The Lost Art of Sitting and Shoot Ducks and Chill?

The Lost Art of Sitting

The entire month of November, I spend a lot of time sitting in trees. While many prefer to stalk deer rather than sit, I am one of those hunters who likes to sit, content to simply pass the time, collecting my thoughts, watching the birds and squirrels play and patiently waiting for a deer to walk out and present a shot. I find this entire process incredibly relaxing and in few endeavors in these hectic times do I truly feel quite so at peace and connected to the natural world around me.

Sitting is becoming a lost art, a hunting skill comprised of equal parts physical endurance and mental patience. I feel that many sportsmen are losing the ability to master this skill as our growing dependence on technology seems to be robbing us of our ability to just sit peacefully. For a growing number of sportsmen, a few minutes in the stand and they become “bored” and begin playing with their phones, txting friends, taking tree stand selfies or playing video games. This deer season, leave the cell phone in a pocket and reconnect with the woods. In the end, the re-connections made back to the Maine wilds, just might put a deer on the game pole this month.

Other suggestions hunters can take to increases their chances of seeing more deer when sitting for long periods of time, include making sure to position themselves so that the sun is at their back for better visibility and also to reduce eye fatigue on bright days. This is accomplished by facing west in the morning and east in the evening. Also a comfortable thick foam seat goes a long way in helping to avoid unnecessary movement. When hunting season begins, I always find the first day of sitting is the worst, I feel fidgety, uncomfortable and have difficulty maintaining focus. As the season progress, however, the days get progressively easier and seem to move faster as I settle into a regular routine of hunting.

            A lot of deer hunters in Washington County still hunt, preferring to stalk after the areas sparse population of whitetails. Stalking is effective as it allows hunters to assess larger tracts of land than is possible simply sitting and waiting for deer. Stand hunting however can still be highly effective even in deer poor Washington County if hunters use the pre-season to scout out prime stand areas that funnel deer between bedding and feeding areas, overlook concentrated sources of food (food plots, apple orchards, corn fields, etc.). Simply setting up a stand in Washington County and hoping for a deer to walk by without doing any pre-scouting and a hunter might well be waiting years before a deer shows up!

            When deer hunting in Washington County, it is hard to beat the rugged lands accessible via the Birch Hill Road (DeLorme’s The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (MAG), Map 36, D-1, C-1 and C-2), just outside of the town of Crawford. The Birch Hill road snakes over and around Hawkins, Huntley and Seavy Ridge as well as Pocomoonshine Mountain to the west and borders heavy swamp land and spruce growth to the east. This creates great ambush opportunities between bedding and feeding areas for hunters willing to invest a little time scouting to find the travel corridors between these two zones boasting the highest level of deer activity.

Shoot Ducks and Chill?

Duck hunting in November is wrought with challenges overcome by only the heartiest of sporting men and women. Frigid north winds blow a gale, typically throwing snowstorms or freezing rain down from the heavens, soaking even the most prepared foul weather fowler. With inland waters rapidly freezing, water fowlers head Down East where the regions salty bays and tidal inlets typically take longer to ice up.

Sportsmen feeling they possess the intestinal fortitude to hunt in these inclement and fickle weather conditions would be well served to dress warm and try their luck on Maine’s rugged coast. Areas such as the mouth of the Machias River (Delorme’s The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (MAG), Map 26, C-4) and Chandler River (Map 25 B-5) both offer protection from the icy north winds while still providing opportunities to harvest ducks late into December.

A majority of the hunting done in these locations is accomplished by pass shooting, a practice of hunting requiring no decoys and no calling; it is simply about being in the right place at the right time. Hunters successful in employing this technique choose set-up locations wisely, using pinch points, ledges and sheltered coves to force ducks into effective shotgun range. Ducks refusing to fly into shooting range, can sometimes be persuaded by employing a rudimentary understanding of duck sounds and behavior. The quack, quack, quack is the basic call of the mallard and black duck and is the “King” of duck vocalizations. Use it heartily when the winds howl, to call to ducks at a distance and lightly in the stillness of the early morning. Always call to wing tips and tails, to turn ducks toward your position and do not call repeatedly as overdoing it often frightens ducks. Simply in theory complicated in actually delivery, calling to duck and having them favorably respond is as much science as art form and one can only improve by spending years watching and listening to ducks.

Hunters should not be seen, so limit movement and cover up the often forgotten face and hands with camouflage face paint or a face mask and gloves. Often glaringly white faces staring up into the heavens, from the relative darkness of the swamp or forest, spook approaching ducks.

Decoy spreads should be seen and contain a lot of movement. This is accomplished by including spinning wing decoys, jerk chords and any other products that create water disturbances, mimicking happily feeding ducks.

Later in the season it pays to add white colored decoys to your set-up, as doing so will yield visits from both hooded and red crested mergansers. Take old mallard decoys and paint them white and black to mimic mergansers.