydawg said:


> Great write up! Hope your daughter had fun regardless. The duck show last night was really cool. Did they ever land? We just saw huge squadrons circle and never set down.


She did. Which is really what this trip was about. She was the one that wanted to go which caught me off guard. I was completely content to let the season end. 

I think we had a few littles land close to the Turkey flock, but never had big numbers pile in. Decent size flocks flying, but not sure where they ended up.



Far Beyond Driven said:


> Bump, when you find some private land birds or even some public land geese on water, you'll be amazed how easily they'll work once you've honed your skills at Muskegon.
> 
> I carry the 20 while goose hunting at Shiawassee.


I fully intend to get a permit and shoot them right on the town golf course next year. In Khakis and a polo. Then warm up with some private land birds. By the time the first draw happens Mid-October at MWW I'll be in peak form for MLGS season to kick off.


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## Rockydawg

I


Far Beyond Driven said:


> Anyone hitting the last hunt? Scouted Fennville tonight. Saw maybe 500 geese and 300 ducks and a day they should have been moving. Should be 5000-6000 of each.


I just have to try it. I wasn't gonna, but I just have to.


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## BumpRacerX

Good luck to those that try it today.


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## fsamie1

Just checked DNR website and as of 11-20-2020 about 270 ducks were harvested and 260 geese. Seems like it is mostly goose area.


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## Far Beyond Driven

It's a small unit. 25 hunters is a big draw, twice this year it was less than five, many times in the past I've hunted standby and gotten my first pick or just walked up to the counter with no one around in the draw.

Geese were up this year due to better farming practices, ducks down due to lack of ducky weather and rain to flood the low spots. Killed birds in jeans and deck shoes s couple hunts this year.

Definitely not a volume hunt but rewarding for those that put in their work. Hunted ten times, I got 11 geese and 9 ducks; I think we took about 50 birds in all. 

AND THEY POST KILL CHARTS FOR THE LAST HUNT!


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## HopHead42

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Anyone hitting the last hunt? Scouted Fennville tonight. Saw maybe 500 geese and 300 ducks and a day they should have been moving. Should be 5000-6000 of each.


This is odd to me. I'm about 45 miles south and we have absolutely loaded up with geese and a good number of mallards in the last week. Saw the biggest feed of the year last night, just a matter of trusting a scout right now with freezing weather coming.


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## Far Beyond Driven

The ultimate Speck decoy.


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## Far Beyond Driven

So two questions for those who know more than I do.

1. Why no overseeding of the cut beans this year? That used to be money until the stuff spouted.

2. Why was the corn tilling so aggressive? The first pass was helpful for geese but the second pass in some fields tilling it to dirt not so much...


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## Rockydawg

Far Beyond Driven said:


> So two questions for those who know more than I do.
> 
> 1. Why no overseeding of the cut beans this year? That used to be money until the stuff spouted.
> 
> 2. Why was the corn tilling so aggressive? The first pass was helpful for geese but the second pass in some fields tilling it to dirt not so much...


1. I don't really know. They haven't tilled and reseeded the beans in a few years now. I was told they did that originally so there was a cover crop of rye for soil erosion. 

2. The farm manager told me they were working on spring planting work while they had some extra time this fall due to warm dry weather. The upside is that they should be able to get crop planted earlier next spring, which might mean earlier harvest next fall. Of course, that's 100% weather dependent.


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## Far Beyond Driven

So my new fangled plans of how to hide in dirt may not be needed. Bummer.

Appreciate the feedback.


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## TNL

Yep, way ahead of you. Flocking the layout with dirt (Pat. Pending). You can expect the kits to come out in Rogers spring catalog. Play your cards right and we’ll make you a bonafide Pro-Staffer.


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## Far Beyond Driven

Come in diffent colors? 40a few weeks ago ranged from beach sand to muck in 100 yards.


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## choc24/7

was curious why more people don't use the panel blinds out there.....


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## Far Beyond Driven

So, a weird season in the books. Feedback?

I skipped opener as usually it's too many parties for a couple good fields. This year, lots of dumb geese and lots of good fields. Oops.

Corn was really good, until it got double tilled.

