dawsonscreek

If it makes your knees wobble, it's a trophy. I'm in the same boat; managing the land I hunt for trophy deer isn't a reality. Bordered by state land, and other hunter properties, if we pass them there is still a good chance they will get shot. I am just as proud of my 13 point 130" as I am my 2 point spike, or mama doe. I see far too much condescending remarks about people shooting young bucks. Harvest only what you'll use, and enjoy you're time out there. You never know when you'll be six feet under and the ride is over.

Awesome! No kid remembers their best day playing Xbox, but he's sure to remember this day forever. Thanks for sharing!

Very cool! Nice work to you and the dog.

Thanks all for the compliments and the help!

I had some of that poor shooting happen to me this weekend too. Musta been the atmospheric pressure or something

Awesome mixed bag! I would love a snow, but we don't get them here in the southern tier. A teal would be great too, I saw a couple of them last weekend. Congrats on your success!

Gorgeous work Paul!!

Sending you a PM. That is some amazing work!

Does anybody know of a taxidermist who might specialize in ducks, or at least does them frequently. I live in Corning and have been calling around to the locals and have not found any who do ducks. I looked at one nearby but wasn't too impressed with his duck work. I have a fully plumed out woodie and really want to get him on the wall.

I pretty much just use it to get to the location. Here, we had to stand in waist deep water all day so it doubled as a floating shelf to put stuff on. The ducks come in over deep water so I use the kayak for retrieval as well. I have hunted from the kayak before but it's not ideal. I suppose with some practice it wouldn't be too bad. But i definitely recommend using kayak as a tool to get to spots others can't get. I also fish out of the kayak a lot too, river trips can be a blast! Buy a stable one, and paint it camo, good luck!! PS I see you're in Addison. I live just outside Addison near Brownie's. If you ever want to get out after some ducks get ahold of me!!

Thank you!

Thanks fellas. Here's what I did with them. Wild Duck gumbo, turned out great and goes great after a long cold day in the swamp.

nice birds, congrats! awesome to see the kid out there having fun!!

Got out for the afternoon with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. Just me and him trading shots, the way I like it. I have no interest in being stacked in a blind with a bunch o guys shooting at the same duck, it's not all about limits. Hunting on a public swamp, we saw lots of woodies and nearly as many mallards/blacks. Also saw one teal. I took a drake mallard and a drake black duck. Shooting sporting clays over the summer improved my shooting immensely conpared to a year ago. I hit each duck on the second shot. I won't even mention how many shots I missed last year

I think in the future there could possibly end up being an opportunity for legal catch and release fishing for these fish; but the management of said fishing would need to be highly regulated. A male lake sturgeon is not sexually mature until he is 9-13 years old; females do not reach sexual maturity until they are 14-26 years old. Once mature, the female only spawns every 4-5 years; males can spawn every other year. Point being, it takes a long time for these fish to reproduce and develop a diversity of age classes and a fishable population. Some of the fish stocked in the 90's are just coming of age. If a fishery ever did open for these fish in the Finger Lakes Region it would need to be managed and protected big time. They spawn in shallow water and are quite vulnerable at this time, and as you probably know, sturgeon eggs go for big bucks! Therein lies the temptation for poachers to screw everything up. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for these fish and the lakes. By 2016 I'll have a degree that can land me a job in DEC fisheries, so maybe i'll end up working with these awesome fish in this awesome region of this not so awesome state, a kid can dream I guess!! -Jeff

Definitely a ring neck. Nice!

You guys are lucky. I live in the western duck zone. We don't open till the 18th. So warm it's hard to want to be in a treestand. Good luck this season fellas.

I never really thought of that, but I am going to change it over to something lighter, because at times, mostly windier days, I have a difficult time detecting bottom due to the boat drift and such, Thanks for the tip!

I was taught the jigging technique by Finger Lakes Angling Zone guide, John Gaulke; He knows his ****, and I would highly recommend looking him up if you want to learn laker jigging. I rarely even bounce the bottom anymore, maybe 2 bounces at most, but like most people have said; you will get most of your strikes as you reel up from the bottom. No mistaking either, they are a violent fish! I run 25 pound braid, with a 12lb mono or flouro leader. 1 oz jigs and soft plastics such as flukes, lunker city shakers, and paddle tail swim baits are all great baits. Be sure to keep your line taught when you jig, and lift it only a foot or so off the bottom. Good luck!