anyone duck/goose hunt horseshoe? i thought about giving it a shot this year (since i have a boat) by going in on standby. only 26 more days til season.

I guess you're talking about the one in Granite City/Collinsville right? I wen't quite a few times last year and did alright each time but it was my first season out and I kind of just tagged along with other guys. There are always a lot of ducks flying because it's right next to a private lake. It's really good at the beginning of the season (according to the kill board they have posted) but the ducks get smarter and fly super high then dive straight down towards the private area.

yea its the granite one. did your buddies have a blind or were you on standby?

I had my boat up an running on Sunday. The boat ran very well and we only put $200 into it so far. Me and my buddy did some scouting on the lake too. Some blinds are well done and others need work yet. But there is still some time before season. We did not find one spot on the lake over 4-5 foot deep. According to the kill sheet I have, they did pretty well there last year. I did not hunt it last year, but I am planning on it this year.

Quack, I talked to your brother about it too. We should all go out and give it hell one day.

There is one area on the north side of the lake, I believe, that used to be an old sand pit. It gets about 60 feet deep there. A lot of the fish head there in the summer to get to the cooler water.

I had my boat up an running on Sunday. The boat ran very well and we only put $200 into it so far. Me and my buddy did some scouting on the lake too. Some blinds are well done and others need work yet. But there is still some time before season. We did not find one spot on the lake over 4-5 foot deep. According to the kill sheet I have, they did pretty well there last year. I did not hunt it last year, but I am planning on it this year.

Quack, I talked to your brother about it too. We should all go out and give it hell one day.

Hell yea!!! im always ready. just gotta hope we can get a blind. only thing i really need to do is paint my boat, but im trying to find a good way to do it. just dont want to rattle can the whole thing and the paint start falling off a week later. want to do it right the first time.

No need to paint your boat for most blinds at Horseshoe. I think there are only like 3 open water blinds with no boat 'garage'. We just went out there everytime and got in the drawing. If the owner doesn't claim the blind 1/2 hour before the draw(I forget the exact drawing time), then it's open game. Then everyone there puts their name in a lottery and a guy picks a name and the winner picks which open blind they want. Also, we went in the afternoon a few times and some blinds were open with nobody waiting so we just got to go straight to the blind and start hunting.

cool, i really want to go opening weekend but i imagine everyone shows up for their blind and theres proly a a million on standby if there was a opening

Yea the best thing to do is go the 2nd week and that way you can see which blinds killed ducks anyhow. They have a big white board with how many ducks and what species each blind killed each day, so its kind of useful. Some guys dont like it down there, but its literally 5 minutes from my door in Collinsville so I like the convenience.

yea im from belleville so horseshoe isnt too far for me either . i just cant wait til thanksgiving for the southern zone to open. thats too far away and i have a itchy trigger finger.

Do you drive a pickup with a sticker saying 'quackaddict' on the rear window?

Do you drive a pickup with a sticker saying 'quackaddict' on the rear window?

Yes, why? lol...........Lots of folks do Life........

nope, just my du and nra sticker, i probably should get one so everyone would know who i am lol

ok just wondering cause i saw one like that a while back on 50 crossing I-64 in O'Fallon.

yea im from belleville so horseshoe isnt too far for me either . i just cant wait til thanksgiving for the southern zone to open. thats too far away and i have a itchy trigger finger.

Openng day I plan on hunting carlyle. There is pleanty of room if you hunt the stumps. I am also planning on going out for opening of central zone with EJ and some of his buddies.

I drove through Horseshoe today on my way home from class to check it out and it was really weird. There were the usual couple people fishing, but there were a lot of guys sitting in their cars alone at every parking area. I drove by the first time and one guy was getting out of his car and when I turned around to leave he was sitting in the van next to his car with another guy. Does anyone know if Horseshoe is a place for gay guys to go hang out or something? Kind of creeped me out. One guy was even laying out face down on a picnic table wearing only whitey tighties.

Oh yea, there were quite a few mallards and some coots hanging around the riprap and most of the blinds look like they need a little touchin' up.

Cody, yer right on the money there as far as it being a rendezvous spot. Whenver I hunt it my buddies, we say he who shoots no ducks has to be bait..LOL

When I was working, I used to go over to Horseshoe and eat my lunch in the winter and watch the ducks/geese on the lake. All I can say is you better lock your vehicle when parked there, there are alot of them folks over there.
PS Don't wave at anyone driving by, they are not looking for ducks/geese, although they may be looking for a goose...:p :p
Same thing with the Cahokia Mounds State Park off of old Rt. 40 (Collinsville Rd.) Too bad, it is a very nice place to visit and a great place to get the history of the mounds.

Openng day I plan on hunting carlyle. There is pleanty of room if you hunt the stumps. I am also planning on going out for opening of central zone with EJ and some of his buddies.

yea i've hunted the subs in carlyle the last 3 years on opening day. thats a joke. guys everywhere. taking pop shots and fighting over birds. not worth it. especially since i have the boat now. ill just go on the river or to my pit.

i go to swic in granite and all the guys in the class that are from the granite area tell sotries of a lot of squirrely guys up there. they better not come across me. ol dectective dave might have to come help me out when im through with them lol . thats just disgusting.

Just don't wear those camo tighty whities, keep yer windows rolled up and all will be good..LOL

That kind of shtuff pisses me off. These guys are ruining a perfectly good state park just to keep secrets from their wives. I wish they would keep to the rest stops and leave our hunting/fishing spots alone.

