Finally got out last night for some trigger time.
Had not been seeing many birds in the area, but had not been sitting on my spot to see what was coming in to roost either, so didn't have high hopes. Started seeing a good number of mallards coming in early, so my spirits lifted quickly. I'm hunting a 120 acre lake that has a pretty good creek flowing into it, birds fly down the creek then pick a hole of their choosing on the north end of the lake, where I was. Most of the time they hit the first hole they come to, which is hardest for me to get to, but that is where I went last night. Of course most of the birds bypass my hole without a look and went to my easiest hole to hunt. Story of my life. Birds that did come in didn't like something about what I had going on and would flare at the last minute. Recently repainted deeks, not sure if that had anything to do with it, or the fact that I had no motion out in my spread to stir the water... or if they saw my fat ass sittin in the cat tails with a shotgun pointed their way. So I spent a good part of the evening watching couple hundred birds sitting down elsewhere. Once it got past sunset and they couldn't see as well, I noticed more wanting to come down in my spread. I had moved closer to my deeks, standing in thigh deep water and just kept pumping my legs to get some ripples in the water, that was about all it took. I ended up dropping three, then the mallards were done. Last few minutes of shooting time, here came the woodies. Pouring in from every direction, nearly landing on my head. By this time I was standing out in the water with no cover, moving around, and they were trying to land on my head. Fumbled my phone and got a few seconds of video, but it isn't great.
Been duck hunting over 20 years, got my first band. Memorable night.
Had not been seeing many birds in the area, but had not been sitting on my spot to see what was coming in to roost either, so didn't have high hopes. Started seeing a good number of mallards coming in early, so my spirits lifted quickly. I'm hunting a 120 acre lake that has a pretty good creek flowing into it, birds fly down the creek then pick a hole of their choosing on the north end of the lake, where I was. Most of the time they hit the first hole they come to, which is hardest for me to get to, but that is where I went last night. Of course most of the birds bypass my hole without a look and went to my easiest hole to hunt. Story of my life. Birds that did come in didn't like something about what I had going on and would flare at the last minute. Recently repainted deeks, not sure if that had anything to do with it, or the fact that I had no motion out in my spread to stir the water... or if they saw my fat ass sittin in the cat tails with a shotgun pointed their way. So I spent a good part of the evening watching couple hundred birds sitting down elsewhere. Once it got past sunset and they couldn't see as well, I noticed more wanting to come down in my spread. I had moved closer to my deeks, standing in thigh deep water and just kept pumping my legs to get some ripples in the water, that was about all it took. I ended up dropping three, then the mallards were done. Last few minutes of shooting time, here came the woodies. Pouring in from every direction, nearly landing on my head. By this time I was standing out in the water with no cover, moving around, and they were trying to land on my head. Fumbled my phone and got a few seconds of video, but it isn't great.
Been duck hunting over 20 years, got my first band. Memorable night.
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