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The three days prior to this morning had not produced much - long, scratched out limits of gadwall, teal, ringneck, and a couple of mallards.

The weather had been abnormally warm, with highs into the mid 70s, and wind out of the south to southeast.

I put almost 400 miles on the truck in those three days. Needless to say, I was exhausted.

So when my good buddy Tanner called me and told me he and his roommate, Brandon, had gotten off work and wanted to hunt, I was a little less than enthused. Nonetheless, I told him I was in.

We had a cold front pushing through overnight, and I suspected some new birds would be coming with it.

The Night Before

That night I intently kept an eye on the wind direction.

I had hunted this spot in almost every wind, except what was being forecasted, a northwest wind. I knew where I wanted to set up but was not sure of the water depth. I checked my aerial photos and picked an alternate spot in case the water was too deep. I double checked that everything was loaded in the truck and I had what I wanted in my blind bag, then hit the sack.

Morning Mishaps

At 3:50 I awoke to my alarm and a call from Tanner just making sure I was up. We routinely give the other a call if we wake up first, not sure if it’s courtesy or just “I was up before you” pride. I was out the door and on the road at 4:05. Following a wrong turn, our meet up, and some other typical early morning mishaps, we made it to the hole. We scanned the area with the spot light as a few dozen roosting ducks jumped up.

I immediately trudged through the water toward the trees and was elated to find the water never went above my thigh. We tossed out 2 dozen mallard decoys and another dozen gadwall decoys; putting most of the decoys up wind and the rest extending down the bank and down the tree line, leaving a lane down the middle. There were two real good trees to hide in, and we fashioned a makeshift blind using a brush pile along the edge of the bank. Brandon got in the blind, Tanner grabbed one of the trees and I grabbed the other setting my dog stand up just behind and to my left, where I like my dog to heal.

Kill Em!

As legal shooting time approached we had high hopes. The spread looked good, we were well hidden, and the weather was a stark contrast from the days before. It was a chilly 36 degrees and dropping. There was heavy cloud cover and a 10 to 15 mph north wind.

It wasn’t long before we heard the single quacks of gadwall above our heads. We checked our watches, looked around the sky, and gave each other the head nod that it was time to hunt. Tanner and I hit the calls, making some feed chatter and light cadences. The gadwall circling above gave their approval, swooping down wind, turning back, and locking up on our spread. Feet down, two feet off the water, I yelled “kill em!” and we had our first two birds. I sent Pecos and by the time he was on his way back, we had another group of gadwall circling above the timber. Tanner started on them with a few cadence calls while I let out some single quacks. I got Pecos back up on the dog stand just as the birds were back pedaling into the decoys. Another “kill em!” and we had two more birds for the stringer. Pecos made quick retrieves on the birds still in the water, and again I had just gotten him up on the stand as another duck was falling into the spread. This time it was single drake mallard. He had cupped up high above the timber and fell right in Tanner’s face. A single shot brought him down. Again Pecos had just picked up the mallard and we had more birds working. I got Pecos hidden away and the mallard on the stringer as me and tanner went to work on this pair of gadwall. Just as we had the pair committed another single mallard dropped from high up. I wanted to let the pair sit until the mallard got into range, but they had other plans. Shortly after sitting down they picked up, I went ahead and called the shot. Tanner and I made short work of the gadwall and Brandon made a hail marry on the mallard. He dropped him cold at probably 50 yards, a great shot. We continued toward our limit a few birds at a time.

A Bonus

During a lull in the action and just two birds shy of our limit, I took a closer look at the mallard Tanner had shot early on. At first I thought he just had a blood stain on his head from the shot, but something was different. I called Tanner over to take a look at it. We concluded we had a brewer’s duck, a mallard and gadwall hybrid. It was a great bonus to a great hunt. We finished our limit with a pair of mallards.

After the hunt we shared a few laughs and took some pictures. Tanner decided to mount the brewer’s duck and dropped it off at the taxidermist on the way back. It was a great day.

Tips

On the drive home I revisited the morning’s events in my head. Man was I happy I had gotten up. I tried to think of a few things that were key to our success today. The first being, actually going, you can’t kill any birds sitting at home.

The weather, always keep an eye on those weather changes. Just like everything else, when things are not working for you a certain way, change it. The weather is not up to you, but it is up to you to make note of these changes and take advantage of them.

Our set up, play the wind and be well hidden. Always have the wind at your back, and set your decoys to bring the birds in where you want them. Leave a lane or a hole big enough for the ducks to feel comfortable landing in. Have the lane well within your kill range.

For the pup, if you are standing in the water always try and use a dog stand. It will allow your dog to see and work much better while also keeping him still. Set your dog a little behind you so to keep him from breaking, he will also be able to mark off your gun better than in other positions.

Have all of the hunters on the same page. Have one guy who calls the shot, usually the guy who will be doing most of the calling. If two guys are calling, designate one to call the shot, and preferably these guys need to be able to see each other and communicate. If one guy sees a group and starts on them don’t fight for the lead, the second guy just needs to play back up. Set some back ground noise for the lead caller.

Most importantly have fun with it. Keep your hunt focused on the fun, the good company, and great scenery. If you do that you can’t ever have a bad hunt.

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