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Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
#8444932
11/11/21 12:21 AM
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 704
Capt.JVH
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OP
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 704 |
Just got back from a week with my good friend in Ketchikan. Although hunting rutting blacktail was the main goal, we found a few days to do a diver hunt and then a sea duck hunt on Sunday. The Barrows Goldeneye were all over around the islands we were deer hunting. We decoy hunted them one morning and had a blast. The days where I need to shoot a limit are long gone. I was enjoying decoying birds and picking out stud drakes. We could have filled 10 limits with drake goldeneye in two hours if we wanted to. They were truly everywhere. We also jump shot stream pockets at low tide. They were holding good numbers of cananda's and mallards. We shot enough to eat. Sunday, was the best. Our original plan was to hunt the rocks outside of Ketchikan for scoters. The whitewings and Surfs were starting to show up. But...... on the way out we started seeing big numbers of harlequins. All fresh birds. Our plan quickly changed. We found a cove at low tide full of mussels. set up our string and had them in the decoys before we moved the boat. We took our time and picked out drakes for a few hours as the tide started rising. I got a huge whitewing scoter, a few buffleheads and some surfs. It was such a fun hunt. I love open water hunting. It was always my favorite when I lived in Corpus. Again, after a while we hung up the guns and broke out the camera. I brought a few harli's home for the wall. And a few barrows for a dead mount to mimic a picture I took on the boat. I've got a barrows mounted already but 2 more couldn't hurt Deer hunting is fun but hunting crazy rough water off the rocks for probably the prettiest duck in America really did it for me. The pics could have been better. It was raining, go figure. John
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8444967
11/11/21 01:12 AM
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Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,867
texasdude28
Extreme Tracker
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Extreme Tracker
Joined: Jun 2011
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8444970
11/11/21 01:16 AM
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 32,551
kmon11
junior
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junior
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 32,551 |
Looks like a fun time, both species are beautiful ducks.
lf the saying "Liar, Liar your pants on fire" were true Mainstream news might be fun to watch
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445083
11/11/21 02:58 AM
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 704
Capt.JVH
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 704 |
thanks guys! And for sure, both are gorgeous. I have a barrow's mounted from the last time I was up there. It's next to a common GE I shot in south Texas. It's cool to see them next to each other.
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445118
11/11/21 03:30 AM
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Joined: May 2018
Posts: 1,096
2flyfish4
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Pro Tracker
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Thats badass, alaska is a trip I really want to do someday soon
Instagram - 2flyfish4
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445202
11/11/21 05:45 AM
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,234
jnd59
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Pro Tracker
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Cool. I need to do the big water thing once. What's the duck up there that your limited to one? King eider?
No matter how high a duck flies a hammer still breaks a window.
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445277
11/11/21 12:55 PM
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 704
Capt.JVH
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Pretty sure it's a king but not 100% sure. They don't have those down where we were at, so it wasn't an issue. Kings are awesome. My buddy from Corpus is flying up this week to hunt them.
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445418
11/11/21 02:58 PM
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Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 958
goosebuster
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445655
11/11/21 06:52 PM
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Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 71
Baldpate
Outdoorsman
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Outdoorsman
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 71 |
What a "bucket List " hunt ! Alaska is such a land of outdoor opportunity. Haven't gotten a Harlequin, but had the chance to take Eider, Oldsquaw and Scoters off the coast of Maine many years ago. That "sea duck" hunting thing is a great adventure. They are hardy birds and the Harlequin is an absolute beauty!
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445743
11/11/21 08:16 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 554
Streater
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I love reading posts like this!
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445843
11/11/21 10:54 PM
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 11,788
wal1809
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445874
11/11/21 11:26 PM
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,438
twdjr
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8445890
11/11/21 11:50 PM
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 704
Capt.JVH
OP
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Thanks guys! Growing up shooting wood ducks and mallards I never imagined getting the chance to experience hunts like this. It blows me away when I hang out with my buddies that are lifelong Alaska residents. This is just a cool Sunday morning to them. Life is all about perspective I suppose. They breast out Harli's and eat them like we would a redhead on the coast. Same with the Barrows. They won't even pull the trigger on scoters. It blows my mind.
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Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska
[Re: Capt.JVH]
#8446919
11/13/21 12:00 AM
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Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 19,385
Biscuit
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