Pounding the Modus

The river is still passable, but barely.

The water is at the lowest it's been in

76 years of measurement.  At the ramp

yesterday morning I made a command

decision to head south upriver instead

of to the places we had been hunting in

the north.  Once again, we were the only

ones at the ramp.  

Dave and Stuart went with me.  I didn't

expect much from the duck hunting,

but we figured to shoot some snipe

if all else failed.  

The boat trip took about an hour but

was faster than I expected and we

didn't get stuck once.  We looked

over one pond and rejected it.  I 

decided instead to try an area near

where Craig and I had success

three years ago.

Everything around is burnt brown

from the hard freezes/frost of a couple

of weeks ago.  Still, we found a wide

spot on a former creek that still held

water.  If fact, it held a lot of water -

enough to top my hip waders.  I

was cold, wet, and miserable all

morning. 

Here are some shots of Dave at

sunrise.

The deeper water was in front of him where

we put the decoys.  

We made booths like the Children of

Israel out of palmetto fans.  To our

eyes, these may look weird on the

flat, burnt landscape, but one disappears

in them and the birds never seem

to mind.

 

We were teased all morning by

a hen mottled duck quacking her

lonely head off.  Ten minutes before

shooting time, 3 teal flew right over

our heads.  We figured we might

have a day.  Instead, nothing 

happened.  The modu cleared

out and the teal never came

back.  

I decided to tweak the decoys

and rearrange our position.

We moved from the deep

water to a tiny hole directly

behind us.  It is just

visible in back of Dave.

 

Not only were we now higher than 

that glorified puddle, we were much

further back than the decoys.

We had a lovely view back over the

marsh and across the river.  There

are lots of little pot holes out

there and we were able to

watch a pair of mottled ducks

way in the distance bounce

from hole to hole.  My duck

calling has really improved.

Modus are normally very 

call shy and quiet ducks,

but I commanded these

birds with my Phil Robertson

Call.  We were able to watch

them swing way out to our

right and then zoom into the

decoys.  

The drake led the way and decided

to pull out right in front of me.

I dropped him and the boys 

blazed away at the hen.  

Unfortunately, they were a

little rusty and she got away.

Later, Dave and I were both out

of our blinds when he yelled, "Ducks!"

and hit the ground.  I crouched and

watched as a group swung behind

us into the original pond we had

been in.  We all opened up, but

only hit one bird.  It followed its

group, but turned back to cross

in front of us again.  It was 

obviously hurt and glided with

the wind far out on the flats.  

Dave took off in a sprint for

a good quarter mile to chase it

down.  We could see him in the

distance working in and out of

the broom grass.  After a bit,

we heard a distant "boom" and

saw him waving success.  

When he got back we found

out that the group had only

been impersonating ducks.

We had a hoody (legal, but

useless for food).

We decided after that to separate and

try for snipe.  I may have had better

reactions on the duck, but I can't begin

to outshoot Dave on snipe.  1 for me and

five for him including a true double on his

first ones.

Here's a  picture I took of Dave and Stu 

right before the camera died.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love shooting

modus, but something is very wrong

with duck season when they are the

number one duck in my bag and not

teal, ringers, or black bellies.

ofs