Zero wind, again.  But, we made it work, again.

And...

Got our warrior workouts in for the month.

Had to take some extraordinary measures to get to our spot today.  Loaded up in my boat and made two trips to the drop-off spot of gear, dogs and people (Note to self, I need a bigger boat.)

Then a pretty decent hike with the last 75 yards or so requiring us to sludge through ankle/calf high gumbo mud.  Finally we get set up and then the guide (me) makes a great revelatory statement: Huy guys, sorry but we need to pick up and move another 40 yards to the right.  Luckily we still had 30 minutes before legal.

If you have been duck hunting long you undoubtedly have encountered this scenario: Clear Skies, half moon & zero wind.

What do you think happens? (You can only choose 1 of the answers below.)

A)  The ducks drop into the decoys before legal.
B)  The ducks drop into the decoys before legal.
C)  The ducks drop into the decoys before legal.
D) All of the above.

Yep, 100+ birds dropped in 15 minutes before legal shooting.  Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall and Mallards oh my.

It was beautiful though as we could clearly see the many silhouette's  dropping in by the dozens and all being very vocal having a good ol' time.

Those 15 minutes lasted at least 20-30 minutes.  Uncanny how time will crawl when you and your dogs are watching all the activity directly in front of you.  Was spectacular though.  Especially after the first shots finally rang out.  What a site!

This young lady was on her first duck hunt.  Think I spoiled her.  

We had skim ice out to 10-15' or so.  You can tell it was cold with the steam coming off wet dogs and out of breath guides.

Had a great group of guys this morning. 

Made a mistake today that, if you have hunted with me in the past, I would have had some fun with you on - I forgot to put my shotgun in my truck this morning. LOL

Thanks goodness for a landowner that checks his text messages at 6am.  He let me borrow his for the morning.

Anyway, back to the story at hand...

Fog and little wind made it tough.

First couple groups slid in on us in a hurry and well, let's just say it was just their day to keep flying to parts unknown. 

My shooters had never hunted out of layout blinds before so I felt bad putting them at a slight disadvantage. 

Thankfully it wasn't long until they made the adjustments and birds started falling for my anxious to work retrievers.

Luci & Blaze got covered in the clay/mud/mess.  LOL

Fed, bathed (so the wife wouldn't kill me) and resting up for the next adventure.

Started out with a decent sized spread but as the sun continued to rise I noticed the birds were not finishing like earlier.

The sun was at our backs and we were all tucked into the cover  real well BUT - there was zero wind.

So, I pulled all the decoys but three wonder duck motion decoys and 2 regular decoys.

That did the trick.  Didn't take long after that.

Many of you that have hunted with me in the past have seen me use this at the end of a hunt where:

A) A decoy or 5 floated out too far for me to retrieve by hand without taking water over the top of my waders.

or

B) I'm being a sissy-boy that day because it's too cold and I don't want to get into the water.

No matter the reason, if you are a serious duck hunter you owe it to yourself to go down to your local Ace, Home Depot or Lowes and spend $12 in PVC and glue.  Heck, I'm betting most of y'all already have scarp parts around the garage.

I made it with 1/2" pvc.

Get after it!

​Danno

Oh, and if your rope is not long enough... see below:

*Do NOT try this at home.  These are obviously trained professionals.

Thick fog early bad it tough.  Shot what came in.  Luci can't count past 3 so to her it was a great day anyway.  And to that, I must agree. Blessed to sneak in a mid-week hunt.  Until next time...  "Shoot em in the lips"

Started out like any other duck hunt morning.  All three of us rendezvoused at the appointed meeting time & place...EARLY!

Being seasoned duck hunters we understand that 5 minutes early is on time.

So as we arrived at the property and began to unload our gear it came as quite the surprise that one of us (not named Sheldon or Dan) informs the others that he left his waders in his truck - back at the meet up spot. 😲

Eh, we just filed it under "life happens" and hustled double time back to his truck.  We could really tell that the guy (not named Sheldon or Dan) felt bad so we tried not to remind him that we will be cutting it close to be set up before legal hits.

We still managed to get set up with with a smooth 15 minutes to spare so we just enjoyed watching group after group of ducks begin dropping into our decoys.  Was both beautiful and painful as time really seems to crawl the closer we get to legal shooting time.

The ducks continued to drop in and presented some amazing shooting.  The dawgs, Blaze & Luci, both performed flawlessly.  Not a single blind retrieve was required all morning as they stayed on top of their game.  Competition tends to do that to these two.

Like the dog work, the shooting was flawless as well. Well, mostly...

There was only 1 bird that really stood out all morning.  Mainly because it was the first and only Greenhead we would see all morning.  As it continued its approach seemingly on a string directly towards the shooter not named Sheldon or Dan, I could swear that as a sliver of early morning sunlight hit its legs and I saw a sparkle.  Sheldon seems to think it was doubled banded.

It was such a gimmie shot that Sheldon and I didn't even take the guns off safe.  We just wanted to enjoy the show. Well, it was a show alright... and not in a good way.  Poor guy had a rough morning that we will never let him live down. LOL

In the end we finished the hunt in less time than it took to get back to the truck, towel off the retrievers and take pics.

Sheldon sporting a slick River Pattern on his waders while shooting a new "stacked" steel load to put things together this morning.  He continues to raise the bar when it comes to apparel and equipment.  #VeilCamo#Simms #MigraAmmunition

Luci & Blaze don't care about taking photos.  They are more interested in the ducks that continue to drop into our hole.

Love these retrievers and family members.  Makes amazing mornings like this even more enjoyable.

Looking forward to next time fellas!