Well, the blinds are finally brushed and the pools have been pumped full of water. The season opener is almost here. We went out to the club this weekend to throw out decoys and work on some dog training. Here’s what the club looks like. Not much food due to the 3 floodings, but some millet did survive.

Throwing out decoys

Blind 5 brushed

Blind 6 brushed with decoys

Jessie in blind 6

Jessie is ready to go

Mad dog Jessie

On Sunday, Oct. 5, I went out to the duck club lease near Old Monroe that I share with my George, Jeff and Dan. The area had been flooded three times during the year, so it was pretty much a mess and had no established crops.

All six blinds were full of water and needed to be pumped. Luckily George rented a waste/water pump which helped out a ton! After pumping as much water and river sludge out of the blinds, we scooped the remainder out with a bucket and snow shovel. It was definitely a dirty job, but someone had to do it.

Next, we pulled all the old brush and blind materials off the blinds to prepare them for brushing the following week. We did manage to attach grass mats to blind #1 to see how it would look. Looked OK, but would be better with some natural grass on top of it to break it up more.

Panoramic view of the club

Blind 1

Blind 1 from a Distance

Blind 2

Blind 5

Blind 6

Blind 1 with grass mats

Checking out Blind 1

Jessie decided to hunt while we worked

Looks like we have a lot of work to do…