The Marine forecast wasn’t looking good for the beginning of the day so I decide to sleep in and pack up in the morning with the hopes of starting hunting by 11 was high tide this morning. The tide was so high today that when I stepped off the grass that used to be the shoreline on a normal tide it was now up to my waist in my waders so the decoys were max 10-15 yards from where I was hiding this afternoon.
I was surprised with the lack of birds this morning usually I’m pushing birds out of where I normally setup and though maybe they are hanging out at a different section of the cove but nope just a lack of birds in the area today. I’m guessing the rain we got overnight has sent them to the flooded fields to feed.
I’m sitting for about an hour before the first opportunity presented itself. I heard wings and when I looked behind my shoulder, I just got a glimpse of a hen mallard. I hit the call a couple of times and the hen circles and flies out in front of me over my decoys. I shoulder the gun but notice she’s got a drake mallard in toe. I switch targets and pull the trigger; I can tell he’s hit but he’s still given er. I try and second shot but this guy doesn’t know when to stop. He’s flying left to right and now he’s heading down the shoreline. I loose sight of him as he gets further and bushes are in the way so I can’t tell if he’s in the water or on land.
I put the safety back on the gun and put another 2 shells into the shotgun and bring the dog down the shoreline to see if we can try and possibly sneak up on this drake mallard to finish him off, that’s if we can even locate him I didn’t see if he landed or kept on going but I knew I had to go and look and see if I could locate him. The tide was right into the bush line so it was hard walking with a lot of floating debris. We are a good 80 yards or more from my decoy spread when the dog comes across the mallard laying on its back stone dead. The first thing I did was check and see if it was warm and not someone else’s lost bird from the weekend. Nope it’s still hot and the neck and head are still limp.
We walk back to the blind and set up again. That mallard came in after being set up for almost two hours it was now 1:00pm. We sat in the blind for another 2 1/2 hours without seeing another bird in the spread so I make the executive decision. Time to pack it in I can sit at home and do nothing there as easy as doing it here. I unload the shotgun the dog leaves the blind and I stand up. Wait there is a widgeon swimming in the decoys. I sit back down scramble to find my shells load my gun, all the time the dog is at the waters edge not 10 yards from this duck lol. I stand back up and locate the duck again and aim as I’m trying to determine if it’s a drake or a hen. I told myself I would only shoot drakes once November was here to the best of my ability. It’s a young drake, a couple tuffs of white on his forehead and a smidge of green around his eye. I take no mercy on this guy after waiting for two 1/2 hours at another opportunity and water swat him in the decoys. The dog is confused as he didn’t realize there was a live bird in the decoys on the other end of the spread she was standing by. Ok so now it’s 3:30 and I have a couple of ducks in the blind. What the hell I’ll wait it out a bit longer.
[img][/img]
I start squawking on all my calls hoping something out there might hear me and want to come in and check out the spread. Every once in a while, I heard weird quack. At first, I thought it was some kid of diver or wounded duck as I didn’t recognize it and I’m pretty good at recognizing different quacks or whistles they make. This goes on for maybe another 20 minutes and finally I see movement just outside of the decoy spread on the mallard side of my decoy spread. It’s looks like a widgeon but it’s quacking instead of whistling. I’m bored, I now have a duck in the decoys and I decide I’m going to add it with the other two I have already.
I try water swathing it and it jumps up and I crumple it with the follow up shot. I send the dog out for the 20 yards or so retrieve and the first thing I notice as the dog is bringing it back is that it has orange legs! I was like no way; did I finally shoot a drake Gadwall? I shot one as a teenager back on the east coast about 40 years ago. No wonder I didn’t recognize the quack!
The dog brings it to me and I’m in disbelief. What a beautiful looking bird! So beautiful I have put it aside to be mounted for the wall. If I had given up and went home at 3:30pm I would have never had the opportunity to get such a unique and beautiful bird.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by last light
