Back to the New River

When I think of Bluebills, I think of the New River. I've shot Bluebills from here to Last Mountain Lake and a lot of places in between. But to me, the New River is Bluebill shooting as I enjoy it the most.  My idea of diver hunting in general is big water. Although I would like to have shot Canvasbacks and Redheads in the numbers that I've shot Bluebills, that has never been allowed in my lifetime. So I am a Bluebill hunter. Some years I never pull the trigger on any other kind of duck. I spend most of duck season in a big box blind, staring out over miles of open water. That is pure fun to me. It can get pretty rough at times, even a few days each year that I can't hunt due to the wind. But enduring the rough conditions is worth it to me, each and every time a flock of Bills turns toward my decoys.

I started hunting the New River in 1975, when I was first stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC. There have been years that I was stationed other places around the world and couldn't make it back to the New River. But I always kept it in my mind. The river seems to run in cycles on the ducks. There have been periods of 2-3 years that the duck numbers were so poor that I didn't even hunt on the New River. But the ducks always come back, and so do I. Back in the early 1990's the River was in a down cycle and I was spending my seasons hunting on the Pamlico Sound. Plenty of Bluebills up there, plus Scoters and a few other ducks. But you have to be even a little more careful about the weather up there. Especially if you are taking your young sons hunting with you.

Along about 1995, my boys were old enough the try some open water hunting and we had a couple trips to Pamlico Sound spoiled by high winds. We all had the day after Christmas off and wanted to hunt somewhere, so I told the boys we'd head back to the New River and see if any birds had shown up. A partner of mine had been out a couple days and done nothing, but we had the day off together, so we gave it a try. Went out to Hospital Point. I had hunted a blind there for almost 20 years and loved the area. The old blind was long gone, so we rigged up a little boat blind the night before. Got out there and set the decoys and I started teaching and talking to the boys about Bluebill shooting, and virtually promised that even if we didn't do any good that day, that the birds would be back and we'd get them eventually.

Hadn't been sitting there very long when a nice flock of Bluebills came up the river and turned right into our decoys. We knocked down a few. You can't imagine the joy and relief I felt. My sons' first diver hunt and we got some birds in and everybody shot well. Only a short time later, here came another bunch. We added to the duck straps. Everything was working out perfectly.

14 Bluebills and a Black Scoter later, at about 10:00, we picked up the decoys and headed home. My Bluebills were back on the New River and so was I, and so was the next generation of duckmen.