Rhodes Point

Let me give you a little of the background that led me to Rhodes Point. The New River was in an extended down cycle, but Mouse Harbor wasn't much better. Whit was getting worse and worse. Always upset about the lack of shooting, and drinking a little too much to suit me. I was looking for something to break because my sons were getting old enough to become semi-regular hunting partners. As I wrote in another story, my sons and I tried Hospital Point out of a boat blind and really did great. So I decided to make a stab at building a new blind.

I had heard plenty of shooting farther down the river, but Hospital Point had always been good to me. Good water depth, easy to get to, the old blind that was there when I started hunting the New River had lasted 20 seasons. So I never planned on leaving that point. Summer of 1996 I built a brand new blind there. Pumped out the last of the pilings from the old blind and moved about 20 yards and put up the new one. Did a fantastic job on it. Spent a lot of money on it. Then Hurricane Bertha came, just a week later, before my pilings really had a chance to get solidly planted. The blind blew over backwards at about a 45 degree angle. But at least she held together. We managed to right it and it started to firm up again. Then along came Hurricane Fran. That was a bad hurricane. Took ever blind off the river, including my new one. Well, there is no insurance on duck blinds so I was out of luck.

That Season, Pamlico Point was fairly decent, but it was hard to coordinate my time off with Whit's time off, and my boys' school schedule. So I tried the boat blind on the New River a little bit. Dad and I had a week off and hit 35 mph winds from the Northwest for 5 straight days. Way too much wind to hunt Hospital Point. We ended up hunting out the week up on the White Oak River. Did OK but I kept looking at the New River. Then we found a launch ramp at Rhodes Point. It was on the Verona Loop side of Camp Lejeune. Down in the area where we used to hear a lot of shooting when we only hunted Hospital Point. Lots of old pilings from past blinds, lots of stories of good blinds and hunters down on that part of the river. Dad and I really gunned the Bluebills the last few days of the season out of the boat, but when I got my boys out for the last day the wind turned East and ruined it for us.

I couldn't afford to build a new blind yet, had to save my money for another year. Old Game Warden told me I could hunt a blind off the shore as long as I was below the high water mark. So I built a portable blind and the boys and I did well from that the following year, until the last day when the Base Game Wardens told us they didn't care what the State Game Warden said, we couldn't hunt from the bank unless we were checked out with them. That training area was never open so I knew I had to come up with the money to build a blind. The following summer I got a friend who had a couple boys my sons age to go halves with me on a blind. I designed it for a month, got all the materials together and built it in May. Early enough to get it stuck in real good before the hurricane season.

It's 2010 and the blind is still standing. It has stood 7-8 hurricanes, being hit by a barge, and broken into a zillion times by every lazy SOB who won't build their own blind. But it is still standing. Over the years it has turned into an engineering marvel. I designed it so that I could disassemble it partially, so there would be less for people to steal and less there to be battered by storms. I still have the plans I used to build it and the list of materials. Initially it cost $1000. Probably spent another $1000 on repairs and upgrades. I imagine it would cost $2000 to build another one just like it. Probably have to in another couple years, so I am already planning that financially.

Our best year from Rhodes Point was 300 birds. Had several years with over 200. Also had a couple years so bad that I hate to even tell about it. We have killed Canada and Snow Geese, Mallards, Black Ducks, Wigeon, GW Teal, Canvasbacks, Redheads, Bluebills, Goldeneye, Ringnecks, Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads, all 3 Scoters and some Mergs and Coot. 95% of our ducks have been Bluebills, but a sprinkling of all the other species has been nice.

It has become my favorite place on earth to shoot ducks. Lots of different hunters, a couple of good dogs, about 1500 ducks and a million good times.

Late Season Hunts

Since I settled here in North Carolina, the majority of my hunting is late in the season, almost always waiting for the big migrations of birds to arrive. Some years they get here earlier than usual, some years they get here after the season is closed. I still plan my annual leave for the last 2-3 weeks of the season. Normally it doesn't get real cold down here (this year is the exception) so it isn't a big deal whether I'm gunning in November or January. When I lived up in Ohio it was a different story.

I actually hunted ducks in Ohio for 15 years. I understand that the season in Ohio has been adjusted quite a bit from when I hunted there. But when I hunted there the season opened in mid October and ran till the end of November. Then it reopened for a week between Christmas and New Years Day. Only got to hunt that late week twice at Indian Lake due to the lake freezing over. Both times it was a really good shoot.

