|
| |
WELCOME TO
WHATICAUGHT.COM
Fishing /
Outdoors
CLICK HERE FOR MAIN
NAVIGATION WINDOW
| |
SHOOTING SPORTS
Here are some excellent photos, tips, and exclusive
stories from shooting sports
events and experts in the Maryland area... | |
|
Waterfowl
Hunting at Wingate Point
Honga River, Keese Property 12/26/07 Mark
Burchick

Wingate Point
200-Acre Keese Property
Honga River, Dorchester County, MD

|
Mark and I spent the day waterfowl hunting
with Dan Betz at the 200-acre Keese
Property.
The dominant marsh
vegetation included loblolly pine, eastern
red cedar, hightide bush,
wax myrtle, switchgrass, black needle rush, shortform
cordgrass, salt meadow hay,
phragmites and
planted milo. The pond we hunted over
is freshwater, with the difference
of the
property being salt marsh, south of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the
Honga River and Chesapeake Bay. |

|
A sunrise view from the duck blind
looking back to the Keese House and
Honga River. |

|
Mark battened down the hatches and fell
asleep for a few minutes. |

|
Around 10:00 AM we walked out to Fox
Point to see if we could ambush some
birds
in a 'closed' pond behind the phragmites. |

|
We walked around a series of ponds and
Dan felled a mallard on the wing.
The overhead shot dropped the bird right
at our feet! If I had been a
second
or two faster, I could have
caught the bird like a football kick-off
dropping from the sky. |

|
Vast miles of black needle rush. |

|
Dan's newly adopted Chesapeake Bay
Retriever, named Bear, was
fairly well trained.
If not for
Bear, we would have not found one of two
mergansers that fell into dense
shoreline vegetation.
|
 |
Another view of the circle or horse-shoe
ponds. We walked to a cemetery on
the property
that contained generations
of the extended Wingate family, dating
from 1750, up thru 1899.
It was
neat to think that the originating
Wingate's pre-dated the American
Revolution and
settled lower Dorchester
County, while under British rule, with
many of the Wingate's living
thru both
the founding of the United States and
our War between the States.
|
 |
Dan and Mark in the duck blind, with
Mark wearing the nutria fur hat (right).
We were able to call in Canada geese,
but none quite close enough to shoot at.
We put out mallard, teal and goose
decoys, which helped flying birds take a
second
look at our pond. The
blinds were well camouflaged and blended
into the banks.
|
 |
In the course of sunrise to sunset, we
bagged a mallard and two hooded
mergansers.
We saw lots of geese,
swans, flocks of high flying waterfowl
and many well worn sika
deer trails
throughout the property. It rained
much of the day and if the winds would
have been stronger, I'd bet that the
large flocks out on the Honga would have
considered
our ponds for safe harbor. |
Thank you Dan Betz for a great day of
hunting in the "Land of Pleasant
Living."
Submitted By Mark Burchick
COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE
LOOKING FOR MORE SHOOTING SPORTS
TIPS, PHOTOS, and STORIES? SELECT FROM THE MENU BELOW
|
Outdoor's Categories
FREE
GAMESFree fishing,
shooting
& adventure games |
|
|
|
 |
|