Reelfoot Report

Crappie_Hunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Just got back from 3 days hunting on Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. Bird numbers are way down from historical average. We killed 17 the first day, 7 the second, and 2 the last day. Guided hunt in a blind in a big open pot hole back in the trees. Open water guides weren't doing any better or worse. Our guide said on his best year he killed 2,290 ducks out of the blind we were hunting..... this year he was hoping to get to 450.

From everyone I've talked to out there, if you can kill 10-15 ducks a day you are doing good. Went out with low expectations, so I wasn't disappointed … beautiful country out there and a totally different way of hunting then what I'm used to.
 

wildcat3

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
What is the suspected reason? Just an off year? I'm no serious duck hunter, just one trip a year. Every year it seems like folks are saying numbers are way off, slow season no birds etc...Not just that area but it seems like hunters and reports from all over folks claim slow hunting and not many birds.
 

Hevi 13. Anson

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
What is the suspected reason? Just an off year? I'm no serious duck hunter, just one trip a year. Every year it seems like folks are saying numbers are way off, slow season no birds etc...Not just that area but it seems like hunters and reports from all over folks claim slow hunting and not many birds.
Weather,weather,weather. Needs to freeze above us.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
We hunted thurs, Friday and Saturday last week about 40 miles south of reelfoot. It was slow but not terrible. Done worse but done a lot better in the past. Blind I was in had been hammering them pretty consistently in the 20’s and 30’s since Christmas and the water started leaving the bottom middle last week which is what hurt us. Guy we hunt with said there’d really only been two real pushes of birds this year. One middle dec and one at Christmas. He’s still on pace to break a thousand but it’s less than last year.
Like mentioned before, out there it’s weather and fronts that bring in birds. I’ll keep going out there every year because it’s one of the greatest things in all of hunting to watch a migration happen before your eyes. Just gotta be there when it happens. Haha.
 

wncdeerhunter

Old Mossy Horns
Just got back from 3 days hunting on Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. Bird numbers are way down from historical average. We killed 17 the first day, 7 the second, and 2 the last day. Guided hunt in a blind in a big open pot hole back in the trees. Open water guides weren't doing any better or worse. Our guide said on his best year he killed 2,290 ducks out of the blind we were hunting..... this year he was hoping to get to 450.

From everyone I've talked to out there, if you can kill 10-15 ducks a day you are doing good. Went out with low expectations, so I wasn't disappointed … beautiful country out there and a totally different way of hunting then what I'm used to.

17 is good for how it’s been there the last couple years. We killed 4 our first day then 8, then 9 the next two. Last day we got in the first 5 hours then left early.
Which guide you go with?
 

shurshot

Ten Pointer
Wow, that’s not bad at all. Only thing I’d hate would be having to stand elbow to elbow with 8-9 other hunters but if enough opportunities are there then might not be too bad.
 

Crappie_Hunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Wow, that’s not bad at all. Only thing I’d hate would be having to stand elbow to elbow with 8-9 other hunters but if enough opportunities are there then might not be too bad.

I get what you are saying. We had 10 guys in our group, plus the guide and 2 helpers. We hunted out of 2 40' conex containers. One was the shooting platform, the other was the kitchen, bathroom, sitting area. It wasn't really that crowded feeling. Each area was blocked off with rebar and brushed in well. You could only see from the waist down on the people beside you. Each stall was approx. 3ft. wide. I'm sure there are smaller blinds out there with less space and amenities, but it didn't "feel" like I was hunting with 10 other guys, if that makes sense.
 

Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
Just got back from 3 days hunting on Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. Bird numbers are way down from historical average. We killed 17 the first day, 7 the second, and 2 the last day. Guided hunt in a blind in a big open pot hole back in the trees. Open water guides weren't doing any better or worse. Our guide said on his best year he killed 2,290 ducks out of the blind we were hunting..... this year he was hoping to get to 450.

From everyone I've talked to out there, if you can kill 10-15 ducks a day you are doing good. Went out with low expectations, so I wasn't disappointed … beautiful country out there and a totally different way of hunting then what I'm used to.

Don’t feel bad.....I’ve been out there several times and you did better in one day than I have in 15 times that many combined. I know dark thirty will disagree(he’s seen it when it was great) but imo that is the most overrated place I’ve ever seen. Every time I’ve ever been it reminded me of Hyde county on a bad year(back when Hyde county was good). It is beautiful country though. I wish I had hit right on my excursions out there.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
Don’t feel bad.....I’ve been out there several times and you did better in one day than I have in 15 times that many combined. I know dark thirty will disagree(he’s seen it when it was great) but imo that is the most overrated place I’ve ever seen. Every time I’ve ever been it reminded me of Hyde county on a bad year(back when Hyde county was good). It is beautiful country though. I wish I had hit right on my excursions out there.

you couldn’t pay me to hunt Reelfoot lake proper. Never have and never will. Just not my thing. But I’ll never knock anyone for hunting it. We hunt private land about 40 miles south. But I agree, it’s a beautiful place and time has forgot a lot of it.

there’s a lot of big big money and private land with a 50 mile radius that will hold 100k + at peak. That’s not counting the umpteen refuges. Last week, I know of one private tract 100 acre cornfield that they estimated 75k+ sitting on it. There is ton of birds there but most willnot be seen on reelfoot. All those rivers in that area get out of their banks and it’ll flood thousands of acres and half of those flooded areas will never see a hunter.
 

Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
you couldn’t pay me to hunt Reelfoot lake proper. Never have and never will. Just not my thing. But I’ll never knock anyone for hunting it. We hunt private land about 40 miles south. But I agree, it’s a beautiful place and time has forgot a lot of it.

there’s a lot of big big money and private land with a 50 mile radius that will hold 100k + at peak. That’s not counting the umpteen refuges. Last week, I know of one private tract 100 acre cornfield that they estimated 75k+ sitting on it. There is ton of birds there but most willnot be seen on reelfoot. All those rivers in that area get out of their banks and it’ll flood thousands of acres and half of those flooded areas will never see a hunter.

Yeah I was just referring to the area. I never hunted reelfoot itself. Just private fields with guides. It is a ton of land around it.
 
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