Awesome Duck Hunting Adventures with Schultz Sportfishing

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    We offer fully Guided Late Season Duck Hunts on Lake Ontario and the Niagara River during the late split season in December-January. These are great Hunts that offer Fantastic shooting at decoying Old Squaws (Long Tailed Duck) & Scoters. While getting the occasional Bufflehead, Golden Eye (Whistler), Merganser, Mallard or Bluebill especially when you can't get on Lake Ontario and have to stay in the Niagara River. The shooting is usually fast and furious with typically 100-125 shots fired daily and some days many more! These birds are very tough and deceivingly fast fliers. If you haven't experienced this type of hunting, I highly recommend spending a day at the practice range before coming. It can be very humbling and frustrating when the misses start to add up!
   I recommend using 10 or 12 gauges with 3 or 3 1/2in mags in 6 - BB shot with Bismuth, Hevi-shot or Tungsten alloys best or at least high velocity steel shot (I use Federal # 6's for Old Squaws and BB's for Scoters) and BRING AT LEAST 3 BOXES OF SHELLS PER PERSON! Also bringing a box of #7 or 7 1/2 Steel Target loads between your group is a good idea for dispatching wounded birds.
   Due to the extra gear needed to provide a better decoy spread that makes for better hunting, I no longer run fishing trips during duck hunting season. If your coming in for extra days, fishing can be arranged otherwise I start my Steelhead, Lake & Brown Trout fishing trips right after duck season.
The rates for these trips is $350 a day (6 hours) for 2 people, $450 for 3 people. Three is the maximum number of Hunters per boat for safety, although we can arrange for larger corporate groups, family or club outings. We work with a group of the best guides anywhere to ensure you have a great time with lasting memories that will have you anticipating your next Adventurous Trip with us!

Featured in Peterson's Hunting Magazine in October 2006 issue
"Landmark Long-tails" by TR Hendrick

Note: You need to have: warm WATERPROOF CLOTHING (recommend dressing in layers), a NY Hunting License, a Federal Duck Stamp (make sure it's signed!), a back tag holder, a duck plug in your gun, use only non-toxic shot and you also have to get a NY HIP# which is free to register with the New York Harvest Information Program or by calling 1-888-427-5447
We don't supply guns or ammo. It's also advisable to bring hearing protection.
Note to Canadian Hunters: You must obtain an ATF Form 6 Permit to import your firearm into the USA. For additional info and forms see: www.atf.gov

January 11th, 2010 The 2009-2010 season wound up being some what disappointment compared to last season but, it was still had some great days mixed in. The weather was the major factor, that started with nice temperatures in the 35-40 degree range and manageable winds. Then toward the end of the first week when the winds kicked up to 35-40+mph and the following week the temperatures plummeted to high's in the single digits! These things helped as well as hurt the hunting, the winds caused big waves that led to cancellations. While the cold temps pushed a bunch of birds in, this also caused ice problems: sheet ice and build up on the boat and decoys (had to knock the ice off a couple times a day and I couldn't use my motion decoys).
Early there was a ton of Scoters & Mergansers around as well as a good number of Old Squaws but when the temperatures dropped, the Old Squaws really showed up, as well as a ton of Golden Eyes (more than I've ever seen). Unfortunately, the big flights of Golden Eyes only stuck around a couple days but we still had a few singles and pairs buzzing around.
We wound up harvesting 94 Ducks in 10 1/2 days but, unfortunately the cripple loss was about 30 birds. Hopefully, we can start recovering more in the future as well as not missing so much. There was way to much missing on "Cake Shots in the Decoys" that should have led to a lot more birds. Believe me, my decoys took a beating! I guess that's why they call it Hunting, not just shooting or killing and leads to a lot of Fun and Laughes!

