The Day of the Gadwall

Al Hansen

Well-known member
I was so excited about going duck hunting this morning that I was awake 40 minutes before the alarm was to ring and that was 4:00AM. Season opens at 6:10AM so with the dogs in the kennel to feed, then make my drive with the truck and trailer, unload the Mule, then finish the last 3 miles, I needed almost every minute. Life is full of challenges as you get older so I just make sure I have more time to take care of each one.

I set out one motion wing on a timer along with the Higdon Flasher so that I had a total of 11 decoys. I won't get into why I love odd numbers but I do. As soon as the season opened I had 3 big ducks come in. Just as they settled in to swim about they were joined by 2 wood ducks. I knew about where they were because I saw the splashes of water when they landed. So I decided to sit and be patient while waiting for just a little bit more light. Well, Chip, decided to do something he hasn't done in over 3 years and that was dash out to see if he could get closer to those birds swimming about. I know he could see them a lot better than I could. Well, it didn't take long for them to be gone and it was about that time that Chip came back and I decided to have a chat with him. It wasn't that kind by the fireside!

It was a bit lighter in the eastern horizon and in came a pair of what I thought were mallards but ended up being gadwalls. Chip made quick work of the two retrieves and i sat down to check out the first gadwalls I have taken this year. In fact, it was the first time I had seen any here. Normally they are always here but hadn't arrived until now. Over the southeastern side of Broken Pond, three big ducks flew by. I watched Chip intently because he was following their flight. I used about 4 soft quacks and in they came. Two of them stayed with us and Chip was busy doing his thing again. Another pair of gadwalls to be added to the strap.

The sun had risen and there was getting to be some good light when another pair of gadwalls came in. When they made a turn to come in on final, I took out the drake and grabbed my camera to try and get some pictures of Chip retrieving. It was a wonderful morning with 5 beautiful gadwalls on the strap.

I had already taken off my jacket just because it was a little too much. My down vest worked out the best, so I gathered up all the things I needed and got Chip up on the seat next to me and we headed for the truck and trailer only 3 miles away. What a great way to start out a day. It was good to see that the gadwalls had returned.
Al



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Al,

Looks like Chip really had a good time.

I always liked Gadwall, we didn't get many of them up on the Coumbia where I used to hunt, they heng in the smaller waterways.

Reminds me of a funny story of a long time back. I was hunting the big river with a buddy, and we had our spot all set up and some other hunters were set up about 300 yards away, but facing away from us.

We could hear them calling. One of the guys was really salty with the call, it was legit, but one of them just sounded completely fischer price.


After a while, they took off and it was just us in the secret spot.
I kept hearing the fischer price caller though and wondered what was going on.

My buddy and I decoded to stomp along the marge since the tide was going out and we needed to wrap up the decooys and go anyways, and when we did, we saw that it was a drake Gadwall just tootling along the whole time!

We had a pretty good laugh about it.
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Al, what a fantastic day. You and Chip definitely had your acts together. The action shots of chip were a real treat. I hope to get some gadwall this year. I've gotten a few but but not enough. They like to tease me by staying in the cove where I launch my boat, but they are off limits there due to some nearby houses. They must know the protected spots because they aren't around where I set my decoys. The season opens for a brief time over Thanksgiving. I've been seeing some ducks around after a recent cold snap ,and also some coot which I seldom see on salt water.
 
Well, Sandy, I am betting that you will know the exact number of days until your first short season begins. Best of luck when that time arrives. What you found out about the ducks is for real. They just seem to know where those protected spots are. I think the same thing about the light geese. They seem long on memory when it comes to places like Bosque del Apache NWR. They can be shot at and then they arrive down here, get situated and before you know it you might have them just 30 feet away from you.

Sandy, have you had a meal yet from the buck you shot?
Al
 
Good morning, Steve. There was no doubt in my mind that Chip was ready. Like in a track meet, he was starting on cue but forgot that the "Bang" had to be there first. Life is full of twists and turns and this was just another one of them. In the meantime, over the past couple of days I have checking my calendar thinking of which days I would like to go hunting again. Oh, that comes with this. Yesterday at 2:00PM, I was wondering why my feet were wet. They were under my desk, in fact with stocking on. Then I recalled that Belize was under my desk normally with her body on my feet. I called her over and went to pet her hind quarters and found them drenched. Her water had broken and that was why my feet were wet.

