The early morning was upon us yesterday...4:00 am comes early when you’re working nights the week before. The four of us were prepared with all the decoys and blind already in the truck the night before. However, slipping into our underlayers and hipwaders still seemed like a bit of a challenge in the AM. Luckily, one of our hunters hit up the local coffee shop on his way to the meet...slow sips warming up our insides. We were thankful.
After driving the 45 mins and arriving at our favorite hunting river, it was time to gear up and take the 15 min hike to our optimum spot. Using only red lights on the way in, it sure felt dark this morning...clouds blocking the moon...and a chance of drizzle...it was the optimum morning, with a good chance of dropping some birds.
The corn field we crossed had just been harvested, and this is generally great for hungry birds. This particular morning we were cursing the cut of short stocks as we tripped a few times carrying in what seemed like a billion decoys.
Still, there were smiles on our four faces.
We have one newcomer on our team this year, and another who does not hunt regularly, but dusts clay like a champ.
It took twenty minutes to set up the spread with all its “movers and shakers.” We had feeders and flappers and swimmers and sleepers and divers, and shakers...it was perfect? Right?
We are not guides, we do not flood fields, we do not fill our spots with feed all year...we hunt. True original hunting. All the what-ifs, and I hope we scouted right. (I have no problem with guided hunts, just an FYI)
All set up and sipping what was left of the coffees in our canteens, we heard a bird zoom past the decoys not 5 feet over our heads about 10 mins before shooting light...son of a...I really hope the spread looks good. Two mins later, again we were delighted to hear the flapping of wings, and a bigger group of birds landing right in the spread!!
I could feel the two younger hunters excitement as they sat between my brother and I listening to the whizzing of wings and the splashes of birds landing into the water. I quietly whispered, “Boys, take your time and hit your bird. No need to hurry. You’ll do fine.”
Five minutes before I am comfortable to shoot, a great size flock decided to dump their speed and eye up their decent. Seeing the silhouettes of ducks in the sky really got the clay shooters heart racing! I leaned over to say not these ones, it’s not shooting light. (There was an argument later about whether we should have shot at those...I stand my ground. Shooting light to me does not mean whether you can shoot silhouettes in the sky, but whether you can see what is behind what you are shooting at.)
As this group of 15-18 birds dropped in they disappeared below the trees along the bank of the opposite side and landed about 200 yards down the river...oh no!! Is our spread ok? Now I was second guessing myself.
Any waterfowl hunters out there will tell you, the first half hour is usually fast and furious! It is absolutely thrilling, and this morning was no letdown!
We had a lot of chances this morning, singles, doubles, groups of 3’s and 4’s hitting up the spread for the next 20 mins. My brother and I were on “calls” and the jerk lines, letting the youngsters do the shooting...few high shots, few low shots, and a ton of plain misses. No ducks down.
Shooting ducks, especially woodies, is nothing like clays...they dip and turn at what seems like 100 miles an hour, and it seemed that even the mallards were giving the youngsters a run for their money.
I have been waterfowl hunting for a decade now, and I heard all the excuses from these youngsters this morning...”shoulda shot at the big flock, my gun is off, my gun is jammed, the blind is too tall, the spread is wrong, your calling is bad.”
I reminded them that you don’t always get birds, just as a woodie decided to dump speed and shake his way into the spread...”screw it,” I thought, and stood up and dropped him about 10 feet off the water. A beautiful speciment too, plumage just brilliant, bragging of the mating days coming quickly.
The youngsters, looking a bit defeated but
still excited, were now once again ready to hunt. No more excuses.
Had another few small groups come in, just what I like...both my brother and I let these two shoot...still, nothing down. We were just educating ducks and watching them fly away. One chance was pretty funny, as three woodies came cruising down the river about 6 feet of the water, responding to my calls, they whizzed right past in front of us...no one even got their guns up. I was grinning...”not so easy eh boys”, I said jokingly. They were in awe of the speed that woodies can cruise at.
The day was ended with a beautiful drake mallard cruising down the river 8 feet off the water...no one saw it apparently, so I took the opportunity to drop him too.
What a great hunt, I fired twice, and my poor brother was content to not pull the trigger once. 50+ ducks, at optimum shooting distance/speed and 20 shells later, and only two birds...two wonderfully, beautiful drakes.
Everyone had fun, and in my opinion was a successful hunt.
Two birds down, and a lot of teaching lessons. For all those young hunters starting up waterfowling, there are no excuses, it’s the fun of the hunt, being with friends, and maybe tagging a duck or two. Focus, and listen to your groups seasoned hunters. I guarantee you, if I let the young hunters shoot at that “just before shooting light” flock, they would most likely had the same results as the rest of the day. Play it safe...the ducks will come...
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ETA: Jeez...sorry for the super long post...hope you enjoy it!
PS. Yes, that Wood duck is already at my taxidermist. Haha
