Wigeons.. nothing but wigeons .. (and a buffie)

Getting into the home stretch in Robert's Bank .. seemed like an off year for me personally but a bit redeemed by a crazy day yesterday in Brunswick.

Seeing the conditions were: overcast, decent wind, and high tide in mid-morning, it seemed like good conditions to post up. My group showed up on time and we got our feet wet with only another group out there before us but in a different section. Fine by us.

We got to the edge of the tidal swamp and the water was already ankle deep in the grasses so we were able to walk right out there and chuck about a dozen floaters with time to spare before legal light (of course we heard early shots wayyy before it was legal .. uh huh). Anyway, walking back to the bullrushes when we were suddenly surprised by a trio of Canadas.

Of course, none of us had really looked at the date for the re-opener for Canadas. Double that with my experience that Brunswick sees Canadas very rarely, we were woefully unprepared for their entrance. And they were SOOOO shootable. G**Damn. The Canadas only saw us when directly overhead and scattered. In the back of my mind I knew they opened this week. ahhh missed opportunity,.

After that bit of a set back we split up to our spots. I had tried to get out a jerk rig but ran out of time and so sat down and waited while untangling my jerk rig. I had had some success before sitting in the muck keeping just my head above the swamp grasses but ugh, leaned back too far and the water rushed down my back. But I had just got there so toughed it out, feeling every cold wet seeping into my base layers. Yuck!

From 8-9 .. only scattered fly bys and too high. Wigeon, high flying mallard pairs, they were all stratospheric. Discouraging to see them fly out there to the Deltaport. The cloud cover was so high too and dangerously looking like good weather coming up. But then the tide was coming in. And the waves were building up quickly. The two of my buddies who were half buried in the muck and I were being pushed back. Pick up and move back. Bags floating, dragging guns in the water. One buddy went out to move dekes back and as he was moving it, haha buzzed at point blank range by a wigeon. He snap shot at it . bang bang bang. Total whiff. That provided some levity as the five of us teased him for the gift eluded.

Then after the third reset the dekes are nicely bobbing now in the wind and even with my untangled jerk rig it didn't seem very necessary as the tide and wind action had them merrily knocking about.

9-11. Suddenly the action starts. The weather got dark but still no rain. Just the tide spurring activity. We got flybys and then the wigeon started coming in waves. Trios, quintupples and then larger groups all pushing out from Deltaport direction to Robert's Bank. Some gave our decoys a bit of a circle, others just on a mission but coming in at good range. No need to skybust, just had to be better at overhead shots. Plop plop plop one bird, then another. One cupping into our decoys and then another. A couple sailing into the grasses so those shooters having to peel off to do some exploration to find the cripples. Lots of action and the satisfying smack of birds skipping on the water. Hard to express to non-waterfowlers how satisfying that is.

One bit of hilarity to cap off the day, one of the hitherto skunked hunters was served up an opportunity to pick up a bufflehead who landed among our dekes. The others turning up their noses at it but he decided to go out there to swat it. Three shots, it was twitching but even with three more for the coup de grace it motored away just out of reach. He finally gave up once waders were up to his chest. Alas not even a consolation prize. He decided to pack up early.

But then at the end of the day around noon after everyone had had enough - and me teeth chattering - we were packing up our decoys and .. what was that floating almost at the very spot the tide had driven us into .. and AFTER our buddy had already quit and started off early home - the buffie was there floating like a gift. Incredible. It was alive too so maybe it even decided to swim right in to say hi after being shot at six times. Ah those buffies are sure funny.

We picked it up and finished it off and then this hawk started hovering right over head. A basketball player could have jumped up to touch it. For several minutes we tried to see if it would accept the little buffie as an offering but it was content to just observe these strange humans and their activities. A wonderful nature moment.

When I got to my car I decided to just drive straight home, waders and all. And as soon as I got in the door my girlfriend made me a path right to the washroom. I marched right into the shower wearing all my stuff and stripped right there. And then I showered with my waders and my gun. Hot showers - what a blessing!

Anyway, not the best day but a memorable day. Even with me just bringing home a single splendid wigeon drake I would easily do it over again (and next time pay better attention to opener dates so I could smoke a Canada).

Sounds like a great day.....thanks for taking us along.

Great story. Hope you got to take your waders off when you went to bed! :-D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mastercaster

Great story. Hope you got to take your waders off when you went to bed! :-D

---

I've been so tired before that I've purposely laid down in a dry spot in the field to nap because I didn't trust myself driving home before getting some winks!