Two Flew Over the Cuckoo's Canal

Craig and Dave spent the night in the TMG
walkin line.  They ended up eighth in line.
For a Saturday, that put us pretty far down
in the running for any unclaimed permits.
After noodling on it quite a bit, I had opted
not to bring the boat when I met the boys
in the morning.

By the time our time to choose came along,
all the Broadmoor spots were long gone and
the best TMG spots were picked over.  If we
had had the boat, though, there were lots of
open impoundments.  Duckmanjr came to
our rescue and told us a spot.  Dan was
working the table and asked me for my
pick.  I said, "7E."  Right then, we figured
out that the guy ahead of me still had to
pick.  Guess what spot he snaked me for?
[It turned to our favor - he got skunked.]
Duckmanjr, told us of another spot that
didn't have much water but hadn't been
hunted too hard either.

The hay ride dropped us off at our
impoundment and we waded in.  We
had dressed so light because of the
heat that we weren't even wearing
waders.  Going into the water was
an initial shock, but we quickly got
accustomed to it.

Indeed, there wasn't much water.
We set up pretty close to the east
levee and hard against the canal on
the north levee.  Any long shots and
they would be in or over the 20ft deep
canal.  Having ended up in one of those
canals, I wasn't making the long retrieve
no matter how many sprigs or how much
jewelry.

Dave wandered off and came back saying
that it opened up farther down.  I said I'd take
a half dozen duck and a few coot decoys and
hunt that area.  As I headed out, I asked
Dave if he had gone left or right around the
reed island in front of me.  He said left.  He
was wrong.  I ended up in some really
thick stuff before I got course corrected.

The spot I choose was much smaller, but
a safe distance and direction from the boys.

The day was great.  Ducks actually decoyed
in or flew low and slow enough for easy
shots.  Well, all but two.  Both of them ended
up over the canal.  I was bummed.  Counting
them, I was limited.  The boys had been shooting,
but didn't have a lot of birds.  I called one of
them over.   Dave came and Craig stayed.

As he waded over and I headed out to meet
him, he yelled, "Down!"  I ducked and put
my fingers in my ears.  He fired and dropped
a drake woodie.  Unfortunately, it too went
over the canal.  I told him to hunt and I'd
make the circuit to the levee on the other
side of the canal to try and retrieve his bird.

I ended up retrieving my two teal, but neither
I nor later he could find his duck.

We ended the day with 11 ducks and a lot
of fun.

Bucket O'Ducks

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