Early in the week the weatherman was calling for 10 to 20 mph winds, overcast and an ever so slight chance of rain on Friday.  This is always an exciting forecast for me in the event I can go out and chase some ducks and so I set up a date with Brother Bob to go out and do just that.

As the week progressed, the weatherman changed the forecast and made that arrangement for Thursday….bummer…I had other plans for Thursday.  And so it was, Thursday was a perfect day to head out into the swamp and I watched it blow and knock down leaves and stay cloudy and more leaves fell and more wind blew.  It blew from the South most of the day and then it turned from the North and then from the East and then from the South again…I was dreaming all day long about the ducks flying everywhere.  Visions of the sky being black with the birds as they dropped into the decoys, fighting the wind as they came in and hovered over the decoys making shooting them so easy, seven shots equal seven birds.  Dream on big boy.

About Wednesday Bob developed a bad problem with his leg and cancelled out on the hunt.  No way he would be able to walk the distance from the ATV to Colmer Island, which is where I spent a lot of time last year hunting.  Well maybe next week.

On Thursday watching all the wind and clouds and doing my dreaming I called the Weasel to see if he would like to go hunting on Friday….he said he would!  I was a happy guy!

So as night fell the winds were still blowing and I settled into a deep sleep while dreaming about the hunt the next day.

Up early and at the coffee pot…made two sandwiches for lunch and made sure everything was packed and ready for the hunt.  Coat, boots, water, shotgun, shells, atv with gas…everything is in order.

We had planned a “not so early start” and I picked the Weasel up at 9 a.m. and off we went.

As I peered out the windshield on our way to the swamp, I was seeing a perfectly calm, blue bird day.  Not a day one would normally consider for a duck hunt.  But when you are facing staying home and raking leaves or sitting in a duck blind swatting mosquitos, what would your choice be?

We found ourselves in a very nice spot where we kicked up a few geese and some ducks.  They were sitting in very shallow water and because we kicked them off we figured if we set up there they would eventually come back.  As we sat there and the ducks began to filter back I noted the path they were following and told the Weasel we needed to be farther out into the water.  After an hour of frustration and not being able to draw the birds in close enough for a shot we picked up and moved farther out.

The weasel has big feet and on our trip out into deeper water, his feet decided he needed to stay in one spot, while his brain said to keep going and suddenly his boots were filling from the top down as he went to his knees in the ankle deep water.  Not a good thing to be feeling so early in the day.  He managed to scramble up without taking in the entire lake and since it was not a very cold day, decided he would continue to hunt, wet feet and legs and all.

We set up in a very nice little spot and perched our butts on top of the 5 gallon buckets we had brought with us.  A good thing to have at this point.  It did not take very long before the ducks started trickling into our area.  Most of them came in as singles or doubles and for some reason they were moving at a pretty good clip.  I say that because I was having a heck of a time getting on them and keeping up with their path and most of my shots were going behind them.

The Weasel on the other hand was doing a pretty good job of hitting them.

Aside from the 12 duck decoys we had out, we also put out a few goose decoys more as “confidence” decoys than anything else.  After all there wouldn’t be any geese come where we were anyway.

After a couple of hours of sitting there and having a few ducks wing in and keep us interested in the hunt, we suddenly realized a flock of geese were actually coming our way.  We hunkered down to become one with our buckets and here they came right into us.  They made a turn at the last second which kept the Weasel from having any sort of a shot and I dropped one with my new little 20 Mossburg.  Bonus!  One goose!

The day progressed and we shot many times.  I had ducks flare in my face, so close you could smell their ducky little breath.  The Weasel had similar shots at the winged creatures and pretty soon I was sharing some of my box of shells with him.  We each had only brought one box of shells because we knew we would not need the extra weight on such a blue bird day.  About an hour before the season actually ended, a nice big pinny came swooping over from my side of the blind.  With my last shell in the trusty little 20, I put the bead right on his beak as he peeled in from my right and made a slight turn toward us…BLAM!…and my shot cup cruised right past his tail!  DANG!  It flared slightly upward as the Weasel blasted him with his last shell and he tumbled into the water.  Hunt over!  No more shells.

We had a time walking back to dry land what with the extra weight of a bunch of ducks and a goose, but we made it without incident.

Bottom line…well you count them:

5 ducks for the Weasel, one duck and a goose for the Butt

Not bad for a blue bird day in the swamp.

The shooting Gods were with us today.  Lots of shooting and not a whole lot of hitting.  It was a very fun day afield and I hope we get to do it more very soon.

Thanks for the hunt Weasel…oh and the shooting lesson as well…5 to 1!  On the other hand remember big headed Weasel, I lent you four of my shells!

Bears Butt

Nov. 3, 2012