Though not the intent of the trip, we had a short morning free for a quick non scouted duck hunt before we were to cart my Goose decoys into the Refuge.
We had been informed by a local that other hunters the week before had been hunting the cove we intended to hunt, but we stayed with it since it was just a quick hunt to shoot whatever we could at sunrise then leave kind of thing. All we had room for in the truck was a small mixed 10 decoy collection of gadwall, mallard, bluebills, and teal. Plus a half dozen Higdon Motion Canadas.
Divers had some attraction to our two Scaup decoys but since we had set up on a flat they would not land and just buzzed us. We did get teal and gadwall in the decoys though. Mallards were no where to be seen. One flock of Geese came by, but I had forgot my call in the truck. :bang:
Redheads
Bigfoot Lives!
I full choked some Divers with Hevi 2 reloads, making Blaze earn her keep with some long rough water retrieves.
So not a bad morning being short on time.
Left by slob hunters before us. We packed it out for them.
We scouted and found the Geese, but wanting for more traditional hunting we held them in reserve for a possible Sunday morning instead of ambushing them on the spot. If our Goose hunt Saturday was a bust they would be our alternate Sunday morning hunt.
Being my 4th year in a row to make this stop, tradition has been that everyone on the hunt must eat a Merganser. No Mergansers seen or taken, so this year Peppered Teriyaki Redhead Duck worked just fine as a substitute. It really was not bad at all.
We had been informed by a local that other hunters the week before had been hunting the cove we intended to hunt, but we stayed with it since it was just a quick hunt to shoot whatever we could at sunrise then leave kind of thing. All we had room for in the truck was a small mixed 10 decoy collection of gadwall, mallard, bluebills, and teal. Plus a half dozen Higdon Motion Canadas.
Divers had some attraction to our two Scaup decoys but since we had set up on a flat they would not land and just buzzed us. We did get teal and gadwall in the decoys though. Mallards were no where to be seen. One flock of Geese came by, but I had forgot my call in the truck. :bang:
Redheads
Bigfoot Lives!
I full choked some Divers with Hevi 2 reloads, making Blaze earn her keep with some long rough water retrieves.
So not a bad morning being short on time.
Left by slob hunters before us. We packed it out for them.
We scouted and found the Geese, but wanting for more traditional hunting we held them in reserve for a possible Sunday morning instead of ambushing them on the spot. If our Goose hunt Saturday was a bust they would be our alternate Sunday morning hunt.
Being my 4th year in a row to make this stop, tradition has been that everyone on the hunt must eat a Merganser. No Mergansers seen or taken, so this year Peppered Teriyaki Redhead Duck worked just fine as a substitute. It really was not bad at all.
