Very strange name, no idea of its origin. Great place to shoot ducks. Mouse Harbor is probably about 6 square miles of open water, just south of the mouth of the Pamlico River where it opens into the Pamlico Sound. About 80% of the land around Mouse Harbor is owned by some rich lawyer from Virginia Beach. He actually owns a million or so acres in that area. The remainder of the shoreline is state owned Gamelands. We hunted stake blinds built just a few feet from the shore adjacent to the Gamelands. For 15 years or so we had a great time. But the newer generation of duck hunters put an end to that. Too lazy to build their own blind, it was easier to help themselves to our blinds. We fought with them for years, and in the end they won. I don't have good enough control of my temper to face some ne'er-do-well every morning and politely tell them to get out of my blind. I load my gun with OO Buck and get fairly nasty. Didn't want to go through that ordeal when I was teaching my sons to hunt and to be good sportsmen. So I quit hunting there. It was a lot of good times over the years.
First time I ever hunted there I was with Mike McGee. We had hunted the Goose Creek Impoundment and heard shooting outside the impoundment, so after the season we went exploring. We found a few blinds out there, no idea who owned them. So we decided we would hunt there the next season and see if it was any good. Our first hunt was the day after Thanksgiving in 1984. We set our decoys in a likely looking spot and hid the boat along the shore. We just sat down in the grass right at the edge of the water to hunt. By 0900 or so we had killed a pair of Bluebills and a pair of Buffs. Really not getting much action. A blind about 500 yards east of us was having a real shoot. We probably heard their guns go off 50 or more times. We could see flocks of ducks cutting by the point they were on, but the ducks just weren't venturing down into the bay where we were set up.
About 1000 we saw the guys in the blind picking up their decoys, so Mike rode up there and asked if we could hunt their blind since they were finished. They said it wasn't their blind so they could care less if we hunted. The blind wasn't grassed or anything, the other guys had just wrapped burlap around the frame. Really looked like it was just an abandoned blind so we decided to try it. We picked up our decoys and moved up there. While we were putting out the decoys a flock of Scoter buzzed right past us. Mike had never seen Scoter before and didn't even know what they were. I had killed some on the Chesapeake Bay and knew what fun they were, so we got in the blind and put our boat camouflage around the front and got ready. First pass we killed a couple birds and I got out of the blind to work Hoss. When he was bringing in the last bird a boat pulled around the shore with a bunch of hunters in it. One of them climbed out and walked over to me. He introduced himself as Morris Whitfield. I introduced myself as Staff Sergeant Brannen, USMC.
He told us that it was his blind but it was OK if we hunted out the day. I had no idea if he was telling the truth or just making something up. I thanked him anyway and said so long. After I got back in the blind I saw a little sign in the blind with his name and address. So I knew he had been telling the truth. I just figured he must not hunt it very much or else he would have it fixed up a little better.
That day when we finished up, we decided we would build our own blind there because the shooting was strong. We hunted out of our boat a few more times that season. Found out the hard way that Jimmy Johnson (the lawyer from Virginia Beach) was an SOB and had a caretaker who would run you out if you hunted within 500 yards of his property. We watched the birds enough to see where we would like to build a blind the following summer.
After the season, I contacted Morris and soon after that we went up and spent the weekend at his trailer in Lowland. He and I really hit it off and continued to hunt together until his untimely death last year. He joked about our first meeting out on the water. He said he had been fighting with other guys for years about breaking into his blinds and had mostly won the battles. But he said when he saw McGee and I, he decided it was better to make friends than to go to war with the U. S. Marines. Probably a wise move. He had hunted that area, particularly Mouse Harbor for 15 years before we started hunting up there, so he really taught me a lot about the area. He hunted there for the Bluebills and the Scoter. After a full season where we killed about 300 Bills and Scoters, I could see why. Rarely killed anything else, but the shooting was good. Over the years I killed Black Ducks, Mallards, Wigeon, Gadwall, GW Teal, Canvasbacks, Redheads, Goldeneye and even a couple Snow Geese out of our blinds. But 98% of the shooting was Bluebills and Scoter. Not much for the dinnertable, but wingshooting at its finest.