January 12th, 2009 Well, the 2008-2009 Duck Season ended with a Bang! It was one of the Best Seasons Ever despite some wild weather again as usual. We went from 50-55 degrees the first 2 days to wild winds up to 65 mph that muddied up the Niagara River, then to highs in the low teens for a couple days that produced lots of Ice! The last day of the season it took us about 45 minutes to an hour to get thru the ice each way from Lewiston to Lake Ontario but the trip was worth with us harvesting a 24 bird limit in about 3 hours! This led to 148 birds harvested in 12 days! Actually only 11 days and 1 1/2 hour as on day 2, we no more than got set up in what looked to be perfect conditions of 1' waves and 10-15mph wind that turned ugly in hurry as the winds started cranking to 50 mph+ and making waves of 5-7' in minutes that went to 10-12' over night! It's just winter in Western New York I guess! The passing up of marginal shots, letting the birds work and shooting at decoying birds definitely led to the great season I had. The loss of cripples was the only down fall of the season which was about 28-30 birds which is still unacceptable by my standards. There were birds around all season but it seamed like we got a big flight of fresh Old Squaws in the last couple days of the season again, this makes it 3 years in a row that the last weekend was as good as opening day! I guess one of the highlights of the season was when one of my clients harvested a hen King Eider which are very rare around here or it was the large numbers of Scoters around this year. It was fantastic season but, we really beat up the hens, as they are the ones that continue to make more ducks for the future for us to enjoy hunting. So next year, I think I'm going to self impose a 2 hen limit per person if the duck limit remains 6 birds and shoot drakes and Scoters to fill your limit.

January 12th, 2008 As another Duck Season comes to an end again with mixed emotions. Some of which was disappointment, with such wild weather (several days of 50+mph winds to dead calm, temperatures from 20 degrees to a record of 61 another day) that limited the number of days being able to get, then there was all the muddy water and no more hunting for another year. But, overall it was a great season with tons of fun, a good number of Old Squaws around most days that led to 96 birds harvested in 8 days! Being patient was the main reason for the great success this season. Letting the birds at marginal distances (40-45 yards +) fly by and waiting for the birds to come into the decoys or at least come in at under 40 yards really makes for a productive, rewarding and fun day on the water. This also leads to less lost birds with only 19 cripples. As usual there some great shots made but also way too many missed cake shots. But, that's why it's called Hunting and not just shooting or killing!

January 9th, 2007 Duck Season ended on a good note with a lot of fun and some great shooting with the Long Tailed Ducks (Old Squaws) decoying very well. Unfortunately, most of the season was tough because of the high winds making Lake Erie & Lake Ontario very rough and muddy as well as the extremely warm temperatures in the 40's to mid 50's daily. We finished the season with 62 birds in 9 days despite losing 19 cripples. There were a ton of Old Squaws around at season's end and receiving very little hunting pressure because of the weather should equal a great season next year!

January 9th, 2006 The Duck Season ended on the slow side, but there were a ton of Old Squaws and Scoters still around. They had just become very wary, not wanting to decoy hardly at all and flying well out of range around the boats. This is a direct cause of a number of boats continually sky blasting at them at when they are way out of range. This shooting at 50-80+ yards has got to stop, all it does is educate the birds and lead to a bunch of cripples, its hard enough cleanly killing them at 40 yards and under! The weather was another big factor with North/Northeast winds most of the season, making the Lake rough most days and moving the birds well into Canada. In 12 days of hunting my clients killed 81 birds and unfortunately lost 37, the rough waters on the Lake made recovery difficult by making it hard to see the downed birds as well as getting to the birds towing your decoys. Although there were some great shots made, there were still a lot of missed easy shots that led to a frustrating season for me. But it's still awesome to watch the Old Squaws and Scoters work the decoys and I can't wait to next season!

Pheasant Hunts at Tails & Feather Bird Hunting Preserve
They offer guided and non-guided fair chase Pheasant, Chucker and Quail hunts September 1st - March 31st on their preserve. Contact Ken Klino 716-471-1524 for rates and info. You can set up a trip to include a bird hunt and Trout & Salmon fishing to make for the Ultimate Weekend for Adventurous Outdoorsman. NOTE: No hunting license in required when hunting on this preserve.

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