Against the Wind

Worked hard for this limit (first of the season)
last week. Six minutes before legal light, the
marsh opened up with shots ringing out. My
buddy and I couldn’t see what they were shooting
at. At 8:30 AM we only had two ducks down
and were watching distant dots as ducks flew
nowhere near us. But patience paid off. As
the sun got higher and the wind picked up,
more and more ringers flew past our spread
and some decoyed. The wind stiffened so
that they were almost standing still in the
breeze. I’m still learning how to hunt from 
the kayak, and went through a lot of shells. 
I dropped my sixth duck with my last shot 
and had to borrow a couple of shells to 
anchor it. 

Picking up the decoys and paddling back in
the wind were tricky. The odd thing was that
some people were still shooting at 10:30 and
we beat most boats back to the ramp. Seems
like a lot of guys might have been sky
busting their day.


One really bright spot was the device Number
1 kid and I made to float my Mojo teal. It
worked perfectly and handled the wind like
a champ.

We had a duck feast for Number 1 kid and
his family and Number 7 kid home on leave. 
Number 6 kid added his culinary talents. 
We had a whole wood duck, whole mottle,
and three whole bwts.  Tossed in a few snipe
and also had ringer breasts.   We marinated
all of it in Italian dressing.  The ringer breasts
were split open and stuffed with cream cheese
and pepperocini slice before being wrapped
in bacon.  All of it was then grilled over a
charcoal fire. 

Served medium rare, it was great.

os