Photos: Another Duck Opener.
- This topic has 17 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated Oct 16, 2009 at 9:34 am by
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So my brother in-law is part of this group of duck hunters called the “Fowl Assassins.” And let me tell you, they are all pretty serious duck hunters. Since i usually help him out with a couple turkey hunting spots, it was payback time for me getting to tag along for the morning. The first flock that came in, with 5 hunters, we dropped 8 birds. 4 of which were hens, which is fine, but your only allowed 1 per hunter. So.. we had to sit and watch for the next 1/2 hour as probably 400 birds circled, landed, and flew away, all while we were waiting for it to get light enough to identify the birds in flight. Ended up one bird shy of a 20 bird limit. It was a cool morning for sure.
The food shot, kind of. Good thing McDondalds opens early.
Waiting for 7:22 am. Shooting time.
View from the layout blind. I was the only one in Simms waders!
Our unofficial guide… or at least the one lucky enough to draw short straw and sleep in his truck at the pond so we didn’t get beat by other hunters in the morning.
Final approach.
Banking in.
No dogs means alot of running after birds… just watch out for the electric fences.
Hiding out.
Shooting Up.
And waiting again.
The next Duck Commander.
And no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t keep the cow’s away.
Those are some sweet images, my friend. I am glad to see a couple of other hunters on here. I, myself am a hardcore bowhunter. I like to duck hunt, it just something about sitting in a tree watching and listening to the woods waking up in the morning that gets me going during the winter when deer hunting.
Great shots all around Eric, I don’t know who’s more excited about the first duck hunt of this year that yellow lab to the left or my 11 year old son. Jake says nothing else tastes as good as bacon and eggs in a duck blind. If your looking for a good spot to talk wing shooting etc. http://www.uplandjournal.com/ is a good group.
MSThanks for sharing Eric. Send ’em south. With the exception of the “sky carp” our season doesn’t open in Georgia until mid-November.
I’m sure the 12 ga.’s didn’t have anything to do with it though. hehe.
Lol yeah I’m sure they didn’t help 🙂
Eric I shot an assignment for the mag last Nov, which ran this Aug. They were doing a feature destination article on a particular bay. The AD gave me his wish list with regards to what he wanted to see. The first priority was images of the writer calling, followed by documentary type shots (clubhouse where they hold a blind lottery at 4:30am, location type shots, parling lots etc), he wasn’t interested duck shots at all. In the end they used two images, one of te wrtier calling for the cover, another of him starting the hike out at the end of hunt.
Small selection from that here
http://jben.zenfolio.com/p584283980images two and five were the end product
http://jben.zenfolio.com/p441091910Note that the duck shot (image 4) was used in Sept’s hunting annual. However that was taken on my own time and dime. Meaning when I go out hunting, I concentrate on documentng the hunt and hunters as you’ve done here……When Im solo and a morning to kill I mount the long lens and concentrate on the targets. It maximises your time.
How do you guys find mixing bow hunting with photography? As previously mentioned I separate photographing “hunts” from photographing the applicable target species.
Cant imagine Bow hunting being any different, especially if during those dead days when sound carries. 1 shot (shutter releasing) can and is heard for a long ways off, especially with WTs
I haven’t done alot of shooting while bow hunting with other hunters, other than some deer as they mozy past. This year, due to some self imposed rules on the farm we hunt, since i tagged a nice one last year, i sit out this year, for bucks anyway. So, my brother and i are planning on doing some action modeling/shooting with camera and video to fill the time this fall, and we’ll see how it goes. I am thinking i will work on some shots walking in/out, getting ready/dressed, and maybe some “simulated” shots once up in the stand, but once the deer show up, i will probably be switching over to video.
What you mention john is one of the things i have the hardest time dealing with… with the duck hunting above, i was in a fixed position most of the time, and basically had to work with what ever i was dealt as things played out. Not having the freedom to get up and move around to find the optimum shot definitely makes things tougher. And since this wasn’t an assignment, and with hard core-ness of these guys, i wasn’t about to suggest letting me run around and ruin their opening day hunting.
Yeah I know exactly what you mean Eric and I’m constantly trying to think of ways to work around it. It’s a bit of a paradox (right word??) in so much as the two are at odds with each other.
In order to try and get the shots we’d really like to nail, te reality is it in all likely hood spells being busted. You had better have very understanding hunters with you for that 🙂
I had some latitude that day as it was an arranged “photo shoot”. The other party (Not Dale the writer) who’s part of the property committee(Rondeua Bay) was able to a) Get us a preferred blind and therefore forgo the “lottery” for blinds they hold each morning. And b) get us some lattitude due to the fact the Magazine was sending a team down to write about it as a destination…..aka a lot of exposure.
So that allowed me the freedom to be outside the blind (against the rules) and do *some* things. No doubt alot of mallards flared more due to me, than the guys raiing their guns. No body minded too much as the whole point of the excercise was for me to come back with a good variety of images. But even then there were limits with regards to what I could do.
Bow Hunting which is high on my list of wanting to do, may prove t be the toughest to arrange for no other reason than the realities where sound, scent and movement will bust a hunt badly.
I am of the mind that if I really want some good images my best bet may be to hire to a guide, and give him my wish list of images. He won’t care if I bust him because he’s being paid regardless and if a trophy buck happens in ad then subsequently bolts, what does he care…the Buck will be there for his next guest.
Good hunting photography is very difficult (imo)
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