# Zone 2 opener reports



## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Buddy hunted one swamp over from where I scouted. Usually he's at breakfast by nine. Never picked up his gun.


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## Buckshot556 (Aug 10, 2016)

Three of us hunted up in cheboygan county. Saw very little and they stayed far from shore. Never pulled the trigger.  Tried to save face grouse hunting...heard em flushing but never saw them


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

pikemaster789 said:


> Worst opener for me too in recent years. Had plenty of wood duck on a pond during early goose season, expecting average numbers on the opener. Me and a buddy killed one, not many flying. Went to jump shooting some beaver ponds that normally produce and only put up 4 birds. Kind of baffled


Like I said in my earlier post you're not alone. All week through Thursday things looked about as sure a slam dunk for us as it gets. Birds in the fields like clockwork. Friday was oh **** day. And despite our best efforts scouting we just couldn't find any numbers. They chopped a lot of corn in our area. Between lack of food in the chopped fields and the moon I think they just boogied.

Despite the low bird numbers Z2 duck camp was a solid success. Great friends, we ate like kings. Saginaw Bay yellowbellies, American fries and cole slaw Friday, Biscuts and gravy, fried eggs and American fries for breakfast and Ribeyes and Ollie oil on Saturday, shaved ribeye breakfast burritos Sunday post hunt. And to ice the cake I took my 19 week old pup out on a prospecting hunt on a little pond and she made a retrieve on a wood duck. Awesome opener!


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## Aaronjeep2 (Nov 18, 2016)

adam bomb said:


> Like I said in my earlier post you're not alone. All week through Thursday things looked about as sure a slam dunk for us as it gets. Birds in the fields like clockwork. Friday was oh **** day. And despite our best efforts scouting we just couldn't find any numbers. They chopped a lot of corn in our area. Between lack of food in the chopped fields and the moon I think they just boogied.
> 
> Despite the low bird numbers Z2 duck camp was a solid success. Great friends, we ate like kings. Saginaw Bay yellowbellies, American fries and cole slaw Friday, Biscuts and gravy, fried eggs and American fries for breakfast and Ribeyes and Ollie oil on Saturday, shaved ribeye breakfast burritos Sunday post hunt. And to ice the cake I took my 19 week old pup out on a prospecting hunt on a little pond and she made a retrieve on a wood duck. Awesome opener!
> View attachment 274435
> ...


Your making me hungry as for them mojos I prefer this is me every one has there own opinion. I like my mojos as close to the ground/water as i can get the higher up the more it looks like they are flaring. That's a personal preference that I've found worked through trial and error. They still see the wings way down on the ground as much as above the corn. Idk it's just personal preference.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

And I run a 15' pole. Sometimes we have the 15' then a 5', then two right on the ground to make it look like they're all landing.

I have seen it though when everyone is running 5-8' poles, if you put them on the ground, you do better, as its something different.


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

Aaronjeep2 said:


> Your making me hungry as for them mojos I prefer this is me every one has there own opinion. I like my mojos as close to the ground/water as i can get the higher up the more it looks like they are flaring. That's a personal preference that I've found worked through trial and error. They still see the wings way down on the ground as much as above the corn. Idk it's just personal preference.


They're the standard mojo poles. They look super tall in the pics but we were sitting lower than the decoys in a depression with tall grass that gave us a great hide.


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## Aaronjeep2 (Nov 18, 2016)

adam bomb said:


> They're the standard mojo poles. They look super tall in the pics but we were sitting lower than the decoys in a depression with tall grass that gave us a great hide.


It's all personal preference don't take my comment the wrong way.


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

No offense taken sir. After your comment I did think man those look tall.


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## good4080 (Apr 4, 2013)

Missed a bufflehead. Only saw a few more birds. Didn't go out in the morning.


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## Aaronjeep2 (Nov 18, 2016)

adam bomb said:


> No offense taken sir. After your comment I did think man those look tall.


Ok my bad now that I looked again that's about what 2-3 foot corn stubble ? My bad mojo poles are good Length. I've had a few to many beers tonight.


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## MasterBaiters (Jul 13, 2017)

Outdoor Gal said:


> Went up to our usual Houghton Lakeish area wood duck spot. This was the slowest it's ever been there. High water, had me guessing birds were spread out further. We never even pulled the trigger on Saturday. Just weren't where the birds wanted to be. Normally, the hubby and I stay mobile and move if we need to, but we had our boys along this year, so we were stuck to the make shift blind. No way to keep them dry and let them shoot anywhere else, especially with the higher water.
> 
> Saturday afternoon was saved with a handful of woodcock and a few more misses. Lol.
> 
> ...


nice pics


Outdoor Gal said:


> Went up to our usual Houghton Lakeish area wood duck spot. This was the slowest it's ever been there. High water, had me guessing birds were spread out further. We never even pulled the trigger on Saturday. Just weren't where the birds wanted to be. Normally, the hubby and I stay mobile and move if we need to, but we had our boys along this year, so we were stuck to the make shift blind. No way to keep them dry and let them shoot anywhere else, especially with the higher water.
> 
> Saturday afternoon was saved with a handful of woodcock and a few more misses. Lol.
> 
> ...


nice pics good to c the youngns involved!


