# Muskegon WasteWater 2021



## LumberJ (Mar 9, 2009)

Fantastic write-up! Would have loved to have been a spectator for that one, but you did a great job bringing me there with your writing


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## BFG (Mar 4, 2005)

Ahh yes, FBD continues to pass on the tradition of the MWW year after year. Miss that place, and the good times I've had there.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Scouting tip. Nothing to be gained by parking in front of a field holding birds other than to have me come see why. And a minute after you left, instead of nice happy birds, 50% still have their heads up, nervous. Park well away and be discreet.


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## Steve Fifer (Nov 24, 2019)

So what is the drawing process this year at MWW? Hope to make it out Saturday morning but what to make sure what I'm in for. Thanks for the info.


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## Muskeet-0 (Oct 14, 2021)

So just how busy does the bingo get? How many spots? Asking for a friend....


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Not too much different than usual, only one person is supposed to approach the counter and they should wear a mask. Not sure if hanging out in the parking lot is frowned upon.


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

Muskeet-0 said:


> So just how busy does the bingo get? How many spots? Asking for a friend....


Opening day AM draw there were like 31 parties and 34 spots. That will likely be the highest number of parties and lowest number of fields for the year unless the hunting gets really good.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Spots vary based on time of year and what is being harvested. There's almost always more fields than hunters. Normal draw weekday 15 parties weekend 25. Ducky weather brings out more. Stale birds and blue skies and I've been the only one there.

That said, not all fields are equal and without having 30 years experience up there and being able to pull bunnies out of hats, the biggest thing is scouting to stay current to what the birds are doing. You can look at the board and see where birds have been killed, but you're chasing old info. Useful info, but old. A guy can go solo and kill the only four birds that worked and make a field look good. Guys can get the best field and suck it up. Guys can throw down 50 dozen decoys and make a crap field put up a four man limit by nine am.

If you're used to other bingo areas where the same fields are good year in year out or there's trends to follow, no joy. Muskegon varies what's in each field every year then the harvest, tilling, and sometimes rain flooding low spots changes things up.

You can always say post on here that you're looking to hitch along, put up a little bit of a resume on what you bring, and someone will probably offer you an invite. The core group of regulars up there are a pretty great group and willing to help. I learned a ton by sticking my thumb out and hunting with some guys that are probably better than 95% of the current YouTube heroes.


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## Highball28 (Oct 17, 2014)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Scouting tip. Nothing to be gained by parking in front of a field holding birds other than to have me come see why. And a minute after you left, instead of nice happy birds, 50% still have their heads up, nervous. Park well away and be discreet.


One time coming around a bend, spitter in one hand, binocs in the other, driving with my knee, there’s me rolling slow looking up at the sky when I nearly **** myself when I noticed there were 500 geese ALL 20 yards from the road staring at me. Screeched to myself. Floored it. Drove by another 4 times at 30, no stop. Yup still there.


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Scouting tip. Nothing to be gained by parking in front of a field holding birds other than to have me come see why. And a minute after you left, instead of nice happy birds, 50% still have their heads up, nervous. Park well away and be discreet.


I never considered a drop top for a scouting vehicle, but now that I witnessed one I believe it may be the perfect thing for the job. Nearly unlimited field of view!


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## BFG (Mar 4, 2005)

Yeah, the absolute worst thing you can do while scouting there is to stop. I learned that a long time ago while riding in the baby Blue Escort. It was either that, or FBD was just training for some desert off-road race in Egypt. 

I've had hunts at the WW where we drew a gold-star field (i.e. cut corn with a puddle, birds in it while scouting) on a ducky day with a lot of wind.....and shot nothing. I've also had hunts at the WW where we laid on our backs with sleeper shells under our heads covered in burlap in a basically mowed hay field and we shot straps full of ducks and geese. 

FBD will remember the day in a cut corn field with the wind at our backs, a puddle in front of us, perfect spread, perfect hide, and the damn center pivot (upwind of us) turned on about 10 minutes into the hunt.......


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

This is going to be a long afternoon.


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> This is going to be a long afternoon.


A little action so far.


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

Beats sitting at the dinning room table working. 

Good luck fellas.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Gotta love rolling up to your zone and your neighbor says "whole unit and you had to hunt here"

Wasn't aware I had to ask your blessing to pick a zone.


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

Took a peek in the box when I dropped off our card. 6 ducks, 1 goose, and 2 skunks on the four cards I could see. Unfortunately one of those skunks belonged to us. 

Had a single black duck fly at least 10 laps around the empty half of our field, and then go land back in the ditch. Showed absolutely no interest in the spread. Also did not see a single duck the last hour of shooting time, kind of strange.


