A duck hunting trip up in the Northeastern zone of New York. That’s what was on the docket list for this week. This was a trip that the whole Leaky Waders Outfitters crew has been planning for a while. Recently, it’s been tough to get all of us together at the same time. Since two of us are in college and the other works full time, but we finally found a time where all of our schedules lined up. The plan was to meet in an area Northwest of Lake George to get in a couple of duck hunts and maybe some small game hunting if were lucky.
The trip started with me leaving from Geneseo and heading to Plattsburgh to pick up my cousin from school. It was a quick five and a half-hour drive but felt like an eternity because it was nearly dark by the time I got in the car. I made it there safe and sound and was stoked to be reunited with my cousin who I haven’t seen since August. Quickly we threw all of his gear in the car and hit the pavement for another hour and a half down to our hunting location. It was about midnight and we were within two miles of where we were staying but we had a problem. The road was gone… The road was literally gone! The previous night they had a tremendous rainstorm and dropped between 3-5 inches of rain in less than a couple of hours. This rain eroded the river enough that it washed the road down into the bottom of the river.
Finally, after finagling our way around one navigable sketchy road we made it up and around to the cabin. My brother was already there and the stoves were going. The hot, cozy fire was exactly what I needed after a long ride like that. A quick couple of beers and exchanging of some stories from the past couple of weeks and it was off to bed.
All of us beat the alarm the next morning. We were up and at em early. The truck was packed the night before so all we had to do was get the coffee brewing and get our asses in the truck. We got to the lake and we were the only ones there. It was our first time hunting this spot and from google earth we knew we were setting up in the back of this marsh. It was only about a five hundred yard ride which the ugly duckling could easily handle. It doesn’t matter how early we get up we always seem to be under the gun and pushing it close. We managed to get the blind set up and the decoys out just in time for shooting light.
Finally, the time has come and quickly we figured out one thing. The birds did not want to cooperate. The wind was right at our backs so any birds that were gonna be landing should have been decoying in our faces. Of course, that’s not what the birds wanted. Every bird that flew by was hugging the trees tight and was in and out and gone before we even basically saw the bird. We were all having a blast watching all the birds buzz around and there were just tons of geese flying high which was cool to see.
Out to the east, we saw a big flock of birds we quickly started calling and got their attention. They made their way over to the decoys and started checking us out. They circled us twice and then dived back into the deep side of the marsh thinking they were going to land back there. However, they quickly made a turn at the last second and came in real low. We knew they weren’t mallards but couldn’t figure it out as of yet. The second they hit the outside of the decoys the lead bird landed and I called the shot I saw two stud drake hoodies and dropped two in two shoots. My brother dropped one and had a jam he couldn’t get it out in time and his bird flew away. My cousin knocked the last one down but I wasn’t able to see what it was. We all started hooting and hollering because none of us has ever shot a hooded merganser before.
In excitement, I quickly ran to go retrieve my birds. I almost paid the price because halfway through the solid bottom turn to a pit of mud that was dense enough to barely get me back the way I came. My cousin and I hopped in the ugly duckling and went to retrieve our birds. I’ve only seen two other hooded mergansers while hunting was two years ago when a drake and hen landed just outside the decoys with brush blocking the shot. The second time was opening day last year when It was two minutes before shooting light. I was setting the decoys, when I turned around I didn’t remember setting a hoodie decoy. After realizing that and trying to reach for it to touch it, it flew away.
We were fortunate enough to harvest three beautiful Drakes. The rest of the day went off pretty slow we got one good look from a mallard and that was about it. We felt we did pretty good considering we did not scout this spot and it was our first time hunting it. This trip wasn’t really about killing ducks but rather just handing out and catching up after not seeing each other for a couple of months.
As for the rest of the weekend. Nothing really to report out, we went small game hunting that afternoon and were beaten by one red squirrel. We spent the majority of the time backtracking a blood trail we had found to a gut pile. This was on public land and it was most likely a big buck because there were rubs and scrapes everywhere! The next morning the weather was not good for duck hunting so we decided to do some lake trout fishing. That almost turned into a suicide mission when the wind picked up super fast and our battery on the ugly duckling died. Regardless, it was an amazing trip and a weekend I will not soon forget.
I hope you enjoy this weeks journey and if you like this leave a like and share it with your friends. I have a podcast coming soon so be on the lookout for that.
-Colin Hickey
Leaky Waders 