First time I got to hunt late we had the Hermit Island blind. We had scouted the lake a few days before the season reopened and it was frozen over. We hatched some plan to attempt to hunt the Miami River close to where it flowed out of Indian Lake. We got to the launch site only to find several trucks mired in frozen mud and the dirt ramp completely unusable. We drove on up to the lake just to visit with a friend and saw some open water towards the north end. We drove around to Turkeyfoot Point and sure enough the lake was open. We launched and cruised to the blind. Lots of ice out on the main lake, but our little bay was fine. We hammered the ducks. Dad, Dennis Chaney and I shot full limits for 3-4 days. All Mallards and Black Ducks, never saw any other species. All big, prime, migratory birds. Big flocks decoyed, singles practically came in the blind with us. It was just as good as I had ever hoped for.

The second time it was about the same. Dad called a friend who lived on the lake just to see if by chance there was any open water. He told Dad that 95% of the lake was frozen up, but that there was open water for 300-400 yards right in front of our blind on Oldfield Island. We were there the next morning. Had to break a lot of ice in the channel getting out to the open water. We had the Herter's Model Yukon and it plowed through the ice real well. We just set out Mallard decoys and a few geese. There was some open water out in the very middle of the lake and the ducks were rafting up out there. Left the lake to feed fairly early in the morning and then came back in to roost sometime in the middle of the afternoon. When they were coming back to the lake, they were passing right over our blind. The shooting was fantastic. Just like the other time, the only ducks we saw were Mallards and Blacks. That certainly didn't hurt our feelings. We slayed them for 3 days until the ice shifted and a piece about the size of Rhode Island broke off and came ashore right at our blind. Had a real battle saving our decoys, and the blocks took a beating when the ice came crushing into the existing ice. But we salvaged them, a little less for wear. One of the days we killed our first ever Giant Canada Geese. The limit was just a couple but we killed all we were allowed and the 6 birds were a boatload.

So, my expectations for the 'late season' were met and exceeded. I still hear a few stories from the hunters up there about good late season hunting. Glad I got to sample it a couple of times.

Plan B

One day Morris Whitfield and I were hunting out of his blind #74. He named his blinds for how many birds he killed from them the first day he ever hunted there. Yes, I said the first day! That was before I started hunting with Whit. After a few years with me as his partner he started adhering to the hunting laws, a little. Anyhow, we shot a few Scoter early in the morning and got one pass on Bluebills about 1000. Other than that we weren't seeing much. Morris was getting itchy, wanting to leave and get back to his Jack Daniels. I encouraged him to stay a little longer. The weather was changing a little, clouding up , and the wind coming up, so he agreed to stay till noon.

Shortly after that we had a bunch of Canvasbacks give us a look. Whit said if they decoyed he was going to shoot (the season was closed on Cans). I said fine. They came in and left minus a nice pair of drakes. We sent both dogs and gathered them up in a hurry. Morris hid them back behind the blind and sprinkled them with Black Pepper. He said a Game Warden had busted him once by turning a Lab loose to search around his hunting area, and the Lab found some hidden birds. We settled back in the blind and in no time another flock of Cans came by. Same result.

Well, even Whit could tell it was time to go, so we came up with our plan. While I picked up the decoys he tied several anchors to the feet of each of the Canvasbacks. He said if a boat approached us too close on the way in that I should drop them over the side. So we headed in towards the landing but instead of going to the ramp we turned and went way up to the head of Jim Creek. A friend owned the land at the head of the creek and Whit said we'd walk back down there and pick up our birds after dark. Sounded good. Got way up the creek and all of a sudden right ahead of us was a pretty big boat. We had no clue what was going on. But we didn't stick around to find out.

Got back out in the open and Morris asked me what I wanted to do. I said to execute Plan B. He asked exactly what that was. I told him to approach Zool's Crab House at full speed and hold as close to the seawall as he could. He didn't ask why, he just did it. When we were behind the Crab House, out of plain sight, I launched the 100 pounds of Cans and decoy anchors into the weeds between the seawall and the dock. We went on to the landing and after recovering the boat, went on to the trailer. Whit asked me how I intended to get the birds from a public place like that. I asked Whit's wife, Wanda, to put on some nice, uppity looking clothes and get her biggest purse. She drove down to the Marina and strolled around looking over the fishing boats and what ever else a rich lady would look at. Eased over to the ducks, cut the anchors loose and piled them in her big oversized purse. Got back in the car and came to the house. We dined on fat Canvasback that night. Plan B was a success.

