REDHEADS!!! Even more pics added

[seasquirrel]

Lots of them on the lake boys! (Cayuga) Go get 'em! Lots of Broadbills and Goldeneyes too.

Redheads in flight were taken by a good buddy and nationally known wildlife graphite artist Cole Johnson. Check out his site colejohnsonart.com DONT FORGET THE GUYS WHO LEFT BEFORE THE PHOTO AND THE GUY TAKING THE PHOTO!!!!

[rolmops]

Personally I much prefer to see redheads on the lake in summer.

[seasquirrel]

Me too. These are easier and cheaper to bag

[on the lam]

Cmon Gray, I know you guys smoked them the last two weeks, show the guys the "after": pics

[BLOCKHEAD]

only had the drake and a hen mallard come in last week.

[seasquirrel]

Ok Pete, I didnt want to let the cat out of the bag, but I posted some pics. Blockhead, nice drake Redhead.Good job!

[BLOCKHEAD]

good god seasquirrel, your reds look like they could eat mine. i'm going to try again on the weekend. i had blue bird skys and dead calm water. ducks were rafted in the middle going nowhere. had a drake land in the spread before legal. these two came in together and didn't make it out.

[Grifter]

Looks like a really good few days of hunting. here I was thinking you couldn't hunt ducks with the wind in your face.

[seasquirrel]

Two days Grifter. I ignored the wind in your face rule years ago especially for divers. They were 25-50 yards off shore with a perfect NW blow which is perfect for our shore line diver setup

[rustyrat]

I was out trolling that day.

Nice shootin.

RR

[seasquirrel]

Rusty rat, and I thought late season duck hunters were nuts?

[Lund SSS]

Seasquirrel,

Would the gentleman in the back round of the last pick be snipping redheads with a pellet gun or a 22. not really the best clarity but definitely a scoped gun there's a lot of Redheads on those stairs, at least 17 by my count. Maybe you have a big hunting party but only 2 per man ????

[seasquirrel]

Seasquirrel,

Would the gentleman in the back round of the last pick be snipping redheads with a pellet gun or a 22. not really the best clarity but definitely a scoped gun there's a lot of Redheads on those stairs, at least 17 by my count. Maybe you have a big hunting party but only 2 per man ????

Detective Lund SSS,

The boy in the background is my sons buddy trying out my boys new SCOPED .22 on plastic bottles in the yard. Yes lots of redheads and also some goldeneye and broadbills and not sure what else offhand. Yes we had a big hunting party and two seperate blinds hunting the same dekes. I am aware of the two redheads and scaup per man as well as the possession limits also. Thats why we were plinking with a .22 and shooting pics during legal gunning hours. Thanks for the implication that we were shooting waterfowl in excess of our limits with a rifle If you look close I think the camp being built next door doesnt have a building permit posted.

[on the lam]

Lund, I'm not gonna fight another guys fight, but why would you even question the legality of the hunt. you statement sucks

[sandwick50]

Seasquirrel...Lets not let this great post degenerate into a p#**ing match and focus on the hunt. I am a newby diver duck hunter and built a layout boat last year. Got to use it for the first time this year and shot a few bluebills, which was awesome. Just a general question on Cayuga Lake. Do you think a layout boat would be effective there? Obviously I wouldn't be out on a day like you showed in the photos but would like to try it next year. I know the lake gets deep quickly once off shore in most of the lake making anchoring and decoy placement impossible but was thinking that the north and south ends might be do-able. Thanks for your opinion - if you'd rather not offer any advice I understand that. Not looking to horn in on anyone.

[indian]

LOL, thats only a 6 or at most 7 party daily take. They aren't ALL redheads, I see mallards and at least one other species in there.

We hunt early season with 10 or more sometimes, I'd hate to see the comment on that days take.

Anyways....Awesome pics, I'm so jealous! I have no access to the lakes at this time of year, leaves us on the river chas'in high speed fly byes!

[seasquirrel]

Sandwick, a layout boat would be a super choice, just be careful. My bud has a mighty layout boat that we wanted to use but just too rough. Lots of doable depths from basically union springs north. North of union springs has a sandy flat thats about 10 feet deep most of the way. Even just offshore in the flight paths of the birds would be a super setup. Good luck and be safe

[seasquirrel]

Sandwick, a layout boat would be a super choice, just be careful. My bud has a mighty layout boat that we wanted to use but just too rough. Lots of doable depths from basically union springs north. North of union springs has a sandy flat thats about 10 feet deep most of the way. Even just offshore in the flight paths of the birds would be a super setup. Good luck and be safe

[sandwick50]

Thanks Squirrel. I'm getting on in years and would love to shoot a redhead or two before I leave for the great beyond. My brother-in-law lives just outside Ithaca so I have a place to bunk. He is also retired but not a duck hunter so I'll try and enlist him to drive the tender boat and pick up the dead ducks (if I can hit them). Good luck on the final 2 days if you're hitting the lake again this weekend.

