Hard earned pair of birds

I wish I had a GPS just so I could see how far my buddy and I trudged into a BLM salt marsh. My 800 gram insulated neoprene waders perfect for my hunts in the northeast were like wearing huge resistance bands from my feet to my shoulders hiking through the muck and reeds for what was probably 4 miles or more round trip. Never again, I think I will just get hip boots or those shell waders or something for this exercise next time. We also ended up having the whole place to ourselves.

But it was totally worth it. We were treated to the biggest flight of birds I have ever seen taking off at sunrise. It looked like a smoke stream stretching for miles. We got a few that stayed around. The mallard and pintail put down the landing gear for me while some others I most likely could have hit got the pass waiting to see if they would circle back even closer.

Super fun hunt and I will be back next season for sure.

Nice, looks like an awesome spot. yeah I've definitely gone to the goretex like fabric, but I will caution, at least for me, they're not nearly as durable. I'm always a little wet when I get back to the truck.

Love the pintail drake. You sir are a more dedicated waterfowl hunter then me 4 miles through marsh sounds ruff.

Thanks guys this was my first waterfowl trip since I've moved to NM. Night and day different from the farm ponds or the lakes I used to hunt in NJ when I either parked 300 yards from the ponds or wore my waders from the truck to the boat ramp.

Dedicated yes but a smart waterfowler probably not. The funny thing is we would have done better setting up basically right in the entrance to the marsh with our full spread and sitting for hours. Got there the night before thinking there is no way were gonna be the only ones here let's just get way out first thing and avoid the crowd. We were literally the only people there. I could hear some distant shots down at the river and way over on private.

Walking through the salt crusted brush frayed everything that wasn't rubber so that's my worry with the gortex like waders. Are there any companies that would offer lifetime warranties on something like that. I'm thinking for this spot those full rubber hip boots connected to a belt or something would be perfect. Even if I strapped full waders to my pack if I wanted to sit in a hole.

Sitka gears is the only ones I know with lifetime warranty. But you dropping 1k on some waders.

Good work, you certainly put in the effort. You do not hear a whole lot about duck hunting in New Mexico

Northwoods Labs said:

You do not hear a whole lot about duck hunting in New Mexico

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Like a lot of western states duck hunting in NM is somewhat "under the radar", but can be great! 1st pic is from last month, 2nd pic is from 2 seasons ago.

I also use breathable waders when I know I'm going to do a lot of walking (which is >90% of the time), but as mentioned earlier they probably aren't as durable, I'm lucky to get 2 years from a pair. I suppose if you wore a set of loose fitting pants or overalls over them they might last a bit longer, but it's not worth the hassle for me, I just use a lot of aquaseal.

And nice pictures and birds TwistedS.

Nice bag. I duck hunted in New Mexico last year and had good hunts with no hunting pressure to be found.

Very nicely done!