Decoys

When I first hunted with my Dad, we used a couple dozen paper mache Mallard decoys. He bought them used and repainted them with Herter's paint. A couple of them had the bills broken off and Dad whittled new bills for them. They did OK. Unfortunately about the time Dad got serious about hunting over decoys at Indian Lake, duck hunting seemed to be gaining popularity. Big spreads of decoys became almost a necessity due to having a lot of hunters within just a few hundred yards of each other.

We bought a big bunch of used decoys from Louie Brucken. Repainted them all as Mallards and Black Ducks. Bought our first new decoys, a dozen Herter's Model 63 Bluebills. Next I bought a dozen Model 63 Canvasbacks. Dad bought 2 dozen Mallards and we were getting there. Dad and Harry Fleming bought 6 Canada Geese from Bruce Shoup. He had made a mold from a Model 81 Herter's goose and mixed his own chemicals and made decoys. We were competitive with the other hunters at Indian Lake with that spread of about a hundred decoys.

When I joined the service and had some money for the first time in my life, I bought 3 dozen oversized Mallards, Herter's Model 72, and a dozen Canvasbacks. Changed the heads on the dozen small Cans to make them Bluebills. Ken Henderson added a dozen oversized Blacks. Then we made a deal with Bruce Shoup to make decoys on a 50/50 basis. He supplied the materials, we supplied the work. We ended up with 36 really nice geese of our own. From some of the bodies that didn't turn out well, I made a bunch of oversized Bluebills. So we sold off all our standard sized decoys (except for a half dozen of my original Model 63 Canvasbacks) and ended up with 50 Mallards/Blacks, 39 Canada Geese, 12 Canvasbacks and 26 Bluebills. We hunted that spread of 127 decoys for several years. Kept them all painted up nice and I think we out-decoyed all the hunters on Indian Lake.

But, styrofoam decoys won't last forever and some of that spread are gone now. I still have 42 of the puddleducks, 4 of the divers and 30 of the geese. I have added more Model 72 Bluebills, Cans and Redheads. Bought about 3 dozen Restle oversized Bluebills. Painted a few as Goldeneyes and repainted half the geese as Brant. So my current diver spread is all oversized, hand painted, many years old, but as nice as you'll ever see on the water. Not a season goes by that other hunters don't stop and comment on my decoys. I repainted the old Model 63 Cans and kept them as souvenirs, a pair for me and a pair for each of my sons.

I own 10-12 dozen plastic decoys; Teal, Gadwall, Wigeon, Pintails and even 2 dozen Bluebills. The puddleducks are for the Gameland Impoundments we hunt occasionally.

I use the 2 dozen little Bluebills to augment my 32 decoy Seaduck rig. All oversized cork, I made almost all of them myself. They are real big, real heavy, and look great out in the rough, open water. Scoter can't pass them by :-)

I have a few semi-decorative decoys, but nothing of any value. I have a half dozen LL Bean cork Blacks but don't get to use them much. I even made some canvas covered Swan decoys a few years back. They were too big and cumbersome, besides, we hunt Swan in fields. I have some field shell Canada's and Mallards.

It would take me a half day to count them all, but I have enough. I could go back to Indian Lake and make the other hunters throw up.

Firsts

My very first duck was a hen Wigeon. We didn't even know what it was at the time. Got a copy of "Ducks at a Distance" and identified it a couple months later. Shot it in November, 1964. We were hunting out of the Hermit Island Blind. I don't know if it was our blind that year, or if it was just empty that day and we hunted there. Shot it with my Dad's Browning over and under. Missed it on the water with my first barrel and killed it when it jumped with my second shot. I think I accidentally pulled the trigger when the gun recoiled, but it killed the duck, so I was good to go.

Killed my first Canada Goose in October, 1969. We had the Walnut Island blind that year. Dad had killed a couple geese the year before that. Some friends who hunted on a nearby lake, where there were a lot of geese, had recommended using 4 Buck as a goose load. Dad hand-loaded a few and we kept them handy. A pair of geese flew over some friends of ours and they crippled one of them. It flew a mile or so, but we watched it. Dad suggested letting it sit on the water and bleed out a little, so after a half hour or so he took the boat and went to check on it. The uninjured goose flew as soon as Dad got close and came right to my decoys and landed. I loaded my gun with one of the goose loads and blasted it, along with a Model 63 Bluebill decoy. I still have the shot up head on display in my den. Dad eventually killed the crippled one so we each got one that day.

