# Youth Hunt



## fish-n-fool (May 26, 2009)

Going to be a great opener for the kids with this front moving in. 

Good luck to all the youth! 

fnf


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## RG the OG (Oct 31, 2016)

Wow I'm excited and the weather looks great, can't wait!


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

If you identify as a 15 year old can you hunt on youth day?


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

I'm really kinda jealous of you guys getting kids out. The weather looks to be the makings of an awesome youth hunt!! Me and my son are gonna have to miss his last youth hunt. Makes me kinda sad being stuck up on this mountain.


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## RG the OG (Oct 31, 2016)

Take him south!!


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

Would be great, but we have till the 31st to fill his LE bull tag and two deer tags. Looks like we'll just have to enjoy one last normal opener circus show together. :-?


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

So this morning the grandson #1 came over to me and said "oldie, what's the plan for tomorrow". I replied "wake up, go shoot ducks, come home". Man you should have seen the grin on his face....Grandsons are the best.


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

should be a awesome time. I cant wait.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Boat is full of gas and loaded with chairs, life vests and all the other safety stuff and 4 dozen duck decoys. (Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Pintails and Spoonies). I grabbed a half dozen or so goose floaters for the mix too. The Jeep is loaded with jackets, waders and blind bag. I will make a few sandwiches, throw in some snacks and drinks and we are ready to roll at midnight...................................Ha Ha!:grin: There's no way in he!! I'm leaving at midnight, but I bet some will. Oh, I better throw the dog in too.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Looks like me and grandson tomorrow morning. Son is quite sick. This will be our first time hunting together with just me and him.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Driving to our spot tonight and all I could see was geese flying. Has the making of a great day. 

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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Fewest ducks I've ever seen at Farmington. We did manage to get 6 but hardly any other people getting any


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## RG the OG (Oct 31, 2016)

I think instead of bringing ducks in it just pushed them out!


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

We had a pretty good morning up north-lots of birds flying and a few geese too. The kid I took out managed 2 gaddies and a cinnamon teal, and had a great time!


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## Slap That Quack (Mar 2, 2017)

Took my girl out. Saw over 300 ducks in close range. My daughter took 2 shots and dropped one teal, and got over her fear of her shotgun. Happy happy dad!


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

We got one shot off and watched geese pass over our decoys at the right height but we're just out of reach. For some reason they acted decoy shy. So we left at noon and went for some Eurasian doves. Ended up with two.









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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

We skipped out on the morning rush and got to FB around 11:00, it took another hour to launch as there were 15 boats waiting to load. The morning crews looked like they did pretty good, a lot of dead ducks. The mid day hunt was terrible for us, we saw a lot of wigeons and a few gadwall and teal, but nothing would decoy. Around 4:00 it was dead meat out there, never saw a single duck on the boat ride back in either. Pretty disappointing actually, especially with the cooler weather, wind and clouds. It should have been lights out.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Fowlmouth said:


> We skipped out on the morning rush and got to FB around 11:00, it took another hour to launch as there were 15 boats waiting to load. The morning crews looked like they did pretty good, a lot of dead ducks. The mid day hunt was terrible for us, we saw a lot of wigeons and a few gadwall and teal, but nothing would decoy. Around 4:00 it was dead meat out there, never saw a single duck on the boat ride back in either. Pretty disappointing actually, especially with the cooler weather, wind and clouds. It should have been lights out.


Are they in the rest area already?


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

paddler said:


> Are they in the rest area already?


I glassed the rest pond on the way out and there weren't many ducks on it.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Fowlmouth said:


> We skipped out on the morning rush and got to FB around 11:00, it took another hour to launch as there were 15 boats waiting to load. The morning crews looked like they did pretty good, a lot of dead ducks. The mid day hunt was terrible for us, we saw a lot of wigeons and a few gadwall and teal, but nothing would decoy. Around 4:00 it was dead meat out there, never saw a single duck on the boat ride back in either. Pretty disappointing actually, especially with the cooler weather, wind and clouds. It should have been lights out.


