Maine...Day 1 - Texas Hunting Forum

Maine...Day 1 - 12/29/12 04:05 PM

Went to Maine for a 3 day hunt just over a week ago with a great friend of mine (Chris). I've gotta say that it was one of the best experiences I have ever had. I don't venture out much to hunt other places so this was all entirely new to me. The main goal for the whole trip was to get species that we couldn't get in Texas. We flew out of Austin to Philly then from Philly to Bangor Maine. An hour later we were settled in at the lodge. Upon arrival we were greeted with snow and calm weather, which was great because neither of us have ever had the chance to hunt in the snow. We met our guide (Todd) and went over everything about the next morning's hunt and what to kind of expect. Morning came early, I was up at 2:45am, breakfast was being cooked at 3:30am and we left at 4:15am to head to the water. We actually had perfect weather on the very first day which meant we could use the layout boat to hunt sea ducks. After setting out all of the decoys (which is a lot of work by the way) Chris slid into the layout boat and got ready. Todd and I drove away and stopped in the middle of the bay hoping that maybe a few Oldsquaws would fly by. Before you know it Chris calls in on the radio and says he got an Oldsquaw drake. Shortly after a pair comes flying by a million miles an hour and I pick out the drake on the first shot...I'm beyond pumped already and haven't even got into the layout boat yet. We get another call from Chris and he cripples a drake Eider. Todd starts up the engine and off we go to get the crippled Eider. After what seemed like forever I finally got a shot on the Eider to finish it off. Chris ends up getting another drake Eider then we switch places. I've gotta say, hunting in a layout boat is the coolest thing I have ever done in my life. I wasn't in the boat for 30 seconds and a group of Eiders float right over me...I let out 3 shots and get nothing!!! The boat rocking back and forth makes taking steady aim pretty tough but I was ready now and knew what to expect. The next group of Eiders come floating right over and I pick out a beautiful white drake. Shortly after another group comes and I pick out another drake. 2 more Eiders after that and I finished my limit of Eiders. Chris slid back in the boat to finish off his limit as well. Todd asked me if I knew how to drive a boat because he wanted to get in the layout and hunt a few himself. He said he never gets good weather and would really like to do it. I said hell yeah! Hop in! So off we went and Todd shot a good drake Eider and a drake white winged Scoter. We then picked up the decoys and moved to a different bay to hunt Scoters. After the decoys were out and I was in the boat I had 3 Scoters come in not even 5 minutes later. I waited until the drakes crossed one another and took one shot...got both drakes and ended my limit of sea ducks! Chris got in and shortly after got his 2 Scoters as well. First morning was a success!

We headed back to the lodge and ate some pulled pork sandwiches and get ready to go out for an afternoon puddle duck hunt...we were pursuing Black Ducks on this particular hunt. We drive up to a cove that is just covered in Black Ducks. We flush them out and wait for their return. Well...they didn't come back. But Chris ended up getting a beautiful drake Goldeneye then we headed back to the lodge and got ready for supper. Here's some pics.

This is Hunter retrieving my first ever Oldsquaw.