Al Hansen
Well-known member
Did I ever tell you that I abhor duck hunting when we are in a full moon phase? I did not need my head lamp at all to place my decoys or build my make shift blind. I normally do not fare well with these conditions. Not only that I figured that with me disrupting their schedule like I did yesterday when I got my limit but shot poorly, I really didn't think I would do well at all.
I quickly went through my list of things to do. First was to set my decoys in place. I am at a disadvantage because at 77 years young, I cannot walk into this pond with the depth of silt and mud. All my decoys had to be set within 17 feet so I could reach them with my retriever stick. I have a nice little alcove to use and it makes them look like they are out farther than they really are. All 5 dekes were put right where I wanted them. I did notice that the water level was down and two them landed upright but did not move because the keels were in silt.
I then placed the two motion wings that I use and these were on land looking like they were just about to land in the water. I have always had good success with that. One was on a shorter stand with the other about 2 feet above that and behind the lower motion wing. That didn't take long since I was only 20 feet from my Mule. All I had to do was get up the embankment.
I drove east about 40 yards and set up in the corner so that when the sun rose it would be right behind me. I decided to get set up as close as I could to the water. There was some vegetation like Japanese millet that helped conceal Chip. I had a piece of black shade cloth that I used. Since the dike road was above me about 6 feet i knew there was no silhouette and that was reassuring.
The most difficult thing I had to do was find stable ground for my chair. There are four rungs touching the ground and on one test spot I sunk down about 8 inches. I finally found a great spot and set everything up. Once again being very thankful that I had plenty of electrician's tape. It works like a charm. I looked at where Chip was and was satisfied with his position as I was with mine. I was not going to worry about being seen.
I checked my phone for time and found out I only had 14 minutes to go. The full moon was almost right above us. It was then that I happened to see Chip's radar become fully activated. I followed his stare and he was looking west. In fact right above the area where my decoys were I could see 5 widgeons land. I knew they were widgeons because of their size and telltale whistling. I watched them land and could see the ripples where the moon light hit. It was getting lighter so I checked my phone and it said, 6:47AM. It was a pleasure to see Chip not going into a hyperventilating scene. I had no brown paper bags. Well, my partner was growing up and I loved the signs he was showing me. He held his position, straining his eyes for a better look I was thinking. Well, I glanced at the phone for the time and it told me I still had 2 minutes. So I did the next best thing and counted to 120 in groups of 10 starting out with 1001, 1002. When I finished with the last set, I stood up, the birds flushed and I had one in the drink. Chip had a ways to go but made a nice retrieve.
My mind was racing around thinking that I am not seeing as many birds as yesterday and that was a bummer. Heck, I bet I hadn't been looking around for 5 to 10 minutes when I had a good sized flock of mallards come in. They made a large circle flying directly behind us. On their 2nd swing by they cupped their wings and lost altitude quickly. While reading the birds I could tell they weren't that sure and it looked as if they would continue on again. The good news was that they headed straight east towards me and then swung north a little. I saw my first greenhead, pulled on him and watched him come crashing down. The second drake was climbing quickly in the same direction. Going left to right has always been my shot of choice, even with my barrel bent to the left. I put a hurt on that drake and could tell by the way he was hit with my 2 3/4" 4 shot that he was dead. He too came hurtling down just beyond the dike road to the north of me but not far.
Chip had to scale the embankment and go down the other side of it. He didn't take long in locating the first greenhead. He brought it to me and we then went searching for the 2nd greenhead. I looked at Chip and said, "Dead bird, Chip!" He was dashing towards the barbed wire fence and for the first time I watched him use his nose. He bulldozed his way into some deep brush and came out of there with a very dead but darn beautiful mallard. Boy, did I ever have that Cheshire cat's grin on my face. It has been a while since I pulled a double on some mallards before the sun was up. We headed back to the blind.
It is difficult to put into words how things went for the last three birds. I was holding one of the drakes just checking him out when I saw Chip's head look upward. I looked there too, just in time to drop the big duck, grab my Nova and pull on a lone pintail hen that was about to get out of harm's way. She didn't quite make it. I saw her bounce up off the dike road. That was cool to see. My buddy was there in a lightning's flash and before I knew it I had 4 beautiful ducks in hand.
