River hunt #2 with Dad

 1-12-21

Well last weekend was even better. We got a late start because my Zippo handwarmer was acting up. It was cold enough to need foot warmers in each boot! So we were crossing the water after legal shooting time. The Motor started on the second pull, an excellent sign of the day to come! The evening before I had tried solo hunting from the Sneak box; wow it is tricky. You have to be out in the middle of the river, with the wind blowing. Then you have to set the anchor to the line with a carabiner. The front line has a decoy duck on it with a special loop to use. Then you have to move to the back of the boat. Time to deploy decoys. You reel out the line one by one, attaching 8 decoys on a straight line. You attach to the back of the boat. Then you have to cover the engine with camo. Then you lay down in the boat and roll the cover camo over yourself, get the gun ready and wait. The ducks were not interested in me at all. Uh-Oh, engine cord won't go back in. I tried the oars and became exhausted while moving literally no where. What am I doing Wrong? Oh, yea, has to be in neutral. Engine starts 2nd pull!  So I moved to the blind, hid the boat behind me and a bufflehead came in at 4:50PM. I shot him on the water. 

In the morning as we crossed the river ducks were flying everywhere. Dad scolded me for getting a late start. Did he drink enough coffee?!?! It was a super high tide. When I got out my jacket got wet. The water was literally one inch from my wait high waders. Everything in my coat pockets got soaked, including my hand warmers and facemask. This was quickly becoming miserable. The decoys were deployed, including random Pintails. Dad left me with a Jerk Rig also. You know I be Jerkin' in the blind!!! This made a huge difference. I would see ducks in the distance, jerk it, and they came swimming right up. I got 5 ducks all clean water swats and/or low flyers at close range. It was the best duck hunt I have had yet. Dad let me borrow his extra waders back from the Cabin, which were dry. Chest waders rock. You can walk WAY out with no worries. I was shooting #4 Monarchs and #2 Blind Side shells. They all went BANG with authority out of the Browning . 3 inch magnums, of course. Not really necessary on these small ducks, probably could have used a .410! 

We get back to clean ducks and they smell like sardines/liver. Yummy, can't wait to taste these!!!!