Early Teal

Was today. There weren't many folks
at the check in station today, but
we were 4th pick and got the spot I
wanted.

The boat ride out was tricky. There
were several large mud tussets that
had become floating islands full of
plants. They were blocking much
of the launching ramp. The first
boat out pushed some of it out of
the way and we were able to punch
through pulling Cannon's pirogue.

Somehow, I managed to get turned
around once we got out into the
marsh. Fortunately, I had my
GPS. The humidity had my glasses
and the GPS screen fogged over,
but we managed to read our way
to the levee jump and then to
our assigned spot.

When we got to the hole I had
picked out we were assaulted by
largest group of bugs I have
ever seen. Jim said the entire
bow of the boat was covered in
a sheet of insects. I could not
open my eyes or breath for the
swarms. Dragonflies were flying
down my shirt. I inhaled a
couple of little bugs and had
several get caught in my eyes.

I was glad when we finally
got the decoys out and got
blinded up. There were only
mosquitoes to deal with then.
But, they were viscous. They
were operating in packs. Our
new Thermacell wouldn't light
and we only had a little spray.
The skeeters harpooned me from
the back of my pants. I'll
probably die of butt encephalitis.

When shooting time came, we could
see a lot of wood ducks around
us, but we weren't on the flight
line and they sure didn't like
the mojo teal. We scratched out
four knockdowns on passing shots,
before Cannon paddled out and pulled
in the mojo. Jim got one last one
and our day was done. The real high
light was Cannon getting a banded
duck. Woo Hoo!

We got home, crashed, and then
picked the ducks (woodies are
the easiest picking ducks), cleaned
the guns and boat, and settled down
for some Gator football.

Other than forgetting batteries
for the camera, we had a good day.

ofs