My phone told me that it was 7:21 AM. 30 minutes of a great hunt behind me. Just as I sat up to look around, the F-16 sounds that teal wings make when gyrating in the sky was very audible. I'm betting about 20 bluewing/cinnamons came right over the tops of us. They flew past the decoy spread and made a very quick 180. Before I had time to think, they were all beginning to land just beyond the decoys. I had two in my sight when I squeezed the trigger. Both hit the water. One however needed and extra shell to stop him from trying to hide in the surrounding brush. Lordy, lordy talk about a fast hunt with great success. I sat there and waited for Chip to come back with the last bird and I commenced giving him some big hugs.
I thought about this fast hunt for a second and it brought back a sweet memory. It happened to be in the first part of December in 2006 when I was 65 years old. This year was one for the books and I know that I hunted 89 days that season and never went home skunked. I had the perfect spot, that was loaded with smart weeds and the ducks wanted to be where I was set up. On that particular morning there was another guy, who I knew, who was set up to the north of me. 99% of the ducks flew from south to north so he was not a problem. Well, on that morning when season opened it didn't take long to get my limit consisting of 5 greenheads and one drake widgeon, Chili went out and got all 6 ducks that I dropped and I began walking out towards my 4 wheeler. The young man who had his setup just north of me said, "Hey, Al, why are you going so soon, the season just started and you only took 4 shots?" I replied, "Josh, I have my limit of ducks. It was a very good morning. If you want to use my blind and decoys, feel free to do so." It was then that I looked at my watch and found out that it had only taken 18 minutes.
When I got home today Bev said, "Why are you home so early?" Naturally I told her that I just missed her so much and wanted to be with her. I cannot repeat what she said but she did smile! I told her that I sure was looking forward to Monday so I could go on another duck hunt and she said, "Don't forget, we need to leave here at 5:00AM so that I can be at the clinic in Albuquerque for some testing before 7:00AM." It didn't take long to remember that this is just part of being a bit older. I told her I just shifted my thoughts to Tuesday morning for my next duck hunt.
Life is Good!
Al
I quickly went through my list of things to do. First was to set my decoys in place. I am at a disadvantage because at 77 years young, I cannot walk into this pond with the depth of silt and mud. All my decoys had to be set within 17 feet so I could reach them with my retriever stick. I have a nice little alcove to use and it makes them look like they are out farther than they really are. All 5 dekes were put right where I wanted them. I did notice that the water level was down and two them landed upright but did not move because the keels were in silt.
I then placed the two motion wings that I use and these were on land looking like they were just about to land in the water. I have always had good success with that. One was on a shorter stand with the other about 2 feet above that and behind the lower motion wing. That didn't take long since I was only 20 feet from my Mule. All I had to do was get up the embankment.
I drove east about 40 yards and set up in the corner so that when the sun rose it would be right behind me. I decided to get set up as close as I could to the water. There was some vegetation like Japanese millet that helped conceal Chip. I had a piece of black shade cloth that I used. Since the dike road was above me about 6 feet i knew there was no silhouette and that was reassuring.
The most difficult thing I had to do was find stable ground for my chair. There are four rungs touching the ground and on one test spot I sunk down about 8 inches. I finally found a great spot and set everything up. Once again being very thankful that I had plenty of electrician's tape. It works like a charm. I looked at where Chip was and was satisfied with his position as I was with mine. I was not going to worry about being seen.
I checked my phone for time and found out I only had 14 minutes to go. The full moon was almost right above us. It was then that I happened to see Chip's radar become fully activated. I followed his stare and he was looking west. In fact right above the area where my decoys were I could see 5 widgeons land. I knew they were widgeons because of their size and telltale whistling. I watched them land and could see the ripples where the moon light hit. It was getting lighter so I checked my phone and it said, 6:47AM. It was a pleasure to see Chip not going into a hyperventilating scene. I had no brown paper bags. Well, my partner was growing up and I loved the signs he was showing me. He held his position, straining his eyes for a better look I was thinking. Well, I glanced at the phone for the time and it told me I still had 2 minutes. So I did the next best thing and counted to 120 in groups of 10 starting out with 1001, 1002. When I finished with the last set, I stood up, the birds flushed and I had one in the drink. Chip had a ways to go but made a nice retrieve.