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## GRUNDY (Jun 18, 2005)

Long day. Had a one hour flurry of action. Geese that worked didn't like any part of it. Decys, calling, etc. Tough to stubble in ok n. acut bean field...Ducks that worked would have loved it but it's tough when geese and ducks come out together. Spinny on/ off/ on. Ducks here, geese there. 

Was trying to get my youngest his first duck/goose and was successful. 

Dad called the shot like a total googan on a flock of 40 mallards.... lots of holes in the sky. 

No birds the last hour. Thought that was wierd.

What are the odds. First duck is a slammer black duck!?


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## GRUNDY (Jun 18, 2005)

Oh yeah.

It was not pleasant having some wiener sit and watch us with the truck lights on parked next to our zone, at one end of the center pivot where nobody is allowed to park.

Of course this took place during the 1 hour flurry of action. I'm sure that helped the geese work...

One week in and the morons are " moroning" in full force.


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

Nice Blackie!!!
Yeah I had someone pull off the road and park in the hayfield. Then the 2 of them proceeded to take a walk down the rig road and back. I call it hunter harassment and they call it bird watching. The bad thing is the waterfowl or deer hunters will get blamed for parking in the hayfield.


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## GRUNDY (Jun 18, 2005)

Double post


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Here's a teaser. And hopefully our neighbor who had to tell us to "better not skybust" was ok with our letting the birds circle and circle and circle, having many blown off by their shooting, instead of taking them at 35 on the first pass like we could have.

What's up with my neighbours the last two times up there telling me how to hunt?


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

Nice! People need to understand there is 2 sides to the fields and they don't get the field to themselves.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Was so cool to watch the birds work tonight. Would have been easier to watch had the wind not puked with half an hour to go letting them fly all around behind us then bomb in from any given angle...


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

Birds. With a comma. Birds. 

The scout was finally good. I had no choice but to stay home. Bad scouts have been rock solid hunts. Good scout could only mean one thing. Awful.

Nah. Work kinda sucks this year. My crew knows that I've been saving time off to use for MWW trips. They had already declared I was going taking the day off, good scout or not.

Get down to the unit in time to do a quick drive thru scout session. There are birds. So many of them, that you have to use a comma to count them all. 

Head to the draw, make some small chat. Didn't dawn on me that we were talking to tkpolasek otherwise I'd have introduced myself. My bad. 4 parties, never fails. We're pick 5. Luckily there are options. And we get to pick the downwind zone in a good field. Not that it matters, because the wind was spotty and inconsistent before it totally went into the doldrums and died right off. 

The zone neighbor just had to open his mouth. Sigh. The fields are huge at MWW. There's two sides in all but a few. It's not like the other managed areas. Literally...you do you, we'll do us and it's all good. If you don't want to be downwinded, pick the downwind zone. Other than that, plenty of room. I don't think we actually say anything to respond other than smile and nod. 

Fortunately, the birds were super ducky. We didn't have to take any shots at 35+. I thought about it on the ride home, I think I'm better at 35+ than I am up close and personal. But man it was just that cool to work the birds in as tight as we were able to tonight. 

First few hours were just spent hanging out in the field chilling. If you haven't already...YouTube Sam O Nella what it's like to be a pirate. I spent my ride home tonight laughing with his channel on autoplay. Other than that, there was a lot of Goose flag pumping at birds that were miles away. And a young buck wandering through the corn that was kinda fooled by FBD's doe impersonation. 

When the ducks started flying, it was hot and heavy with great tight action. I haven't stripped my gun yet post NoDak, and it starts giving me fits. First volley of shots...and I'm a single shot. Sigh. Flock of birds on my side, I pull up. Miss. Gun jambs. Insert four letter word. FBD lines up his shot bird drops. NICE.

Geese opportunities are limited. Finally get one that locks up right over us at an angle that I can't twist to hit. FBD rolls, spins and shoots. I don't even bother looking. Just start counting down. 3...2...1... The most satisfying sound on the planet is a MWW bird crashing into the earth like Icarus flying too close to the sun. 

THUMP.

We worked our ducks tight. There's at least a half dozen opportunities on my side to shoot at 35. Yet for some reason we're working them in closer where I struggle to hit them. Sunday evening I dropped my first two at 35+ only to miss out the rest of the day on close birds including a spectacular miss on a pair that I landed 15 yards out. It was just too fun not to work them in closer today. 

I'M KILLING THIS SINGLE. There's a drake mallard sliding in on my side 10 yards out, 5 yards up full lock up feet down landing time. Miss. Ooops. I led it too far. FBD replies with a "you led it too far???". Not sure if you guys are aware or not. But when the ducks are locked up barely gliding right in front of you, you don't actually have to lead them. Just thought I'd share that knowledge with the group. 

My shooting this year is either on point or awful. There is no in-between. In NoDak I snap shot a green wing on the pass with a load of BB's. Here I'm struggling again. To the point that we land a hen directly left of me while working other birds and I probably should have just said to heck with it, opened up and took the ground pound. There were other birds working though, and I figured as long as it didn't flush...I'd hit it on the next volley. Then it flushed before the next volley. Sigh.

