Early results provide optimism for duck hunting season
Unsettled weather conditions and cold temperatures associated with recent storm activity has provided waterfowl hunters with good wing shooting in recent days at both the Key Pittman and Overton Wildlife Management Areas.
According to a hunter report submitted Monday on the Ducks Unlimited Migration Report, Overton has lots of birds. The hunter, who identified himself only as M.C. said the collection of waterfowl currently on the area includes green-winged teal, canvasbacks and geese. Other hunters I have talked with recently have provided similar reports.
B. Ebarb, a hunter from Henderson reported on his Saturday hunt at the Key Pittman WMA in Hiko.
"Been there five times this season and this last trip was bar far the best! Lots of birds and finally some migrators that are starting to set on decoys. Still not a lot of geese but seeing more each time we go," he wrote.
My friend Ruben Aquino, an avid waterfowler, also has had a good season at Key Pittman this season. Most recently he celebrated Black Friday with an outing to the Lincoln County facility.
"The shooting was good early for the puddle ducks. There is a bunch of wigeon in there and pintails. And there's great numbers, great numbers of canvasbacks on that lake," said Aquino. "I want to say it's the most I've seen in the last five years."
He also said the numbers of pintails are up as well. They are hanging out at the upper end of the management area. Aquino's season began with some terrific shooting on the opener.
"There was all sorts of ducks in there," he said. "There were three of us and we limited out in less than an hour."
Their bag included mallards, wigeons, pintails and teal. And the action hasn't let up, even though Ruben is still anticipating a much bigger bird migration that he feels has yet to come.
Aquino can tell when the migration really gets underway because it is then he'll see lots of birds coming into the management area from farm fields located to the north, especially mallards. Right now he thinks the mallards are hung up somewhere.
"We're very optimistic that they are going to be coming down sooner than later," he said.
Meanwhile they'll keep hunting for those species that already are here. Aquino said that in the early mornings you will find a lot of wigeon right now. Teal numbers are very low at this point. On Friday's trip Ruben and his partner killed only a single teal, but their take included redheads, wigeon and canvasbacks. Since canvasbacks fly later in the morning than the other species, they wait until about 9 a.m. before targeting those birds.
"We work a little harder at it than some, I think. We see guys losing their birds because they are taking those long shots, and they don't have a dog. We always have a dog with us and we're able to recover those birds," said Aquino. "You've got to get on those birds real fast once you've put them down or the wind will cause them to sail away from you."
Aquino and his hunting partner also rely heavily on calling techniques to bring the birds into their decoy their spread, and right now the birds aren't shy. "They are coming right in with no pass shooting whatsoever. We'll sit there and just stay on the calls, pretty aggressive, said Aquino.
"When we see a group of birds I'll put the hammer on the call and see if they react to the call, and more times than not, if those are new birds, they'll come down and check your decoys out, and they'll decoy in. Every one of the birds we killed on Friday came into the decoy. Every single one. They come in, hover right over and basically it's a 20-yard shot."
Patience is the key, said Aquino.
"You hit 'em with the call and you've got to be patient. They'll work into your decoys if you're patient."
Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.
