January 13, 2023 Waterfowl Gear You Need What should you buy now to get ready for next year? By : Justin Hunold First Birds, on the First Day The early bird gets the worm, or something like that. Listen, as waterfowl hunters we are constantly in a quest to be the first, or the earliest or chasing that prime opportunity. First at the ramp, first to a spot, first fresh birds, first shooting light, opening day, first season, early Teal, early goose….you get the point. But listen, right now, as we creep into seasons closing, you should be first in line to fix or amend the shit that broke or didn’t work this past season. You can never be too early to start getting ready for next season. Here are some things you should be looking at getting right and tight for fall’s first flight. We all have gear on our list. Right now is an amazing time to scour those clearance sales and find next year’s best gear at a discount. Will it be the newest pattern or the coolest thing on the block, maybe not, but will you or the birds actually notice? Also probably not. Here’s a secret its not just changing of the seasons that prompt good prices for consumers, but also for retailers on the wholesale level. So, check those sites for chances to get gear at amazing prices. Maybe someday I will go over the pricing theories at a retail level, but let’s just say at some point that old inventory is costing more than it’s worth to not discount it. Decoys are hard to store for retailers and normally get a big late season discount for sake of floor space. Decoys- Decoys are big, bulky, heavy and hard to display. Think about it this way, how many Lucky Craft lures can a store fit in the area that a box of full body Canadas take up? The answer is a ton, and they retail for $15 a pop. So, decoys are something that gets discounted heavily quickly. Keep an eye out for whatever you need to fill out your spread. I promise if they fooled birds the past few seasons next year’s model probably won’t do it any better. Camouflage Clothing- So, the model here is let’s have some legacy products, think Bottomland, and then let’s release the new stuff every few years because hunters are trendy and like to match. When those new patterns hit they may look great, they may help you blend in better, but they certainly boost sales for the camo company releasing them. When this happens you will see deep discounts in the flagship camo from the year before. You may also see this when an apparel company loses the licensing rights to that particular camo, or a sponsorship change on a major player of the prostaff. Whatever the reason, jump on last year’s clothing now in prep for next year. Hunting Accessories- Calls, Choke Tubes, Blind Bags, Muffs, Blinds, Decoy Rigs the list goes on. Remember that in a lot of retailers the waterfowl aisles turn over into the spring turkey aisles. That change over normally leads to some chances at high end gear at a lower price. Full Disclosure, I worked in big box retail for a long time and some of my most expensive and best sounding calls came out of the display cases when it was time to turn those aisles over. The sweetest sounding turkey call I’ve ever owned was an Original, first production year Primos Power Crystal and that was because it was good and broken in when I bought it out of the display case for next to nothing, even though that call isn’t expensive to begin with. Don’t get me started on my Original BGB Wide Open… My Muff straight up unraveled on me on its second hunt this year. You know the kind that hold shells and some gear and snaps to the D rings on your waders? Yeah mine came apart on hunt number two and I just never replaced it this year. I tried to limp it along with paracord and zip ties like any good redneck but man it sucked. I’ll be getting a new one from somewhere else this off season. Some other things I will be packing in my blind bag before I put it up are a few pairs of elbow length rubber gloves, because they are light, cheap and totally waterproof, and at least one extra headlamp and a pair of inexpensive sunglasses. I’d rather bring the extra couple ounces out on every hunt and always be prepared than not have the stuff when I need it. Kinda like a side arm. Also most of this will have reviews from the previous season, and post on social media and videos showing use in the field on YouTube. Just like voting, you should be using your gun early and often Now, between waterfowl and turkey season is a great time to get more familiar with your gun. I have specific guns for both of these seasons. Now that I am done chasing quacking birds and will shift to chasing gobbling ones I will be taking my Masai Mara apart and cleaning it thoroughly. I will also take my Gordion Turkey out and check the optic and make sure it’s pattern and point of impact is still as perfect as last year. If I want to make a change in chokes, optics, ammo or slings now is the time. Since I will be shooting my turkey gun I will also bring out my waterfowl gun and check all of the same stuff. I want to make sure I’m very familiar with where my guns shoot, if I need to make any shim adjustments, choke changes or even if the shells I bought mid season on a suggestion are doing what I’m thinking they should. If I were you I would be looking over Market Place and Craigslist for a new to you boat or watercraft if that’s on the books. This is the time of year people start to unload that stuff. The reason the timing of now is important is because people are generally looking to get out of that stuff at a reasonable price. In two months spring will be here and they will want a premium on watercraft, they’ll take less in January and February in most of the country. Is any of this earth shattering? No. But I’m covering it because today I hung up my decoys for their spring and summer slumber and thought about what I should be using with them next season. I pulled my Masai Mara out of its case and set it out in line for a good cleaning. And I threw that piece of shit muff into the garbage where it belonged when I took it out of the box. This season is done for me as of today. But next season started as soon as I typed the first word of this article. I’m so happy it’s always hunting season.
