43 - THE FIRST EVER Single Season Waterfowl Slam | Mark Peterson Hunting

so [Music] struggling with words but what this one is number 43 six months over 110 days on the road three countries nine states waterfall slamming top it off with a kingiter in greenland i can't make that up what just went into this whole thing right here oh my goodness ducks were never really my thing growing up we've had bird dogs all my life but growing up in michigan my focus was mainly deer waterfall was just kind of dad's way of keeping me outdoors as i matured as a hunter and outdoorsman i've learned a new respect and appreciation for waterfall hunting the birds themselves the places you find them the people that chase them there's really nothing that can compare to it i've always been a goal-oriented person whether it was sports business hunting you name it so in the summer of 2020 in the middle of the covet fiasco back and forth between mask mandates lockdowns half occupancy restaurants i needed a challenge my goal was to take all 43 waterfall species in a single season and what better place to start that than alaska well dad and i are getting set up in the layout boat this morning they're going for harlequin it's been about eight years since the last time i did this off the coast of mass so looking forward to seeing a bunch of ducks flying this morning already so it should be pretty awesome [Music] they come here [Music] [Music] [Music] one of the cool things about alaska is that there is no norm between the weather the terrain and the birds that pass through here the hunt opportunities are endless over the course of the next six days i experienced as many of them as i could each day something new and each day slowly picking away at my list the days at blue we hunted inland waters for puddle ducks and divers the calm days we took the boat around the island to the bays that held birds we used skull boats when the birds were being tough and we laid out on the tundra when the tides weren't right all in all i left cold bay with nine different species but there was more i came here for and over 500 miles northeast towards mainland alaska i found it [Music] between the snow-covered peaks and the float planes it's hard not to let my mind wander to what's on the mountains around me but i'm here for a different reason the barrow's goldeneye they have a small range to begin with and winter mostly along rocky marine coastlines and kodiak island fits that description perfectly while this is my primary reason for being here the sea duck hunting on kodiak is second to none and i won't pass any opportunity to check iters and scooters off my list [Music] [Music] all the sea ducks are for individual species yep every specie you get for maximum of 20. okay [Music] gold's nice [Music] well this morning we got what we came for a barrows golden bag very limited range on where they're at so we specifically targeted kodiak island because they have just a high population so that bird this morning made the trip here with the barrows goldeneye checked off the list i feel a weight lifted that's the bird we came here for and anything else is a bonus skoda's coming from the left [Music] over the next four days we try different strategies to target the sea ducks around the island and we do so with success skoda coming from the right knocking down both common and surf skoaters before wrapping up the trip with long tails i'm now sitting at 13 of 43 species and it's time to head back to the lower 48 to check off a few oddballs north dakota is no secret amongst waterfowlers the sloughs and potholes sprinkled amongst the egg fields give the birds everything they need along their migration there's a different element drawing me here the tundra swan north dakota is one of the few states with a draw system for swans and after drawing one of the 2200 tags available i'm again focused on one bird [Music] the game plan worked out this morning about 15 minutes after shooting a group of four took off and one of those four did a big circle and just came right over the top of us put a good shot on him he's laying down right over here plan worked out perfect awesome morning in north dakota giant under swan down much like kodiak i was fortunate to connect on my target bird and still have a few days to chip away at some of the others with the temps staying well above average each day we didn't see the impressive number of birds one would expect but the ones we did find were the right species [Music] adding a gad wall ruddy duck and comma meganzer to the list this whole venture is starting to feel real and i have a newfound sense of confidence heading to the east coast as far north as i've been sea duck hunting first time ever sitting up on a rock island like this which is pretty cool nice to set up so far the way lance describes it these ideas and old squad stuff are just going to kind of scoot the shoreline here we're about not even a quarter mile from mainland here i'm pretty excited to see when the sun starts going up here what these ducks are going to do [Music] find them [Music] [Music] [Music] let them go they're all heads [Music] that was the white way of all the places i've hunted sea ducks maine will forever have a special place in my heart i got the common idea in the white wing scoader that i came for but to do it all on an island in the atlantic with my dad by my side that's just something special and to top it all off i picked up a bonus black duck before leaving i'm over 45 days into this journey and while each check mark comes with a sire relief it also comes with a sense of pressure as i'm that much closer to reaching my goal i'm almost halfway through the list i've got a three week grind staring me in the face and just one missed opportunity cost me the slam oklahoma consisted of laying on my back and freezing temps for sandhill cranes before eventually connecting with the lesser canada anna rossi from there it was on to lake seminole georgia the epicenter for canvasbacks hours of standing in waist-deep water paid off for the bull canvas back quite possibly the toughest one to this point with georgia wrapped up florida's next on the list and we grinded it out coming away with a wood duck mottled duck and a black bellied whistling duck leaving me with 17 species remaining and just over two months to go with cold weather pushing down from the north it was time to head back up the coast to rhode island where layout boats did the trick the first morning made quick work of atlantic brant while the second morning was a mixed bag topped off with a greater and lesser scope you did it congratulations awesome thank you sir with the seasons wrapping up on the east coast it was time to switch gears and head to the duck capital of the world i think for most waterfowlers an arkansas flooded timber hunt would be considered the epitome of duck hunting at least it is for me the mud motors big wooden palaces tucked back into the timber and mallards dropping from the heavens i've waited my whole life for this hunt and regardless of the species i have left this venture wouldn't be complete without it [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my