The wind goes away which makes everything really difficult. There's no guessing which way the birds are going to come in or how they want to land. Pretty sure we could have killed a few more geese, but with all the ducks in the area it would have been foolish to turn off the spinnies. At one point we've got a nice flock of Canadians working right in when the party in the other zone opens up. Bye bye geese. Them's the breaks. 

Shortly before end of hours, FBD collects duck #4 for the all greenhead mallard limit. We've had enough ducks work us that he's stacked up a pile of pure greens. It's a glorious site. With under a minute left, I snap shoot at 40 and miss. The alarm goes off and it's pick up time. Tonight was easily a two man limit of mallards if I shoot well. I'm really just happy to be there and work the ducks. Use the flag, shake the shaker. Even blew the regular call a few times, one of which brought a flock right in on a wire.

Pass the other party. Ask how they did. Fine. Sorry I'm hard of hearing how'd you do? We did fine. Okay...most people at the WW quantify their answer. Fsamie would love it here, in that there's a kill chart and it's really easy to figure out how people did based on zone numbers/counts. Except you really don't want to use the kill chart for zone picking because the prior hunts hot zone is quickly abandoned. I really hope they did do fine. Either way...I'm sleeping well tonight knowing we shot at our birds in tight, even managed to land one. 

And really did do fine. 

(Next time though they get it at 35+ first opportunity they present)


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

BR-X
I'm glad we ended up not hooking up last night to hunt. Sounds like you guys had a good hunt.
I pretty much have every ww hunt day off the rest of the season starting next week. Maybe we can get together and officially meet. Nice chatting with you at the draw though.

We ended with 3 birds. The geese were really rattled when they got to us. Apparently they didn't like what was going on in the other occupied field.


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## Cork Dust (Nov 26, 2012)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Spots vary based on time of year and what is being harvested. There's almost always more fields than hunters. Normal draw weekday 15 parties weekend 25. Ducky weather brings out more. Stale birds and blue skies and I've been the only one there.
> 
> That said, not all fields are equal and without having 30 years experience up there and being able to pull bunnies out of hats, the biggest thing is scouting to stay current to what the birds are doing. You can look at the board and see where birds have been killed, but you're chasing old info. Useful info, but old. A guy can go solo and kill the only four birds that worked and make a field look good. Guys can get the best field and suck it up. Guys can throw down 50 dozen decoys and make a crap field put up a four man limit by nine am.
> 
> ...


So, success in waterfowling is not a function of how much Sitka Gear your group is wearing? This is going to shock a huge cohort of southern Michigan hunterS, particularly goose chasers!


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Half my spread is flat black rattle canned silhouettes made from chloroplast from political signs gleaned off the road sides, but only after the elections.


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

tkpolasek said:


> BR-X
> I'm glad we ended up not hooking up last night to hunt. Sounds like you guys had a good hunt.
> I pretty much have every ww hunt day off the rest of the season starting next week. Maybe we can get together and officially meet. Nice chatting with you at the draw though.
> 
> We ended with 3 birds. The geese were really rattled when they got to us. Apparently they didn't like what was going on in the other occupied field.


Nice chatting with you as well. I have plans on taking every Thursday off this month, work pending. Next week might be a little different though as Thursday is the Vets preference hunt. Have to wait and see if I can hook up with a Vet/take a different day/week off.

We didn't get much solid Goose action. Kinda thought they would pinball around between the other field and yours giving us looks, but it didn't happen. Snubbed on the initial flyout which isn't shocking. But then we had fair amount of birds coming back in from the direction of the other field that wouldn't even look at us. They had a destination punched into the GPS heading back to the refuge. 

Glad you guys got 3. I think all the zones killed birds but I'm not sure. Fine was a bit of a head scratcher for an answer from our field mates.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Our neighbor was also cutting into ducks on the first pass. Ducks that really wanted in, at least to ours. Glad he didn't tell us to "let them work".


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

jduck said:


> @Highball28 @Far Beyond Driven
> Free on 11th? Want to try vet hunt again?


Wyatt's gotta work, but I'm in. I'll even scout. Forecast will come into play for sure.


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

Cork Dust said:


> So, success in waterfowling is not a function of how much Sitka Gear your group is wearing? This is going to shock a huge cohort of southern Michigan hunterS, particularly goose chasers!


Definitely expensive. Super expensive and important. The more you spend, the better you do. Those ducks are a direct result of a pair of shaker calls and a $19.99 Buck Gardner Double Nasty. If we had Sitka gear we'd have been done in 8 minutes. Maybe even less.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

I'll be buried with my 1995 vintage Big River goose flute. Next hunt I'll be breaking out a 70 year old pump 16 for giggles. I've killed enough birds this year that it's time to back down the make a pile focus and have a few gentleman's hunts.