Killed my first Snow Goose on the Prof's farm in Maryland in January, 1981. First one I ever had come close to me. My brother Tom had some gun trouble the previous weekend so I took his gun home and repaired it. Then he couldn't hunt the next Saturday so I took his gun to make sure I had fixed it properly. Not thinking that his stock dimensions were different than mine, when I got the Snow Goose in gun range I couldn't get on the gun right, and missed it with my first 2 shots, then hit it with the last shell. It sailed over a slight ridge in the field and buried itself in about a foot of snow when it hit the ground. I searched for a half an hour before I saw a tiny patch of black wing feathers down under the snow.

Killed my first Swan on the Goose Creek Impoundment in 1985. Mike McGee and I had a small flock fly right over us and we each got one.

My first double on ducks was a pair of Wood Ducks. When we hunted the Walnut Island blind we used to turn and face backwards looking out over the marsh in the interior of the island for the first 10 minutes or so. Woodies came out of there every morning, sometimes low enough to shoot at. I killed that pair on 10/27/67. I'll remember that date always. A huge storm came up and we had to get off the lake and leave our decoys. Got some of them gathered up that evening and the rest the next morning. But that high wind scared me and I marked a calendar "Big Wind" on that day.

Killed my first triple on ducks in January, 1970. A friend of Dad's invited us over to hunt Lake St. Mary's in Celina, OH. The lake was frozen over and we went out on the ice and set up a spread of goose decoys. Didn't kill any geese, but when we were pulling the sled back in, I saw some duck tracks in the snow and followed them down a little channel and snuck up on about 15 Mallards in a little hole in the ice. Jumped them up and smacked down 2 drakes and a hen.

Killed my first banded duck in October, 1967. A Blue Wing Teal. Curiously, it was banded in Stalwart, Saskatchewan. Same little town where I hunted when I went to Canada in October, 1998.

Killed my first banded goose in October, 1969. It had been banded over in Celina, OH.

Killed my first Brant in January 2004 out on Chincoteague Island, VA. Killed my first banded Brant later that same morning. It was banded on Southampton Island, at the northern end of Hudson Bay.

My first Blue Goose, Ross' Goose and Whitefront Goose all happened the same day; the second day of my trip to Canada in 1998. Haven't ever killed a banded bird of any of those species. The ones I killed on that trip are the only ones I've ever had the chance to kill.

I'm patiently waiting on some new and exotic creature to fly over my decoys so I can add another "first" and maybe even another banded bird.

Mouse Harbor

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.

No Name Island

Long, long time ago, we shared a cabin on Indian Lake with another group of hunters. Dad was pretty much hunting by himself while I was gone playing Marine. I went home for a couple weeks leave to hunt with him. We killed some birds, had a nice time. I didn't get all that much time to hunt, so when I was home I hunted everyday, including Thanksgiving Day.

Joe didn't have anyone to hunt with that day so he and Dad and I hunted. We hunted his blind on No Name Island. I have no idea where that name came from, never met anybody that knew. Whatever, it was a pretty good blind and the wind was better for it than our blind that day. Joe was a pretty hard hunter. Got started hunting with a real old-timer. Old enough that he had used live decoys in his lifetime. Joe had been a pretty good student, and had a nice blind and a good decoy spread.

We shot a couple Wood Ducks early, and mid-morning had a small flock of Bluebills buzz us. We killed a couple of them and were pretty satisfied with the day. Close to noon, the temperature dropped a little, a few clouds started puffing up in the sky and a huge migration of Mallards showed up. Flocks of a 100 or 200 appeared in the North and sailed over the lake looking for a likely resting spot. About a dozen of them found their spot; hanging in our blind. Fantastic afternoon.

Probably 15 minutes till quitting time, I suggested that since we hadn't seen anything for a while, we pack it up. Just as a joke, my Dad said he wasn't leaving until we got some geese. We hadn't seen a goose all week, but another 15 minutes wasn't going to hurt anything. About 2 minutes later a small flock of Canadas came up the lake and landed outside our decoys. We called back and forth with them for about 10 minutes. They were slowly working their way towards our spread, but time was running out. One minute before quitting time Joe decided to shoot and scare them off the water and see what happened. Dad and I were loaded with #4 Buck. As soon as Joe shot and the geese jumped, we laid into them. 4 big Canadas fell. We didn't have a dog with us so we ran out in the boat and picked up 3 of them, but couldn't find the other one. Dad had stayed in the blind and saw the other one swimming off. He gave us a hand signal and we soon found the other bird. 3 out of the 4 were banded. What a great way to top off one of my best days at Indian Lake.

Had a hamburger at some beer joint for our Thanksgiving dinner. But it was a great holiday out on No Name Island.