It is a shame that the non-sportsmen ruined it. At least for Morris and I they did. I don't want to have to fight for my own blind every morning, then have someone burn it down about every other year. What is wrong with the hunters today? Pepsi generation. Not willing to work for it, but feel like someone owes them a place to hunt. I imagine Mouse Harbor will always have some ducks. Maybe someday I'll venture back up there and see for myself.
First time I ever hunted there I was with Mike McGee. We had hunted the Goose Creek Impoundment and heard shooting outside the impoundment, so after the season we went exploring. We found a few blinds out there, no idea who owned them. So we decided we would hunt there the next season and see if it was any good. Our first hunt was the day after Thanksgiving in 1984. We set our decoys in a likely looking spot and hid the boat along the shore. We just sat down in the grass right at the edge of the water to hunt. By 0900 or so we had killed a pair of Bluebills and a pair of Buffs. Really not getting much action. A blind about 500 yards east of us was having a real shoot. We probably heard their guns go off 50 or more times. We could see flocks of ducks cutting by the point they were on, but the ducks just weren't venturing down into the bay where we were set up.
About 1000 we saw the guys in the blind picking up their decoys, so Mike rode up there and asked if we could hunt their blind since they were finished. They said it wasn't their blind so they could care less if we hunted. The blind wasn't grassed or anything, the other guys had just wrapped burlap around the frame. Really looked like it was just an abandoned blind so we decided to try it. We picked up our decoys and moved up there. While we were putting out the decoys a flock of Scoter buzzed right past us. Mike had never seen Scoter before and didn't even know what they were. I had killed some on the Chesapeake Bay and knew what fun they were, so we got in the blind and put our boat camouflage around the front and got ready. First pass we killed a couple birds and I got out of the blind to work Hoss. When he was bringing in the last bird a boat pulled around the shore with a bunch of hunters in it. One of them climbed out and walked over to me. He introduced himself as Morris Whitfield. I introduced myself as Staff Sergeant Brannen, USMC.
He told us that it was his blind but it was OK if we hunted out the day. I had no idea if he was telling the truth or just making something up. I thanked him anyway and said so long. After I got back in the blind I saw a little sign in the blind with his name and address. So I knew he had been telling the truth. I just figured he must not hunt it very much or else he would have it fixed up a little better.
That day when we finished up, we decided we would build our own blind there because the shooting was strong. We hunted out of our boat a few more times that season. Found out the hard way that Jimmy Johnson (the lawyer from Virginia Beach) was an SOB and had a caretaker who would run you out if you hunted within 500 yards of his property. We watched the birds enough to see where we would like to build a blind the following summer.
After the season, I contacted Morris and soon after that we went up and spent the weekend at his trailer in Lowland. He and I really hit it off and continued to hunt together until his untimely death last year. He joked about our first meeting out on the water. He said he had been fighting with other guys for years about breaking into his blinds and had mostly won the battles. But he said when he saw McGee and I, he decided it was better to make friends than to go to war with the U. S. Marines. Probably a wise move. He had hunted that area, particularly Mouse Harbor for 15 years before we started hunting up there, so he really taught me a lot about the area. He hunted there for the Bluebills and the Scoter. After a full season where we killed about 300 Bills and Scoters, I could see why. Rarely killed anything else, but the shooting was good. Over the years I killed Black Ducks, Mallards, Wigeon, Gadwall, GW Teal, Canvasbacks, Redheads, Goldeneye and even a couple Snow Geese out of our blinds. But 98% of the shooting was Bluebills and Scoter. Not much for the dinnertable, but wingshooting at its finest.
It is a shame that the non-sportsmen ruined it. At least for Morris and I they did. I don't want to have to fight for my own blind every morning, then have someone burn it down about every other year. What is wrong with the hunters today? Pepsi generation. Not willing to work for it, but feel like someone owes them a place to hunt. I imagine Mouse Harbor will always have some ducks. Maybe someday I'll venture back up there and see for myself.
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