"The Crew" had a great opening weekend even though the lack of water closed out many traditional potholes in the Upper SJR marsh.
We were able to make our way back to a secluded hole about 200 yards off the river run on Saturday morning. The water was only (6) six inches deep & was very inviting to the birds on previous scouting trips.
After a hot breakfast & a good smoke, Capt Jim & I settled in as we heard the woodies begin to buzz the hole.
When it was all over & down with, we ended up with (10) ten birds & lost (2) two in the willows. I had Jimmy, my AWS but sending him into those willows in not worth a lost dog.
(5) five Teal
(2) two Mottleds
(3) three Woodies
We dropped the boat off @ the house, cleaned up & headed over to Ebor City for the 8th annual Cigar Heritage Festival.
What an event!!!
Sat near the stage & Cigar Dave did his (2) two hour broadcast live from the event. There was a Frank Sinatra crooner there with his (15) fifteen piece band that brought the show in & out of commercials.
That guy had a set of pipes on him!!!
After spending several hundred dollars on sticks, we headed back to the other coast for a well deserved sleep.
Sunday we slepted in & made it make out to the marsh for an evening hunt.
We looked for several potholes where the birds were sitting out of the wind. After pushing several hundred birds out & up in the air, we ran the boat up into a cattail head & beagn the hunt.
An hour & a half later, we had another (10) ten birds on the water.
(3) three FWD
(3) three BBWD
(3) three BWT
(1) one Ringer
Once back @ the hill, we ran down to the lease in Vero to fill more gator tags.
The groves have really been pumping out the water & the entire 2000 acres looked more like a mud flat on low tide out on the ICW.
The airboat glided across the flats like it was flying. Many of the gators just wallowed out a hole in the mud with only their snouts sticking up.
It almost wasn't fair!!!
But then again, we were harvesting & since we had Capt Jim's 8 yoa son with us we only wanted to hunt for (2) two hours.
We located one of the (9) nine footers in a pothole about the size a a driveway pad. As we approached him, he got up on all four & ran across the mud & onto a tussut.
Bad move on his part!!!:la:
One shot with my new .223cal BECO Bangstick & he was DRT.
Dead Right There!!!
By 2115hrs, we had (8) eight gators in the boat between (5) five & (9) nine feet.
Sorry, but not pic's of the weekend.
Looks like the morning dew got to the camera & it's doing very strange things.
Capt Jeff & The Crew
We were able to make our way back to a secluded hole about 200 yards off the river run on Saturday morning. The water was only (6) six inches deep & was very inviting to the birds on previous scouting trips.
After a hot breakfast & a good smoke, Capt Jim & I settled in as we heard the woodies begin to buzz the hole.
When it was all over & down with, we ended up with (10) ten birds & lost (2) two in the willows. I had Jimmy, my AWS but sending him into those willows in not worth a lost dog.
(5) five Teal
(2) two Mottleds
(3) three Woodies
We dropped the boat off @ the house, cleaned up & headed over to Ebor City for the 8th annual Cigar Heritage Festival.
What an event!!!
Sat near the stage & Cigar Dave did his (2) two hour broadcast live from the event. There was a Frank Sinatra crooner there with his (15) fifteen piece band that brought the show in & out of commercials.
That guy had a set of pipes on him!!!
After spending several hundred dollars on sticks, we headed back to the other coast for a well deserved sleep.
Sunday we slepted in & made it make out to the marsh for an evening hunt.
We looked for several potholes where the birds were sitting out of the wind. After pushing several hundred birds out & up in the air, we ran the boat up into a cattail head & beagn the hunt.
An hour & a half later, we had another (10) ten birds on the water.
(3) three FWD
(3) three BBWD
(3) three BWT
(1) one Ringer
Once back @ the hill, we ran down to the lease in Vero to fill more gator tags.
The groves have really been pumping out the water & the entire 2000 acres looked more like a mud flat on low tide out on the ICW.
The airboat glided across the flats like it was flying. Many of the gators just wallowed out a hole in the mud with only their snouts sticking up.
It almost wasn't fair!!!
But then again, we were harvesting & since we had Capt Jim's 8 yoa son with us we only wanted to hunt for (2) two hours.
We located one of the (9) nine footers in a pothole about the size a a driveway pad. As we approached him, he got up on all four & ran across the mud & onto a tussut.
Bad move on his part!!!:la:
One shot with my new .223cal BECO Bangstick & he was DRT.
Dead Right There!!!
By 2115hrs, we had (8) eight gators in the boat between (5) five & (9) nine feet.
Sorry, but not pic's of the weekend.
Looks like the morning dew got to the camera & it's doing very strange things.
Capt Jeff & The Crew