longshot
01-02-2009, 11:00 PM
Hey guys,
Today January 2nd is my 15th birthday and we went out to Cowichan Bay for my birthday hunt. It was one crazy day.
We arrived at the gate a good 40 minutes before shooting time and no others were present at the time. So we got to our spot, set up decoys and blind, and ended up waiting ten minutes to shoot. A nice mallard drake is flying around and I call him in and down he goes. Turns out that will be the last one for the early morning. Pretty slow morning. So up until 9:15 with an eyebrow level tide, all the ducks just wouldn't come close enough to shoot. After 9:15 I decided to wade/row across the other side of the area where roughly 600 ducks were sitting. As i'm walking through the ice covered water, I get my birthday bath. Step in a ditch and down I go past my hip waders. :lol: (the laughing represents my dad) But i keep walking. I finally got to my spot i spotted out, hid the boat and waited. Was able to drop down a hen mallard and a pintail drake. Passed up lots of shots on the widgeon and teal.
Around 11:30 my dad was finally able to cross the field with his leaky boots as the tide came down. 12:30 a single goose comes out of no where and flies by at about 45-50 yards. BOOM..BOOM.. Down he goes! :eek: With a duck load (that's all i had). My first 'cow bay' goose ever. I rarely see geese in cow bay that low flying.
Now were sitting low and were just going to pack up around 1:45. I look up and what do I see??? White with black tip wings??? A FLOCK OF 20 SNOW GEESE.:eek: Now for me this is exciting. Even though they were about 800 - 1000 yards up. Never ever seen one before.
They looked at the dinsdale and started loosing altitude. I started playing with them and used my short reed with no technique and just blew in it. (Sounded half swan half snow goose) Staring in aww.. I hear a quack. Turn around and there's lots of ducks flying. Never got a shot as they were just a little to far.
I turn towards to the dinsdale again to see the geese land. Huh? Gone? I turn back around to the duck side and I see the Snows 500 yards away looking for my call. I give'em a couple more honk honks and they turned right to us! My reaction::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Came right over us at 50 yards and BOOM.. I drop one, BOOM..Dad drops one, TWO SNOW GEESE FALL FROM THE SKY. (sorry, not enough room on the page to show my reaction in smilies)
I didn't think snows ever came to the island near cowichan. What a sight. First time ever seen and two come home!
So this ended up to be my best birthday hunt ever. :biggrin: Slow for ducks but not for geese + a nice refreshing ocean bath.
Hope you like the pictures. (if you look at my face with the snows they match the smilies)
Longshot Junior
!! pics coming on next post !!
Today January 2nd is my 15th birthday and we went out to Cowichan Bay for my birthday hunt. It was one crazy day.
We arrived at the gate a good 40 minutes before shooting time and no others were present at the time. So we got to our spot, set up decoys and blind, and ended up waiting ten minutes to shoot. A nice mallard drake is flying around and I call him in and down he goes. Turns out that will be the last one for the early morning. Pretty slow morning. So up until 9:15 with an eyebrow level tide, all the ducks just wouldn't come close enough to shoot. After 9:15 I decided to wade/row across the other side of the area where roughly 600 ducks were sitting. As i'm walking through the ice covered water, I get my birthday bath. Step in a ditch and down I go past my hip waders. :lol: (the laughing represents my dad) But i keep walking. I finally got to my spot i spotted out, hid the boat and waited. Was able to drop down a hen mallard and a pintail drake. Passed up lots of shots on the widgeon and teal.
Around 11:30 my dad was finally able to cross the field with his leaky boots as the tide came down. 12:30 a single goose comes out of no where and flies by at about 45-50 yards. BOOM..BOOM.. Down he goes! :eek: With a duck load (that's all i had). My first 'cow bay' goose ever. I rarely see geese in cow bay that low flying.
Now were sitting low and were just going to pack up around 1:45. I look up and what do I see??? White with black tip wings??? A FLOCK OF 20 SNOW GEESE.:eek: Now for me this is exciting. Even though they were about 800 - 1000 yards up. Never ever seen one before.
They looked at the dinsdale and started loosing altitude. I started playing with them and used my short reed with no technique and just blew in it. (Sounded half swan half snow goose) Staring in aww.. I hear a quack. Turn around and there's lots of ducks flying. Never got a shot as they were just a little to far.
I turn towards to the dinsdale again to see the geese land. Huh? Gone? I turn back around to the duck side and I see the Snows 500 yards away looking for my call. I give'em a couple more honk honks and they turned right to us! My reaction::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Came right over us at 50 yards and BOOM.. I drop one, BOOM..Dad drops one, TWO SNOW GEESE FALL FROM THE SKY. (sorry, not enough room on the page to show my reaction in smilies)
I didn't think snows ever came to the island near cowichan. What a sight. First time ever seen and two come home!
So this ended up to be my best birthday hunt ever. :biggrin: Slow for ducks but not for geese + a nice refreshing ocean bath.
Hope you like the pictures. (if you look at my face with the snows they match the smilies)
Longshot Junior
!! pics coming on next post !!