Finishing out 2020 with a duck hunt with Dad on the River

 Duck Journal Notes 12-31-2020

Well friends, 2020 has been a rough year for all. Our family has had it's share of loss and grief, as well as a share of madness from being co-op'd up tighter than our chicken coop. Anyways, that is the subject for another blog.

The night before, I added some extra brush to the blind. It was better, but still sparse. It would have to do for now. At least the new brush was nice and green. It was low tide while I was out there, which makes it easy because the water was only mid shin deep. 

The boat motor was running good. 8HP Evinrude from 1998. We stayed up a bit reading some of Dad's old notes from other duck hunts going back to 2015. This is when he really got "serious" about duck hunting, although the first time he went was probably around 1974! No signal on my phone or wifi at Uncle Ev's Cottage. Dad has lots of good stories to tell and remembers every detail, it seems. 

We set our alarm clocks for 5:15. It wasn't too cold that night, maybe about 40 degrees. A solid rain coming down. When 5:15 came Dad said "Let's snooze 15 minutes 'cause it's raining and we don't want to get soaked waiting for birds to show up." Breakfast was two frozen jimmy dean sausage sandwiches microwaved and coffee. Dad usually eats an Oatmeal packet. 

Then we get ready/mobilize. Decoy bags, guns, shells, marsh seat, headlamps, hand warmers, waders, multiple layers of clothes, rain jackets, life jackets, there is a lot to remember!!! Motor starts up on the second pull, SMOKE ON THE WATER! swiftly we pull away from the dock. It's about a 5 minute cruise across the river to the blind. It isn't much to look at no floor so your standing in the water in this one.  

It is mid low tide so pretty easy to drift in the boat safely. We set the decoys, 3 geese, 2 buffleheads, a few bluebills, and 2 pintails on a jerk rig. The dekes are looking good (to me). Dad pulls away in the boar leaving me in the blind. It is 6:55 just past legal shooting time. I struggle to perch my backpack on an overloaded zip tie with a carabiner and I hold me gun in anticipation. At 7:15 I see my first flight of ducks, it's a pair going high, they check on the spread but keep moving. No shot opportunities. It gets my blood going. It am trying to stay dry and keep my ear muffs in position through the hat wondering if they will do any good with that extra layer sandwiched. Lots of rain and no action again until 8AM. It's a single who flies by but no shot opportunity.  At 8:15 I notice an Escalade on the golf course a few hundred yards away. "great" I think now these guys are gonna hunt that other blind and mess me up. A large man gets out and walks over to the golf course, "good, I think, he isn't hunting " just then a pair of wood ducks swoop in. I forget to jerk the rig. I forget to blow a call. My heart is thumping like crazy . 

As they leave I could have shot but I was too flustered. They were flying away from me which is not ideal because the thick feathers are on their backs. I see buffleheads in the far distance through my binoculars but there is little I can do to coax them in. I got a mixed bag of shells. #2 Winchester Blind sides, and Hevi Shot BB's for any geese.  A lonely male drake bufflehead dives for minnows roughly 250 yards to my left. I watch him. It's methodical, 12 seconds down diving then 5 seconds on the surface each cycle for 10 minutes or more. Crazy. Where is his partner? Did she leave him for someone with better feathers on his head? Allegory.  Plenty of Gulls, cormorants, herons, high flying Canada goose and Loons. No more decent ducks . Then it is a long wait till about 10:45 when Dad picks me up. Just was we are picking up decoys, a group of 3 wood ducks fly right over, circle high, and leave over the golf course. My gun was loaded but didn't have ears on and they were 60 yards in the air.  Welcome to Duck Hunting :)