Early Teal (and Wood Duck)
This was one exhausting, but fun hunt.
Jim and Chris had two draws at TMG and
graciously offered to let us have one.
Dave wasn't feeling well and bailed out
on me, but my Jim came along.
Launching was a nightmare. Most of the
other hunters in the Goodwin Reservoir had
smaller boats or canoes. I had the big
boat. The problem was water level. Things
are way down. We got the boat in the canal
with a modicum of difficulty, but it didn't
want to start. Finally, it did. Once it
was running, I got it up to speed, went
down the canal, and hit the levee into
14W at speed. We got halfway across and
with Jim and Chris helping easily managed
to get into the impoundment.
The water in the impoundments is
very low and the hydrilla and spatterdock
are thick as peanut butter. But, my
Go-devil long tail cut through it with
ease.
We tossed out some teal and a couple of
pintails for decoys. The boat we wedged in
an island and camoed it up. I wasn't quite
back as far into the vegetation as I would
have liked, but we were where we were and
I didn't want to get out of the boat. The
reservoir holds far too many gators and it
was too hot to hope they might be sluggish
at all. I did get out to make retrieves
once the sun was up.
There were a lot of wood ducks flying,
but they were flaring off of us, but they
were flaring off of Jim and Chris too. I
just think they were skittish. I managed
to knock down two hen woodies. They were both
long retrieves and I was beat. We saw some
teal in distant groups, but they weren't
interested in us. Jim had some shots and
had almost gone through a whole shell belt
when a nice drake came from behind and
presented a tailing shot. It wasn't 'til
the third shot that he knocked it dead
from the sky. Once again, I had a long
wade through the weeds, but it was worth
it. Jim is continuing his late success
of last year and slowly regaining some of
his former shooting prowess. I was very
proud of him. And, not liking to walk
though gator infested water with a duck
in my hand, all I can say is "Happiness
is a duck in your waders."
Getting the boat back on the trailer
was a real effort and again, if it
weren't for Jim and Chris we might still
be trying to figure something out.
What a great day!
ofs
Jim and Chris had two draws at TMG and
graciously offered to let us have one.
Dave wasn't feeling well and bailed out
on me, but my Jim came along.
Launching was a nightmare. Most of the
other hunters in the Goodwin Reservoir had
smaller boats or canoes. I had the big
boat. The problem was water level. Things
are way down. We got the boat in the canal
with a modicum of difficulty, but it didn't
want to start. Finally, it did. Once it
was running, I got it up to speed, went
down the canal, and hit the levee into
14W at speed. We got halfway across and
with Jim and Chris helping easily managed
to get into the impoundment.
The water in the impoundments is
very low and the hydrilla and spatterdock
are thick as peanut butter. But, my
Go-devil long tail cut through it with
ease.
We tossed out some teal and a couple of
pintails for decoys. The boat we wedged in
an island and camoed it up. I wasn't quite
back as far into the vegetation as I would
have liked, but we were where we were and
I didn't want to get out of the boat. The
reservoir holds far too many gators and it
was too hot to hope they might be sluggish
at all. I did get out to make retrieves
once the sun was up.
There were a lot of wood ducks flying,
but they were flaring off of us, but they
were flaring off of Jim and Chris too. I
just think they were skittish. I managed
to knock down two hen woodies. They were both
long retrieves and I was beat. We saw some
teal in distant groups, but they weren't
interested in us. Jim had some shots and
had almost gone through a whole shell belt
when a nice drake came from behind and
presented a tailing shot. It wasn't 'til
the third shot that he knocked it dead
from the sky. Once again, I had a long
wade through the weeds, but it was worth
it. Jim is continuing his late success
of last year and slowly regaining some of
his former shooting prowess. I was very
proud of him. And, not liking to walk
though gator infested water with a duck
in my hand, all I can say is "Happiness
is a duck in your waders."
Getting the boat back on the trailer
was a real effort and again, if it
weren't for Jim and Chris we might still
be trying to figure something out.
What a great day!
ofs
Labels: duck hunting 07-08
posted by oldfatslow | 6:14 PM
2 Comments:
Gator infested waters! You saved that goodie till the end. Sounds like fun! Wish I was there. I'm headed out tomorrow afternoon to bow hunt deer. If I see a turkey, I'll go for it, too. We'll see. But I'll be high and dry and no gators to navigate!
Actually didn't see any gators this time which was surprising. They've been doing some gator hunting at night out of airboats in the reservoir so maybe the big ones are all chased off or -hopefully- in a freezer.
A couple of years ago, we were scouting the levee next to the reservoir. In the deep canal, we saw a 12 footer that had taken down a whole cow. Maybe even I'd be too small to get noticed.
I hope you have a safe and profitable hunt tomorrow. BTW, how do you pluck a deer?
ofs
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