Autumn’s for the Birds

A happy hunter and his ducks

Autumn finds Oswego County hosting a wide variety of migratory species. Indeed, the place is famed worldwide for its salmonid fishery, the best in the continental US, in fact. But its waters ain’t the only element that carries visitors; the friendly skies do too. In fact, the air over our most popular fishing holes is loaded with birds of every feather.


Stan Oulette, owner of Deer Creek Motel and Pheasant Hunting Preserve (315-298-3730) called last week wondering if I wanted to go shoot some.


“You bet’cha!” I responded, a little too enthusiastically for an outdoor professional, I may add. (You see, this guy is known throughout the county for his hunting abilities, and just about every time he’s invited me into the field, he’s scored…and occasionally I did, too. So, whenever he invites me to go bird hunting, visions of the turkeys, pheasants, geese, you name it that have dropped before his sights fly into my mind and I find it hard to maintain my cool.)



The next afternoon I’m at the motel getting my gear ready in the parking lot when a truck bearing New Jersey plates pulls in. Parking down by Stan’s fish cleaning station, the young men start clearing fowl out of the back. First to get flopped on the stone dust were Canada geese, followed by ducks.


I ran over to get some photos and ask questions.


The pair had been hunting Deer Creek Marsh. Around dawn they shot their limit of Canadas. By 10 a.m., they changed decoys and shot limits of mallards, with a couple blacks mixed in.


“You won’t find this many birds anywhere else,” claimed one of the hunters. “I’ve been all over the Atlantic coast and never seen the amount of birds I see along the Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Wetlands Area.”


While that morning was spent at Deer Creek marsh, the guys informed me that on numerous occasions they’ve taken their fill of fowl on Sandy Pond, too.


I asked if they had ever tried the Three Mile Bay and Big Bay Wildlife Management Area near Constantia, on Oneida Lake, and the youngster replied: “That’s where my dad taught me how to hunt waterfowl. I dropped my first duck there back in 1998.”


Wing shooting is probably the most challenging and exciting hunting there is. Whether you’re out for pheasants, ruffed grouse, ducks or geese, Oswego County offers some of the best bird shooting on the East Coast.

A bunch of ducks shot out of the friendly skies of Oswego County

Same hunter, different birds: Canada Geese