Payback

Today is a payback day. It is cloudy with a light east wind and a temperature of 60 or so. I get to my put-in just before high tide. The Goose hunter from yesterday is about to set out as well. We talk for a good ten minutes. As I sideways suggested yesterday, he is new to hunting in this part of the country having moved here from Colorado. I give him some geographical tips about the marsh and where I've seen hunters set up in the past. Then, I head out.

As I said, today is a payback day. And with the very high tide I start looking for the natural filters that catch litter. These are usually little dead end pockets. I head out and then up to the central phragmites patch, which I did not visit yesterday because the hunter was set near that spot. I scoop some plastic as I near - this is one of those dead end filters. Then, as I get closer, Night Herons begin flushing from the reeds. Several Black Crowns go first, then after a short pause, a bunch of juveniles, then more, then more. By the time I paddle away from the patch, I've flushed forty or fifty Herons. 

Night Herons making their getaway

I continue up to the top of the marsh, then over towards Nell's channel, pushing through the grass every once in awhile to grab more plastic. I pick up my first bowling ball - yes, they float. 

I find one of the uber-filters near the top of Nell's, and I spend twenty minutes or so in that small patch picking up debris. This one is typical of the most effective filters - at a high high-tide, it is about a foot deep and has a thick mat of dead grass and reeds, which helps hold floating plastic junk. I fill a contractors bag, which is enough for one day. I paddle out.

An uber-filter

 I talk with a guy who is scoping the marsh with his binoculars. He is an experienced hunter and we talk for about a half hour. Now I know the reasoning with early Goose Season (right now) and regular Goose Season, which comes in about three weeks. Early season is directed at resident Geese ie the nonmigratory problem Geese that people seen on play fields and lawns. A hunter can take 15 Geese per day during this early season, but only 5 during the later migratory season. I also learn that hunting the resident Geese at this time of day is pointless, because they are all grazing on lawns, and decoys are useless. Apparently, they will start to arrive near dusk. As with yesterday, I neither saw nor heard any Geese during the trip.