8/25/2025
Memories since 1977
“First evers” and “Best evers” are our ambition. Here’s a first, And a best, all in one. Our guide, Chris, while guiding on my Oregon Inlet marshes last season managed the near impossible. His gunners had just whiffed 6 times in rapid succession on a duck hanging over the decoys. In desperation, Chris, touched off a final parting shot.
And scored. When he pulled it out of the needle grass, behind the blind where it fell. Whaaat?
I was in my own blind, 800 yards away. He immediately sent a pic. The accompanying text just said,” what the heck?”. Even though I had never seen one- didn’t even know to think one could even exist-but looking at the pic told me what it had to be.
Size of a hen widgeon, teal shaped but drake Pintail colored bill. Head, definitely green wing teal coloring. Body is Pintail male shape and coloring, but the wing speculum patch is all that glorious Kelly green of the green wing teal. Yowza 😳!!
A Pin-Teal drake, sure enough…
I know that I started guiding early (age 12), but after 58 years of nearly daily guiding when in season. To show me something waterfowl related that i hadn’t seen before is an accomplishment.
Since the passing of Mrs Ellen last summer, I have cut back on the number of guides that I’m employing. Also. With us shutting down our day’s hunts at 2:00 PM the fowl numbers and decreasing gunning pressure has resulted in more productive hunts. In fact, the ducks started using our hunting areas like an extension of the neighboring refuges.
A few other highlights from last season: counting the Pin-Teal as a separate species, and lumping all species of captured fowl (diver, puddler and sea ducks; Mergansers, Coot, swans and geese- the guide service accumulated 28 species of fowl harvested. And. Of 153 hunting trips (days afield) with 10 or more fowl captured outnumbered “skunk” days by a 33 to 17 margin. Most of those “skunk” days saw missed opportunities as well.
There’s a very fine line between harvesting 10 fowl in a day or 1 or2! Nuance, skill sets and paying attention play important roles in consistently harvesting wild game. Also. Consider this. The pintail we did get (almost all drakes) were held back by only being able to down 1 per man/day. If we’d been able to take 3 per…?… Same with the Blacks, Blue Bill, Cans and Red Heads.
We do get 3 Pins this year!!
We do have openings scattered throughout the entire season. Talk to your pals and plan a trip. Better to call me than email- (252) 202-7842. If you don’t get me first try, keep trying.
“Best evers” and “First evers” will happen this season. Don’t miss out…
Vic Berg and crew
P.S. since our inception in 1977, OBWaterfowl has harvested 39,526 fowl……(how many firsts and bests do you imagine that entails?!) Just sayin…
