Waterfowl

[remrug]

A friend of mine might be settling on some property in Garrett Co this week.Both of love to hunt ducks and geese but havent spent any time in Western Md during the winter.Since there is a ton of waterways up that way we figure there should be some good hunting in the area.Im not asking for any honey holes(but if you have some to share,feel free) how is the waterfowl hunting around these parts? How does the early resident hunting compare with the later migratory birds?

 

[rseymorejr]

I have no idea where geese may or may not be in Garrett county. But, I did join a hunting club for geese, in Cecil County, for next season and one of the guys turned me on to a good place for Ammo.
Mack's Prairie Wings: http://www.mackspw.com/

I ordered a flat of 12 ga, 3" BB Hevi Shot last weekend for $150 shipped.
I thought it was a pretty good deal

 

[remrug]

Yup......I have bought a bunch of stuff from Macks.Did you buy the real Hevi-shot BBs or the the blend of Hevi and steel? We used to shoot geese with #4 Hevi-shot with great success.They raised the price too high for me.Now I shoot Hevi-steel or Black cloud BBs for geese.I was having problems with #4 Hevi-steel on geese but works great for ducks.

 

[rseymorejr]

It was the heavy steel. It has been years since I hunted waterfowl and I'm anxious to get back into it. They even convinced me to get a Pattern Master choke tube.
That first goose is sure going to be expensive!

 

[remrug]

That load will put their beaks in the dirt for sure.Im not an expert on the chokes out on the market.I just use the factory IC choke and have no problems knocking them down.....just saying...you might be able to save some money that way.I dont know how your friends hunt or how far they take shots so that could be a factor.We use decoys and take pretty close shots.

 

[pro1742]

A friend of mine might be settling on some property in Garrett Co this week.Both of love to hunt ducks and geese but havent spent any time in Western Md during the winter.Since there is a ton of waterways up that way we figure there should be some good hunting in the area.Im not asking for any honey holes(but if you have some to share,feel free) how is the waterfowl hunting around these parts? How does the early resident hunting compare with the later migratory birds?

I have 228 acres in Garrett County....gets pretty cold up there and not much for open water in the height of the season. You can see some there in the early season but probably not enough to put a serious effort at it.

 

[remrug]

We were thinking once the lakes freeze up we could find a river spot to hunt.We used to have a spot like that in Balt Co and we killed a bunch of birds there when most places were frozen.I guess I should ask.....do the birds use Garrett at all in the winter?

 

[pro1742]

We were thinking once the lakes freeze up we could find a river spot to hunt.We used to have a spot like that in Balt Co and we killed a bunch of birds there when most places were frozen.I guess I should ask.....do the birds use Garrett at all in the winter?

If you were a duck or goose what would you do? Stay where its snowy and frigid in the winter or head to the flat lands where its more mild and plenty of open water opportunities.

 

[PJDiesel]

I have no idea where geese may or may not be in Garrett county. But, I did join a hunting club for geese, in Cecil County, for next season and one of the guys turned me on to a good place for Ammo.

You hunting Earleville? I know there's a big club down there. We hunted a farm there last year right on 282, got an Amish farm off of 213 this year that used to be part of the club down there.

 

[Song Dog]

Western MD is a migration route of puddle and driver ducks from western part of Atlantic Flyway. I would check out Potomac River and other rivers in the area as currents prevent them from freezing before ponds. You can hunt the non tidal Potomac River from anchor in a boat without a permit but check MD DNR web sites for regs covering hunting non tidal Potomac River. As as Deep Creek Lake need to check if waterfowl hunting is permitted to hunt ducks and resident geese. Their is few waterfowl hunters in Garrett Co which is an advantage for those who waterfowl hunt.

 

[fabsroman]

It was the heavy steel. It has been years since I hunted waterfowl and I'm anxious to get back into it. They even convinced me to get a Pattern Master choke tube.
That first goose is sure going to be expensive!

I've used a pattern master choke tube and Hevi-Shot for over a decade. Both are wonderful. At 30 yards I get clouds of feathers off of geese and I can go out to 60 yards and still kill them. $3+ a trigger pull can be painful, but when I only get to kill 2 geese per outing, it isn't that bad. I spend more on diesel getting there than on ammo unless I am having a really bad day.

Mack's has been around for quite a long time and it is pretty good.

 

[fabsroman]

We were thinking once the lakes freeze up we could find a river spot to hunt.We used to have a spot like that in Balt Co and we killed a bunch of birds there when most places were frozen.I guess I should ask.....do the birds use Garrett at all in the winter?

Yeah, almost all my hunting nowadays is wingshooting. I really enjoy waterfowling and have been doing it since 1995. I am looking at farms to buy and Garrett County is nowhere on my list for waterfowl. Almost like buying a place in West Virginia for waterfowl. Had a law school buddy whose dad owned a place in Garrett County. He and I did some waterfowling together and he never talked about waterfowling in Garrett County. We hunted Howard, Montgomery, and the Eastern Shore, and almost all of his prior waterfowling had been done on the Eastern Shore. The only thing he hunted in Garrett County was deer, and even then they were nowhere as abundant as they were in Montgomery, Howard, Baltimore, etc.

Still, nice to have a piece of property to hunt on.