12-12-15
Very warm and muggy this morning. Felt like an early teal hunt. It was 71 degrees on the truck mirror and ran the a/c on the commute. Had a good chance of rain but didn't get anything but a little sprinkle while picking up the decoys and some more sprinkles when almost to the house later. Nothing moving around early. Heard some widgeons whistling but never saw them. A few minutes before legal had three puddle ducks come in only to jump and leave immediately. Shooting time came around and it was like someone flicked a switch. Quite a few birds moving around. Had several birds land on the water. They were scattered about with nothing close enough to shoot. Two minutes into it and a gadwall gets shot to the left. More birds circle and some land as one of the dogs is getting the bird. I step out of blind to spook the birds off. Eleven minutes in and a pair a gadwalls come in and one stays. Thirteen minutes later two more gaddies come in and another stays. Almost immediately a bufflehead hen lands in the decoys. GF shoots and it jumps and I get a piece of it when it goes to the left. Thing is still alive. While giving that bird a few minutes a small flock of gadwalls come in. All three get taken out. A couple minutes later three spoonies circle in and one crashes into a field to the left. I get out of the blind to see about the bufflehead and the bird jumps and flies right at me. It ends up doing a few cartwheels through the decoy spread. The dogs are sent to clean up all the birds. A little more than half an hour goes by with several groups of birds moving in the area but nothing wanting to play. At about 8:00 five spoonies come in from the front and one gets dropped as the others get whiffed on. Several more flocks move through. Thirteen minutes later a single redhead crashes into the decoys and gets swatted. More birds hop from hole to hole. About thirty minutes later a lone widgeon goes by high at a pretty good clip. Some sweet talking turns him around and he gets dropped to the left. A few minutes later the wardens drive by and light us up and call to bs for a bit. Ten minutes later three come high from the front right and get talked into swinging by the decoys but the GF hesitates and no shots were taken. At 9:08 two teal come in from the front and sit down. One gets taken out to finish up.
Whipple picking up a few birds...
This was not amusing...
Paxton with a spoonie...
Whipple with a redhead...
Paxton picking up a widgeon...
Wardens driving by...
Paxton with a teal...
The birds...
Very warm and muggy this morning. Felt like an early teal hunt. It was 71 degrees on the truck mirror and ran the a/c on the commute. Had a good chance of rain but didn't get anything but a little sprinkle while picking up the decoys and some more sprinkles when almost to the house later. Nothing moving around early. Heard some widgeons whistling but never saw them. A few minutes before legal had three puddle ducks come in only to jump and leave immediately. Shooting time came around and it was like someone flicked a switch. Quite a few birds moving around. Had several birds land on the water. They were scattered about with nothing close enough to shoot. Two minutes into it and a gadwall gets shot to the left. More birds circle and some land as one of the dogs is getting the bird. I step out of blind to spook the birds off. Eleven minutes in and a pair a gadwalls come in and one stays. Thirteen minutes later two more gaddies come in and another stays. Almost immediately a bufflehead hen lands in the decoys. GF shoots and it jumps and I get a piece of it when it goes to the left. Thing is still alive. While giving that bird a few minutes a small flock of gadwalls come in. All three get taken out. A couple minutes later three spoonies circle in and one crashes into a field to the left. I get out of the blind to see about the bufflehead and the bird jumps and flies right at me. It ends up doing a few cartwheels through the decoy spread. The dogs are sent to clean up all the birds. A little more than half an hour goes by with several groups of birds moving in the area but nothing wanting to play. At about 8:00 five spoonies come in from the front and one gets dropped as the others get whiffed on. Several more flocks move through. Thirteen minutes later a single redhead crashes into the decoys and gets swatted. More birds hop from hole to hole. About thirty minutes later a lone widgeon goes by high at a pretty good clip. Some sweet talking turns him around and he gets dropped to the left. A few minutes later the wardens drive by and light us up and call to bs for a bit. Ten minutes later three come high from the front right and get talked into swinging by the decoys but the GF hesitates and no shots were taken. At 9:08 two teal come in from the front and sit down. One gets taken out to finish up.
Whipple picking up a few birds...
This was not amusing...
Paxton with a spoonie...
Whipple with a redhead...
Paxton picking up a widgeon...
Wardens driving by...
Paxton with a teal...
The birds...
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