Happy Thanksgiving

Monday I started out by myself in the field my buddy Ron oversees. He had texted me last Thursday asking if I was going to be down during the weekend because he has had people asking to hunt. I let him know I had to work but would be down on Monday to shoot it. Long story short Ron held the field for me, thanks again these hunts probably wouldn't have happened without Ron looking out for me, I really appreciate it.
Back to the facts of the hunt: wake up at 4am on the road by 5:15am hit the field by 6:15 have my first flock of geese do a flyby while still setting up at 7:10 (shooting time) get done setting up by 7:15 shoot my limit by 8:05, pack up and go home. You'll see in the video that once I shot, the pond at the end of the field just emptied out. I hung out to try and get a couple ducks.

Did you see the spinner in the lower left-hand corner kick on? It's started and stopped with a remote, this info is important for the events that unfold on Tues.
 So as you saw none of the ducks wanted to have anything to do with me. I had a flock of geese land between me and the end of the field that I waited for them to feed and leave of their own volition. I waited because after I saw what was in the area I knew I was coming back either Tues or Wed weather permitting. So once the geese left the field I gathered my gear and headed for the house.

I got home and called Jake and my buddy Cliff from work.... you remember him I took him to Erie this summer.

Anyway, he had mentioned that he would like to try hunting so I figured this would be an easy/warmish hunt for his first. With all the birds in the area, he should have a pretty good time. With Cliff being the newby I know they want to help, and other than hauling stuff I'm kinda very particular on how the setup and takedown go. So with that being said, I dole out very easy tasks for new people and as they hunt more the responsibilities and understanding of how and why I do things grow. That being said first hunts usually start out the same: help pack as much gear as possible, then get stubble to stubble the blinds with- just keep getting stubble until we tell you to stop. Now take that stubble and stubble the blinds. That is usually the extent of their help, I usually have everything else handled. However, this year as you saw in the video I have employed a spinner into my spread. I gave Cliff the responsibility of turning the spinner on and off with the remote. When we had geese working the spinner needs to be off. Ducks eat the spinner up, while geese don't really like them and they will skirt your spread and land wide because of them, in most cases.
With Jake having to leave earlier than we did I put him on the left as it would be easier to re-stubble the ground where he was, with the birds coming in from right to left. I also had Jake call the shot on this hunt, usually, if it's your field it's your show. With Jake on the left, he would have a better idea when to call the shot.
Ok, let's get started.... We were set up and ready just waiting for the fog to lift a little for the first flocks of the day started.

Usually, with fog on the ground they wait to fly until it burns off, today however we had some anxious geese that decided to fly early. Now, keep in mind the spinner was going because usually the ducks fly off and feed before the geese do. So with the honk, we heard from behind, the: turn off the spinner chant started and do you remember who's responsible for that????
Yep, that was Cliff. The geese came in for the first pass looking to land.... the spinner was still going, turn off the spinner. They came around on the second and the flock was trying to break up and have 5 land off to my right, I was on the right side, but we picked up the calling and they stayed in the air.... turn off the spinner. By this time it looked like Cliff was trying to dig a tunnel in his layout blind, the doors were bumping up and down and he's goin' crazy trying to do the 1 important thing that he was responsible for. By the time the geese were on the third pass, we were still working the geese and they would've done it....TURN THE DAMN SPINNER OFF 😡, they finally slid off and I told Cliff to open the doors and find the remote, and finally, the spinner was off as we watched the flock fly out of range and away from our set. Lesson learned, if at any point during the rest of the hunt you asked were the remote was, Cliff had it in hand.
Jake relayed a story about James (hunted my first early season hunt with him) where if the spinner wasn't shut off he would take care of it,😱 (shoot it) and buy you a new one. No joke, and trust you me he would do it without hesitation.
Well, with the first flock well on it's way to a less frantic field we were left to wait for the fog to burn off and discuss what had just happened. I got up to shut off the video and this is what I saw....

facemask on upside down

facemask wore the correct way

It didn't take too long and the ducks were in the air. With ducks on the way I turned on the video only to think, Jake will probably call the shot before the video starts anyway. Well, if you saw the video above that's how the ducks came in, all at the same time. They just kept circling and landing in the decoys still no call to shoot. Even as this lone goose landed to my right at only 5 yards still no call. As the horde circled and landed in the dekes I saw one black duck and one spoonie in the mix of mallards. So I kept my eyes on the black whenever it came around. After we hit the 5-minute mark, (I'm guessing), I asked Jake if he was waiting for the ducks to land in the blinds before calling the shot. Just then the black landed in front of the spread about 15 yards, that got my attention. It was only a little bit after that, that Jake called the shot. The first and only duck to fall from my gun was the black, of course I squeezed the trigger 2 more times out of sheer joy I think. I never got on another duck that I can recall but I did unload on them. Jake was happy he said he got 2 and Cliff was ecstatic because he dropped his first and only duck. With the guns empty and smoking we laughed and joked about the scene that just unfolded as I got up to turn off the video.... the video was not on. I MISSED THE WHOLE THING 😰. I felt sick.... even as I write this I'm still kickin' myself for not getting the duck display on video, it was truly awesome. So even though we didn't put a bunch of feathers on the ground, everyone had a super fun shoot.
I hope.
Well, it was time for Jake to leave so I got the hero pic, he packed up and took off. No geese, just ducks.

little rigo set in.... the drake on the right is a beast

After another hour and a half passed Cliff and I picked up and headed home.