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## Cork Dust (Nov 26, 2012)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Half my spread is flat black rattle canned silhouettes made from chloroplast from political signs gleaned off the road sides, but only after the elections.


We tried chloroplast inititially, I think Mark and Mike still have some remnants. We used some Carry-lites purchased via Knutsons and the rest are wood now The winds in NoDak make Dive Bomb type silos into a pile of rubble. We ran into a pair or US Air Force retirees the second year who hunted sandhillls exclusively. They were kind enough to allow me to trace their patterns on some cardboard we weedled from a grocery store where it was waiting to be bound and shipped to a lanfill. I opted to use Luan sub-flooring that I clamped together four sheets deep after laying-out the different patterns on the top sheet to maximize use of available area, Once cut-out and edge sanded, they get two liberal coats of an equal three part solution of paint thinner, linseed oil, and spar varnish. I have also used thinned epoxy, but the paint coat has more shine to it, almost to the point of semi-gloss. These base coat penetrate well and hold paint, mostly Parkers that I pick-up at the factory when I am down in Green Bay...no shipping and a better price via direct purchase. Some of these are nearly fifteen years old now. No two birds with the same outline are the same color and shades which really makes home made decoys draw well, since they lack that coookie-cutter effect. I have over a hundred hand-painted silos I made from Real-Geese base patterns, painted in their style and the work very well to pull birds alone or with full bodies.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

You run those sand hills at Muskegon?

Everything we bring out is via jet sled, so plywood is a deal breaker.


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## Sampsons_owner (Dec 30, 2005)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> I'll be buried with my 1995 vintage Big River goose flute. Next hunt I'll be breaking out a 70 year old pump 16 for giggles. I've killed enough birds this year that it's time to back down the make a pile focus and have a few gentleman's hunts.


Perhaps we should bring out the old A5 Brownings this Saturday. Steve


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## Sampsons_owner (Dec 30, 2005)

i have a question about mixed spreads in a field situation. Last year I bought 6 dozen goose silos to add to my 10 full bodies and 2 dozen shells. Also have 2 dozen full body ducks and 4 dozen duck shells. i am wondering how to mix or keep separate the different styles of decoys and what to put around the grassed layouts to help hide them. Thanks, Steve


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

Wolverine423 said:


> I’ll be racing the Iceman as well. With this weather warm up I won’t be missing the grind.🚴‍♂️


Awesome man good luck! I'm a canoe racer by trade. Iceman is just a fun thing I signed up for while drinking. Have less than 250 miles on the bike this year. 

Tomorrow is going to hurt.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Yesterday's spread. Wind was south then s w then nothing. Left openings for geese to work either way. When the wind died we moved the spinners about fifteen yards in front.

One trick we were expecting large flocks of geese that would look and not commit. I've got the high overhead shot all day, so leaving a path for those to bail out over your spread instead of slipping off and going around it often pays off.


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## Sampsons_owner (Dec 30, 2005)

8 parties we drew middle. Got a good corn stubble field. Nothing flew until last 45 minutes. Had a couple work but went to the lagoon instead. No goose action at all. Steve


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

On the board!


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

Awesome keep us posted!


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

It ended as quick as it started this morning. No wind at all hardly to keep birds moving. Geese for the most part got up and left the unit.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Have a feeling the scout tomorrow is not going to be indicative of what's going to happen Thursday, and I'm not sure how to account for that.


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Have a feeling the scout tomorrow is not going to be indicative of what's going to happen Thursday, and I'm not sure how to account for that.


Feels like a loaf in a hayfield all day kind of forecast.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Then where to, or if someone takes the loaf and blows it up, then what? I should know these things....

Saw them all loaf in 33 once then hop on over to 51 because you know it's like 3 miles away, flying over several other fields that were just as good.


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

Updates. I expect copious amounts of updates. Can't miss my daughter's performance at the Legion on Veteran's Day though.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

I saw more people scouting than I saw fields I want to hunt. Normally that shakes out but with my second to last draw streak I'm stuck in this year...


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Hoping no one from the site saw that epic miss. Redemption on the second flock; three down.


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

Didn't see a thing!


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Bad picture great hunt. Thanks to Jduck and his dad for the invite, and for your service.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Our neighbors had their crap together and we got to watch them drop one at like 12:05 while we were still walking out.


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## Fishfighter (Dec 20, 2009)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Our neighbors had their crap together and we got to watch them drop one at like 12:05 while we were still walking out.


Aren't shooting hours at 1?


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

Fishfighter said:


> Aren't shooting hours at 1?


There is no morning hunt on Thursday, so I think they allow you to start shooting earlier.


