It’s taken me a couple of days to get myself organized and reflect back on what’s transpired. This is going to be a long one but I think we all need to hear this.
It all started on Wednesday after work. I’ve been putting in overtime every week since I can’t remember when and I finally took some time off for me. My plan was to take Thursday off to go waterfowl hunting; this would be my first duck hunt of 2023.
I had spent over 3 hours hunched over the boat weaving camo grass and making sure it was blended and on their good. I was exhausted by 10:00 PM and we to bed knowing tomorrow wouldn’t be an early morning shoot as I still had tons of things I needed to do.
The next morning, I pull the boat out of the garage and do some touching up with some camo grass now that there was natural light and I got to see what everything looked like. OK that as good enough for my first hunt.
I unload the goose field decoys that have been in the back of my truck from the first two days of the early goose season and load the boat in the back of the truck. Grab my kayak paddle and lay it next to the boat in the truck.
I then move on to stripping down my shotgun and giving it a good cleaning, collecting my shells, calls, and ear protection etc. and load it into the truck.
Now to decide on what decoys I need to bring. Teal and widgeon are a good bet as they are around early and a hand full of mallards. I decide to take 7 Canada floaters as there are some geese loafing on the bay as well. I get all the decoys placed into the boat.
I wipe the dust off the outboard, fill a garbage can full of water, and top up the motor with some fresh gas and give it a pull. OK it’s running but the water pump isn’t shooting water. Turn the motor off, give it a poke around the inlet and outlet start it back up again and its now shooting a good stream. Load the motor into the truck. It’s now 2:30 PM, I’m losing my day of hunting. I rush to get dressed, collect my dog Skadi, and head off to the bay.
This is where things get messy and I blow caution to the wind. I’m excited, I’m at the water and I know that in about an hour I’m going to be set up and hunting. I back the truck down to the ramp, offload the boat, motor, my hunting gear. I park the truck, put my life jacket on, grab my gun and dog and head to the boat. I start the motor and it sputters, I thought it will get better as I go along so I’m focused on the motor and start putting along when I notice about 200 yards from the boat launch, I left my kayak paddle in the truck. I think to myself, I’m losing day light and I don’t want to waste time heading back in and grabbing the paddle as I had about a half hour boat ride ahead of me yet. What are the chances I’ll need my paddle I haven’t needed it for the past 10 years or so I’ve taking it along so I keep heading into the marsh.
I get to where I want to hunt; take off my life jacket and tuck it at the front of the boat out of the way, remove the motor and place it on shore tucked away out of sight. I set up the decoys and tuck the boat in along the shore. I notice a fishing net and think this may come in handy if I need to chase any birds so I place it in the boat. Dog is positioned, I’m positioned, and I load up the shotgun and now we are hunting. It’s now 3:08 PM and I have just under 4 hours to enjoy my first time out hunting waterfowl during the general 2023 season.