# Salt diver hunt



## jerry russell (Jan 21, 2014)

A GREAT time this weekend with my son and Larry Young hunting salt divers in big water. I love every kind of waterfowl hunting but hunting really big water is my favorite because it is just plain tough (working the tides) to do, hard work and with a touch of danger that demands respect for that big black water at 3 am. This is NOT the place for a 1436 Jon with a 9.9 hp, lol. Those are just some of the things that make it so rewarding.

The ducks were flying and we have finally refined deployment and take-up on these giant speads that make these hunts possible. We also employed some new open water tactics that made for great shooting. There is one heck of a learning curve to big water hunting but it is worth it if you are willing to work your tail off.  Dang that was fun!


----------



## jerry russell (Jan 21, 2014)

Great times.


----------



## ShellytheDuckSlayer (Jan 21, 2014)

sweet looking pics. I bet that type of hunting is so much fun!


----------



## BREAK'N WINGS (Jan 21, 2014)

Dang I wished Icould have went with ya'll. Glad ya'll killed'm  Dont forget about me when yall go again..


----------



## ChristopherA.King (Jan 21, 2014)

Great pictures looks like a really fun hunt


----------



## Fortner (Jan 21, 2014)

Good job Jerry! I really like the driftwood in the pics, very nice stuff. Glad you finally taught Larry how to kill a diver, he needs all the help he can get!


----------



## jerry russell (Jan 21, 2014)

BREAK'N WINGS said:


> Dang I wished Icould have went with ya'll. Glad ya'll killed'm  Dont forget about me when yall go again..



I hate it that you could not make it. It was an adventure for sure. We had great weather for 98% of the trip. Now we did have that "little" fast moving storm come through just before daylight on day two. We hunkered down in 40-50 MPH winds for about 10 minutes and then peeked out to see 10 dozen decoys being pounded by waves and our longlines being dragged out to sea. Larry ran them down and at daylight it cleared up and the redheads were pouring in.  This was some of the best working and biggest flights of Reds I have ever seen.  Dang, I want to go back already!


----------



## BREAK'N WINGS (Jan 21, 2014)

jerry russell said:


> I hate it that you could not make it. It was an adventure for sure. We had great weather for 98% of the trip. Now we did have that "little" fast moving storm come through just before daylight on day two. We hunkered down in 40-50 MPH winds for about 10 minutes and then peeked out to see 10 dozen decoys being pounded by waves and our longlines being dragged out to sea. Larry ran them down and at daylight it cleared up and the redheads were pouring in.  This was some of the best working and biggest flights of Reds I have ever seen.  Dang, I want to go back already!



Well you said it was going to be like that. Im def in for next trip if you have a spot open. Looks some dang good viddles to be had down there as well.


----------



## grouper throat (Jan 21, 2014)

Very nice. Pretty cool to see those massive groups of redheads try and decoy huh!


----------



## ghadarits (Jan 21, 2014)

Congrats!! It's always great to have success after you've been working hard to achive a goal which is basicly what Georgia duck hunting is.  Work, work, work.


----------



## Larry Young Jr (Jan 21, 2014)

Jerry is right about good times. It is hard work to get up  at 3 am go out across the ocean in the dark with a little light and unload the boat and have to clean ducks that you shoot and when you get home have to clean everything twice.  Thank GOD We got the deployment and picking up of 300 decoys down pat....... I am just joking around it is one of the trips I always look forward to. Because you don't know what kind of birds you are going to see. We have harvested Mallards, Pins, Bluebills, Buffies, Teal, Hoodies and now Redheads. But it is a blast and Jerry is a pretty good cook too.  It is hard to beat eating a just cook Hamburger and have to lay it down to shoot REDHEADS.  Grouper throat is right to have massive groups of Redheads to decoy into your spread, It is unreal. But that is what diver hunting is all about.  Plus hunting with good friends to me is priceless.   Now it is time to find some good deals on some more diver decoys we need about 10 more dozen, more clips, long lines and weights.  May be next year, We get to shoot some Canada Geese down there. IT COULD HAPPEN......


----------



## Maydog (Jan 21, 2014)

Thanks for the pics and story. it looks like ya'll knew what u were doing.
Were ya'll in the gulf or Atlantic?


----------



## jerry russell (Jan 21, 2014)

We were hunting in the Gulf.


----------



## tradhunter98 (Jan 22, 2014)

Nice hunt Mr.Jerry, you really know how to kill stuff!


----------



## jerry russell (Jan 22, 2014)

tradhunter98 said:


> Nice hunt Mr.Jerry, you really know how to kill stuff!



I just practice a lot.


----------



## kingfish (Jan 22, 2014)

Congratulations guys.  Great pictures.  Going to close out the season this weekend on the gulf.  
Kingfish


----------



## strutlife (Jan 22, 2014)

Congrats on some successful hunting. Them burgers were looking good.


