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.

1st Location at Sunrise

2nd Location Layout Boats

2nd Location Panorama (looking at the boats)

2nd Location Panorama (looking from my boat)