pre-season preparations

[dave]

Well the decoys have been cleaned and the anchor lines have been checked. The mojo has been checked and its batteries have been charged and I just finished fabricating an extension for its support pole out of an old extendable curtain rod (doubt I'll ever use it in 8ft of water but who knows). Waders and camo have been repaired and checked. The guns have been used for some skeet and trap and are clean and ready to go. I picked up plenty of shells. The jon boat is ready to go and the wife wasn't surprised to find it had grown by a couple of feet since last fall. The electric boat motor has been checked and the batteries are charged. The dog worked hard this summer and seems ready to go. We have been out to the marsh to look things over and do some scouting and it looks good. I've about driven the family crazy with the duck call. I went out last week and got all the paperwork. I even cleaned the thermos. I don't know but I think I'm almost ready. October can't get here fast enough.

[Dano]

Right there with you Dave. Went out in the marsh for the second time in a week and we have all our supplies out there now so we can do the upgrade on the blind (making it longer, possibly up to 7 will fit!).
If you're not excited enough already, there were some large flights of mallards flying into the marsh just before dark.....large flights!
I'm a lot more excited then I was after the goose hunt sunday!
Dan

[Dano]

Went out to the marsh about 9am today to work on the blind, home about 3:30! We extended our existing blind we moved last december so we can invite a few more guys along and we also decided to try making a small partial roof on the new addition. I think it will work well and seeing as I'm a guy who wears glasses, I think it will help me a lot because it really is tough to see when it's raining hard and the glasses get covered in water...
I'll post pictures of the blind next week when we go out for the Heritage days opener.
Looked to be a few more mallards out there this week, even saw a small flock of geese. Lots of woodies.
Rick (zaconb), was out there and stopped by. We went for a cruise around the marsh in his duck rig. I would have to say it's probably the best style rig for hunting the marsh as the motor is the Mud Devil style and the 18ft beamy johnboat is very stable to move around in. On top of that, Rick has a pop-up Mossy Oak Shadow grass frame mounted to the boat that will allow him to hunt anywhere. He'll do well as he can pick up and move to where the birds are and with that motor he can easily move where others won't go. I look forward to his posts and pictures this season.
So all I need to do now is get the decoys down and check the anchors/lines. Not too much actually!
Can'y wait until next week, I'll take lots of pictures as it's for the youth only, I'll try and get some video too.
Dan