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

On Thursday it's 12 till end of shooting light. On Saturday it starts at 1.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Hey geese and ducks feeding off unit. All the corn is cut now. Please feel free to look down and pick any convenient field.


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

Need to find out what flavor corn he's planting over there.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

The not getting shot at kind, I reckon.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

AJ and LumberJ out again. They're used to piles. Scout had one x. We didn't get it, settled in upwind of it. 

I went to the truck to get some pliers for LumberJ's blind, walking back out and see a duck just pile in.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)




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## Outdoor Gal (Sep 9, 2008)

That's a good way to start off!


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Here's a good way to end. We cut six out of the last flock including a stud drake black. Birds worked perfectly tonight, we shot well, great company. One of these times these guys will have a bad hunt out here. Maybe.


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

That's a good night!


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## Outdoor Gal (Sep 9, 2008)

That's awesome! What a hunt!


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## ajkulish (Nov 16, 2013)

Huge thanks again for the scout and for putting up with us all afternoon Kevin. What a frickin day!


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

I have learned that AJ is the scholar of the spread. If he makes a suggestion, it's fact, and you need to follow it. Now. Like last night the wind died so he was like "put the spinners up front". Next flock feet down 15 yards out front.


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## LumberJ (Mar 9, 2009)

Great trip as always! I’ll do my write-up tomorrow after I’m all caught up on the compounding honey-do list











Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## LumberJ (Mar 9, 2009)

Sorry for the delayed report from our Saturday hunt…Ol LumberJ still isn’t caught up on the honey-do but I’ll try to give a good effort on the recap as I wait for my toddler to stop running circles around her room and finally settle down for bed…


Well, it was another banner hunt at MWW with FBD and AJKulish that nearly didn’t happen. Scout didn’t look great at first but FBD finally found a field that was being used heavily right at dark. Only problem is that a couple other parties saw it too. So do we risk the long drive for a bad draw? My wife was about ready for me to take a break from ducks and AJ was on the fence so it would have been easy to bail on it…but the wind looked so good and we had killer hunts out last 2 times there…let’s just do it! AJ and I meet in the morning and head west to meet FBD at the draw right before it’s time. Light showing as we grab the 3rd card and fill it out just in time. Finger crossed for our zone and the order goes 1, 2, 3. . 1 takes a distant field but of course 2 takes the X. Crud… we joke with them about taking the downwind zone, but settle on an upwind zone instead. Knowing that they will get the duck spot but maybe we’ll get some geese to play. 

Our zone was pretty well picked over but the stubble was still up so it made for a good hide at least. The wind was ripping but the sky was blue and no birds in the air. It felt like one of those days where there’d be a long sit before the 30 minute flurry before dark. As such, I had no problem taking a little nap in the layout while FBD took a walk back to the truck for pliers. I woke up to the hurried warning by AJ, “mallards on the right. Mallards on the right!” I snapped awake and frantically tried to get my ear protection back in. As I’m doing that I look up and a drake mallard is dropping hard and fast right at us. I whisper to AJ. “Out front, out front.” I accidentally dropped my ear buds and just stared in awe as this kamikaze mallard descended to 25 yards in front of AJ’s blind. AJ sat up, ripped off the first round of the afternoon and connected. The shot was a little back and he sailed to the corner of our zone but Lily had a mark on him and took a solid line for the retrieve. On the board! 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## LumberJ (Mar 9, 2009)

Moments later FBD returns with the pilers and I fix my blind while we talk about that unexpected excitement. We all settle back into our blind and get ready. A short while passes and a lone goose is spotted doing a lap. We kill the spinners, and hit the calls and flags. Lone goose takes notice and heads right in. He gave us several generous opportunities and just kept circling closer. Our gracious host FBD could have easily dumped it on a couple passes but let it circle again for us to shoot. On the final pass within 25 yards, I flew open my doors and piled him over. As lily was bringing him back AJ gets a big grin and says, “I hope you like your new band!” Sweet! I offer it to our host since he could have easily taken that shot but he declines and we have a quick photo shoot before crawling back in the blinds. Now birds are starting to be on the move. Several groups of geese work us before continuing on their way, but we do break off another single. This one flew a little too close to FBD’s blind and didn’t get a chance to keep circling. Next group was a 4-pack of mallards that dropped in. Our shooting was a little under-par for them but we still rolled one out of the group. Now more and more mallards are starting to play. 2 drop in and land (one of which was working 5 feet of AJ’s blind) while another half dozen are circling. They peel out but AJ still gets the one at his feet (after allowing for it to get a little bit of distance). 

