# What did you notice this year?



## Hunter_17 (Mar 15, 2008)

Few things I notice maybe some agree.

A lot less people out this year than last.

Didn't see as many big ducks or large flocks early morning.

Less yelling from the dike hunters.

What did you all notice was different.

Here's a pic


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## Hoopermat (Dec 17, 2010)

I noticed the same. We only got two pintails and then all teal. I also noticed the fewer people. But the launch times were super early. OB was packed at 3:30


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## Hunter_17 (Mar 15, 2008)

I launched at 2:45 am and was the second boat out on the water on the third unit


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

Hunter_17 said:


> I launched at 2:45 am and was the second boat out on the water on the third unit


I was the third on unit 3 at 3:20 and the fourth was hot on my tail. Looks like you found the same birds. All teal. Two man limit, and only two big ducks.


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## Hunter_17 (Mar 15, 2008)

utahbigbull said:


> I was the third on unit 3 at 3:20 and the fourth was hot on my tail. Looks like you found the same birds. All teal. Two man limit, and only two big ducks.


Than I would of been the first the first boat of your left when you hit the big water.

How did you do? Did you go all the way south end?


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Fewer people than last year. I didn't show up at the WMA parking lot until almost 5:00 and I expected to see twice as many vehicles as I did. I had plenty of room, and my nearest neighbors were respectful and didn't skybust. I'm very happy with how that all turned out.

Shooting started 2 minutes early instead of 30 minutes early. Shooting stayed pretty heavy for the better part of the first hour.

Lots of teal around, including plenty of cinnamons (which is exactly what I want on an opener).

I also saw more Mallards than I would have expected, and surprisingly few shovelers, gadwalls, and wigeons. Not as much species variety as I'm used to.

Plenty of geese as well, though I didn't see any get shot.


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

Hunter_17 said:


> Than I would of been the first the first boat of your left when you hit the big water.
> 
> How did you do? Did you go all the way south end?


Yeah, we went all the way south. We ended up with two limits and headed back and drove past if you're the ones I think I seen around 9:00. I'm pretty sure we were the first boat that headed in.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I noticed there were very few ducks flying at Farmington Bay this afternoon.:shock:


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## honkerhound (Dec 31, 2012)

Most geese that I've ever seen for the opener where I hunt, to bad there are still lots of idiots out there. Drives me nuts when people shoot at birds they don't have a chance in hell of hitting.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

We had a pretty good morning, fewer people and fewer birds than last year, but we saw way more mallards, gadwall and pintails than last u year. Fewer teal overall in our experience. It was great that the birds didn't stop flying by 8 am and we were boating back with birds flying over us in range even after 10:30.


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## dixieboy (Jul 26, 2013)

As luck would have it, we were sandwiched right between two other groups of hunters who were getting first dibs on most of what flew our way..... Such as life, still had a great morning hunt, and a fun camping out in the marsh. Haven't camped in my boat on the marsh since I was a teenager.


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## JoeRandall (Jun 24, 2012)

Brother in law launched on the Turpin at 8:30 Friday night picked us up at 10:30. Surprisingly not one hunter passed us out on the crystal until 6am set up kinda close but no where near a typical opener close.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

noticed less people also, could this be because there was no Gubberment shutdown to force folks out of BRBR into others? 

... i got a nice sunburn ;-) ...


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Saturday FB was packed and I mean packed. We had a group of about 8 guys/kids 60 yards to our north shooting at anything passing within 500 yards. The managed to knock down 5. 3 fell on the dike and 2 fell into unit 2. They made no attempt to go get the birds that fell in the water. That's just flat out wrong. On our other side there was a group of at least 6 set up about 50 yards away doing pretty much the same thing. They were even unloading on cormorants. They did however go into the water to pick up the only bird they knocked down into the water. Between 12 & 14 minutes before shooting time all hell broke lose and WW3 started. This was by far the fewest ducks I have seen at FB on opening day in a very long time. Also by far the most people I have seen there on opening morning in a long time too. We didn't even go Sunday like we had planned. Not enough ducks and too many idiots.


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## JuniorPre 360 (Feb 22, 2012)

I usually never go out for the opener because of the circius, but I got to go with an old friend this time. Shooting started right at the exact second that it was supposed to, so that was a surprise. Some of the stuff I saw on Saturday though still bothers me. I started off the morning with a lost dog that I found. I got the cell number off of his collar and called the owner. He said he'd catch up with me later. I shot at a duck, and the dog ran for about 2 miles. We found the dog and owner in the parking lot after the day. I guess his dog had never been hunting before, and neither had the owner. During the hunt, we had a group of blaze orange hunters shooting at everything within maybe a mile. This includes a couple of Ibis they dropped. There was another group skybusting some pelicans. We also watched a flock of geese fly down the dike. They were maybe a mile high. We counted 22 shots in an attempt to drop one. I felt bad for one particular group. They had arrived early, sat up their decoys, and had birds working all morning. This is no exageration... 18 hunters made their way over by these guys to hunt off of their decoys. These guys would also yell and shout after every shot. Kind of messed it up for them. When they day was over, I talked to a few hunters that had "dropped their limit." I asked what kind of ducks they had killed. They said they didn't retrieve them because it was too deep of water. 

Overall, it was pretty fun. I was honestly expecting to either get shot or get into an argument as I have in years past. I ended up shooting 6 times, killing a teal. Bring on the cold!


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