A bit embarrassed

We headed out this morning as simply a formality. We didn't expect much but we were disappointed nonetheless. There were a few small groups of ducks and one group of specks. We had zero decoying opportunities and blew the call zero times. Shooting time was 728am and we were loaded up, and de-geared and sitting in the truck by 830am. Not a very good showing as we like to think of ourselves as sportsman and not just killers. But when it's not happening, it's just not happening. If not for the wind we would have probably just stayed home. We didn't give it much of a chance and I don't believe we made the wrong choice heading home extremely early.
There is a bit of weather heading from the extreme northwest into Canada over the next couple days, I believe the leftover's will be here Wednesday. Maybe that will push the gadwall and wigeon this way? Thats's all for now, check back for the latest and greatest.

A little movement

The wind blowing made a few more birds trickle this way. There were more cormorants again, some more specks and a few more ducks. Watched the guys just south pull one Canada out of a dozen or so and we went 3 for 3 on smileys, again, and one for one on teal. That's four ducks, our best day yet. Things are progressing ever so slowly. We are seeing birds moving almost on a daily basis, but no real push today. The brown ducks have still not shown us that they are headed this way. We are 5 days from November and this is the fewest birds we've seen in October, in the ditch over the last 3+ seasons. The best is yet to come! If you haven't been out yet don't worry there are plenty more to come at a later date. Nothing indicates the birds have even thought about leaving the tundra. That's all for now, check back for the latest and greatest.

First Reader Report

SPIT TECH GUY WROTE:  Thought you might want a report from the Great White North. Well, northern Nebraska anyway.

Just returned from the Niobrara area for opener. Wow, what an eye opener. Been huntin that area for 25 years and never seen anything like it. Cover devastated and new channels created and closed shut. On top of that the river is as low now as I've seen it and it's tough to get to cover.
Bird numbers really low for this time of year. Mild weather didn't help but it was apparent nothing new has moved into that area. Two groups we talked to didn't harvest a duck. Seen very few brown ducks and the mallards we saw were most likely born there. Canada reported nothing has left the area yet to speak of.
So, the waiting game is on fella's. Keep up the good posts...we have a spot not far from you and have seen nothing but stale birds. BUT, the calendar birds are coming...

So there you have it.  More confirmation from a little further North that the birds are not quite ready to move.  We'll keep it coming as we hear.  Check back for the latest and greatest.

Fast and Easy

Didn't have the guns we were hoping for this morning.  Would've really helped to have the extra bodies to pile up the breakfast.  Way too much food for 2 guys.  The morning went a little like this: 710 in the ditch, 810 eating breakfast, 910 in the truck heading home.  Didn't fire a shot and saw only 5 ducks.  Did see about a dozen or so Can's feeding in a field on the way home, pretty uneventful.  With only really having about an hour of action on normal mornings this time of year, a guy should've re-thunk going out with all the fog.  There was about 100 shots fired at a Ditch Unknown just to our North.  Don't know if they are field or water but they had fun for a while!  October is a week from being over.  We are 5 ducks deep and hoping this next front Tuesday blows in a few more brown ducks to pass the time.  That's all for now, check back for the latest and greatest and don't be the talk around the water cooler get your mobile app at http://muckbottom.mobapp.at/

Long Bills

Hello again everybody. One thing is for certain, we sure can attract the spoon bills. Not necessarily cause we're trying but because right now beside some early morning teal, that's all that's decoying. They sure did set up nice for us.  Got a great photo before "kaboom."  I don't remember these being quite this big in years past, guess we are seeing the "Northern" Spoonies!  Not much other movement today, we came home with a couple making that 5 ducks so far this year. Now I know what you are thinking, 5 ducks? Well let me tell you something, we were talking this morning in the ditch about how much time we've actually spent sitting. We came up with today being our 5th day out and we passed our 7th hour. There has been no more than two feather dusters in the ditch at one time. Not so bad just over an hour a duck. Yep we haven't been committed to the all day rot just yet. The weather seemed to be swinging our way and now it's gonna get warm again until the next front moves through next Tuesday night. We will be out again Sunday hoping for a few more warm bodies and some steady guns. Today there was nothing flying. And I mean nothing!  That's all for now check back for the latest and greatest and don't forget your mobile app http://muckbottom.mobapp.at/