We didn't see a single gaddy and usually get 1-2 on youth day. I think we saw maybe 3-4 wigeon. I agree, birds didn't want to decoy at all and I know we had at least 5-10 singles that were coming our way and flared off at about 300 yards. Never seen them flare that bad on an opening day and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what was making them flare unless it was actually the decoys! We were well camouflaged and remaining motionless as they were approaching. It was just perplexing to see birds headed your way and flare right off the track they had been on for so long when they got about 300 yards away. Heck if only 1/4 of the flares wouldn't have flared, grandson would have limited out easily. I agree about the rest area, it was more empty than I've ever seen it on an opener. I too am wondering if the weather actually pushed the birds out. Man I thought we would limit out within the first hour with the conditions. I sure hope the regular opener is better than the youth opener.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

The geese we had coming in also acted decoy shy. Never seen it that way in any youth or opening morning I've been on. 

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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

LostLouisianian said:


> We didn't see a single gaddy and usually get 1-2 on youth day. I think we saw maybe 3-4 wigeon. I agree, birds didn't want to decoy at all and I know we had at least 5-10 singles that were coming our way and flared off at about 300 yards. Never seen them flare that bad on an opening day and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what was making them flare unless it was actually the decoys! We were well camouflaged and remaining motionless as they were approaching. It was just perplexing to see birds headed your way and flare right off the track they had been on for so long when they got about 300 yards away. Heck if only 1/4 of the flares wouldn't have flared, grandson would have limited out easily. I agree about the rest area, it was more empty than I've ever seen it on an opener. I too am wondering if the weather actually pushed the birds out. Man I thought we would limit out within the first hour with the conditions. I sure hope the regular opener is better than the youth opener.


Not shooting gaddies isn't a loss. Those things are nasty.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

paddler said:


> Not shooting gaddies isn't a loss. Those things are nasty.


I don't think there is much of a taste difference between gadwalls and shovelers. Gadwalls are a bit nicer looking though!


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

I thought that the birds were far warier than usual too, especially for the youth day. We did have several birds lock up and then flare off at the edge of the decoys. I checked and double checked our spread and hide and I couldn't find anything out of place, the only theory I have is that we got a push of birds on this storm from up North that had been shot at in Canada and so were more cautious than normal. I don't have any actual evidence for that but it makes me feel better!


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## RG the OG (Oct 31, 2016)

Is anyone thinking about going on the south youth hunt?


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## SX3 (Jun 3, 2014)

We also had a lot of decoy shy and flaring birds. Still probably saw more ducks than I think I ever have previously. Four boys killed 21 doing the math it was about 7% shooting. We quit when they ran out of shells. Youth hunt is better than Christmas. My boys have been to old for a along time now. Taking neighborhood kids is almost as fun. We grilled them up Saturday night and they were devoured. It is sad that probably the majority of birds killed won't get eaten. I think part of the experience should be showing them how to dress, cook and eat their birds.


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

Had a awesome time on the youth hunt. The kids had plenty of shooting and misses. seen plenty of ducks and geese. The kids shot about two boxes of shells. the ducks decoyed great even with the ****ty hide we had.The kids ended with 9 ducks 1 honker with a band. probley should have had two geese but i messed up and did not let them shoot at the first one. O well.Great way to end there youth hunting days. Now on to the daughter for the youth hunts.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Fowlmouth said:


> I don't think there is much of a taste difference between gadwalls and shovelers. Gadwalls are a bit nicer looking though!


Well, I've never eaten a shoveler, so can't speak to that. But if they taste the same as gaddies, plus have the mercury thing, well, that's two good reasons to not shoot them.

I'm going to be pretty selective about what I shoot this year; GWT, pintail, canvasback, maybe some mallards if they have a death wish. I'll use my cameras for the others.


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## Raptor1 (Feb 1, 2015)

Took my 2 hunters further north this year and we found the ducks, just couldn't hit em, daughter fell in and got cold, so we had to end it early. But they both had a good time, sure made me look forward to the opener. Definitely more ducks and fewer people than last years hunt. Closest hunters were probably 300 yards away, much better than the 40-50 yards last year. I might try that spot on the opener, but I expect there will be more hunters.


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