I agree cody, im surprised they have been called in to the authorities. sure as heck dont want to see that while im hunting.

Seems like a good place to get your truck broken into.

went out to horseshoe today to scout a little bit. saw a good amount of ducks out there, didnt have my binoculars or contacts to see what they were. i sure cant wait til season starts.

has north season started yet man or not

im wanting to skip skool and go up north and hunt one day

i thought that horeshoe was central zone

northern is oct. 20th- dec.18th central is oct. 27th-dec. 25th and southern is nov.22-jan.20th

Sounds like a safe place for bam, Chy and I though...LOL

Sounds like a safe place for bam, Chy and I though...LOL

I don't care who you are, that's funny.

Sounds like a safe place for bam, Chy and I though...LOL

Yes!!!!! lol.....crab has gay bay too...we'd be safe out there G!!!!!!!!!!

I have been known to be called a fruit fly.......:o :o :o I guess I just luv everyone :D :D

is that crab i thought rend had that haha o well i no to stay off the banks of some lakes anyway

sure as heck dont want to see that while im hunting.

You sure about that..kat told me differently


Are all the blinds out at horseshoe good? The front like 3 blinds didn't seem to good for coverage and all that.

You sure about that..kat told me differently


Are all the blinds out at horseshoe good? The front like 3 blinds didn't seem to good for coverage and all that.

If you go to the site office they can give you a sheet with how many birds were killed last year. suprisingly, even the open ones killed a good amount of birds.

theyll flock towards me once they hear me calling lol jk

If you go to the site office they can give you a sheet with how many birds were killed last year. suprisingly, even the open ones killed a good amount of birds.

they only had the map that showed where they were located which was suprising since i really only noticed about 10 out of the 30 they have.

theyll flock towards me once they hear me calling lol jk

I hope they do

You can also see a few more blinds if you go around the back way. Its down the road from Gateway Raceway and across the street from Gateway Links golf course. Its hwy55 to rt203 N then turn right onto Big Bend Road. The first part of the lake you will see on the left is private and cannot be hunted, thats why there are always thousands of ducks in that little 'cove'. We used to get to blinds 30 and 29 this way to avoid the rest of the boats.
here it is on google maps...http://maps.google.com/maps?q=big+bend+road,+madison,+il&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&om=1&ll=38.655488,-90.127716&spn=0.060324,0.1157&z=13

yea check checked that area out too, i bet its covered in ducks. i cant wait til season.

I went out to horseshoe to just look to see what was out there on sunday. Saw a good 150 honkers and abotu 75 ducks, I took pictures but can't find my camera now

anyone know a good time to show up to try to get on for standbye?

I talked to a guy that has hunted at Horseshoe a few times this season and he said that it is in bad shape because the water is so low. He said that there are only a few blinds that you can get to without a go devil. Do you guys know anything about this. If so which blinds do you know that are huntable and which ones are not?

I have hunted there a few times in the last couple of weeks. ANd have had OK luck. Blind 19 and 21 I would not take because of lack of water the rest are huntable, but you will need to bring your wader and might have to push the boat a bit back in the feed bag.

Hunted there last Tues in #4 and killed a few.....jacks and bootlips!:D

Are you going to be on the local muddy ditch for the openner JPH?

No, not this year. I am gettin tired of fighten the younger crowd opening weekend. Gonna hunt a leased blind for the first couple a days.

No, not this year. I am gettin tired of fighten the younger crowd opening weekend. Gonna hunt a leased blind for the first couple a days.

I wish I had that option.

I am stuck at work for the opener, I get off at 8am.
First one I will miss in forever.

Still on high alert, my wife is due the 29th

joe
nice buck. maybe you should just stick to deer hunting! are you going to hunt at all this weekend? i'll be at the pit thurs and sat and sun. hopefully she'll go into labor when your at home if not atleast it's not a far walk to st e's!! let me know and good luck with the baby. now you'll find out what it's like!! call me when the boy pops out.

Dave My phone does not work at the pit, I know sometimes yours or your bros works. Its also over an hour home.
Everything is up in the air, Im not sure what Im doing. Pretty sure I wont be in the pit till goose opens the 2nd time:mad:

I think you should just hunt like you always have. That way she'll know what it will be like as the boy grows up:D

If it's her first baby..the odds are her labor will be fairly long...but just a piece of advice from the female perspective...you might want to hang out fairly close this year...women in labor can get really pissy really fast...and then you will hear about it the rest of your life...

I was born in the lobby of the hospital because we had to wait on Dad to finish his classes at the horse show... He was reminded of that every time my mother got the chance...

"women in labor can get really pissy really fast...and then you will hear about it the rest of your life..." Truer words were never spoken! Hang tight and make sure yer hair is shaved short! Less to grab onto!

...but just a piece of advice from the female perspective...you might want to hang out fairly close this year...women in labor can get really pissy really fast...and then you will hear about it the rest of your life...

No kidding! Mrs Life and I have been married 11 years and I still hear about her ex being out deer hunting when he was supposed to be at the hospital with her when Michael was born 27 years ago. Yeah, that kind of pissed off doesn't go away.:cool:

I went out this past weekend with poor results, plan on going again this weekend. might go to carlyle walk-ins for a day just to try something new. hopefully this weather will push some birds down this weekend.