Another mallard nearly landed on my blind. As it continued past me looking for a spot to set, I jumped up and spun around the best I could to get a shoot. I ripped off a round with a semi-shouldered gun and my nose took a beating for it. Knocked off a few feathers but she was still on the move and my follow-up shots were no better in form or delivery. She flew the length of our zone but never gained altitude and eventually set down in some brush on the edge. Lily and I took a walk and within no time she pulled her from the brush and we raced back as more geese began circling. 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## LumberJ (Mar 9, 2009)

A lone goose ventured into our neighbor’s spread and we spectated its final approach. It glides down until the inevitable backpedaling. The goose lifted up followed but the delayed sound of a volley of shots. Unfortunately they didn’t connect but that crazy goose started heading upwind right towards us. We went soft on the calls and heavy on the flags and sure enough, he coasted right in. This time that goose wasn’t so lucky. It’s now getting into the later afternoon and there is an absolute tornado of ducks staring to fly over the ponds in the distance. Things are about to get good. With a half-hour to go, AJ’s suggested, we move the spinners around to see if we can get the ducks to finish a little better. Not more that 5 minutes later and we have a couple dozen mallards circling from behind and looking for a spot to land. 10-12 break off and come right down the lane. The excitement is unreal. As they close in I’m asking AJ, “what do we do, what do we do?” “Take em!” He replies. I sit up and settle my bead on a bird in the middle of the group. Boom! It folds. On to bird #2. Boom feathers, on to #3 boom. Miss. I hear AJ immediately shouting, “I got a black duck, I got a black duck!” Meanwhile a drake mallard circles 2 more times and lands behind us. I throw a shell in and take off trying to close the distance. As I’m getting closer I fumble around my pockets looking for more shells only to realize I’m out. Better make this count. I get to about 30 yards and he flushes. Boom! Miss. Haha. But I keep and eye on him and he goes down at the same spot as the hen had. Lily and I run over and recover then proceed to help AJ with a bird that he sailed. He already has his black duck in hand and we quickly find the missing drake mallard. When we return to the blind, FBD shows off my hen (from the first shot) and his 2 drakes. We got 6 birds out of that group!! We do a quick mallard count to confirm what we still have room for, but now there’s only 5 minutes before hours. With 2 minutes to go, a group of 3 start showing us affection. I’ve got my eye on the clock and counting down the seconds. With 10 seconds to spare, they start to give us that one last good look, but then wisely decide to peel off for the evening. We certainly didn’t need those last couple birds to make it a heck of a day though! Our final count was 10 mallards, 1 black duck, and 4 geese. And as usual, the after-hours show was spectacular. Hundreds upon hundreds of mallards buzzing around looking for an evening feed. 

Can’t wait to get back! Thanks again Kevin for hosting! 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Goose was banded late July up north.


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## Highball28 (Oct 17, 2014)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> View attachment 799308
> 
> 
> Goose was banded late July up north.


Thinking the WW might be a stopping point for a lot of those birds from up there. That’s exactly where mine from last year was banded.


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

My migrant from 39 and my daughter's from 42 both came off James Bay. The tank I shot up in 4 was from Big Rapids.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

So we get to our zone, and these guys keep pulling decoys out of the truck. So I keep pulling out decoys not to be out done, and so on, and so on, until the tidy spread had grown to almost 150 yards deep. Should I set these? Of course.

Again, the answer to how much stubble? More. Called my oldest in TN on the way home to tell her about the hunt, asked her the same question, and she said "more" with out hesitation.

First duck piles in whIle I'm getting pliers for LumberJ. Pass a banded goose twice. I announce that all courtesy is over and proceed to just destroy a goose on my side. Four pack of geese slides off on the edge but trailing Charlie takes a beat down. Then we had a three pack on a rope at 60 when a four pack came in quiet from behind and sucked them away. Should have thrown at the four. Weird angle but totally doable. Then, the way geese were working, it was safe to assume they'd come back. They didn't.

The goose from our neighbors, as soon as they missed, I announced "Imma gonna kill that goose" then proceeded to miss it. Lumber J hit it, AJ hit it, then I made a really nice shot as it was headed to the ground that you could hear hit the goose, but like the other two shots all it did was add about 10 degrees to the angle of the dive. Pooch put some miles on cleaning up for us. Heck of a dog.

The last flock was just epic. AJ sees the black duck and calls the shot, there are birds every where in the spread, I crunch two drakes. Those guys are off picking up gliders and I just keep finding birds in the pocket. We got back just in time to have the last few coming in see us and get cagey, but at that point a few more birds didn't matter.

AJ's fourth hunt here (his first was a four man mallard whack a mole session) then three more with him and LumberJ with 11, 6 with a lot of misses, and 15 birds. Keep telling them it's not always like this.

Or maybe it's them?


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

East Side represent!


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## Wallis (Nov 10, 2015)

Highball28 said:


> Thinking the WW might be a stopping point for a lot of those birds from up there. That’s exactly where mine from last year was banded.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


Our group has killed 6 from there in gratiot county over the last 7 years


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Jerry Lamb said:


> East Side represent!


Open invite man.