My mind was racing around thinking that I am not seeing as many birds as yesterday and that was a bummer. Heck, I bet I hadn't been looking around for 5 to 10 minutes when I had a good sized flock of mallards come in. They made a large circle flying directly behind us. On their 2nd swing by they cupped their wings and lost altitude quickly. While reading the birds I could tell they weren't that sure and it looked as if they would continue on again. The good news was that they headed straight east towards me and then swung north a little. I saw my first greenhead, pulled on him and watched him come crashing down. The second drake was climbing quickly in the same direction. Going left to right has always been my shot of choice, even with my barrel bent to the left. I put a hurt on that drake and could tell by the way he was hit with my 2 3/4" 4 shot that he was dead. He too came hurtling down just beyond the dike road to the north of me but not far.
Chip had to scale the embankment and go down the other side of it. He didn't take long in locating the first greenhead. He brought it to me and we then went searching for the 2nd greenhead. I looked at Chip and said, "Dead bird, Chip!" He was dashing towards the barbed wire fence and for the first time I watched him use his nose. He bulldozed his way into some deep brush and came out of there with a very dead but darn beautiful mallard. Boy, did I ever have that Cheshire cat's grin on my face. It has been a while since I pulled a double on some mallards before the sun was up. We headed back to the blind.
It is difficult to put into words how things went for the last three birds. I was holding one of the drakes just checking him out when I saw Chip's head look upward. I looked there too, just in time to drop the big duck, grab my Nova and pull on a lone pintail hen that was about to get out of harm's way. She didn't quite make it. I saw her bounce up off the dike road. That was cool to see. My buddy was there in a lightning's flash and before I knew it I had 4 beautiful ducks in hand.
My phone told me that it was 7:21 AM. 30 minutes of a great hunt behind me. Just as I sat up to look around, the F-16 sounds that teal wings make when gyrating in the sky was very audible. I'm betting about 20 bluewing/cinnamons came right over the tops of us. They flew past the decoy spread and made a very quick 180. Before I had time to think, they were all beginning to land just beyond the decoys. I had two in my sight when I squeezed the trigger. Both hit the water. One however needed and extra shell to stop him from trying to hide in the surrounding brush. Lordy, lordy talk about a fast hunt with great success. I sat there and waited for Chip to come back with the last bird and I commenced giving him some big hugs.
I thought about this fast hunt for a second and it brought back a sweet memory. It happened to be in the first part of December in 2006 when I was 65 years old. This year was one for the books and I know that I hunted 89 days that season and never went home skunked. I had the perfect spot, that was loaded with smart weeds and the ducks wanted to be where I was set up. On that particular morning there was another guy, who I knew, who was set up to the north of me. 99% of the ducks flew from south to north so he was not a problem. Well, on that morning when season opened it didn't take long to get my limit consisting of 5 greenheads and one drake widgeon, Chili went out and got all 6 ducks that I dropped and I began walking out towards my 4 wheeler. The young man who had his setup just north of me said, "Hey, Al, why are you going so soon, the season just started and you only took 4 shots?" I replied, "Josh, I have my limit of ducks. It was a very good morning. If you want to use my blind and decoys, feel free to do so." It was then that I looked at my watch and found out that it had only taken 18 minutes.
When I got home today Bev said, "Why are you home so early?" Naturally I told her that I just missed her so much and wanted to be with her. I cannot repeat what she said but she did smile! I told her that I sure was looking forward to Monday so I could go on another duck hunt and she said, "Don't forget, we need to leave here at 5:00AM so that I can be at the clinic in Albuquerque for some testing before 7:00AM." It didn't take long to remember that this is just part of being a bit older. I told her I just shifted my thoughts to Tuesday morning for my next duck hunt.
Life is Good!
Al
