While the Americans were sleeping off their turkey I decided to do the same and have my own Black Friday at Boundary Bay. I didn't make the dawn flight but arrived at around 10 to an empty parking lot. Having been skunked the last time I was not feeling this day would be any different but without competition I felt less pressure to scrape out anything because no one else was around to influence my game.
After a promising opener, Boundary had proven to be pretty dry this season for me. Since getting five on the first day, I found only scattered success. It seemed the birds wised up almost the same weekend. To be perfectly honest, the bad luck followed me to other opportunities as I had been invited to farms this season as well and only brought back singles each time. So there was no reason to believe this day would be different for me except the fortune of having no competition today on the entire stretch of 64th. Being able to pick my spot meant I could explore a bit and I found some other hunter's natural blind they had constructed from branches and twigs that was just on the edge of the foreshore. Still as I put out my decoys I kept thinking today would just be the same as the previous skunk days. Finding this hole covered with sticks turned out to be the bit that swung fortune my way this season.
My game plan was the same as the past three times. Watch for the tide to come in and hope the unwary rafts of wigeon would float within range. What may have been different today besides everyone else working was that this blind was pretty good. Not only did it provide cover but it was sited around a pool of water. This meant that I could sink into this foxhole and as long as I stayed patient I would see if my plan would work.
But for three hours I sat there getting colder and colder. My extra layers were back at my truck and also my new thermos full of hot chocolate was doing no one any good sitting in my passenger seat. My High N Dry breathables - so nice to walk in with - were not doing me any good without a better base layer. So I sat and tried to control my breathing and tried not to fidget, just watching hundreds of wigeon ducks get closer and closer.
The hide was good, though. So good that a coyote walked right past it and around noon I watched a line of geese WALK out from another corner of the bay and saunter across the beach directly at my spot. And geese were out of season by a few days.
All the while the tide marched up the beach and with them were hundreds of wigeon. These birds had been taunting me and other hunters for weeks now. Staying safe in open water hundreds of meters from the shore. But today would be different. The whole shoreline had only one human with ill intent on the mind.
When I could make out their individual heads I began fighting a nervous chatter in my teeth. I was cold but I was also trying to hold down my excitement. This really was going to work. Those geese kept walking right past me and with their passing there was nothing between the barrel of my gun and the ducks that had been dodging me for weeks.
Nervously, I checked my gun over and over. I quietly stuffed extra shells into my pockets. I shifted my body position and tried to get circulation into my legs. All the while peeking through the scrub in that brilliant hide seeing the wigeon trawl back and forth closer and closer. Then finally they were within range.
For long minutes I tried to fight indecision. Would they get even closer? Would my old gun work? Could I seal the deal? With hundreds of birds in the background, I would definitely be flock shooting to some extent so how could I seize this opportunity and not potentially bust my limit.
Finally, I decided on a smaller group on the periphery of the flock closest to me, my brain synapses finally connected and I made myself go.
I rolled upright, brought my stock to my shoulder and emptied my gun at the chosen birds.
Three shots goes out in under a second on a semi automatic shotgun and I had the foresight to slap in a fourth shell with my Matchsaver as the birds scattered everywhere. One shot to get them flying. Two shots plus the one from the Matchsaver as that group scrambled into the air. In my periphery I understood that birds were falling, some were kicking in the surf and hundreds of their surviving brethren were instantly flapping away. The sky was madness as the entire bay erupted.
As I stood and counted I felt a cold fear. What if I had busted my limit? But I hadn't. I surely had crippled some of those birds but half of my limit were stone dead twitching in the water. As I emerged from that blind I began marking the ones that were not quite floating and grimly walked down the survivors.
Meanwhile of the hundreds of birds (and the geese), the sky was almost empty. After hours of floating in, only a few seconds of shooting had emptied the bay. After a merry chase with two of the cripples in knee deep water I came back to collect the others. An instant limit after hours of sitting.
Edit: I know this pic doesn't show a limit but it was my best picture
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Originally Posted by silveragent