Geese using dirt - freshly plowed hay. Huh?

Not much ducky weather. And I missed those few days. Hunted in jeans and shoes a lot.

New crews up there, always good. But doing stupid stuff. Not good.

Bump Racer's reports. Epic. AJ and Lumber J getting in another good hunt. They must think it's gravy over here and wonder about the bad reports.

Getting harassed by the police three scouting trips in a row, once deserved, twice not. Drove out to 37 to take a look, never saw a truck in the area, get flagged down later and asked what I was doing. Got to the point I was borrowing vehicles to stay ahead. Scouted in a minivan, Corvette, and Miata. Nothing to see here.

Liked a lot of the Covid changes. No single penalty. Adding on hunters. All day hunts. Not every day but there's a place for it. Hopefully stand by permit picking up comes back.

All in all I'd give it a 7/10 would recommend. Was happy to have a good run with my east side trips curtailed by am only draws and excessive party numbers.


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## craigrh13

Excessive party numbers should drop next year. This COVID crap pushed license sales up to 72k from 52k last year. That was part of the reason party numbers were higher.


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## Rockydawg

craigrh13 said:


> Excessive party numbers should drop next year. This COVID crap pushed license sales up to 72k from 52k last year. That was part of the reason party numbers were higher.


Where are you getting those numbers? In 2019 Michigan had 33,200 active duck hunters. I had heard estimates were up this year, but no specific numbers other than maybe a 15% ish increase. It sure seemed like a lot of people were out this year though.


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## wavie

Rockydawg said:


> Where are you getting those numbers?


Craig is correct. Those numbers I believe were posted on DNR website if I recall. Craig quotes waterfowl license sales, you posted active duck hunters, the DNR differentiates between the two. What that is, I'm not sure.
This was from 2018, couldn't find article that stated this year's numbers.


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## craigrh13

Rockydawg said:


> Where are you getting those numbers? In 2019 Michigan had 33,200 active duck hunters. I had heard estimates were up this year, but no specific numbers other than maybe a 15% ish increase. It sure seemed like a lot of people were out this year though.


Straight from the DNR sales report and the DNR itself.


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## Rockydawg

craigrh13 said:


> Straight from the DNR sales report and the DNR itself.


Where do you look up the sales report? Do they have sales up to date somewhere that you can look up?


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## craigrh13

License sales and active hunters are two different metrics. 

It was sent to me by someone in the DNR. Plus the DNR has been talking about it for a while. There’s many articles about how license sales were up HUGE this year. The 10-16 age group was up like 150% give or take.


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## Outdoor Gal

Kids had a lot more time to hunt this year. No sports or extra curricular activities, sneak out on weekdays before zoom classes started, etc.


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## Fishfighter

Far Beyond Driven said:


> So, a weird season in the books. Feedback?
> 
> I skipped opener as usually it's too many parties for a couple good fields. This year, lots of dumb geese and lots of good fields. Oops.
> 
> Corn was really good, until it got double tilled.
> 
> Geese using dirt - freshly plowed hay. Huh?
> 
> Not much ducky weather. And I missed those few days. Hunted in jeans and shoes a lot.
> 
> New crews up there, always good. But doing stupid stuff. Not good.
> 
> Bump Racer's reports. Epic. AJ and Lumber J getting in another good hunt. They must think it's gravy over here and wonder about the bad reports.
> 
> Getting harassed by the police three scouting trips in a row, once deserved, twice not. Drove out to 37 to take a look, never saw a truck in the area, get flagged down later and asked what I was doing. Got to the point I was borrowing vehicles to stay ahead. Scouted in a minivan, Corvette, and Miata. Nothing to see here.
> 
> Liked a lot of the Covid changes. No single penalty. Adding on hunters. All day hunts. Not every day but there's a place for it. Hopefully stand by permit picking up comes back.
> 
> All in all I'd give it a 7/10 would recommend. Was happy to have a good run with my east side trips curtailed by am only draws and excessive party numbers.


I think I finaly have my gun running right again after getting field sand blown into it on a trip there. I'm hopeing weekday 1 draw a day stays a thing at all managed areas.


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