....................Sunrise, December 30, 2008
.....................Matt Diesel
..........Downeast Duck Hunter with a one shot pair!!!
After ten days of vacation and no sea ducking, mother nature finally threw me a bone. The forecast promised little wind and seasonable temperatures which brought a sense of anticipation like that of a person who has quit smoking, but finds oneself in a smoke shop.
The forecast went like this as seen first thing this morning...
TODAY
NE WINDS AROUND 5 KT...BECOMING NW AND INCREASING TO 15
TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 KT. SEAS 2 TO 3 FT INCREASING TO 3 TO
5 FEET THIS AFTERNOON. LIGHT SNOW LIKELY THIS MORNING...MIXING
WITH RAIN THIS AFTERNOON. VSBY 1 TO 3 NM
Translation, I had the morning and Matt Diesel, co-founder of Duckpower, would be on this hunt. As expected, our shooting was fast and profitable with a full limit of eiders plus three old squaws. Within an hour and a half, we took to our cameras and enjoyed a few minutes of digital photography before we called it a morning.
.................Drake Eider along the line...
.................Matty with his drake old squaw
.................old squaw drake up close
...................A well deserved morning!!!
3 comments:
Sounds like a wonderful morning all around! Congrats a great shoot. Curious - I've never had eider or old squaw, what do they taste like? Are they really 'fishy' like some of the pacific sea ducks out here? They are sure beautiful!
Okay here's my input and it's open for dissent...
I've read that sea ducks have the highest percentage in terms of aquatic animal consumption over 90% and the surf scoter aka skunk head, patch head, etc. is up to 94%...
Now compare that to mallards, wood ducks, etc. that enjoy rice, corn, etc., we've got ducks that are a tad "fishy"...
I haven't eaten an eider this year, an old lady down the road receives every one of them, but I've enjoyed the coots (scoters), black ducks, old squaw, and other game...
The book I read is by Lamar Underwood's
"The Duck Hunter's Book-Classic Waterfowl Stories" and it does have several short stories about waterfowling in Maine...
I'll double check my data since I read the book two years ago...
Great comment!!!
Wow, beautiful ducks. great pictures and way to capture the moment! Ahhhh I feel better now. No hunting for me since everything is frozen and snowed over. So thanks for the hunt.
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