----------



## tebigcountry (Jan 22, 2014)

Man that's a lot of work......I have the utmost respect for all you diver hunters......glad to see y'all had great results.....nothing like a burger and a beverage on the beach......good job guys.


----------



## coloradowalt (Jan 22, 2014)

Looking to put together my kit for Salt Water hunting next year. Couple of quick questions if you don't mind. Q1 How many decoys per long line? Q2 How many long lines? Q3 Do you use a long line kit or mix/match components? Q4 Which kit or components do you use?


----------



## jerry russell (Jan 22, 2014)

coloradowalt said:


> Looking to put together my kit for Salt Water hunting next year. Couple of quick questions if you don't mind. Q1 How many decoys per long line? Q2 How many long lines? Q3 Do you use a long line kit or mix/match components? Q4 Which kit or components do you use?



Our lines are 200'-300' per spool but are broken down in 50' sections with stainless snaps or swivels. We run our decoys at 3-5 foot intervals.

We make all our own long line kits from scratch.

It might help to watch our videos on You Tube. We made them a couple years back and while they are a little hokey, they will answer a ton of your questions. Those videos have had over 25,000 hits and I get emails from around the world with comments and questions about them. The Youtube channel is keyword: Russell Outdoor Guides and there are two or three videos showing how to rig and how to deploy.  I hope they help you and after watching you can contact me with any questions. We love to help folks.

Beginning long lining is intimidating when you first get started but when you get it down, it is mind blowing how fast you can put out and take up 150-200 decoys. The best part is is that you don't even break a sweat doing it.

Good luck


----------



## redneck_billcollector (Jan 23, 2014)

Watched your videos, they were informative.  Are yall using plastic decoys?  If so, are you sinking any of them?


----------



## jerry russell (Jan 23, 2014)

We use GHG's. They are very, very durable and reasonably priced. We have about 22 dozen between us in my group and I think we have hit 2 or 3 in several years of hunting and that was with kids shooting. They are very easy to repair.


----------



## coloradowalt (Jan 23, 2014)

Thank you, looking forward to your videos.


----------



## redneck_billcollector (Jan 23, 2014)

jerry russell said:


> We use GHG's. They are very, very durable and reasonably priced. We have about 22 dozen between us in my group and I think we have hit 2 or 3 in several years of hunting and that was with kids shooting. They are very easy to repair.



I always used herters, unfortunately you can't get them anymore.  Looking at other brands of foam burlap wrapped ones now and buying all the old herters I come across.  I have hit many of my decoys....lol, especially when I was layout shooting and those divers come blazing in low just above the water.  I see alot of decoys sprayed in videos I watch of folks hunting divers and sea ducks too......


----------



## king killer delete (Jan 23, 2014)

redneck_billcollector said:


> I always used herters, unfortunately you can't get them anymore.  Looking at other brands of foam burlap wrapped ones now and buying all the old herters I come across.  I have hit many of my decoys....lol, especially when I was layout shooting and those divers come blazing in low just above the water.  I see alot of decoys sprayed in videos I watch of folks hunting divers and sea ducks too......


One thing if you have them on a long line and they sink you still got them.


----------



## redneck_billcollector (Jan 24, 2014)

killer elite said:


> One thing if you have them on a long line and they sink you still got them.



I guess you are right.  I always hunted them on long lines, heck with the price of decoys now-a-days I guess plastic might be an option.  Never worried about shooting up painted jugs but I always had alot of decoys mixed in my spread.   It sure would be cheaper buying a dozen for 60 dollars up than for 250 dollars up.  Might just have to change my way of thinking.


----------



## steelshotslayer (Jan 24, 2014)

redneck_billcollector said:


> I guess you are right.  I always hunted them on long lines, heck with the price of decoys now-a-days I guess plastic might be an option.  Never worried about shooting up painted jugs but I always had alot of decoys mixed in my spread.   It sure would be cheaper buying a dozen for 60 dollars up than for 250 dollars up.  Might just have to change my way of thinking.



You aren't kidding carved decoys are through the roof.


----------



## king killer delete (Jan 24, 2014)

You know on the Atlantic coast it is different. No hard banks tide running 8 to 10 feet. Right now I have a hundred Plus decoys loaded in my boat right now.


----------



## grouper throat (Jan 24, 2014)

We use smaller spreads of 7 dozen (plastics) on long lines also. Dozen per line. I took the hen dekes and painted them all drake colors though for more visibility. Redhead /Bluebills mixed. A few of them sink in rougher water.


----------



## tebigcountry (Jan 24, 2014)

jerry russell said:


> We were hunting in the Gulf.



Is the primary targeted bird redheads????

Do you have any other species coming into the spread????