Specks on the Move

Quite a morning of movement again.  You could look up in the sky just about any time and see a group or two of burning ducks.  Not large groups, but enough to indicate that the first wave of birds is heading this way.  The Specks were all over the place.  We hunted for about 2 hours until the sun started warming things up.  We saw 20 groups of specks and heard another 1/2 dozen that we never spotted.  Even early afternoon they were still flying high.   A lot of shots ringing around this morning, including us.  Every ditch around fired at least twice.  The weather looks to be heading toward fall with this weeks lows in the 20's and 30's.  Guess it's about time to start concentrating and putting in some real time.  That's all I got for now, check back for the latest and greatest and don't forget your mobile app at http://muckbottom.mobapp.at/.

Quick day with movement

Rolled out this am wondering if the winds had blown anything in. From 10 minutes before shooting time to about 30 minutes after there were birds everywhere. The majority of the moving migrators you could not shoot. The Pelican migration is in full swing! There were quite a few groups of ducks floating high in the sky with larger numbers of cormorants, hundreds at a time.  Plenty to see in the short trip to the Ditch.  Harvest seems to be in full swing, opening up some food sources for the birds that are here.  That's all for now, check back for the latest and greatest and don't forget the Muck Bottom Mobil app http://muckbottom.mobapp.at/

More than Expected

The first official morning at the ditch was today.  Must say there were more birds than expected floating around this morning.  We had heard of large groups of teal a couple weeks ago, but the colder weather pushed a lot of them out of the area.  There are quite a few spoonbill and even some pintail already.  Shot one smiley out of a bunch of 6 or so, which was the only group that worked us.  We did hear and see one group of Specks too.  Plenty of shooting around the area this morning for about the first hour.  Once the sun started shinning and the temps warming, we headed home. It wasn't a long morning but it was a bit surprising.  Usually you might get one group of teal to buzz you 1 minute before shootin' time or 1 minute after and then that's it.  There are a lot more birds around than last year at this time. 

How about these temps?  It was over 80 again today and the average high is around 68, makes it tough on us waterfowlers.  I've been watching the weather and knew it was going to be hot so I searched and searched for some hot weather duck hunting gear. I finally found some that I couldn't pass up. 

The perfect pattern and it's seems to be real easy to get on and off.  I received it just a couple of days ago and tried it on.  Unfortunately I had to send it back. It was way to small in the chest area.  I hope to have the larger pair in a couple days.  It's tough finding the right gear for the high temps we've been seeing.

That's all for now.  Check back for the latest and greatest on don't forget to grab the mobile MuckBottom app at http://muckbottom.mobapp.at/ 

Technologically Advanced?

We have a new mobile app.  Haven't quite got into the Android MarketPlace, Apple App Store and the Nokia Ovi System, but it's coming!!! For now you can go to http://muckbottom.mobapp.at/ on your iPhone, Droid, Samsung or Nokia mobile device.  Just open your Internet browser on the phone and enter the address.  As soon as it opens you will be prompted, if you so choose, to install the app on your mobile device.  Muck Bottom has gone mobile, no more waiting for the website to load on your phone.  Included on the mobile app are Quotes from Readers, our Facebook Page, Photos from the field, a link to our Muck Bottom Channel on YouTube, and of course the ever popular Muck Bottom Outfitters Waterfowl Reports.

As for the season, there is just a few days until it's time.  The wind and weather today seems as if we should be getting ready for the Great Snow Goose Chase.  Big South winds and around 80 degrees.  There is a chance of rain in the forecast for opening day and a small chance on Sunday as well, maybe it'll mix up the few birds that are around.  We've been tracking some Canada Geese hoping to lay down with 'em Sunday morning but that is all up in the air right now.  It'll be extremely hard not to sit in the Ditch on opening weekend with a "heart-healthy" breakfast cooking and a full thermos slowly being emptied.  That's all for now, check back for the latest and greatest.