Skagit Bluebird Hunt

[Robbo]

Of course the weather was perfect for my hunt with Banded Hunts in Mount Vernon...until yesterday. Bluebird conditions prevailed for their weekend hunts but we made the best of it like we always do. I've talked to Travis from Banded on the phone quite a bit, but it was nice to finally hook up and hunt with these guys.

Don Fenton from Truck Vault and Outdoor Life gun dog blogger Brian Lynn joined me for the hunt and we all met up at the Banded cabin east of Mount Vernon bright and squirrelly this morning.

The Banded guys set out around 12 dozen widgeon and mallard dekes in one of their private fields right across the street for the lodge. The birds had been hammering this field earlier in the week and our hopes were high they would be back.

Here's Seth brushing out the Final Approach layout blinds before we nestled in prior to shooting light.

seth_blinds.jpg (118.31 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

Fenton is ready...check

fenton.jpg (108.17 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

Here's comes the sun...and the blue birds

decoys.jpg (105.99 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

the spread with our layout blinds close by.

spread.jpg (130.78 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

Brian with the nice ringneck duck he took first thing in the morning. Disrespect no duck

lynn_ringneck.jpg (132.13 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

Brian's dog Kona was nothing short of amazing. He called Kona "a little rusty"...I call him amazing. Lynn isn't Outdoor Life's gun dog blogger for nuthin...he knows how to train a dog

kona_fenton.jpg (170.92 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

Travis and the boys took an old farm building and converted it into a nice hunting lodge right across the street from one of their fields. For a group of 4 to 6 guys it's perfect and if you're heading to Skagit County for the Tulip Festival it's good for that too. Nice and quiet...at least when it's not hunting season

cabin.jpg (101.64 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

Travis shows us around the Banded hunting lodge

cabin_livingroom.jpg (80 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

This is an artsy-fartsy shot of the nice kitchen. There are mounts everywhere

cabin_kitchen.jpg (91.57 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

Four nice beds upstairs and they are expanding to make room for more after hunting season is over.

cabin_loft.jpg (68.33 KiB) Viewed 4728 times

For a total bluebird day we actually got some good shooting in, downing around 15 ducks or so. Well...they shot good...I missed quite a bit Mostly widgeon with a couple mallards mixed in. These guys were constantly working to improve the situation by adjusting the blinds and moving the dekes. As more northerns pour into the Skagit valley their fields are really going to heat up and I'm hopeful we can get in on some of that action

[Medium D]

Great report Robbo and looks like you spent the day with some quality guys. Also looks like Travis has a great location and set-up going on up there. Can't wait to get up there and hunt.
Good job buddy, on a some-what tough day...