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## MasterBaiters (Jul 13, 2017)

TheHighLIfe said:


> near tc. my buddy and my son could not make it, so i hunted alone. not many flying at all. did not shoot for 60-90 minutes. saw a few single ducks gliding in to 'somewhere', went walking, found the spot. shot well, got a drake, hen, and hen redhead with a cripple that sailed too far. two times had a lone drake come in only head high, literally, but a small evergreen tree blocked me out. if they had come in 20' in the air i would have limited. still trying to find spots near tc as i will be spending more time now that i am retired - and looking for safe partners who enjoy the outdoors and have a positive outlook on life - i have enough gear to start a mini cabelas - haha


lol,do you have an application to fill out for safe waterfowling partner,a lil long on the tooth and move like a snail but passion and desire supercede physical handicaps! it s always good to be out,live in the thumb and the waterfowl opportunities are limited,willing to drive,dont cook or do dishes,have made coffee at least that's what it said on the jar?


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## LumberJ (Mar 9, 2009)

We had a pretty good opener. Lots of other hunters in the area but we managed to pick up 7 on Saturday and after some afternoon scouting found a good spot for Sunday. Managed our 6 woodies within the first 20 min of shooting time Sunday morning. Looked at the Garmin after our Saturday scouting and it turns out we put 14 miles on the boots that day. Needless to say the pup needs a few days to recover before the Z3 opener


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

LumberJ said:


> We had a pretty good opener. Lots of other hunters in the area but we managed to pick up 7 on Saturday and after some afternoon scouting found a good spot for Sunday. Managed our 6 woodies within the first 20 min of shooting time Sunday morning. Looked at the Garmin after our Saturday scouting and it turns out we put 14 miles on the boots that day. Needless to say the pup needs a few days to recover before the Z3 opener


Nice looking pup J-man. Love the alert bottom picture


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## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

Jerry Lamb said:


> Nice looking pup J-man. Love the alert bottom picture


Yes. That dog sure looks like an athlete.


LumberJ said:


> We had a pretty good opener. Lots of other hunters in the area but we managed to pick up 7 on Saturday and after some afternoon scouting found a good spot for Sunday. Managed our 6 woodies within the first 20 min of shooting time Sunday morning. Looked at the Garmin after our Saturday scouting and it turns out we put 14 miles on the boots that day. Needless to say the pup needs a few days to recover before the Z3 opener


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## michiganoutdoorsman (Dec 29, 2010)

Outdoor Gal said:


> Went up to our usual Houghton Lakeish area wood duck spot. This was the slowest it's ever been there. High water, had me guessing birds were spread out further. We never even pulled the trigger on Saturday. Just weren't where the birds wanted to be. Normally, the hubby and I stay mobile and move if we need to, but we had our boys along this year, so we were stuck to the make shift blind. No way to keep them dry and let them shoot anywhere else, especially with the higher water.
> 
> Saturday afternoon was saved with a handful of woodcock and a few more misses. Lol.
> 
> ...


I must have missed that on Facebook, good for Eli! Beautiful bird, mounting it? That would be one heck of a birthday present


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

adam bomb said:


> It was poor. The very worst opener in Z2 we've ever had. Went from 800-1000 geese and mallards in a single field to nothing. Our other fields dried up as well. We scouted really hard and found very little. I thought with the warm weather they'd be on the big water. We didnt even find them on the larger lakes in the area. We tried our plan B on Sunday and that pretty much got wrecked due to some guys skybusting at the birds coming off the roost.I think we woulda did alright there.
> 
> Imo the birds migrated with that full moon. Lots of silage cutband not much to eat. We had geese flying an hour before daylight yesterday heading south too....that's hunting, we'll get em next time


Your not alone I know essentially every field they use for a half hour in any direction. I normally hunt geese and could not find a field worth hunting but a sanctuary field. Drove my ass off for a week. Even the good pasture ponds we hunt are dead.

Couple days ago had a good field, give it one more scout, gone in another field we can hunt, next morning another field and now all but gone.

Like you used to having a 1000 bird field for opener with Mallards mixed in Most I've seen 150 ish. I have a normal sanctuary pasture I use as a barometer, normally right now, can't fit another goose 2k, 200 maybe. Dunno

Seeing geese really spread out, 25 here 40 here. I ain't wasting my time for that.

With all the corn knocked down we need the discs to come out to concentrate. Their spread out and bouncing


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## LumberJ (Mar 9, 2009)

Jerry Lamb said:


> Nice looking pup J-man. Love the alert bottom picture


Thanks Jerry. I'll have to make a point to get out to the island this year. It's been too long since we hunted together


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

LumberJ said:


> Thanks Jerry. I'll have to make a point to get out to the island this year. It's been too long since we hunted together


You're welcome any time, and we're dog friendly. Steve has been keeping me updated


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## Outdoor Gal (Sep 9, 2008)

michiganoutdoorsman said:


> I must have missed that on Facebook, good for Eli! Beautiful bird, mounting it? That would be one heck of a birthday present


It sure would have! It made a very nice birthday dinner though.  He was SO excited to eat it, and the ramen noodles. Lol. (I hardly ever buy them.)

I finally got the weekend photos all sorted and cleaned up. You should see a post on FB soon. 



















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