My first Maryland waterfowl hunt!

     About 2 years ago I had the pleasure to meet Todd. We met at work, and I found out he was an avid Maryland waterfowl hunter.  We became good friends while working together, and he actually offered to take me duck hunting last year.  I had never been.  But I had a little tunnel vision last year.  It was September and deer hunting was the only thing on my mind.  While I was in the bug laden woods of Maryland and West Virginia trying to get that illusive early season buck Todd was nowhere to be found.  He was on the waters of central/western Maryland.  I thought he must be crazy, its deer season!  That was until I went with him a few days ago!  

     

     Deer season had come to an end, and I wanted something to hunt between deer and turkey season! I have shot skeet before, but never any sort of waterfowl..  So I got online, got my state, and federal migratory bird stamp, grabbed my old Mossberg, and away we went.  What a trip!  Although it was late season, and I only managed one goose, it was a rush!  As the sun came up I started to see more ducks/geese in one day than I have in a single day ever!  Flocks of Mergansers, Wood ducks, Mallards, Geese, hooded this, whats-it that.  My head was literally spinning.  A Maryland waterfowl trip is a must for any hunter.. 

     I was trying to take everything in, and maybe even learn a few things.  Every bird that flew by I focused in on waiting to take off the safety. Then we heard that familiar honking sound, it was a lone goose coming in about an hour after sunrise. It started to circle, and my heart started to pound.  It was coming into our decoys! It landed, and got right in line with our other decoys.  After 20 minutes, and no other birds headed our way everyone in the boat decided I should shoot the goose before it took off.  I got my first Goose that day, at about 20 yards...  Now I can't wait to see how it taste!  Oh yeah, I'm headed out tomorrow for another goose hunt......  This can't possibly addictive right!?

Video shot with the Drift HD Ghost.  More on that later...Stay tuned

Whitetail Deer Scouting

     If you want to have a successful hunt, you first have to scout out the area where you plan to hunt.  You just cant go out and put up a stand or a ground blind anywhere and expect to get lucky.  I like to start scouting towards the end of summer.  You have to first locate the deer.  This can be done a few different ways.  The first tip I have for you is to go out scouting after a good soaking rain.  It will make the ground muddy, and easier to spot tracks.  I like to go out "hiking" or squirrel hunting as an excuse to just get out in the woods and start looking around.  Maybe I'll jump some deer.  Or maybe I'll spot some big tracks along the side of a trail.  Then when I find a spot I think that would be good deer habitat a little distance off the beaten path (oak trees, acorns, lush thickets, corn fields, big tracks etc.) I start to look for sign.  Keeping my eyes on the ground...  I went out scouting yesterday and found some good sign.  Here are a few examples from my outing in the wildlife management area.

Tracks:  Let you know that deer have been through the area.  Are there a lot of tracks?  Is it a deer trail/highway, or is it just a lone wandering deer.  Are they big tracks or small tracks?


Left: picture taken
a few yards from the photo
above.





Right:  some old tracks, and some new probable yearling tracks.






 Droppings:  Are they old droppings, or are they fresh and moist, maybe even warm?  Fresh droppings let you know a deer has been though the area recently.  These were fresh, moist, and still had fly's and bugs on them...  A deer was here within the last day.

Rubs:  When buck begin losing their velvet sometime as early as September, and continuing throughout the winter bucks will begin to rub their antlers on trees and brush.  These antler marks found on the side of trees are what we call rubs.  I found this one last year on a farm I have permission to hunt.  Here in WV it is still a little bit early to be finding rubs and scrapes.  These let us know BUCKS are in the area.  We will look for more signs of these as we get closer to the opening day of archery season...  Have you been out deer scouting yet?  Seen any good deer?

Until next time- Brandon