Over too soon...

Not waterfowl as a whole but duck season...The state gives us a week around Christmas for the last hoorah of duck season 2018. The bad news is everything around here has been froze for the past couple weeks. So, the best I could do was hope for birds around Ft. Wayne.
I went down and checked my properties on Sunday evening, and the report was kinda not great. I finally got ahold of Jake, Sunday after I got home. I was really hoping on being able to shoot his farm pond Monday then scout my other properties for Tuesday. More bad news, the farm pond was froze so we formulated a game plan for Monday. Which entailed going to one of my spots I hadn't even scouted, fortunately, there were usually geese and some ducks out there.
We set up early and waited for the sun and fun, one of them showed. The sun came out and the geese set the whole time we were there. Jake had to be home around 12 so we started packing up at 10:45 to get him home in time. While we were packing up the landowner came out and we started talking, apparently, the geese were where my spread was the night prior. So after we finished packing and I got Jake home, I packed a small spread in the truck and pointed it South back to the same spot I was at in the am. I got there around 2pm and waited for the geese to get up to feed. With 18 minutes before I had to pack it in the geese got up. I started working a flock that came in from my right to left, and when they were close enough I took 2. I missed my third shot.

No ducks....
Tuesday I had a buddy from work invite me over to spend a casual afternoon with his family. I got there around 2 his wife fixed me a plate of food and we just hung out. By the way, the food and service were second to none, 5 stars on Yelp. Thank you very much, I really enjoyed myself.
Wednesday was going to go to my river spot with Jimmy, his plans changed so I headed down with the boat because the river was supposed to be open. Well, it wasn't and that turned into a 2-hour truck ride towing my duck boat. When I got home I called Jimmy to see if he wanted to do an evening hunt. He was game so back to the Fort I went with the car loaded down with decoys. We went to the same place I shot the above geese, the bad news was it was warmer (46 degrees) and the geese didn't fly 'til late.
No ducks....
Today, yes Thursday Jimmy and I went to the place we were going to go on Wednesday. We got there and got set up early and waited for the sun and fun. Today just to be different neither showed. We had a flock of divers that came in albeit high and not looking to stop. In hindsight, we should have given them what for, they were right on the edge of being close enough. Those were the only fowl that were even somewhat close enough. The ducks and geese weren't even really around like they should've been. We didn't see that much flying today, so we packed up around noon and I headed home... empty-handed again.... I blame Jimmy-bad juju.
No ducks....

Thank God goose is still open, I'll take it out on them next week. 😈

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and please if you're going to be out, have a safe New Year.

I'll be out trying to cancel the flight plans of some geese. 😎

Whew....

Well, it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks for me. Last week Sean and I hunted all three days. We started the day usually with an hour sit then I would start a slow drive to him. I spent the rest of the day making drives to him, then the last hour or two we would find a stand to sit in 'til dark. This week was more of the same, we did see quite a few deer the last couple weeks. We were seeing the South end of Northbound deer, the drives didn't really work but I did move deer. Yesterday was the last day of our muzzleloading season, I had actually set down and looked at google maps and marked all my drives for the day. The first drive was uneventful.... for deer, geese, on the other hand, I had a hundred or so fly over at treetops at 10:30 am.
I'll be back for them.
We were walking out and Sean busted out a pheasant... he pooped. We got to the trucks and I formulated the plan. Which entailed Sean going down to stand up by a lake and I would drive to him. When I was on the way to park the truck I realized I left my gun in his car, so I turned around and met up with him at his parking spot. I grabbed my gun and the rest of my gear I had left in his car and headed back to my parking spot.
I got out of the truck and started getting ready to make the drive when I heard a shot from where Sean would be, so I grabbed my phone and called him. When Sean answered I said, "did you shoot?" he said he did and the deer is down, I told him to reload and stay there watch the deer, he said he already did and the deer is not moving. I threw my gear back in the truck and headed over to where Sean was. When I got there I grabbed my gear and started to go to where I thought he would be. I rounded a corner to see Sean standing there looking at a deer looking back at us from down the trail. I thought he said the deer was dead? Sean moved and the deer bolted and I said, "I thought you said he was dead?" Sean said, "he is he's in the trail up there."
So we walked up to see a deer dead in the trail, the other deer must have either been Mom or a sister cause she didn't want to leave even with us there.
I asked him what happened and Sean said," I was coming around the corner and saw a deer in the sorghum and then another in the trail, I slowly put my chair down and put the crosshairs on the bigger of the two and squeezed the trigger. After I congratulated him I got to work and dressed the deer, we got it back and loaded him in the truck. Filled out all the paperwork and headed off to the processor. It wasn't the biggest deer ever taken but boy will he be tender.

 Now with the first one out of the way next, we'll go for quality. : )
As for those geese, I went back out this morning to get an easy pass shooting limit, or so I thought. I got to the spot around 9 am found a nice tree to lean against and waited for the fun. The first dozen left out at what I think was 10-10:30 (I didn't bring a watch) they flew over the water so I didn't shoot. I waited for the rest to get off to go eat.... and I waited.... and waited. I got stood up!!! the mass of geese that left out of there yesterday either left early (not likely) or didn't come back last night. I figure they just didn't come back to roost last night, so I packed out and headed home.
That's why I don't leave the house on Thursdays. : (

Good times

Monday found us back at Jakes farm pond. Since the thaw from last weekend, there have been some birds using it. So we adjusted the A-frame and settled in for a half day hunt. We did have some luck with birds wanting to work, but it seemed they all wanted to land on the right side of the blind. So needless to say Jake shot 3 and Scott and I left out with nothing but the knowledge that the only bird we had a shot at is still flying. 

When you watch the vid open it full screen.

After the hunt on Monday, we jumped in the truck and headed out to do some scouting. We found a cornfield that had some water in a low spot and the ducks were there. Scott was able to get permission on the field for Tuesday.
We got to the field in good time and started hauling the gear out, then we had to break some thin ice to set the floaters. We just got the full bodies and layouts set up and the air filled with the sound of whistling wings. These ducks came by the hundreds ready to do battle over the leftover corn that we were guarding. When the shot was called and the smoke settled there were 5 ducks on the ground and we were all on our way to limitsville.
After the first light flight, we worked 4-6 packs until our limits were filled. We all shot pretty well, Jake went out first, then me, and Scott dropped his last bird around 9-9:15 am. After we had the gear picked up and the hero pic taken I think we were out of the field by 10.
Super fast, Super fun day, Thanks to Jake and Scott.

      Scott                                                                                                           Jake

Wednesday I hooked up the duck boat and headed to Big Turkey still high from the awesome hunt on Tuesday. After 6 hours the high wore off and the cold had set in. I had a couple flocks that came by to give my spread a look, but then it was off to eat... or at least they didn't want to be by me. There were 150 or so geese that left off the lake around 10 a.m. since season is out I could only watch them. After I was sure nothing was going to fly I packed it up around noon and headed to the house.
All in all, I had a pretty great week. Next week .... deer and maybe even sneak out for another pheasant hunt. 😎