New Species

The big storms of Friday never completely
materialized, but the threat was enough
to keep us off the marsh. So, we rescheduled
for Saturday morning.

The day was quite windy which was perfect
and a little more water was on the marsh.
We made it to the spot I had identified as
a hot spot the week before. It was perfect
depth, but an inconveniently placed island
of para grass in the middle limited the area
to put decoys, plus the hole did not lend
itself to a north west wind. Still, we got
set up and hunkered down.

Ten minutes before shooting time, we could
here folks in the distance blasting away. I
had high hopes for the day particularly because
I had a first time hunter with me. Things
eventually got going when Jim dropped a gwt
that came in from our left - the direction I
had hoped they wouldn't fly from. I got a
gwt that Jim thought was too long a shot.
Later, a pair of mottled ducks came from
off my right shoulder. They were a little
behind us. I had to stand up and turn
completely around to get a shot at the
bird on the right, But, it dropped like
a rock. When I did the retrieve, I found
out that it wasn't a mottle, but my
first ever gadwall. Woo Hoo. We
sat idle for a long time until three
more gwts came in. My friend and
I each took one and that was our
day.




I've sure had many worse days, but
I had hoped this one would be more
exciting for my friend (who prefers
anonymity).



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