Archive for the 'Duck Hunting' Category

Finally Picking Up Some Birds

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on November 15, 2009
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Hunted Old Monroe Sunday afternoon on the north side. When I got into blind 1, I was by myself and had a pair of mallards work in. They kept circling and acting like they wanted into the pool, but they also made a couple passes over the top of me out of range. I tried to stay still and hunker down, but I had a bad feeling they were going to bug out. Finally on the third pass over the top of me, I couldn’t wait anymore. Jumped up to shoot a greenhead as he was coming over the top of me at 40-45 yards. BAM! BAM! BAM! Missed all 3 shots as he flared up high and was gone with the wind.

Who-Bear and Jeff then showed up. We had a nice group of 5 birds work us and do the same thing as the previous pair before they bugged out. Then a big group of 10-15 mallards showed up 45 minutes before closing time and did the exact same thing. They would circle the pool, but just didn’t want to commit. Something must not have been right with our set up.  We probably could’ve taken some long shots at a few passes, but we were hoping for birds in the blocks. Finally on one of the passes, we both jumped up to shoot, but then I called it off because they seemed a little long. In hindsight, we should’ve been hammering them anyway. They were shootable, and there was no way that they were going to come back and give us that chance again.

So moral of the story … be ready to reach out and touch them birds at Old Monroe. Just lead them by a bus length and a prayer.

As we were walking out that night, we saw big flocks of birds showing up. They must have been coming in with the NW wind, but unfortunately for us, they showed up a little too late. Now I’m itching to get back out — they’re finally here!

Making the Grand Passage

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on November 15, 2009
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Hunt Grand Pass on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving with Dan, Patrick and Ed. Dan had a reservation and pulled pill 8. Sweet Jesus! So we picked pool 5W and hunted the SE portion of it near some flooded corn.

For once in a blue moon, we were actually ready at shooting time. Unfortunately, the only birds flying were high and none wanted to come near us. It finally started picking up around 8 a.m. when the mallards started flying more, and it stayed pretty good until around 10 a.m. when it got really warm. During this 2 hour window is when we shot most out birds — 8 mallards, 1 widgeon, 1 gadwall and 1 shoveler.

Highlights of the hunt:

  1. The K-L Sport Sled was a huge hit. So glad that I made the purchase. After hauling all my gear into the pool with it, we used it to float all our blind bags and keep them dry in the pool. Just hid it behind us in the flooder corn.
  2. Birds decoyed like a textbook hunt between the hours of 8-10 a.m. It was awesome.
  3. At one point, we had 4 greenheads locked up and coming straight into us. The first one came into range, and the other 3 were right behind him until someone else started shooting in another pool, and the birds started to flare. Luckily Dan hammered the one greenhead in range.
  4. Dan took a nice dip in the pool when shooting at a bull pintail that blew over the top of us.
  5. When I take a camera on the next trip, I need to make sure I take batteries with juice left in them. I took 4 AAs, and none of them had anything left in them. Hence, I took no pictures from the hunt.
  6. I love to duck hunt at Grand Pass, but the drive home sucks!

Good times.

Morning Woodies

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on November 9, 2009
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Hunted Old Monroe on Saturday morning. It warmed up just in time for the weekend. Damn. Didn’t expect to have much luck, but Hubbard and I hunted blind 1 on the north side.

There were small ducks flying early on - mostly wood ducks and teal. Saw lots of them fly into the little pothole back in the woods, where we can’t hunt. Did have one hen wood duck come by us, and I drilled it. Finally, first duck of the season for me. It only took 4 trips. Geezo, that’s bad. Then we pretty much waited and waited and waited. Didn’t seem like much else was going to happen, and then …

We heard one of the owners on the south side of the pool say that they were going to walk back to the pothole and flush the birds out. After about 10-15 minutes, wood ducks started flushing out of the woods. Lucky for us (and not them) a group buzzed by us as they were lifting out of the pool. Hubbard and I both swung on them, and we each drop one behind the blind. Jessie took off to make the retrieves. As she was heading for the first bird, a single drake flew by in front of us, and I wacked it on a cross shot. Jessie got back with the first bird, which was mine, and then forgot where Hubbard’s bird was. So, I got out of the blind to help. As she was looking for the second bird, another woodie came over the top of the blind and Hubbard unleashed the black cloud for a bulls-eye. Jessie saw this bird go down, and it was crippled, so I sent her off after it. As she was making the retrieve on it, I found the second woodie and picked it up. It was an absolutely beautiful drake that Hubbard had shot. Very mountable if he had $200-300 bucks lying around. Took these woodrows back to the blind, and then sent the dog to make the retrieve on the last woodie that I shot. She found it, and came back with wood duck #5 for the day. Not too bad at all. Hubbard shot 1 drake and 1 hen, and I shot 2 drakes and 1 hen.