----------



## jerry russell (Jan 24, 2014)

tebigcountry said:


> Is the primary targeted bird redheads????
> 
> Do you have any other species coming into the spread????



Yes we were targeting reds but we also get a variety of birds coming in. We have killed 6 species in a day over the same spread before. The vast majority of the birds we kill at that location are bluebills, buffies and reds. We get a ton of mergansers of multiple subspecies on a normal year but try not to shoot them unless someone wants to mount it. 

We have also taken pintail, mallards (rare) teal and some others.  

We run 80% bluebill decoys but will keep 3-5 dozen reds off in a group.


----------



## tebigcountry (Jan 24, 2014)

Sweet.......never hunted that far west.......a couple guys that hunt with me have been talking about a Texas hunt....I lucked up on a great diver lake this year....man did we have about 6 great hunts on it this year.....I don't do diver hunts that much......but when I do.......it's a blast....maybe we can fit it in the schedule for next year.


----------



## redneck_billcollector (Jan 24, 2014)

tebigcountry said:


> Sweet.......never hunted that far west.......a couple guys that hunt with me have been talking about a Texas hunt....I lucked up on a great diver lake this year....man did we have about 6 great hunts on it this year.....I don't do diver hunts that much......but when I do.......it's a blast....maybe we can fit it in the schedule for next year.



From the videos they are hunting in FLA.  Looks like some of the areas I hunt down there (that papermill in the background in one of the videos looks familiar). Pintails ain't common but they ain't unheard of down there.  I have also picked up a white goose here and there at times.  Suprisingly some of the most visited areas in the panhandle have some of the most untapped duck hunting around. 

The hunting down there is great at times. There is a guide I know about that will take you layout hunting down there in the morning for a limit and then catch redfish and specs after the hunt for a reasonable price and you get to hunt over a huge spread of handcarved cork decoys. The neat thing is there is alot for your family to do and you can go hunting and fishing and be back for a late lunch with the wife and kids....there ain't many duck hunters, they are all about deer and hog hunting and fishing down there.


----------



## MudDucker (Jan 25, 2014)

Awesome.  I am pretty sure I was near the same spot last weekend.  I will be back.


----------



## king killer delete (Jan 25, 2014)

Jerry knows how to kill ducks and he is willing to share. Great hunt Jerry.


----------



## kingfish (Jan 28, 2014)

Closed the season on the gulf with a wimper.  It was a very curious thing because there were ducks (redheads and bluebills) rafting all over the open gulf.  Nothing was moving.  Even when a fishing boat would go through, the birds would lift up and then fly a hundred yards or so and then just settle back down.  Usually this only happens during the full moon, but there was only a 32 % moon, good winds and a changing tide all during the hunt.  Our normal days are filled with flurries of birds trading up and down the coast but nothing happened.  Might be that the feed and raft spots changed up.  Not near the buffleheads or mergs in the area either.  We only use about a 10th of the decoys that Mr. Russell uses because we hunt out of gheenoes.  Also spooked several groups of redheads out of tidal creeks which opens up another opportunity.  We were basically 4 for 6 on the gulf hunts this year.  4 incredible ones and 2 stinkers (will take that any year, not complaining).  Would love to hear opinions on why the birds were there and not flying, and anything we could do to tighten things up.  Looking forward to next season.  Thanks in advance for any pointers/tips. 
Kingfish


----------



## jerry russell (Jan 28, 2014)

kingfish said:


> Closed the season on the gulf with a wimper.  It was a very curious thing because there were ducks (redheads and bluebills) rafting all over the open gulf.  Nothing was moving.  Even when a fishing boat would go through, the birds would lift up and then fly a hundred yards or so and then just settle back down.  Usually this only happens during the full moon, but there was only a 32 % moon, good winds and a changing tide all during the hunt.  Our normal days are filled with flurries of birds trading up and down the coast but nothing happened.  Might be that the feed and raft spots changed up.  Not near the buffleheads or mergs in the area either.  We only use about a 10th of the decoys that Mr. Russell uses because we hunt out of gheenoes.  Also spooked several groups of redheads out of tidal creeks which opens up another opportunity.  We were basically 4 for 6 on the gulf hunts this year.  4 incredible ones and 2 stinkers (will take that any year, not complaining).  Would love to hear opinions on why the birds were there and not flying, and anything we could do to tighten things up.  Looking forward to next season.  Thanks in advance for any pointers/tips.
> Kingfish



We also had some weird stuff this year. We saw 3 mergansers on a three day hunt. We don't shoot them unless someone wants to mount them but normally we see tons and tons of them. The buffies numbers were a bit lower as well. I mean we still saw several hundred but normally you can't count them all in a day.  We had little early morning movement and shot most of the birds way after daylight.  An odd year for sure.


----------