December 30, 2022 Tools of The Trade Revolutionary Tools In Waterfowl Hunting By: Justin Hunold A bit ago we talked about the advent of percussion caps and the advancements in shotgun shells after that happened. We also looked at the point in time that we could pluck a hunter out of , put him into a modern duck blind and he’d fit right in. That seemingly happened in the 1960’s, but if he were in that blind what are some things he would see that would maybe astonish him. Tools that we look at on a daily basis as common but just a short 50-60 years ago would be revolutionary, if not altogether foreign? This is a list of innovative tools for waterfowl hunting that have taken place in the last thirty years or so, that we take for granted when chasing ducks and geese. Modern Shotgun Finishes are almost impervious to natural conditions Shotguns-Let’s start with something near and dear to our hearts here at Retay, shotguns. While the hunter from the 1960’s may have been toting a good semi automatic there was a higher probability that he was using a pump, side by side or an over under. With the advent of astoundingly reliable semi automatics like our Gordion or Masai Mara it’s becoming rarer and rarer to see anything other than a fast cycling, reliable and nimble semi in the blind. That’s not to say that a good pump like the Retay GPS XL doesn’t have a place because, it certainly does but the push in Inertia operated shotguns was nothing that the hunter of the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s could have ever predicted. In those days it was commonplace for a semi to be more of a problem than an advantage but our industry has sought to move past that. Retay is at the head of the pack with the Inertia Plus bolt design. We could go over the normally stated advancement in magnum shotguns, making 3 and 3.5 inch offerings the norm but that horse has been beaten to death. And a lot of folks are back to shooting 20 gauges for waterfowl and to great effect. So, let’s look at something that is overlooked and undervalued, shotgun finishes. When “Plastic” guns started to make appearances back in the 1980’s traditional hunters scoffed at them but the synthetic stocked guns started to impress with their ability to operate in any weather condition, and the owners lack of fear of scratching the gun. Now it’s a talking point to see a wood gun out on a hunt.With the advent of synthetic, hydro dipped guns came next. With the plastic and matte finish of the modern shotguns these guns became great testbeds for all sorts of camouflage finishes. With these coatings the guns became very weather resistant. Again, camo guns are now a normalcy. A lot of the time the guns will have aggressive texturing and molded sling attachments as well. These camo finishes are great for ease of maintenance. Wipe em down with a Dude Wipe and some oil on the moving parts and you’re good to go, but there is one more that is now the gold standard. Cerakote is a baked-on hard finish that bonds to the metal of the gun. Now your gun can be whatever color you choose, and be basically impervious to all weather conditions. My own Masai Mara is the Grey Light version, I don’t worry about any weather conditions. I’ve dunked it and put it right in the case for travel without a second thought. The 1960’s hunter had absolutely no option to do that with his blued and wood gun. Again, all we have to do is make sure the internals are cleaned out when we get home after a hunt in a salt marsh or freezing rain and that Cerakote gun will be good to go the next time we call it up to bat. When spinning wing decoys work nothing works better Spinning Wing Decoys -Spinning wing decoys were REVOLUTIONARY when they hit the market in the late 90’s and hunter’s have more versions to choose from now than ever. They are so good at drawing ducks they aren’t legal everywhere. Think about that for a second. Now imagine that hunter from the 1960’s seeing a spinner for the first time. Imagine when you turn it on with a remote, and then kill it when that first swirl of birds locks up, ready to light into the spread, what is that 1960’s dude thinking? In a time when people are searching out hand carved decoys and vintage decoys to use in their spreads our retro hunter would be totally at home, but if there was ever a magic bullet when it comes to decoying birds it is likely a spinner or maybe some other form of battery powered motion. This has become a double edged sword though, currently we often opt out of spinners for a more subtle motion in the decoys. But make no mistake they still work and the old timer would try to fit that thing in his Delorean to get it back to his mid century spread. Lighting makes us more successful and safer when working predawn LED Lighting-Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Modern hunters aren’t the almighty but there are plenty of times our modern lighting options are a miracle in comparison to even twenty years ago. We light up the predawn as if we were running and gunning in broad daylight and we are better for it. Whether it’s a simple headlamp with multiple color lights or LED Deck, or LED Light Bars and spots these things are awesome. I remember when a Mag Light was the goto, or if you were a cool guy you might have one of those military style angle head D cell flashlights. Now, you’d never think about taking anything other than a headlamp out for personal use. We underestimate how much more successful and safer we are because of these lights. We are able to be more precise in all of our set ups with our personal headlamps. We are able to get in with long walks or paddles because of the little gems and light up some back water in a way that would have taken a car battery and a spot light just a short time ago. We are safer in those pre dawn races to the “Spot” because of the relatively inexpensive investment in on board lighting for our boats. And from there we are able to see where we are going and what we are doing. The deck lighting is not only great for general use, but let’s not forget we are out there with firearms. We are always responsible with our guns but the rules of firearms safety always apply. When we can see what’s going on with those guns we are safer. So, deck lighting adds safety in ways we might not even think about. Would these be the only things our “old timer” would notice? Absolutely not! He’d probably mention that computer phone thing you have attached to your hand, face paint, camo, waders, and a million other observations, but these things are worth mentioning first. They are often overlooked in different ways. We will probably dive into some of the others in upcoming articles. So next time you turn your lights on, put you spinner out and load your Retay before the first flight of the morning, just nod your head to how good we have it. And don’t forget to occasionally lose yourself in this thought experiment -Would you be out there if you didn’t have it so good? Would you do it the way that hunter from the 1960’s did if you had to? Do you love it like that?