Good times, and looking forward to the upcoming cod weather. I’m hunting Grand Pass on Friday with Schoenekase, and it should be a dandy of a hunt.

Jessie scanning the skies

Jessie scanning the skies

Jessie waits for more

Jessie waits for more

Taking a break at blind 1

Taking a break at blind 1

5 wood ducks: 3 drakes, 2 hens

5 wood ducks: 3 drakes, 2 hens

Fowl Day at the Duck Park

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on October 31, 2009
in Duck Hunting, Hunting, Layout Boat and Ted Shanks
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Hubbard and I decided to try our luck at Ted Shanks on Wednesday Nov. 11. The bird count was 18,000+ birds and draw time was 4 a.m. We got there around 3:30. Hubbard was the first guy to the window for the poorline and managed to pull pill #2! Absolutely amazing. Picked pool 2D since its bird-to-hunter ratio was one of the best for the wade and shoot areas, and we thought we were going to have a heck of a hunt.

We were the first ones into the pool and headed to the north side of it in our layout boats. In the pitch black darkness, it’s really hard to see how far you’ve gone, so we had a little trouble trying to get to where we wanted to be. We were barely set up and ready by the time shooting time started. After Hubbard missed a pintail drake and I missed a mallard hen, we realized that we weren’t as far north in the pool as we wanted to be. So we packed up al our gear and moved to where we saw birds working and landing.

By the time we got to where we wanted to be, it seemed like the birds stopped working. We did have some singles and doubles work our decoy spread, but we just couldn’t get them to commit. Passed on a few iffy shots at the beginning because we were hoping they would drop into the dekes. Finally decided to stop waiting and start shooting.

Hubbard ended up shooting a single mallard hen that came in, and Jessie made the retrieve on it (with a little help from me — she didn’t go far enough initially). Then we had a mallard drake and hen come in. We both sat up to shoot the drake and missed on the first shot. I shot a second time and knocked it down, but I could tell that it was still alive. Jessie took off after it, and I jumped out of the boat to help her. We ended up pushing the bird ahead into some corn, and then were never able to find it. I did see it briefly down one of the corn rows at about 30 yards, but before I could shoot it, it magically disappeared. Jessie and I ran towards where I saw it, but it was gone. Probably dove. We searched all over, but couldn’t find it. Went back to the boats, and I ended up getting one more shot (and miss) at a mallard hen. And that was it.

Temps hit the mid 60s and there was little bird movement all day. My shooting skills were pathetic. Kind of a bummer to draw so well, get into a great pool and then get the shaft with a bad hunt. But, a bad hunt is better than a day at work, and we had a great time. Looking forward to some cooler weather and more active birds.

First Set-Up Location

1st Location at Sunrise

Layout Boats in Second Set-Up Location

2nd Location Layout Boats

Panoramic of 2nd Location

2nd Location Panorama (looking at the boats)

2nd Location Panorama 2

2nd Location Panorama (looking from my boat)

Mallard Migration Status — Courtesy of MDC

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on October 26, 2009
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Opening Day Bust!

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on October 26, 2009
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Opening day was uneventful. We were able to hunt, even though the area had received major flooding. Shooting time was 6:07, and we walked in about 30 minutes before it.

We were hunting the north side, so Jeff and George took blind 1, and Dan and I decided to hunt blind 3 because it had a dog stand that wasn’t underwater as much as blind 2, and blind 2 still had 6″ of water in it. But, when we got to blind 3, Dan looked inside and saw two big river rats staring at us. Needless to say, we changed our minds and went to hunt blind 2.

By the time we threw out decoys around blind 2, we had already heard some shooting, and saw lots of birds flying. Opening day was officially underway. unfortunately, we only got shots at one group of teal, but they passed us at light speed. By the time I was pulling the trigger, they were already buzzing by us. Had a few other groups come close to us, and had one big duck come by, but by the time we saw anything that was in range, it was too late.

