Al Hansen
Well-known member
What an opener. With an overcast sky, Chip and I set out for the teal hole on Saturday morning. Never have I experienced pain in my replacement knee until yesterday when I think that I over did something. That something was trying to pick up my foot and place it in front of the other one while walking or trying to.
There was not much water left but enough to make a difference. I placed out 3 decoys and a Mojo dove. Then Chip and I hunkered down or at least tried to where there wasn't much vegetation at all. The good news is that Chip remembered what Chili and Habi taught him last year. He sat like a rock in the blind for a rambunctious young boy of not quite 15 months.
As is so common place with bluewings, they like that first hour of the season, mostly the first 20 minutes of that first hour. Right on cue with a minute gone into the season I had 3 bluewings come in. As they flew by it was so darn dark yet that if it hadn't been for Chip, that duck I never knew was hit, wouldn't be in the blind. Boy, was I ever impressed with him. This duck landed in the weeds behind me but he pinpointed that bird.
While waiting, I happened to observe him and he is definitely wired as a duck hunter. That made me happy. During the course of the morning I would be talking with him like this: "No Chip, that is a Killdeer duck." What a character!! Later in the morning he learned that Swallow ducks aren't what we are after either. Then just before we left he jerked his head to the south and followed a huge flock of redwing blackbird ducks. "No Chip, those aren't ducks either," I said. You just have to smile because every dog I have ever trained to sit with me in the blind goes through this same learning curve.
Over the course of the first day I would have to say that with just one inch to three inches of water is not an ideal recipe for a pond that will not last much longer down here, especially with our evaporation rates as they are. I was thankful that a handful of ducks did come by for a visit because some of them stayed behind.
Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to do something I have yearned to do since I began this journey back in the fall of 1954 when I lived in western Minnesota. Life is Good!
Al
Sorry about the light but it was the best I could do.
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This was some mean stuff for the young pup to work in but work he did. Yesterday afternoon while working on the Puppy House, I noticed that he was sound asleep in the shade of the patio.
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I should talk about being tired. Here it is the second day of teal season and I'm sitting in front of the computer instead of trying to walk in the muck. I finally figured out that rest is good for the soul. I didn't realize until yesterday after the hunt that with age you begin to tire out.
Late this aftgernoon I will go over to see if there is any water left in the hole. If so, I'll be there tomorrow morning.
There was not much water left but enough to make a difference. I placed out 3 decoys and a Mojo dove. Then Chip and I hunkered down or at least tried to where there wasn't much vegetation at all. The good news is that Chip remembered what Chili and Habi taught him last year. He sat like a rock in the blind for a rambunctious young boy of not quite 15 months.
As is so common place with bluewings, they like that first hour of the season, mostly the first 20 minutes of that first hour. Right on cue with a minute gone into the season I had 3 bluewings come in. As they flew by it was so darn dark yet that if it hadn't been for Chip, that duck I never knew was hit, wouldn't be in the blind. Boy, was I ever impressed with him. This duck landed in the weeds behind me but he pinpointed that bird.
While waiting, I happened to observe him and he is definitely wired as a duck hunter. That made me happy. During the course of the morning I would be talking with him like this: "No Chip, that is a Killdeer duck." What a character!! Later in the morning he learned that Swallow ducks aren't what we are after either. Then just before we left he jerked his head to the south and followed a huge flock of redwing blackbird ducks. "No Chip, those aren't ducks either," I said. You just have to smile because every dog I have ever trained to sit with me in the blind goes through this same learning curve.
Over the course of the first day I would have to say that with just one inch to three inches of water is not an ideal recipe for a pond that will not last much longer down here, especially with our evaporation rates as they are. I was thankful that a handful of ducks did come by for a visit because some of them stayed behind.
Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to do something I have yearned to do since I began this journey back in the fall of 1954 when I lived in western Minnesota. Life is Good!
Al
Sorry about the light but it was the best I could do.
This was some mean stuff for the young pup to work in but work he did. Yesterday afternoon while working on the Puppy House, I noticed that he was sound asleep in the shade of the patio.
I should talk about being tired. Here it is the second day of teal season and I'm sitting in front of the computer instead of trying to walk in the muck. I finally figured out that rest is good for the soul. I didn't realize until yesterday after the hunt that with age you begin to tire out.
Late this aftgernoon I will go over to see if there is any water left in the hole. If so, I'll be there tomorrow morning.
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