first flooded timber hunt proved to be more than i could have asked for hunting out of a blind that had more stories than that one hunting buddy i soaked it all up as if that wasn't enough a lone ring neck worked the rig checking off a species i was beginning to get a little worried about as with every trip i did my best to take advantage of every opportunity jump shooting a hooded merganzer before heading to the layout blinds where a pair of specks put a cherry on top but there was more to arkansas that i needed to experience and just a few days later i was in a sea of decoys for the conservation season uh [Music] snow goose down here it's been a long morning finally had one that played the game gorgeous bird [Music] able to get a snow goose and ross out of the deal so it's working there's a bunch of birds over there and saw a bunch of blue geese in there so we're going to hunker back down here and do more flying later no blues worked the rig the rest of the day but an afternoon of scouting turned up a field for the following morning that looked promising it feels strange to focus on one specific bird during a season that gives you the opportunity to pile them up but that's been the case with most of these trips so i don't know why i'd expect anything different arkansas lived up to my expectations but the conservation season marks the end of duck hunting here in the states and with seven species remaining it's time to follow the birds south when i think of sonora my mind usually goes to 200-inch mules wandering the desert but the past four months have changed that mindset this late in the year the majority of the ducks have pushed south to where they'll spend the winter this being one of them we've been scouting that line for the last three days and they all work here get low here yep and then go there okay uh so we're gonna hunt here first and then maybe about and maybe which i don't think it's going to be necessary okay [Music] we just had a ton of birds working and the problem is there's so many they start circling had one drake pintail peel off and just just dropped them over here we're gonna sit for a second before we go take a look at them pintails just an absolutely gorgeous duck [Music] just like that the coot is off the list as odd as it may sound the opportunities to hunt ducks in mexico aren't far off from those in alaska the vast landscapes and diversity of species making for a waterfaller's paradise checking four more off the list in sonora the cinnamon teal is now the one that is eluding me they're one of the least abundant dabbling ducks in north america having a breeding population estimated at just 380 000 birds cinnamon teal are found primarily along the western parts of north and south america and with that we continue our journey a couple hundred miles farther south [Music] cinnamon just had a group of teal come in and that was the cinnamon we were looking for all day right there gorgeous drake [Music] i can't believe it got that cinnamon came out of the middle of nowhere cinnamon cinnamon cinnamon toast baby the beauty of a drake's cinnamon teal is hard to do justice and even harder to put into words the deep brownish reds contrasted by the soft blues and greens put it in a league of its own but it's even more special to me as it marks number 41 of 43. there's only one other bird i'll find down here but we'll need to head another 150 miles southeast to do so the fall this whistling duck isn't among the most popular waterfall species for hunters and i'd imagine that's due to its range also known as a tree duck these long-necked long-legged birds are found in warm freshwater marshes across the tropical regions of mexico south america africa and even parts of asia they winter further south in the black belly whistling duck i'm eager to try something new [Music] well this is what we popped farther south for fall this whistling ducks right here you can tell from the blue bills and blue feet it's number 42 out of 43 it's been a heck of a journey so far and it's getting close to the end now my time here in mexico has been nothing short of spectacular the people the birds the marshes they call home for winter it's been one of the most memorable trips on this journey but it's hard to reminisce just yet as i'm only one short of achieving my goal of 43. it seems rather fitting that the king is the last bird to chase and with saint paul not allowing any non-residents on the island greenland is my only hope standing here in the harbor it's hard to convey the emotions i'm battling inside i'm one shot away from achieving my goal of a single season waterfall slam but in the same breath that's where the sick feeling in my stomach is sterning from we went down in the bay on the other side over here fricking gorgeous all these colored boats right up to this big rock cliff with the building god i'm excited as much as i yearn to hold a king in my hand i don't know if i'm ready for this journey to end months of paperwork and phone calls got us here the first americans into greenland since the start of the pandemic after four coveted tests a five-day quarantine and countless flights we're finally headed out to find a king [Music] [Music] [Music] well we haven't been set up very long had some common nighters come right in and we've had two groups of kings just skirting the tail of the decoys so we're definitely in the right spot i think we've seen a total of eight kings so far right here just waiting for something to get in range king out front here struggling with words but what this one is number 43 six months over 110 days on the road three countries nine states waterfall slamming to top it off with a king eider in greenland i can't make that up what just went into this whole thing right here i never doubted that this moment would come but i never imagined it would happen off the coast of greenland nearly 2 000 miles from my home i set out on this journey 155 days ago and standing here today holding number 43 it's not the places or the landscape that stand out it's not the sunrises or the storms the good days are the bad it's the people i shared this with that my mind gravitates to it's the twisted minds that shape the waterfallers i hunted with that i'll remember the most on my quest to 43. [Music] far in the distance there's a promise it seems far in the distance [Music] [Music] [Music] in between [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] what's that one [Music] hey here's to the king hey [Music] you

Channel: Mark V Peterson Hunting

Views: 125,672

Keywords: Mark Peterson, The Journey Within, Worldwide Trophy Adventure, Hunting, Cabela's, Tags, Bass Pro Shops, Browning, The Best There Is, Leupold, Relentless, Waterfowl, Waterfowl Hunting, Duck Hunting, Goose Hunting, 2020, 2021, Challenge, Surviving Duck Season, Greenland, Greenland Duck Hunting, First Ever, Waterfowl Slam, 43, Single Season, Arkansas Timber Hunt, Flooded Timber, Layout Blind, Skull Boat, Pit Blind Hunting, Divers, Puddle Ducks, King Eider, Expedition, River Mallards, 12ga, 4k

Id: WPnJP-9eCGA

Length: 27min 30sec (1650 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 17 2022