We finished up the morning at around 9 a.m. Each of us had taken 1 shot, and it was already close to 70 degrees out side. Way too warm for this sport. I bailed the rest of the water from blind 2, and I bailed out a dead carcass during the process — probably another nasty old river rat. Lucky me. On the way out, George and Jeff took care of the river rats in blind 3. Lucky them.

Both pools were really high, but I actually think the amount of water will be good for hunting. The corn is finally starting to turn brown, and there are lots of ducks in the area. They just didn’t want to come near us.

The forecast for Sunday was about the same. Sunny and warm. I decided to stay home and sleep in. We’re heading to Shanks on Veteran’s Day Wednesday for the poor line, so hopefully we draw well. We need some colder weather!

‘09 Blinds are Brushed

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on October 9, 2009
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Finished brushing the blinds out at Old Monroe a couple of weeks ago. This year, we replaced the chicken wire on most of them, and we ended up brushing all 6 blinds (instead of 4).  We now have a “party blind” in the number 5 spot. This is a little bigger than the others, and should provide a little extra room for 2 guys and gear. The corn has come in a lot more than expected and has some good ears on it. Not all of it was fully developed yet, but it should provide some food to lure the ducks in, and it definitely provides more cover for the blinds.

Looking forward to the start of the season. Nov. 7 is coming fast! Just need a little cooperation from Mother Nature this year. She wasn’t too kind last year — only got a month of hunting in before the pool locked up!

Working on Blind 5

Working on Blind 5

Blind 6

Blind 6

Thanksgiving Day - Send in the Drakes!

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on December 12, 2008
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We had probably the best mallard hunt of the year on Thanskgiving Day 2008. Hubbard and I hunted Old Monroe in blind 6. I’ve never seen so many mallards wanting into our pool. It was amazing. As I walked into the pool in the dark, I kicked up hundreds of mallards by our blind. As soon as light came, they started coming back. 

Hubbard showed up 15 minutes late, and by the time he got there, I had shot 1 greenhead and passed on several that were hard to ID in the early morning light. I shot my 4th greenhead by 8:30 a.m. and then sat back to watch Dan shoot his. He finished up the morning on a greenhead double! It was awesome!

Jessie had a heck of a morning retrieving birds. I think she was grinning from ear to ear the rest of the day.

Spring Lake, Minnesota

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on December 10, 2008
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Took a trip up north to Hastings, Minnesota to hunt Spring Lake on the Mississippi with my cousin Greg. Hubbard met us up there also, and we had an awesome time. We hunted Sunday, Nov. 16 to Friday, Nov. 21. The week started strong, but slowed down. I shot a banded goose on Monday — my first band! Unfortunately, no one had a camera handy, so I have zero pictures. I guess it’s incentive to go do it again next year hopefully!

Here’s a quick recap of the week. The afternoon hunts were better than the mornings, but we had to stop early on a couple of days because Greg had pipefitter school to go to.

Sunday: 7 mallards — 2 hunters (JV, GV)
Monday: 12 mallards, 4 geese (1 banded), 1 very special merganzer — 3 hunters (JV, GV, DH)
Tuesday: 8 mallards — 3 hunters (quit early)
Wednesday: 5 mallards — 3 hunters
Thursday: 2 mallards — 3 hunters (quit early)
Friday: 4 geese — 2 hunters (GV, DH)

Jessie worked her tail off hunting most the days. She was so tired that we brought Max a couple of times instead of her.

I’m already looking forward to the next trip up there! Maybe a little fishing this summer …

Grand Pass (part 1)

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on December 9, 2008
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I had a reservation to hunt GP on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Hubbard, Schoenekase and Patrick joined me for a hunt which should have been good, but unfortunately ended on a sour note.

I pulled pill #7. Pools 3 and 4 were gone when we got to the window, so we picked 5W. Another group got in before us and hunted the east side which had the most water. So, we put our layouts in on the west side and later realized that there wasn’t much water, and our boats were landlocked. After it got light, and we saw how silly close we were to the trucks, we walked to an area in the middle of the pool where the ducks were actually working, and we immediately had birds on us.

Patrick started it off by drilling the first mallard. I waxed the next drake with one shot as it decoyed in beautifully. Then some issues came up, and I had to leave.