This crew came all the way down to Texas from negative 12 degrees Wisconsin in search of a trophy gadwall or wigeon.
In the weeks leading up to this hunt I was extremely confident as all that we have been shooting were gadwall and wigeon with a few teal thrown in.
I previously scouted "before the storm came in" and was excited as I saw 75-100 ducks piling in a new spot I had yet to hunt.
I informed my hunters the night before and gave them several options; we could play it safe for a few birds or roll the dice on adventure sports parade in search of making memories. They chose the later.
I wondered what the 2" of rain in 3 hrs would do and it sure didn't take long to find out as we turned in off the pavement.
Our drive in was a 1/2 mile mudding, drive by the seat of my pants six flag ride that wasn't for the faint of heart. When I finally safely put it in park I have to admit - my pulse was up a bit. OK, a lot a bit.
Anticipating the need for my 2-man boat to portage gear and hunters across now deeper channels we unloaded everything at the waters edge and began our escapade to the new "honey hole."
Along the way I
Luckily we soon had 3 gadwall come in on a string to our left and Wyatt shot a double right out the gate. I'm thinking, oh yea baby, we got some shooters!
Cept, we didn't have many more ducks...
Tough sledding the rest of the morning. High flyers that "might" give us a look a 100 yards away. A few flocks of wary wigeon whistling away at us but never coming in close enough. There was new water literally everywhere and once they landed behind the trees it seemed all the birds from that point on would give us half a look then dive into the live spread out of range. Ugh...
In the weeks leading up to this hunt I was extremely confident as all that we have been shooting were gadwall and wigeon with a few teal thrown in.
I previously scouted "before the storm came in" and was excited as I saw 75-100 ducks piling in a new spot I had yet to hunt.
I informed my hunters the night before and gave them several options; we could play it safe for a few birds or roll the dice on adventure sports parade in search of making memories. They chose the later.
I wondered what the 2" of rain in 3 hrs would do and it sure didn't take long to find out as we turned in off the pavement.
Our drive in was a 1/2 mile mudding, drive by the seat of my pants six flag ride that wasn't for the faint of heart. When I finally safely put it in park I have to admit - my pulse was up a bit. OK, a lot a bit.
Anticipating the need for my 2-man boat to portage gear and hunters across now deeper channels we unloaded everything at the waters edge and began our escapade to the new "honey hole."
Along the way I
- Broke the sheer pin in the trolling motor. Got my morning warrior workout in paddling.
- Scratched my left eyeball on a limb. Vision still bad as I type. But not as bad as yesterday so I'm hopeful.
- Rammed my shin against an underwater log and face-planted completely under water. That was sure invigorating!
Luckily we soon had 3 gadwall come in on a string to our left and Wyatt shot a double right out the gate. I'm thinking, oh yea baby, we got some shooters!
Cept, we didn't have many more ducks...
Tough sledding the rest of the morning. High flyers that "might" give us a look a 100 yards away. A few flocks of wary wigeon whistling away at us but never coming in close enough. There was new water literally everywhere and once they landed behind the trees it seemed all the birds from that point on would give us half a look then dive into the live spread out of range. Ugh...
Least Wyatt got his stud gadwall for the wall. The water behind him - 3 days ago was a mud flat that we could easily walk across.
Dang sure came a long way and put up with some crazy/memorable conditions. LOL. Making memories right?
Oh, and that ride out? Just as scary in the light as it was in the dark.
*They brought me some goose summer sausage and Wisconsin cheese. Can't wait to break it out for the playoff games tomorrow paired with a nice cold beverage. I gotta root for the Packers now right?
Dang sure came a long way and put up with some crazy/memorable conditions. LOL. Making memories right?
Oh, and that ride out? Just as scary in the light as it was in the dark.
*They brought me some goose summer sausage and Wisconsin cheese. Can't wait to break it out for the playoff games tomorrow paired with a nice cold beverage. I gotta root for the Packers now right?
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