Alaska Duck hunting reports
08-09 Team X-Treme
2009 Aleutian Exploratory Hunt 100% SUCCESS
From November 5th-20th 2009 Aleutian Island's Waterfolwers Hunted another locations in the Aleutians on a Exploratory Hunt and have had 100% success to report, Az-Wayne- Jeff-Charlie and Chris all agreed this hunt is spectacular with allot of trophy Ducks taken on Adak Island, with the pictures to back it up. Including Aleutian Teal, Eurasian Widgeon and Harlequin Ducks plus Scoters,Mallards,Blue bills, Red Breasted Mergansers, Long Tails and Bufflehead. All hunters went home very happy with lots of great birds for the taxidermist. We harvested 9 species of ducks and missed a couple more but all in all it was one of the best hunts in a while for lots of action and shooting over varied species. We will be offering hunters trips to Adak in November and December of 2010. All pictures below were taken during November of 2009 no old pictures from years past on these reports.
Oz with Goldeneyes,Jeff with a trophy Aleutian Teal,Below left Wayne with a limit of Scoters and right Chris with a limit of Harlequin. WHat a cool pla ce to hunt!!
2008-2009 Island X Hunts Dec & January 100% on King Eider
Our 08-09 Island X Trophy Sea duck season was as good as it could be with 100% of our hunters who hunted for King Eiders with us harvesting at least 1 mature drake King Eider with many harvesting 2 and even 3 mature Drakes along with Harlequin and Long tails. We had a pretty good year with White Winged Scoters as well as Common Scoters along with a couple Goldeneyes thrown In for good measure. We are already planning our 09/10 season and are %80 filled so if your looking becoming a member of the ultra exclusive Bering Sea King Eider Club don't wait long. Here are a few highlight pics of 08/09 on island X. Visit Our New Team X-Treme Hunt Blog
This was just a few of our great pictures from the season if you want to hear more about the hunts please give us a call.
This was just a few of our great pictures from the season if you want to hear more about the hunts please give us a call.
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2007-08 Island X season
our 2008/09 season was a trying season to say the least the weather was warm in the early season as we had hunters show up the 2nd week of Dec and the kings were not down yet and did not show up in big numbers till christmas day. Although we did harvest some nice Pacific Eiders early in the season overall one of the toughest since we have been hunting on island X. . Higher than normal winds hindered us many days getting to the birds, We did end up sending home most of the guest's with kings although we did have a couple real tough weeks early and a few unlucky hunters did not have the opportunity to harvest a mature drake. We also had a a couple of exceptional days with 1 group harvesting 11 kings in 1 day this was our highlight of the year. The Harlequin and the long tails were great as always and almost at will most days.
some great hunts with great results on Harlequin and long tails for the 07/08 season.
Alaska Peninsula Sept 22,2007 Moe and Mike with another great day
Alaska Peninsula Sept 19 Justin Mike and the guys with another good day
Alaska Peninsula Sept 10,2007
The look of a successful day, looking into our spread with ducks landing on the left get ready to take em. Moe and Toto retrieving the bounty.
Alaska Peninsula Sept 5th,2007
Hunting the first 5 days of the season was exceptional for Mallards, widgeon and Teal as always and then the local birds felt the pressure. Our second wave of birds did not arrive yet up on the River due to warmer than normal temperatures as we have not had a freeze yet as of Sept 16although the Kvichak bay and its estuaries are holding allot of birds. Mike Tyler and Moe on opening day hunting the Alagnak river with trusty TOTO and KING the labs.
Island X Dec28,06 - Jan22, 2007
As always we had lots of surprises on Island -X again at the beginning of the season, The largest snowstorm since 1978 hit the islands Christmas day and never let up till Today Jan 22 the last day of the season. Although we did win the war we lost many battles trying to hunt each day as we had a record # of non hunting days 6 in total due to blowing snow drifts, closed roads, 22ft ocean seas and High winds upto 60mph and even a tsunami warning! 3 days of Hell on the first hunt alone, enough said about the weather. Above Doug & Jim's big day 1st - 6 King Eiders taken Jan, 2007
!Below a drake king ! can you guess which one is real
As for the King eider hunting we had a slow start and a strong finish overall for the season our hunters averaged 3 Mature drake king eiders per hunter, with 7 hunters limiting out on Kings plus limits of Harlequin and Oldsquaws. Our new Ron Bankes boat worked fabulously hunting over decoys the Kings came to the decoys like a fish to water. As always we utilized our old faithful zodiak to hunt many days due to bad weather and the boat ramps being closed to snowdrifts and big waves. Phil and Mike finished up there season Jan 22 and will be returning to the office to schedule the 07-08 season. Overall we had some great hunters and true sportsmen only a couple of whiners !! Just kidding guys you know who I'm talking about. Almost everyone got chances at Kings and 90% of our hunters went home with Above a Pair of Mature Kings with a Hen Jan ,07 kings.The other 3 unlucky hunters just had bad luck on the first hunt as the harbour was froze over and we couldn't get the big boats in although they harvested limits of Harlequin & Oldsquaw and even 1 pacific Eider was taken opening week. We also set a new record Hunting Sea ducks via a snowmobile putting on over 400 miles in 5 days on it in search of the Mighty King.
There was so much snow when we got there we decided to priority airfreight an Arctic cat 570 out to the island this let us access NE point many more days since the roads were closed. This gives a new meaning to overnight mail to the tune of $6,200. If not for the snowmachine 3 hunters would of went home without Kings.
Above Tom with one of his Kings Taken Jan,07 Our motto is we make it happen at what ever it cost. Thanks again to all of our Duck Hunters that survived the worst Weather since 1978, You all deserve a Medal to go along with your Trophy King Eiders the Pinnacle of the Duck hunting world,
Aleutian Island Waterfowlers Staff
Phil-Charlie-Mike-Dustin
Oldsquaw flying near Island X Photo taken by Guide Phil Byrd
Bristol Bay hunting Sept 1st-Oct 10th
Fall 2006 we had a wetter than average fall with many of our rivers higher than normal this made for lots of water and the birds spread out everywhere. we hunted all of Sept based out of our upper Alagnak River lodge with very consistant shooting of Teal, Widgeon and Mallards along with Pintails on Bristol bay and the lower Alagnak and Kvichak river. we quit hunting around Oct 10, overall an 8.5 on a scale of 1-10 with lots of happy hunters and guides.
Valdez Prince William Sound Nov 15-Dec 1st 2006
Early winter 2006: Wow all i can say about the duck hunting in late Nov is wind we have had to fight big winds for the past 2 weeks in Valdez , getting a education but were giving the Goldeneyes a lesson on how to come to our spreads, lots of Goldeneyes only a few Harlequin & Squaws in the local harbor as of yet still out in the open islands in the deep. hopefully the winds will calm down for the 2nd half of the season for the rest of our guests coming in, on the nice days hunting here is remarkable with the backdrops of glaciers and 5,000 ft mountains reaching down to the ocean and lots of birds decoying.
left Patrick M with a nice day of hunting in Valdez.
Below Charles S with a great day in late Nov on Prince William sound Near Valdez over hand painted custom decoys with Capt Phil running the spreads.
See ya on the Water Charlie-: Aleutian Island Waterfowlers
