on the impounds today

[simcgunner]

  Not much luck today The Weather has been to mild to push the ducks south so far . but the chance to hunt the State managed Impounds only comes along a couple of times a year. A day in the duck blind is worth the trouble .  sorry about sideway picture I can't figure how to turn it after posting.

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by simcgunner

[Charlie Anderson]

Totally agree a day out is better than being stuck indoors.  I'm praying for rain lots of it.

[Pushandpull]

Looks nice. What exactly is an "impound" - it's not a term we use over here but I'm guessing that it's a store for diverted surface water (?).

Recent weather this side has started to bring winter migrants from Scandinavia and beyond. Some of our ducks come from very far east such as the Yenesei and Ob river plains.

[simcgunner]

an impound is an area that is planted with natural crops that wildfowl benefit from and flooded through a series of levees and dikes to provide stopover points for migrating birds . State owned ones are seldom hunted except on certain special occasions. this is one day and I took advantage  of the opportunity but no luck. But thats hunting as we say.  Still that day we saw  great blue herons,an eagle some hawks deer a flock of wild turkeys snowy egrets many songbirds not a bad time.

Edited October 24, 2022 by simcgunner

[Pushandpull]

Thanks for that. It's always interesting to see how things are done elsewhere. We get various reality series here about game wardens etc. such as "Lone Star Law" currently running. Folks who look like us, talk the same (more or less), shoot many of the same species with the same guns. YET some of the laws and the philosophy behind them that the resource is there for everyone are so different.

[Walker570]

It is all very different over there and sometimes hard to get your head around when we consider our situation. Like Californians actually queuing.....now Americans do not normally do that..... for a vacant pitch. A shooter comes off with a limit and then a pitch is designated to the next gun. Can you imagine?

That does look a nice pitch even though it is sideways on and as you point out there is a lot more to an hour or two out hunting than just killing things.

[simcgunner]

The next day we went on a benefit hunt for upland birds and today the dog and I are very tired. Picture is a point by one dog and another dog backing or honoring as we say

 

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by simcgunner

[Walker570]

Nice bit of coutryside there.  Snake chaps I assume ????

[simcgunner]

That place is a licensed shooting preserve. The owner is a farmer who keeps 7 fields like this for cover and releases pen raised birds for walk up hunting.He also plants a field this size with sun flowers for a dove hunt. The group I went with is an organization that dose habitat work for the ruffed grouse and American woodcock. The Ruffed Grouse Society. Todays birds were Chucker Patridge.   

. 

chucker

Edited October 24, 2022 by simcgunner

[Walker570]

So a bit like a clay shoot but the clays have feathers ?  I went on a quail shoot and the birds where in cages and released just prior to you going into the field.

[simcgunner]

yes the birds are kept in flight pens. ( about a half an acre around and about 5 or so meters tall with a net top) the day of the "hunt" some are caught up in a net then transported to the field and put there. the clients pay for the birds. Sort of like drive birds but done walked up style. chucker, pheasant and quail are the birds of choice. for these operations. Pheasants and chucker are not native birds in Virginia and will not reproduce in the wild here hunting preserves typically buy Young birds from a breeder. the breeder raised quail can have a deadly effect on the wild population if intermingled as the feed they are raised on makes them more resistant to disease that they may introduce. The chucker partridge has taken hold in the wind swept mountain top areas of the western United states. and Pheasants thrive in the great agricultural areas the west.  Chuckers like steep mountains and if your in a valley they fly up the mountain and if your on top they flush all the way back down. we say you hunt them the first time for sport and the second time for revenge.

[simcgunner]

At the Impound we had to make a temporary hide. Dog is hiding Under a cammo net covering a plastic sled I use to pull decoys hide building poles seats etc. She is sitting in the sled. sneaky girl.