Went out to Busch Wildlife this past Saturday with Jessie, cousin Jeff and his dog Bogey. The weather was beautiful after a week of doom and gloom rain and clouds. Had bluebird skies with temps in the 50s or 60s.
We did some basic retrieving drills and worked on the 2 dogs honoring each other’s retrieves. Both dogs did a good job, and you could tell that they are ready to go for the season. I sent Jessie on her first double retrieve, and she somehow managed to pull it off after a little help from me on the first dummy bird. It was pretty cool to see, but I know that I need to work on it more with her. She’s 4 years old, but seems like she still has good potential to learn.
Bogey
Jessie
Jessie
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
Blind 6
I hunted again Saturday morning May 2 and heard one bird gobbling. Set up on him by 6 a.m. and gave a few soft yelps. He gobbled back. Then I shut up, and never heard from him again. I tried calling 30 minutes later, but he was MIA. And that was all he wrote. Where I’m hunting the bird numbers must be really down. They haven’t seen hardly any birds feeding in their fields compared to the past few years, and in 2 days of hunting, I’ve heard one gobbler.
I hunted on the first Saturday of gobbler season, but didn’t hear a single gobble. The wind was horrible. Busted one bird off the roost while walking in, but I couldn’t tell if it had a beard or not. It was probably a 4-year old tom with 2″ spurs and a 12″ beard. I did watch 3 hens feed in a clearing from about 100 yards away and kept hoping that a gobbler would walk in, but it never happened.
I was going to hunt on Sunday, but the forecast said that the wind was going to be even worse, so I slept in. I plan on heading back out this weekend. Stay tuned …
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.
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 …
My dad had a reservation for GP on Friday, Nov. 7. He doesn’t carry a gun, but likes to go with us and watch the dog work. Uncle George and cousin Jeff were supposed to go with us, but Uncle George had to back out at the very last minute. So, it was only Jeff and me doing the shooting, while me dad observed.
We pulled pill 16 and were the last party to pick pool 5. Saw a lot of flight birds and big flocks way up high, but could never get any big groups to give us a good look. Wind was strong and out of the West most of the day. We ended up shooting our birds from singles and doubles. I shot 3 mallards, a gadwall and a green-wing teal. I think Jeff shot 2 mallards and 2 shovelers. We passed on a few border-line shots, hoping that the birds would make one more pass, but of course, they never did! Luckily we finished our day on a pair of greenheads. Two drakes came in and zero left. 
It was a good day in the marsh.
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.
Opening day, Saturday, Nov. 1, came and went at our duck club near Old Monroe, and it was pretty uneventful. Definitely one of the slower opening days that we’ve had. I shot one drake wood duck from blind 5 on the south side, and Jessie got her first retrieve of the season under her collar.
The action was so minimal that I didn’t even bother to hunt the second day.
This could be one of the worst blogs ever. I’m having trouble finding time to actually write content. The duck season is more than half over, and I have yet to post about it! Horrible. I’ll try and compensate by writing some quick posts for the hunts that I remember.