[Lund SSS]

Seasquirrel,

Would the gentleman in the back round of the last pick be snipping redheads with a pellet gun or a 22. not really the best clarity but definitely a scoped gun there's a lot of Redheads on those stairs, at least 17 by my count. Maybe you have a big hunting party but only 2 per man ????

Detective Lund SSS,

The boy in the background is my sons buddy trying out my boys new SCOPED .22 , If you look close I think the camp being built next door doesnt have a building permit posted.

Congratulations,

you just cleared the air. I was in no way trying to implicated illegal hunting practices, just a very strange back round to a 5 man limit. Would think the successful waterfowl hunters would want a group photo. That's a great brace of birds, over 25 years of shooting the finger lakes and NEVER seen that many Redheads in a group harvested.

Lund, I'm not gonna fight another guys fight, but why would you even question the legality of the hunt. you statement sucks

Lam,

I question everything I see, It's part of being a "know it all." As far as legal, having dead waterfowl and a 22 cal. you might not be happy with the outcome if a DEC officer was standing on the deck Migratory Game Bird Seasons & Regulations

Information for Hunting Woodcock, Crow, Snipe, Rail, & Gallinule

This is a summary of regulations about hunting migratory game birds other than waterfowl, including woodcock, crow, snipe, rail, and gallinule. You can read the state and federal regulations on the internet. The state regulations are in Title 6, New York Code of Rules and Regulations, Section 2.30. The federal regulations are in Title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 20

* You must use nontoxic shot when hunting ducks, geese, brant, snipe, rails, gallinules, or coots. While hunting these species, you must possess only nontoxic shot.

* Approved nontoxic shots include: steel, bismuth/tin, tungsten/iron, tungsten/polymer, tungsten/matrix, tungsten/nickel/iron, or other shot approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Prohibitions

You may NOT hunt migratory game birds using these methods:

NOTE: Rifles and electronically amplified bird calls or sounds are allowed for crows only.

[on the lam]

Hey LUND, have you ever heard anyone say "nobody like a know it all". There's a reason for that. It's because the "know it all" thinks that he is always right, when in reality thats not the case.

And its apparent that you are not a DEC officer, because if you were you would know that common sense needs to be applied when enforcing hunting regulation or any law for that matter. Every situation is different. If you think for a minute that an officer would accuse a 10 year old kid of "hunting or pursuing" waterfowl from the deck of a house that is a hundred yards from the water while 10 people are standing around drinking coffee and taking pictures, than its apparent that you know nothing about enforcing law. If thats the case then accuse him of deer hunting out of season as well, after all there are woods across the street! And just because YOU have never seen that many redheads taken in over 25 years confirms that you don't know it all, because if you did you would know that that happens often because those guys are excellent waterfowl hunters, i've hunted with them so i do know. Additionally if you were so smart then you would have asked how they were able to take such "professional" looking pictures of birds on the wing over the water? Thats because there were professional photographers there documenting the hunt for a nationally published waterfowl hunting magazine. Remember if you don't have anything constructive to say, don't say anything at all.

[Gator]

Alright boys, kiss and make up.

I know Lund, and he's a good duck hunter and a good guy; similarly, I get what SeaSquirrel and Lam are saying. Sometimes we let our fingers do our thinking when we're at the computer. Hard to remember that the whole world could be reading. Let's practice some discretion and let this thing die.

BTW, fantastic photos. PM me where the article's going to be published, cause I definitely want to read it. Reminds me of days back on Keuka in my youth when we kept having to build additions onto our collapsible plywood blind to accommodate more and more hunters.

[daker1979]

Hey LUND, have you ever heard anyone say "nobody like a know it all". There's a reason for that. It's because the "know it all" thinks that he is always right, when in reality thats not the case.

And its apparent that you are not a DEC officer, because if you were you would know that common sense needs to be applied when enforcing hunting regulation or any law for that matter. Every situation is different. If you think for a minute that an officer would accuse a 10 year old kid of "hunting or pursuing" waterfowl from the deck of a house that is a hundred yards from the water while 10 people are standing around drinking coffee and taking pictures, than its apparent that you know nothing about enforcing law. If thats the case then accuse him of deer hunting out of season as well, after all there are woods across the street! And just because YOU have never seen that many redheads taken in over 25 years confirms that you don't know it all, because if you did you would know that that happens often because those guys are excellent waterfowl hunters, i've hunted with them so i do know. Additionally if you were so smart then you would have asked how they were able to take such "professional" looking pictures of birds on the wing over the water? Thats because there were professional photographers there documenting the hunt for a nationally published waterfowl hunting magazine. Remember if you don't have anything constructive to say, don't say anything at all.

[chowder]

I like the picture of Gray getting ready to take a swim!

[seasquirrel]

I fell totally in up to my neck twice that day. just enough stray gooner rocks to trip you up. A loose slab of ice to the back of the knees will put you in too. Burrrrr!