Post by BIG FOX on Jan 3, 2017 7:07:14 GMT -5
So here I go. A few buddies of mine have talked about going to hunt eiders for a while. My buddy Derrick went up to RI last year and I leaned on him big time for info. After talking with the local DNR folks in RI and MA it was decided that Massachusetts was the destination. Plans went into work, hotels were booked and it was on. Myself, and two buddies (Cory and Michael) loaded up Cory's truck and my boat with scooter decoys and some eiders that my buddy Derrick let us use. We were north bound at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning.
Once we got into town we decided to take a boat ride. Derrick and his group had left the day before and were already hunting and said they were seeing birds. We threw our gear in the boat and went for a ride in Boston harbor. Scoters, ole sqauw and eiders were flying around and we were getting excited. We found a place out of the wind and decided to give it a try. We set up our decoys and the hunt was on. Wasn't long and we had a beautiful drake eider give us a fly by. We all took shots and were able to knock him down. By far the toughest birds I have ever hunted. We chased the bird for at least 15 minutes as it would dive and stay down for what seemed like forever. Finally got close enough to see the bird swimming a few feet under the water by the boat like a large white fish. We chased until he surfaced and placed a finishing shot. We had our first eider. The trip was already a success. We repositioned and the next couple hours were uneventful.
The next day was calling for EXTREME weather. We found a place out of the wind and freezing rain and set up. A very nice immature drake eider made his final mistake and flew over the decoys and was dropped. The current and wind is NO JOKE. We picked up our bird and hunted a bit more before I said this is crazy let's get the heck out of here. The weather closed our hunt early.
Saturday was calling for great hunting conditions so our plan was a full assault on our last day. We planned and got out early and set up. The morning flight is something that has to be seen to believe. Birds everywhere. We were setup and were able to knocked down a hen and drake eider and a goose. After a couple hours of birds skirting our decoys we decided a change was in order and we found a place we could hunt from the rocks and get out of the boat. Decoys were placed and we parked the boat in a cut about 30 yards from us and made our way slowly out on the rocks. We were not set up 10 minutes when a beautiful drake eider decoyed in perfectly. We dropped him and knew we finally figured them out. Get out of the boat and hunt the rocks. Several more birds went down and we had a successful trip and were all excited. The tide was not to be fooled with as it rose no less than 4-5 feet in an hour and rocks where we hunted from were now under water. It was time to pack up. A very successful trip in our eyes and a great time surrounded by good friends. What a trip....
Once we got into town we decided to take a boat ride. Derrick and his group had left the day before and were already hunting and said they were seeing birds. We threw our gear in the boat and went for a ride in Boston harbor. Scoters, ole sqauw and eiders were flying around and we were getting excited. We found a place out of the wind and decided to give it a try. We set up our decoys and the hunt was on. Wasn't long and we had a beautiful drake eider give us a fly by. We all took shots and were able to knock him down. By far the toughest birds I have ever hunted. We chased the bird for at least 15 minutes as it would dive and stay down for what seemed like forever. Finally got close enough to see the bird swimming a few feet under the water by the boat like a large white fish. We chased until he surfaced and placed a finishing shot. We had our first eider. The trip was already a success. We repositioned and the next couple hours were uneventful.
The next day was calling for EXTREME weather. We found a place out of the wind and freezing rain and set up. A very nice immature drake eider made his final mistake and flew over the decoys and was dropped. The current and wind is NO JOKE. We picked up our bird and hunted a bit more before I said this is crazy let's get the heck out of here. The weather closed our hunt early.
Saturday was calling for great hunting conditions so our plan was a full assault on our last day. We planned and got out early and set up. The morning flight is something that has to be seen to believe. Birds everywhere. We were setup and were able to knocked down a hen and drake eider and a goose. After a couple hours of birds skirting our decoys we decided a change was in order and we found a place we could hunt from the rocks and get out of the boat. Decoys were placed and we parked the boat in a cut about 30 yards from us and made our way slowly out on the rocks. We were not set up 10 minutes when a beautiful drake eider decoyed in perfectly. We dropped him and knew we finally figured them out. Get out of the boat and hunt the rocks. Several more birds went down and we had a successful trip and were all excited. The tide was not to be fooled with as it rose no less than 4-5 feet in an hour and rocks where we hunted from were now under water. It was time to pack up. A very successful trip in our eyes and a great time surrounded by good friends. What a trip....
