Monthly Archive for November, 2009

Finally Picking Up Some Birds

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on November 15, 2009
in Duck Hunting, Hunting and Old Monroe
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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
in Duck Hunting and Grand Pass
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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
in Dogs, Duck Hunting, Hunting and Old Monroe
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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