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Open invite man.


Same goes for you.
Next year for sure. I would guess both of your interns mentioned hunting with me sometime during your escapades....


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

I'm still planning on an east side miles for piles Buffy beat down.

The interns were too busy napping or shooting to have any meaningful discussions.


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> I'm still planning on an east side miles for piles Buffy beat down.
> 
> The interns were too busy napping or shooting to have any meaningful discussions.


The buffies didn't show up this year. Like pretty much everything else.
Full moon, NW wind, you'd think there would be new birds. Nope.
FYI....I did stalk jump and kill a Black duck with my .16 today.
My Benelli finally went to the shop....


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

First rule of Italian driving, what is behind me is not important.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Not sure if the drake is huge or the hen is tiny.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Only towards the end of season at MWW would you see the x with 2000 geese in it get passed by everyone in the draw. Wasn't even going to give those geese the satisfaction of frustrating us tonight, although it would have been a show.


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

Fuel stop. 45 minutes to go before home.

SiriusXM Octane plays a song titled "Dead Man Walking". Fitting for the last hunt of the duck season at MWW. 

The X wasn't just passed. There was a party in the draw that just turned in their card and went home lol. Pass. No. Not just pass. Keep the card we're not even going to hunt.

We still had a good time. It's always a sign of a good year when no one really wanted to claim the Drake.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

A couple years ago the scout said 8a or going home.

Dropped my boat off at a buddy's place in Port Sheldon on the way up just in case. Two parties. Draw two. Others guys take 8a. I bail, limited on lake trout by 4pm.


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

Where do you want to be? A quick discussion revealed we were on the same page. Thought process for me was as follows. Mainly, a few mallards while still being able to watch the show without wanting to rage toss gear at being snubbed too hard by the worlds toughest geese. 

Just don't make us be first pick. Please not the first pick.

10 parties one of which participated in the morning draw and was turned into the dead ball. We're 2nd pick. 1st pick takes the zone I had on top, but not the side I wanted. Force card to FBD, here you pick. Whisper mainly to myself, we're going to zone XX. Sure enough. It was zone XX. Sweet. I can collect some observations for the notebook looking at the flight patterns from a new angle.

We setup throwing down XX dozen silos, stubble up and start talking. Time absolutely flies. A few looks but no dice. And then a hen gets crushed by The Skog on his third shell a country mile away. We're not talking sailed. Crushed. Helicopter spiral to the ground not going anywhere crushed. We get up to go find the worlds smallest hen and my watch vibrates telling me congrats or something like that for taking a lot of steps today. I glance at the time. It's 3:50 already. Holy crap has time flown for not a lot action.

We hear one other volley from a field, but otherwise it's reasonable quiet. There's birds flying and teasing us, just not playing and getting down. One of the dangers of how we're setup comes true. As we're playing with birds at our feet a ways out, four geese sneak over top stone cold silent 20-30 up, slight offset left. With the line they were on, they worked in from behind us. No shot as we're caught off guard and focused on the birds in front and to the slight right.

A pair of Mallards gets a little too close and the trio of guns unloads. Well, kinda. In the after moments of our previous shots...I put a shell in and pressed the button. Yep, forgot to put the other two shells in. I aim at the drake but merely fluff it. Go for the follow up and nothing. Yep. Gotta put more shells in. FBD catches up with it, but it still sails. Lung shot birds are fun. It rides the wind forever before coming to a stop.

The show really takes off with under two minutes to go. Unfortunately, nothing gets low enough fast enough. The alarm sounds, and it's game over.

The discussion around the drake is pretty funny. This thing is a prime massive full plume stud. Fresh in from Canada. You can smell Molson on the breath. Muttered something about hosers as the air ran out from the lungs. No one wants to claim it. My rule is when hunting with others, unless I know I definitely hammered a bird I give it away. I have plenty at home as the last week of the middle zone was very good to me. Skog is new to the unit. FBD is hosting, does the scouting and has the majority of the gear. One of you guys take this bird.

Final tally is the Wastewater's smallest freshly hatched hen paired up with a Lumberjack drake. 

Added a few new toys to the spread this trip. Not sure that it made a difference or not, but outside of the heads (which I think I'm going to flock) they looked and worked good. I glanced at a pod and had a moment of CRAP BIRD IN THE DECOYS before realizing what was up. And then felt much better about it when FBD admitted the same thing. Couldn't find the toys that I really wanted to bust out for this trip. Tore all the boxes apart in the basement looking Friday night. Joys of moving. As a bonus though, did find my Lymans 5th and the Tom Roster Bismuth books.

