By Bruce Ross, Executive Director
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s June, 2020 Open Water Newsletter edition and has been updated for our February 2021 Newsletter edition and to introduce our 2021 Open Water Dream Hunt Raffle!
Nolan, of Nolan’s Top Gun Charters, with tender boat and layout boats inside.
While I’ve hunted the open waters of Green Bay with Bruce Urben and his sons Bryan and Eric, I’ve never targeted sea ducks. So I reached out to guide Nolan Koepp Of Nolan’s Top Gun Charters out of Port Washington to get “the flavor of the bean.”
Nolan has guided a little of every type of hunting and fishing available in this state (and beyond) for nearly thirteen years. His duck hunting has been focused on Lake Michigan and Green Bay for seven of those years. His open water hunting usually begins in mid-late October and runs until season close – unless ramp freeze-up, or the water itself – closes the season for him.
Duck-level view of a hunter waiting to be picked up from the layout boat.
And that brought Nolan to issues of safety; with strong winds prevalent on the lake in the fall, and the large, unbroken expanses of water, waves build quickly and can present real life-or-death risks. “Layout boats can be swamped and people or propellers can get tangled in the rigs”, according to Nolan. “You’ve got to really pay attention, have the right equipment, and use it wisely”, he says.
Nolan continued, “Weather is key. We can get out on Lake Michigan about half the days. If the winds are up, we’ll hunt divers in Green Bay”. But if the weather allows, “we’ll head out for waters between 50-100 feet deep for the long-tails.” They will sometimes shoot scoters – both surf and white winged – but mostly he sees long-tails.
2-in-1 trophy: Long-tailed duck PLUS a band! Photo courtesy of Nolan Koepp,
He uses a 22-foot, deep V “tender boat” and two layout boats. He takes two to four hunters with him and they rotate through the two layout boats. If the ducks cooperate, and your shooting is “on”, it can be a quick hunt. What a memory! And that memory can be had much quicker, easier, and cheaper on the east coast of Wisconsin, than the east coast of the United States, the next closest location to hunt these sea ducks.
These seaducks are a unique Wisconsin quarry and the lucky hunter who bags one may well have a treasured wall-mounter to trigger future memories of that unique hunt. And, if you’re the lucky hunter pictured at right, you take some jewelry home with you.
Nolan shared with me that he’s guided hunters to collect two of only five harvested long-tailed duck bands (that’s 40%). Since less than 100 long-tails have been banded, Nolan’s hunters have collected over 2% of all the banded long-tailed duck in the United States! But he’s left a a few more out there for the rest of us.
Want to try your hand at open water hunting without investing in all the gear?? WWA and Nolan’s Top Gun Charters have teamed up to offer you and three of your buddies a chance to bag the sea ducks of Lake Michigan and win a new Beretta A-300 12ga Semi-Auto Shotgun. Check out our “Open Water Raffle, Winner Takes All”! Only 200 tickets will be sold!
