A Day on the Water

A typical day of hunting begins with coffee and doughnuts or muffins while on the road too the launch site. Hunting location is determined by the wind, weather, and tide. Once on the water, it's a short boat ride to one of the many islands that sea ducks frequent for feeding. You can rest assured that the War Eagle is the safest boat/blind you will ever hunt from. After setting up between 50 and 100 decoys, it's time to get comfortable for a morning shoot.

Here in Maine, the scoters are usually the first to start moving, in flocks ranging in size from 3 to 10 birds. This is a great time to pick up a few scoters before the eiders get up and dominate the remainder of the day. About 45 minutes after sunrise, the eiders are on the move, and it is not uncommon to see flocks of 300 birds moving into the mussel beds to feed.

Maine has a daily bag limit of 7 sea ducks, of which not more than 5 can be Eiders and not more than 4 can be Scoters. It is possible for those not interested in Eider or Scoter to take 7 Oldsquaw.

On the water, we will have coffee and muffins or doughnuts for the morning breakfast in between the shooting.

Sea duck hunts end at 11:00 am (or at any time weather dictates that we leave the water). But don't worry - you will find that on even the worst of hunting days it is quite possible to take a limit of birds well before 11:00 am!