Only three WW trips for me this year. Average 1.75ish birds per gun per trip while the unit average is .75ish. FBD's number for all the trips he's ran this year has to be insane. It was a sad ride home realizing I probably couldn't drive down to hunt the bonus goose only season due to other obligations. I drowned myself in A&W root beer and cheese curds while working out a new spread setup in my head. Then it hit me that maybe, just maybe the 18th would work. Still think I'm done. But if weather hits and fresh honkers show up...the new spread setup might get ran.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

11 scouts, 8 hunts. Over 2500 miles on the Jeep, Expedition, Focus, and even once the Miata. No Corvette this year, zero issues scouting with deer hunters and cops this year.

23 hunters, hosted 9 guests, eight from this site, four of their kids, and my youngest finally got to come along and loved it.

Drew first out of three, second out of ten, and second to last six times. Then, it was always a top 7 draw as the party counts were low this year.

Lost one goose, got 12 geese, 44 mallards, and two blacks. Most importantly, the streak some how astonishingly stays intact, walking out of the field with birds every hunt for yet another season.

Gear is going back on the shelf but I'm sure the itch will come back before the place closes, and I'll have to put the streak up against the hardest geese to kill in the state.


To all who hunted with me this year, thanks for taking the chance coming across the state in most cases, to hunt this special place. It needs the attention and always puts on a good show even if you sometimes have to watch from the high seats.


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

As I sit here watching it snow I really wish we would have had this weather yesterday. 6 hunts this year, average of 0.5 birds per hunter. One hunt where we never pulled the trigger, and multiple hunts where there should have been birds on the ground but we couldn't connect.

First season I have made multiple trips to MWW since 2015. Didn't hunt there at all from 2017-2019. Had to re-learn a few things and got reminded several times just how frustrating it can be.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Tomorrow's cold is gonna freak out some geese and make them hungry. Also gonna make waiting them out suck.

Recalls a hunt a long time ago where someone drove around until the geese started flying, ran back to the hq, grabbed that zone, threw down a blind and a bag of decoys, two shots and done.


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## tkpolasek (Mar 4, 2002)

Sounds as if a lot of geese flew the coupe. Lagoons froze up. I heard a bird count of about 300. Hopefully with the warm up some birds will move back in.


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## the_skog (Jan 19, 2006)

I am a bit late to the party but I would give my two cents anyway. I had a great hunt with bumpracerx and FBD. I always enjoy putting faces to names. It was also nice meeting Sampsonsowner and mrs. Sampsonowner. Bumpracerx has a way with words and pretty much summed it up great. I got very lucky with a BB to the face a country mile out there on a shot that was just morale support and FBD made one of the longest retrieves I have seen a guy his age make.  I learned a lot about car titles and I know that if either of these two guys hit me for a hunt, 
they have a spot.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Scouted last night. Was truly amazed how bereft of birds the place was. Usually even when it freezes, the mallards go to ditches and stick around. Nope, none of that either.

Both lagoons were open. Saw a flock of seven Canada's on one. Did not catch them when they flew out, sp no idea where they went.

Shovelers still around, with some totally plumed out drakes. But not all.

So hopes of closing it out are dashed, as it seems to have closed itself out. Now to see if I want to hunt badly enough to try Fennville, and how the corn there held up in the wind as the strips at Muskegon took a beating.


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## Fall Flight Punisher (Aug 14, 2008)

FBD…you know it Really has to be bad if your talking The Farm! I vowed to never ever go there again over 20 years ago…but if you need someone, I will make that leap of faith and go there again! 😂


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## Rockydawg (Dec 8, 2019)

Three parties this am. Tim and Ron have one goose and they've had several flocks work, they also shot birds this last Tuesday and Thursday. 1500 geese using the unit, and about a dozen snows. Ron advised that birds aren't roosting there, and they have been running traffic, not feeds. Hope that helps anyone who wants to make one of the 3 remaining draws!


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Thanks, good to know. Thought I saw a flock of six snows and two blues last night as well.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Not my picture, but if anyone wants to claim this - this is how you stubble a blind for late season WW geese.


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## BaldwinHunter (Oct 4, 2016)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Half my spread is flat black rattle canned silhouettes made from chloroplast from political signs gleaned off the road sides, but only after the elections.


How do you make the stakes for them? Ive got sheets of chloroplast i need to use to make some!


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

I used wire from campaign signs epoxied in place but as the decoys flex the bind breaks and the stake comes loose. Dive Bomb used to sell double wire stakes for $8 a dozen, which would add weight but keep the decoys from spinning, but I'm sure that price went up if they're even available.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Scouted tonight. About 700 geese on unit, found some in fields but not very many in any one field. Can only assume the ones loafing had fed earlier seeing it was 20 degrees. Oddly, in the last hour the geese in the fields did not move. If I'd scouted earlier and knew what the rest were doing I'd consider it...


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

Saw almost as many turkeys as I saw geese yesterday afternoon, but I got the day off and nothing better to do, so I'll give it one last shot.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Hope you see this on time, sent a pm with what I saw yesterday.


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