Early Season Waterfowl

The 09-10 waterfowl season started here in Iowa in September and it could of arrived much quicker for me. I couldn't wait to get my camera out and start taking photographs again of the unique scenes and moments I get to experience while out waterfowling. The action was rather slow for the early duck season but picked up for the early goose season which resulted in a few more photographs taken. The photographs below are from the opening Saturday of duck and goose season along with a few days in between that I was able to get out.

The equipment used on these shots was the D90 with either the 18-105mm or 50-150mm lense on the camera. Since the 50-150mm lense is new to my line-up, I'm still trying to figure out what settings produce the best results with my camera. As the season progresses, I'll be able to figure that out. As usually, I had one or two shots that were "ruined" by the raffia I put on my blinds while out in the field so I'm still trying to figure out the best approach for that material. You have to have it for concealment but yet it gets in the way of the camera lense.


#1. Opening sunrise of the 09-10 season.


#2. A waterfowl hunter waiting for the geese to arrive.

#3. Taz from RRL waiting to retrieve the downed geese.

#4. Taz getting to the first retrieve of the year.

#5. This bird isn't going anywhere.

#6. A flock of resident honkers commiting to the decoys.

#7. Foggy conditions and the raffia in this picture proved to reduce the results it could of had.

#8. Alone goose coming into the decoys in the foggy conditions.

#9. Product shot for Lynch Mob Calls.

#10. Using photoshop to change the affect of the photograph into black & white.

#11. Sunrise over the decoy spread.

#12. The fullmoon behind the decoy spread.