P.S.-I had to pry the remote out of his hand.

My black duck, I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to get him mounted.... in the end he ended up as supper. When I got home I checked out what the $ would be to mount him... 3 bills was about the norm. I'm going to start a "mount it" fund. Of the ducks and geese I have shot there are 3 I should've had mounted. The black above...

in 08 I shot this mallard-pintail cross

and of course my spec from last year.

I'll be ready for the next one.

Back to the grind

 With the end of firearms season next week I'll be doing the 2 a day's (ducks in the am and deer in the pm) until I get another deer to please my landowner (summer sausage), and all the little whisper'ers in his ear. But that starts next week, this week was duck only and it seems all the ducks that were in the area bailed for now. I did get out Monday to Big Turkey and pulled one mallard from the sky.

Like I said it just seems like since the weather warmed the ducks went back North, just like I like when they get pushed out on a cold front around here. Then on Tuesday I was at BT again and let another Suzie ride in the truck.

With these two ducks, in the past two weeks, I have nailed down a limit of mallards. I sure hope the rest of the season runs a little better. I don't need a limit every time but it sure would be nice to clean 2 or Lord forbid 3 birds in an outing. Oh, well everyone has dreams I guess. Along with the 2 a days next week, goose opens up again, and I cannot wait for that to happen. There are a ton of geese in the area right now. I don't know if they'll stay in the area after this weekend but they sure are here now.

Another D and D week, more D than D

With the cold front looming, I set out to Loon lake just 5 minutes from the house on Monday. As soon as I got set up I was farting around in the boat and I had a dozen or so wood ducks land in the decoys. So with all the stealth of a drunk ninja, I loaded my gun, stood up in the boat and dropped what I had thought was a drake only to find out it was a hen wood duck. Oh well, they both eat the same but I wish I had shot a drake, anyway after an hour the snow started and never stopped. By the time I had everything picked up the vis was down to... well, being able to see my hand. I managed to get the boat back to the landing and onto the trailer and back to the house without breaking anything so that was a plus. I didn't get a pic because I COULDN'T SEE ANYTHING. After I got home I winterized both of my motors on the big boat, so they are ready to go in the spring.
So on to Tuesday, I went to Big Turkey and wow did the weather push new birds in. The numbers of ducks and geese were amazing, and after my traditional late start, I ended with 2 drake mallards. The day went through the whole gambit weatherwise from sun to snowsquall, to a mix of both with some wind thrown in for good measure.

The morning was absolutely beautiful

This squall just passed through you can still see it in the background

A flock of geese landed and swam around my decoys, of course, goose is closed right now.

The weather just kept switching like someone was channel surfing. And like I mentioned earlier I did get 2 mallards....

Yep, that's snow behind me we got 4 inches Tuesday

 If you notice I got a new set of waders this year, and man are they awesome. I honestly think these waders were not designed by PETA, they kept me dry, warm, and comfortable throughout the hunt. In fact, the last time I slept that good was in a layout blind.
Now Wednesday I was all primed to get back to Big Turkey after all the ducks I saw on Tues.
So I got to bed early, got up a little late and made it to the lake right on time. Only to find out overnight the landing and whole bay froze over. Well CRAP, my boat won't break any amount of ice so I did what anyone else would've done. I bolted back to the house changed clothes grabbed my crossbow and went to freeze in a stand for 3 1/2 hours. The only thing I saw were squirrels no deer just squirrels. I did get buzzed by some very happy mallards.
Jeff's day started with a little deer hunting, and all I say was squirrels and ducks again. However, on the way home I went around the backside of the property and saw the biggest buck I have seen out on that property. He was hanging close to a doe in the middle of a field, and with gun season starting Saturday his days might be numbered. I gotta drop a doe, sooner rather than later. Then I can stop deer hunting and focus on everything else I need to be hunting.

Ducks and Deer

I would normally be asleep by this time, with it being Jeff day and all. However, I have had a million things to take care of today and have left the house 3x's today, I KNOW 3X'S. After I took my shower and was ready to go to bed I saw that I haven't done laundry yet so with that here I am. I was going to wait 'til next week to write this but since I found some time....
 All week was the same thing Ducks in the morning and Deer in the afternoon and all but Wed were the same.
Monday: Was a treat, we still have standing corn and there is nothing that is more fun than to shoot out of the corn. I saw many geese and got a duck.

40 geese could've landed for a shot. 2 clucks and a moan and they were lookin' for a place to land

 

 I did shoot another but I couldn't retrieve him, try as I might. I hope the corn stands 'til goose season comes back in.
When I got home I went deer hunting at the magic 5 and had a small doe within' 5 ft of me. She knew something was wrong just couldn't figure out what it was.
Tuesday headed to Big Turkey Lake and shot a duck.

I did shoot a drake but he fell in the glare of the sun and I lost him after an exhausting search. Then that evening went back to the magic 5 and watched a spike meander around for 15 minutes.
Wednesday was the only day I didn't shoot a duck, much to my dismay. However, I could've shot a nice 8 while deer hunting that night at the magic 5.
Well, laundry should be about done and I'm tired, stay safe and take care 'til next week.