Here Endeth the Season

 The ducks were back in East Marsh, but few and scattered. We had a few shots and ended with one hen ringer. 

Finished the season with 18 ducks total. A poor year but so much better than last year’s 5.

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On the X

 I started the day asking Mike if he was as discouraged as I was. He agreed.

So many things have conspired to make this a bad year. Although it’s marginally better than last year.

We headed south into the thin wisps of fog with heavy hearts debating where we would set up. Rumors were out that the Christmas Eve front had brought new ducks, but we’ve heard that before. 

Lots of kayakers at the ramp, but all waited until the official entry time to the WMA. A time that doesn’t leave any to set up, get hid, and cool down before shooting time. 

When we finally could set out, the fog had rolled in thick. We had to paddle by feel. We knew the weak wind was from the south and used the sense of that on our faces to orient our paddling.

We eventually got to our island. People were already shooting while we were putting our decoys out. The reason they were shooting was not just that it was legal light, but the ducks were flying. We had birds landing in the dekes while we were still in the middle of them throwing out more. 

We rushed back to blind up, it was hard to get wedged in and really hard to get palmettos up. It didn’t seem to matter. We were where they wanted to be. 

We were done in less than an hour. No cripples. All ringers. Two limits.

That’s the way I like it. 

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Long Arm

 Let’s just say I’ve learned my lesson.

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