Welp, the best laid plans and all...
We show up with high expectations based on the previous afternoon of scouting.
It became evident 15 minutes before legal that the innitial setup wasn't going to work as we watched group after group dump into open water approximately 100 yards to the south of us.
We could sit, wait and hope that they would change their pattern and offer us some shots... OR pick up and move to where the ducks obviously wanted to be.
It was a no brainer.
We left the spread and set up in the brush close to where we saw the early action.
We were presented with only passing shots and quickly had a bunch of birds in the bag.
As things became clearer we noticed what had attracted the early flights - the receding water levels revealed a crappie condo above water. Thats all we could come up with . The ducks were keying on the exposed white PVC. Strange.
The retrieves for my big engine Blaze were literally exhausting as she had to fight through thick vegetation the entire way out and back. I felt bad for the girl as one of our flyers went sailing 100 yards away on the opposite bank. Tough swim and then had to navigate over and around a bunch of timber.
She is at my feet now as I type (washed of course - my wife would kill me if I let her in the house w/o bathing het first. The mud and weeds had a skunky smell to them.) She gets the spoiled princess treatment the rest of the day. She earned it!
Had a great mid-week hunt with some awesome friends. Being able to view 300+ birds in the sky was awe inspiring.
Can't wait to get out and do it again!
We show up with high expectations based on the previous afternoon of scouting.
It became evident 15 minutes before legal that the innitial setup wasn't going to work as we watched group after group dump into open water approximately 100 yards to the south of us.
We could sit, wait and hope that they would change their pattern and offer us some shots... OR pick up and move to where the ducks obviously wanted to be.
It was a no brainer.
We left the spread and set up in the brush close to where we saw the early action.
We were presented with only passing shots and quickly had a bunch of birds in the bag.
As things became clearer we noticed what had attracted the early flights - the receding water levels revealed a crappie condo above water. Thats all we could come up with . The ducks were keying on the exposed white PVC. Strange.
The retrieves for my big engine Blaze were literally exhausting as she had to fight through thick vegetation the entire way out and back. I felt bad for the girl as one of our flyers went sailing 100 yards away on the opposite bank. Tough swim and then had to navigate over and around a bunch of timber.
She is at my feet now as I type (washed of course - my wife would kill me if I let her in the house w/o bathing het first. The mud and weeds had a skunky smell to them.) She gets the spoiled princess treatment the rest of the day. She earned it!
Had a great mid-week hunt with some awesome friends. Being able to view 300+ birds in the sky was awe inspiring.
Can't wait to get out and do it again!
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