Afternoon Walk

I had a few hours Tuesday before thanksgiving and thought I might as well spend that time hunting ducks,instead of doing chores around the house. So off to the river I went to try walking around and doing some jump shooting. It has been my experience that the ducks on the river don't move around much in the afternoons. I walked into my favorite hole and found some ducks sitting there, three shots two ducks, good start. I continued walking on for another hour until out of a thick stand of trees I jumped a small 2 point muley, he bounded off about 40 yards, then stared me down until I moved on. As I moved on along the river I shot a several ducks with not much success, As it was getting late I circled back to my starting point where I shot the two ducks. To my surprise there were ducks in the hole again. After a short stalk to the waters edge the ducks jumped with the same results, three shots two birds. This made for a great way to spend and evening

Afternoon Walk

Suprising Start to the Duck Season

When I was a teenager I always knew I would live close to rivers and marshes where I love to explore, hunt and fish. Time and life have a funny way of changing youthful dreams. I have lived the last 20 plus years in one of the drier states there is. The desert is a beautiful place to live and contrary to popular believe there is water here. The Salt River has a series of four dams that store water for the use of the greater Phoenix Valley. This water combined with mild temperatures then provides the end of the line for many ducks migrating south for the winter. Two weeks after the season opener and higher than normal temperatures (i.e. 100 plus Fahrenheit), and more importantly, early morning soccer games, I finally had a chance to get out and hunt ducks. I am usually very good about having everything prepped and ready to go weeks in advance, not so this year. So late at night I rigged decoys packed bags looked for shells until late into the night. All of this was done thinking that the weather and water levels would make for a not so good hunt.

Morning arrived and we headed to the river for the start of the 2011 duck season. As we pulled up to the parking spot, there were already three cars parked. I hoped that they were there to fish, but as we got closer to the river, it was apparent they already had a spread of decoys in the water and were ready to go. I have hunted the river for a lot of years and have plan B and C always ready to go. So plan B was a small spread of 9 decoys, and then wait for the ducks to be pushed in front of us for pass shooting.  As shooting light arrived it was obvious I had made the right call on plan B, ducks came into the first parties decoys, shots were fired the ducks retreated back up the river to us and I shot the first duck of the season at about 15 yds. I thought this is a great start to the season but that ended up being the best action of the morning. I dropped one teal across the river after that and my hunting buddy Josh missed an easy one I sent his way. As the sun came up the temperature did too and we cleaned up the decoys and called it a day.

Packing up gear I told Josh I would be heading down river to scout a few other spots that can be productive ,so we split up and I headed down the river a couple of miles. The lower section had even more hunters there, I don’t recall a year when there where so many people hunting the river. Scouting along the river I carried my gun in hopes of possibly jump shooting a few more ducks. Heading across river through a large stand of cattail I was not disappointed when a teal flushed in front of me giving me a great shot which I took advantage of. Upon retrieval of the bird I was shocked to find out I had just harvested my first Blue Wing Teal. I have hunted ducks for 30 years and have only seen a hand full of them, all of which was well before the season opener. This is one of the joys of being outdoors, the unknown adventure that stirs the soul and imagination to reveal new secrets on every outing no matter what our experience level.

Fall Break Part III

They next day we got up and headed out for the day my twin boys had been waiting for, squirrel hunting with their 22’s. The excitement they had was interesting to witness they don’t typically get too excited about going out to hunt anything but this was different. As we drove down the dirt road toward Winslow AZ. Looking for a good spot we finally saw a small canyon with heavy stands of pine trees in it. I wondered if we would really see any squirrels at all not knowing the area that well. As the boys loaded clips to put in the 22’s I heard a squirrel calling just below us, then saw him scamper across a log. From that moment on it was four hours of nonstop hunting, stalking, shooting and a few squirrels put in the game bag. Everyone took plenty of shots, everyone got a squirrel, and we all had a great time.

If you want to get your kids out on a hunt that is fun, has plenty of challenge mixed with great odds of success, you may want to try out squirrel hunting.

Fall Break Part II

Canyon Creek

On day two of our campout we decided to head over to Canyon Creek to try our fishing luck there. The reports that I had received from several people had said fishing was tough with the water flowing low and crystal clear. As we drove into the canyon I wondered why I hadn’t made the trip before, it is not your typical rim canyon with narrow walls and tight fishing quarters, and it was opened with a creek running slow down the center off the valley. There are several open meadows throughout the canyon definitely a place I will revisit.


Canyon Creek Riffle




OW Ranch



The Start of Fall in Rim Country

We unloaded all the fishing gear and rigged up poles to fish. My twin boys were not as excited to fish and took off just to explore the canyon and see what was around. My oldest and I made our plans and hit the river. The reports I had received proved true and fishing was extremely difficult. I saw only three small trout the whole morning and recived zero intrest in any flies that I sent their way. After a while we called it quits and fish some where else. I found Canyon creek to be challenging, I haven’t been shut down like that in a long time, not sure if it was the day I was there or the season. I will be back next spring and would like to head out with someone who has fished it to learn a little more. Overall we had a good second day in the mountains.

Fall Break Part I

Small but Feisty

With school out for fall break, it seemed only logical to head to rim country with my kids for a few days of camping, fishing, and hunting. We left mid-day and headed up to Payson to start with a little bit of fishing. We started with Tonto Creek just east of town. This is a heavily fished creek due to easy access and that it’s heavily stocked all summer long. We had the stream mostly to ourselves seeing only two other people fishing. The fishing was slow with only a few small bows feeding. All of these fish where caught in the shallow riffles.



More of the Same



Small Frye



 

We had a good time and my oldest boy caught the most fish by far. The pheasant tail nymph continued to be the fly for Tonto creek. The big pools where the stocked fish hang out were all empty making it tough on my younger kids, but they still had fun. After an afternoon of fishing we headed to camp for some food and relaxation around the fire. That night we fell asleep to the sounds of coyotes howling and elk calling.

(to be continued)