yamadirt 426
01-10-2011, 12:40 AM
Jan 8 7:20am, Deeks are setup. Seen a few birds while setting up so I was excited. Sure enough there were birds and i blew through an embarrasing amount of shells with no birds to show for it. Im not a great shot to begin with but i should have dropped a few.
Then in comes a low and fast flying duck and I drop him on my second shot. Ol' Stumpy . A nice little Widgeon all by himself. Maybe the others never excepted Ol' Stumpy for who he was as I know they are a big flock bird.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/tyrante/DSC_0003.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/tyrante/DSC_0002.jpg
I was concentrating on my aim too much this morn. I just had to aim naturally. It was getting a little slower but just as the phone rang and I answered, in came a drake mallard. Told buddy to hold on , lifted up the 12g , dropped him with one shot and finished up the business call. Self employed so unfortunately the phone stays on when I'm in service.
This ended the morning hunt. I should have walked away with a limit .
Well I was lucky enough to be out again in the afternoon. Same spot and birds still flying. 3:45 and 5 mallards locked up on the decoys. They came from behind and all i heard was the air flowing through their feathers. I gave a call and they circled back . I didn't drop any of those birds and only took one shot. I couldn't believe I missed at that distance and I just watched as they flew away and laughed at me. It started to hail now but i just sat it out
A few teal that were working the area happen to come by and I shot twice with one falling next to me. If i can hit these guys i must be shooting to far in front of the mallards I figure. Teals are a very pretty duck and fast.
Then flys by a mallard, 2 shots and it keeps going. ahhhh She locks up for a landing in the river 200yds away which surprised me then i saw a couple feathers floating down infront. Did I hit her ? Lets go see. I went for a look and didnt see much then went back to the blind. I had about ten minutes left of shooting time. I thought she didnt even look wounded so I will go for a walk when im done.
Well after about 5 min i just had to go see before it got too dark. I hiked further down the dyke this time look around the corner and there was a floater in the middle of the river. Normally not a problem but I didn't have my hunting partner with me and more importantly ( j/k Sean) his dog Tex. It was a last min decision to go out or I would have called. lol. Anyway as im standing at the bank trying to 100% positivly ID that it is infact a duck as only the ass was sticking out. There was a splashing 10 yds away and there was my mallard hen doing her final death twitch. Great she was right beside the bank
Picked her up and put her beside my gun. But what was that floating ? It sure looked like a duck to me? It was about 15feet away. I'm not really sure what happened next. Some bright light went on in my head. What if I strip down to my boxers and wade out to see ? Sure what the hell. Took my gear off but left my shirt on and went out till my balls touched. Holy mother of jebus It was cold and the friggin bird was about 8 more feet out. Well at this point the heart was pumping that cold water hard to breath feeling you get was intense. But with a huge smile on my face i lunged forward. It took a few seconds for the cold water to hit me through my wool long sleeve.
With my berries sucked up to my stomach i swam out and grabbed this mistery bird. Got back to the bank and took off my wet clothes and put my jacket ,pants and socks on. I was warm in minutes and was so full of adrenalin i didnt matter. In fact it was fun and I was laughing at myself the whole time. Would i do it again ? Who knows. This was my polar bear swim :wink: And the mistery bird another... Teal. So I did hit 2 out of the flock. I was the only one hunting the area and she was still alittle warm.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/tyrante/DSC_0004.jpg
If i didn't look for the one I wouldn't have found the other.
So have a chuckle on me. If you need a dog I might be available :-D
Then in comes a low and fast flying duck and I drop him on my second shot. Ol' Stumpy . A nice little Widgeon all by himself. Maybe the others never excepted Ol' Stumpy for who he was as I know they are a big flock bird.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/tyrante/DSC_0003.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/tyrante/DSC_0002.jpg
I was concentrating on my aim too much this morn. I just had to aim naturally. It was getting a little slower but just as the phone rang and I answered, in came a drake mallard. Told buddy to hold on , lifted up the 12g , dropped him with one shot and finished up the business call. Self employed so unfortunately the phone stays on when I'm in service.
This ended the morning hunt. I should have walked away with a limit .
Well I was lucky enough to be out again in the afternoon. Same spot and birds still flying. 3:45 and 5 mallards locked up on the decoys. They came from behind and all i heard was the air flowing through their feathers. I gave a call and they circled back . I didn't drop any of those birds and only took one shot. I couldn't believe I missed at that distance and I just watched as they flew away and laughed at me. It started to hail now but i just sat it out
A few teal that were working the area happen to come by and I shot twice with one falling next to me. If i can hit these guys i must be shooting to far in front of the mallards I figure. Teals are a very pretty duck and fast.
Then flys by a mallard, 2 shots and it keeps going. ahhhh She locks up for a landing in the river 200yds away which surprised me then i saw a couple feathers floating down infront. Did I hit her ? Lets go see. I went for a look and didnt see much then went back to the blind. I had about ten minutes left of shooting time. I thought she didnt even look wounded so I will go for a walk when im done.
Well after about 5 min i just had to go see before it got too dark. I hiked further down the dyke this time look around the corner and there was a floater in the middle of the river. Normally not a problem but I didn't have my hunting partner with me and more importantly ( j/k Sean) his dog Tex. It was a last min decision to go out or I would have called. lol. Anyway as im standing at the bank trying to 100% positivly ID that it is infact a duck as only the ass was sticking out. There was a splashing 10 yds away and there was my mallard hen doing her final death twitch. Great she was right beside the bank
Picked her up and put her beside my gun. But what was that floating ? It sure looked like a duck to me? It was about 15feet away. I'm not really sure what happened next. Some bright light went on in my head. What if I strip down to my boxers and wade out to see ? Sure what the hell. Took my gear off but left my shirt on and went out till my balls touched. Holy mother of jebus It was cold and the friggin bird was about 8 more feet out. Well at this point the heart was pumping that cold water hard to breath feeling you get was intense. But with a huge smile on my face i lunged forward. It took a few seconds for the cold water to hit me through my wool long sleeve.
With my berries sucked up to my stomach i swam out and grabbed this mistery bird. Got back to the bank and took off my wet clothes and put my jacket ,pants and socks on. I was warm in minutes and was so full of adrenalin i didnt matter. In fact it was fun and I was laughing at myself the whole time. Would i do it again ? Who knows. This was my polar bear swim :wink: And the mistery bird another... Teal. So I did hit 2 out of the flock. I was the only one hunting the area and she was still alittle warm.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/tyrante/DSC_0004.jpg
If i didn't look for the one I wouldn't have found the other.
So have a chuckle on me. If you need a dog I might be available :-D