Greener Pastures

Thanksgiving weekend closed out the short, teaser sessions that primed the valves and got every waterfowl hunter excited about bagging a limit of ducks in the Carolinas’ flooded country. For the first week or so of December, hunters and the hunted get a little break, but the remaining portion of the waterfowl season will arrive in little time at all. Duck hunters need to regroup, plan and prepare for their last hurrah for the best hunting of the year. 

A must-read for duck hunters everywhere, “Spent Shells Along The Atlantic” by Tom S. Long is a colorful look at the beloved and exciting sport of waterfowl hunting. This 230-page book is beautifully packaged and full of photos from modern and old-time hunts. The author shares incredible stories of market gunners during the golden era of waterfowling, as well as great hunts enjoyed by modern waterfowl enthusiasts. 

A greentree impoundment takes advantage of acorns, of one of the primary food sources of larger puddle ducks, including wood ducks, mallards and black ducks. Hard mast, including nuts, bracts and awns, along with soft mast, such as berries and fruits, occur in bottomland hardwood swamps. A greentree impoundment is flooded seasonally, after deciduous leaves have fallen and the hardwood trees have gone dormant.

The Lodge Road Impoundment has 21 acres of fields in the shape of an “I” that were ditched and planted in small grains several years ago, partly with the help of funding from Ducks Unlimited. However, the plantings have had limited success.

The 2011 Juniper Road Fire burned holes in Holly Shelter’s Lodge Road Impoundment dikes; however, it did more good for ducks than bad.

Lodge Road is usually a quiet stretch, cut straight as an arrow through thick, Pender County pocosin habitat. Pickup trucks make the dust rise on the days when Holly Shelter Game Land is open for big- and small-game hunting. On days when waterfowl hunting is allowed, the reach along the northern edge of Lodge Road Impoundment rarely had traffic as heavy.

Instead of wobbling side to side in the water like many other decoys on the market, Fowl Foolers decoys are designed to move front to back like a real duck. These styrofoam, burlap-wrapped decoys are so durable you can even stand on them without hurting them, and they don’t take on water, list or sink when hit by stray BBs. Fowl Foolers offers 11 different head options, each featuring a feather pattern design, detailed bill and glass eyes.

The opening of teal season on some of North Carolina’s public waterfowl impoundments was nothing to write home about, because some of them are still dry.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission set the 2013-14 waterfowl seasons at its meeting on Aug. 29 in Raleigh, splitting the duck season into the usual three parts and offering hunters every opportunity allowed under the federal season framework.

North Carolina’s chapter of Ducks Unlimited will roll out the state and Pamlico regional duck-calling championships on Aug. 17 as part of the state convention in New Bern.