So yesterday I found myself very busy helping a first time mom. Bell ended up having 6 yellow pups with Chip being the sire of the litter. I can tell you that when that time comes there will be some very happy families waiting to bring their pup home with them. Now you know why my schedule seems to be negotiable on a daily basis. All is well.

Hope you find some time to hunt that moving water when everything else is frozen solid. I shall look forward to some pictures.
Al



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I was pleasantly surprised when I tossed Belize a bluewing teal during the early teal season. She brought it right to me. It is always fun to find those genetic packages! I also like
the focus of her eyes. Not bad for 5 months old.


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Bob, I can remember when he made his first two retrieves bucking through 1/2" ice on the honey hole. He was 7 months old at the time. Habi had impaled her right front pad with a Mesquite thorn and her paw swelled up where she couldn't use it. I extracted the thorn but she did not retrieve for a while. That is how Chip became the next retriever. By the way, he was the first male I ever trained and I am glad I had that chance to work with him. He is a well mannered dog, will normally sit forever---I thought until that day with the ducks swimming around in the pond. Oh well, that is part of duck hunting! Sometimes when I watch him take off for a duck, when he hits the water it makes me think of the Orcas in Orlando, Florida and their splash zone.

Here is what is keeping me busy now. Belize is doing a pretty good job.
Al



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Hey Dennis, good to hear from you. I sure hope like heck you have had some time to do a little duck hunting here. Plan on stopping by if you are coming down through this way. I would like to hear all about the Saskatchewan hunt.
As for the pups, it looks like Belize is becoming a good mom. Today and last night I observed her giving some great baths to her pups. They seem to be constantly hooked up to a faucet. All you have to do is look at their tummies and you can see that.

I checked out the flow of the Rio Grande hoping it would drop down below 1,000cfs and was shocked to see it had risen to 1,500cfs and had just dropped to 1430cfs. So that just might eliminate me from hunting the river for sure. My options are becoming very limited.

I hope that you and your family will have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Al

Her pups go to the vet to h ave their dewclaws removed tomorrow.



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A few years ago, I was jump shooting a low flow ditch and happened to take out these three with the three shots I had. Chili was working with me on that day. It sure was fun and took place in January.


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Back when Kane was in his second season (7) now, we were checking some oxbow ponds off a local river. Beautiful sunny day with zero wind, so we were jump shooting. I was walking a deer trail that lead across a shallow channel between two when I bumped a small buck in velvet walking toward us through the leather leaf band around one of the larger oxbow ponds. He spun around and took off;nice to see the tribal night hunters that dot this spot (3) didn't kill all of them. Initially, I thought the dog had a nose full of deer as he zig-zagged forward, nose in the air. I almost hit recall on the whistle, but caught myself and decided to just let this play-out and gauge how interested my newish dog was in deer scent. He hit the pond edge about fifteen yards in front of me and ... up went a wood duck drake for a chip shot. Bam! Up went another wood duck drake, an then another. It was like someone throwing dinner plates up in front of you to shoot. Only three shot triple on woodies I ever accomplished. Kane thought he was in heaven chasing them down in the heavy woody organic muck in the leather leaf!
 
Your gut reaction to allow Kane to go forward was a good one, Rick. That was a great duck hunting story. Thanks
Al
 
I am still waiting to shoot a drake gadwall that is in full breeding plumage. Each year we shoot a handful, and they all look like hens.

As you well know, Al, often with flushing dogs you have to read their body language to get a good gauge of what their noses are "telling" them when out hunting. Each dog is different in terms of how they use their nose to find game. For me I usually focus on learning how the dog "reads" scent during training sessions. Too often, my focus with a young dog is getting them to obey me, be it via voice, whistle, or hand signal commands in situations where I have no direct control via a lead or a helper to pull the bumper. Every once in a while I catch myself being too rigid on the obedience side.

In retrospect, I would guess those birds were tucked-up against the bank sleeping in the sun, largely because they never reacted to that deer reversing course and blowing away on the run.
 
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