After chatting with Ron C this year about hunting the bay layout style and having a young dog starving for some experience on the water it was time to dust off the old Momarsh DP. I have a young and eager dog that doesn't mind getting wet so it was time for all of us to get wet again.
The last time I had the Momarsh out, that I have pictures for, was 13 Oct 2010.

The day didn't start so well, struggled to get myself out of bed and get to the bay. By the time I got out there the tide was receding fast and got stuck on the mud flats. Got to hear at two different groups get some shooting in. I set the decoys out but anytime something showed any interest they where steered off by gunfire in the distance. Saw one group heading back to the boat launch, Two adults and two youths and a dog I believe. I don't think they saw me until they got within 50-70 yards from the boat. Spent a good part of the day laying in the sun waiting for the tide to come in so I could set up where I wanted to go.

I was surprised how steady Skadi was in the boat, this was her first all day hunting out of it and didn't get fidgety until 11 hours into the day, she was wet and getting cold from being out there all day. I need to set things up better for her in the boat so she's not laying in the water that's coming off of her. I need to pick her up a vest that better fits here as well. The vest she has on was Marshall's and she's 66 lbs compared to Marshall's 105 lbs.

All in all it was a good day, I got to shoot some birds and Skadi retrieved them all for me. We called it a day a few hours before legal time was up, we managed 1 mallard, 3 widgeon, and 1 green wing teal. I wasn't being picky I just wanted birds down for the dog to give here some experience retrieving on the water. It was also the first time swinging the 20 gauge from the boat and that took a little getting used to. After missing the first two opportunities on teal I started to wonder if I was going to regret taking the 20 gauge instead of the 12 gauge. I got myself sorted out and started hitting birds after that.