Trad Gang
Topic Archives => Memorable Hunts => Topic started by: slayer1 on January 03, 2009, 06:01:00 PM
I just got back from our annual tundra swan hunt. We went down to the eastern part of North Carolina near Plymouth. We had a blast! This time I took plenty of pictures.
Be back in a bit with some pictures!
:pray:
Just a teaser. I am not very good at story telling so I will let the pictures do most of the talking.
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0371.jpg)
Let me give you guys a little bit of background info. In order to get a swan tag you have to be drawn, You can only take one swan per year. From what I understand NC is one of the few places in the world where you can hunt these swans. I think they only migrate to certain areas of the country.
Here is a picture of the decoy spread. This picture was taken late in the day. We started with temps in the 20's and sun was out for awhile, then it turned cloudy and rained the rest of the afternoon.
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0372.jpg)
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0373.jpg)
If you look real hard you can see the swans coming into a field about one mile away. Sorry for the fuzzy picture. This one was late in the day after the rain had set in for good.
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0374.jpg)
Too cool.A very unique bowhunt there.Congrats.
Thanks Izzy. Out of the nine of us hunting seven killed birds. All but one were were taken flying. One swan was brave enough to stand around in the decoys for awhile. LOL. This next picture gives you an idea of how large these birds are. Jason is about 6'. He only shot about 20 arrows before he got his swan.
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0384.jpg)
Got to unpack. I will be back in a bit with more.
Man those are cool looking. Can't wait for more. Tripper
cool , nice shootin :thumbsup: :clapper:
From left to right - Me, Jason and Wayne. These guys are like brothers to me. We had a blast. I think between the three of us we had about 300 arrows. The name of this game is putting as many arrow in the air as possible. It takes awhile to get your eye right. You had to lead these birds about 30 feet. They come in like F14's but look like C130's. LOL I am using a 63lb Cold Mountain Long bow. Jason was using a 50lb Bob Lee, and Wayne was using a 54lb Cold Mountain Long bow.
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0380.jpg)
show them the size of their feet, they are huge
WOWZERS!!!
Reads and looks like a great time.
How many arrows were lost?
To be honest we didn't loose that many arrows. The fields are so big you just walk out and pick them up. You can see them sticking up. Its really pretty cool the way you hunt these birds. When everybody runs out of arrows we just take a break, and go pick them out. The birds were so thick they were trying to land in the decoys when were picking up arrow. We counted them up at the hotel last night and I think we lost about 10.
Very cool hunt! I like different stuff like this. :clapper:
That is a cool hunt! Congrats on a great trophy.
Thanks for sharing, been thinking about goose hunting with the longbow for some time now. This
gets the fire burning again. Thanks.
Congrats :thumbsup:
Well that was different,realy neat!!
Here are a couple more
This is the entire crew
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0377.jpg)
This young man is Cole. He is the one that closed out the swan that stood around in the decoys. I think it was his first trad kill. It was pretty cool to watch him.
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0383.jpg)
Everyone telling their story.
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0375.jpg)
Wayne
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x29/chopncut/IMG_0381.jpg)
Cool! So do swans taste the same as a duck or goose?
What kind of lead-free heads were you using?
What distance do you think the birds were that you got? Sure looks like a great time.
How cool man! Thats neat slayer1 bowhunt it all.
That's AWSOME!!!!!! and some really good shooting, I duck and goose hunt with a shotgun and sometimes they are hard to hit with them.
I've always wanted to try geese with a bow.
Were you using broadheads?, flu-flu's or regular arrows?
Daren
QuoteOriginally posted by slayer1:
To be honest we didn't loose that many arrows. The fields are so big you just walk out and pick them up. You can see them sticking up. Its really pretty cool the way you hunt these birds. When everybody runs out of arrows we just take a break, and go pick them out. The birds were so thick they were trying to land in the decoys when were picking up arrow. We counted them up at the hotel last night and I think we lost about 10.
Cool. :D
yea i am with SWP. what do they taste like??
how come i can't see the pics?
Great job Scott. I gotta apply for a permit this year and give it a try. It's not far at all from me. DB
I was curious too on how they taste? Looks like a ton of fun!!!
They call sandhill crane the "Ribeye in the sky". I'll bet tundra swan is more like "Sizzler steak in the clouds" :jumper:
Nice, thanks for showing. Looks like y'all had some fun. Good to see so many folks with traditional equipment. Glad another generation is joining in.
Way to go!
What kind of blinds were you using?
I always forget about these hunts until someone posts it. It just seems so cool. Thanks for posting the pics and story and congratulations.
Awseome!